National Youth Charity Pushes Local Chapters To Start Raising Money

B’nai B’rith Youth Organization, a century-old Jewish youth charity, is tweaking its fund-raising approach to survive the recession.

Jacob Berkman, who reported recently on how the Birthright Israel Foundation was changing its fund raising, writes on the Fundermentalist blog that the B’nai B’rith group is asking its regional chapters to raise donations.

That’s a departure for the group, which has traditionally raised its $16-million budget through the national office and from local Jewish federations.

But now the B’nai B’rith group is working with 20 chapters to set up local “friends of BBYO” networks and alumni networks, says Mr. Berkman. Last year, the nonprofit organization raised $250,000 locally through such efforts; this year, it hopes to raise an additional $400,000.

“We are going very grass roots,” Matt Grossman, the charity’s executive director, told Mr. Berkman. “Most BBYO programs don’t need to raise more than $50,000 or $100,000, depending on their federation allocation. We don’t need a lot of million-dollar gifts on the local level. We need a lot more people giving reasonable amounts.”

What do you think of the new approach? Do you know of other charities encouraging their local chapters to raise money for the first time?