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by Ellis Robinson
A number of colleagues have asked me what Hurricane
Katrina means to their fundraising efforts. Here
is a summary of my thoughts. Many of these reflections
build on what is known about post-9/11 fundraising,
based on documentation from Giving USA 2002 and experiences
by my clients.
1. Share the pain. Now
is the time to respond with compassion and care.
If you haven’t
already sent out an email of condolence and solidarity
to your supporters, consider doing so. If your staff,
board, activists, or others related to your organization
have been impacted (or could have been, but weren’t),
let people know. Are you doing an in-house fund drive?
Are some of your team volunteering in some special
way? Share the sadness. Show you care. Give hope.
2. Keep fundraising. Right
now, the nation is focused on Katrina. The media
is overflowing
with details. Everyone is talking about the aftermath,
sharing stories of family, friends, and friends-of-friends.
Yet, the media and the public’s attention is
already sharing space with other stories and issues – even
here in the hurricane belt. Focus on Katrina will
probably diminish significantly by the week of September
26, perhaps earlier in the North. Read the temper
of your community and trust your judgment.
3. … especially
if you have an urgent need. Despite
Katrina, your current members continue to care
about your issue and understand
that your work is valuable. (Perhaps even more
so than usual; see below.) If you have a truly
urgent need for donations before the end of September
or early October, make a strong case and ask for
help now (if you haven’t already). One of
my clients launched a major-gifts-by-mail campaign
in early August to their membership. The focus
is “storming Capitol Hill” on September
20. Significant responses are still coming in,
post Katrina, thanks to clear need and urgency.
4. Focus on your friends. Your
best supporters in the near future will be those
who already know you: your members, lapsed members,
in-house prospects, and close allies. These folks
already trust you: they have given to you in the
past and are most inclined to do so again. Stick
with your plans for a year-end appeal, ideally distributed
between November 1 & 15. Given your needs, it
might also be appropriate to ask some or all of your
supporters for a donation twice: in October and early
December. Recruiting new members will probably be
more difficult. We are not hearing too much about
illegitimate Katrina charities, but there is some
buzz out there, and it may increase. Establishing
credibility and simply capturing the attention of
all but the most allied prospects will be difficult.
To minimize your financial risk, stick to those audiences
who have been most responsive in the past – unless
you have a strong programmatic need to approach a
new constituency. Unless you have compelling programs
in AL, LA, or MS, I suggest not fundraising in those
states at all, at least until November. Consider
giving your members from those states a free membership
renewal, too.
5. People are seeking to make a difference. Each
donor wants their contribution – whatever size – to
make a difference. Katrina’s sheer magnitude
makes this harder than ever. Red Cross donations
are approaching $1 billion. That can make an individual’s
$50, $100, even $1000 gift seem like a drop in a
bucket. But it can make a big impact in your organization.
6. Keep giving in perspective. One
billion dollars plus is a lot of money. And more
than $248 billion was given by individuals, foundations,
and corporations in the United States last year.
In 2001, individuals gave $1.25 billion to 9/11 charities … and
$160.72 billion to all nonprofits. That makes 9/11
giving less than one percent of the year’s
total. There is also some indication that gifts to
emergencies like Katrina, 2004’s tsunami, and
9/11 are viewed by donors as “stretch” or “above
and beyond” gifts and independent of regular
giving patterns. If your need is compelling, urgent,
and responsive, your supporters will be there.
7. Help your members regain control. Right
now, all of us are feeling a bit more vulnerable.
Americans count on their government to be there in
the worst of times – and it wasn’t during
Katrina. Fear is one of the primary motivators to
action. After 9/11, groups I worked with saw an increasing
interest in close-to-home programs. One person may
not be able to control the weather or stop terrorists.
But you can help your constituents improve their
community and quality of life by providing a chance
to invest in an important need in their town or state.
8. Government needs effective watchdogs. Anger
is the second most powerful motivator – and
people are angry right now. Katrina’s aftermath
demonstrated that government needs effective watchdogs
to make sure it does the right thing. Your group’s
role as an advocate is crucial right now. Congress
is going to be so focused on hurricane clean up that
it will be easy for environmental and social programs
to be ignored. The tight federal budget, plus the
expenses of rebuilding and absorbing evacuees, will
put even more strains on state legislatures. Your
opponents may even be able to take advantage of the
distractions provided by Katrina to undermine or
overturn advances you have made. Your work as watchdog
provides a valuable outlet to the justifiable outrage
many are feeling.
9. Build community. Now is a time
of great coming together. People are looking for
ways to connect, to serve, and to make a difference.
The members, board, staff and others who make up
your organization are a community. Find ways to strengthen
those bonds and your effectiveness. Plan an open
house, an action night, or a volunteer day at the
food bank together. And increase your efforts to
build a great community by creating links with allied
groups and establishing coalitions to tackle these
big issues.
10. You are not the Red Cross. A
reality check here. Someone on your team is going
to say soon (if not already) that you should be getting
LOTS of money over the Internet right now. Look what
the Red Cross is doing. (The “let’s become
the next MoveOn.org” syndrome.) Yes, you need
to have a lively website and an easy way for folks
to donate on-line. However, Internet giving is still
a small percentage of giving for most groups – usually
significantly less than five percent of revenues
for local and state organizations. When your group
is on the front page of every newspaper and your
website is listed in every TV and radio broadcast,
things will change.
11. Your work is needed now more than ever. A
crisis like Katrina strains finances and other resources
nationwide. Katrina also ripped the lid off other
vulnerabilities: poverty, environmental degradation,
racism. And such a shake-up creates unimaginable
opportunities. Your vision is needed. The months
ahead will see unprecedented decision-making around
environmental protections, energy policy, taxation,
global warming, and anti-poverty programs. How will
you lead? Invite your supporters to embrace your
view of the future. They know that money from others
will be tight for awhile. Give them a good reason
to continue to support you. Give them hope and inspiration.
12. People give because they are asked. A
successful fundraiser once said, “I’ve
tried fundraising by asking and by not asking. You
make more money by asking.” Giving USA 2002,
summarizing giving by individuals in 2001 says, “Every
charity can raise funds effectively. Donors say the
most important factor affecting their contributions
is that someone asks.”
If you are doing good work;
If you are making a difference
in your constituents’ lives;
If you are impacting the issues they care about;
If you need money to do that work well and adequately;
Ask for support and ask again.
Emphasize the close-to-home. Reinforce
how much more effective an individual can be as part
of your successful, effective organization. Help
counter this latest blow to personal control (stop
the fear). Give me an outlet for my anger and frustration.
Help each person make a difference. And inspire me
with your vision of the future. How can I say no?
Thank you for all your great
work – and your
even more valuable work to come. You can and will
raise the money you need post-Katrina. Go for it!
P. S. Special thanks to colleagues Tom Ahern, Mary
Humphries, and Kim Klein for their comments on the
draft of this essay. The improvements are theirs;
any errors are mine. If you have a moment, please
let me know your thoughts about these ideas. And
how your fundraising efforts progress.
Thank you,
Ellis M.M. Robinson
Consultant & Author of The Nonprofit Membership Toolkit
The Buttonwood Partnership
1053 Seahawk Lane, Sanibel, FL 33957
Tel: 239/472-9159
Email: EllisRobs@aol.com
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