Raising Money for Gun Control After a Mass Shooting Might Seem Tone Deaf, but It Worked for One Charity

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence planned to seek donations this past weekend to honor the activist Jim Brady, a former White House press secretary who was grievously wounded in the 1981 attempted assassination of then-president Ronald Reagan. The organization wanted to honor Brady on the anniversary of his death, which was August 4, 2014.

After he was shot, Brady and his wife, Sarah, helped lobby for a federal background-check requirement that became law in 1993.

But the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, combined with a particularly deadly weekend in Chicago, raised a quandary for the organization about whether to proceed.

Brian Lemek, vice president for development at the organization, says some of his colleagues worried that it might seem tone deaf to raise money at a time when many friends and family members of the victims were grieving.

But Lemek thought it was wise to seize the moment, drawing on his experience overseeing fundraising for a group that worked to heal rifts in the Middle East and often found itself faced with violence and conflict just as appeals were going out.

Lemek braced for a backlash and received a few email complaints from supporters. But the appeal did well and has raised more than $100,000.

Donors were allowed to choose between giving to the Brady Center, a 501(c)(3) organization, and be eligible to claim a tax deduction, or to the Brady Campaign, its advocacy arm, and not be eligible. Jaime Bellemare, creative manager, says the majority chose to donate to the advocacy arm.

Sensitive Planning

Lemek says the Brady organization is always careful about how it pitches its messages. Months ago, it conducted tests of two types of appeals to small groups of supporters to figure out what works best. Fundraisers sent appeals to one group immediately after a major shooting. The other group received messages days later. Donors who got an appeal just after a violent event gave more money than those who received one later.

Lemek says even after the tests produced strong results, some of his peers were still concerned the timing would seem insensitive. That’s when Lemek reminded them about his experience as the former director of development and global partnerships at PeacePlayers International. While working on topics related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he found that it was smart to ask for donations while the topic was fresh in the news.

“It took a lot of trial and error, but our experience has been that we can ask right away and do a lot better fundraising. And if we do a lot better fundraising, we can invest in our programs and prevent gun violence,” he says.

Waiting Period

Other nonprofits have taken a different approach. Andy Pelosi, executive director for Keep Guns Off Campus, which focuses on preventing shootings at colleges, says the group sent emails that discussed the El Paso and Dayton shootings but did not make a direct pitch for contributions.

Another group, 50 Miles More, says it does not typically seek donations immediately after shootings.

Tatiana Washington, who is executive director of 50 Miles More and is an incoming first-year student at Trinity Washington University, says nonprofits that advocate for gun control are making sure supporters are informed even if they don’t donate.

“The nature of our organization is grassroots and 100 percent youth-led. We don’t honestly send many emails asking for money,” she says. “A lot of times it’s people who are just frustrated, and they may send smaller donations, which can go a long way.”

Neither organization disclosed how much it received since this past weekend’s shootings.

Advocacy Over Fundraising

Large gun-control groups like Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America elected to focus less on fundraising and more on pushing supporters to contact elected officials on social media. The organizations declined to comment on their fundraising strategies.

Lemek says the Brady Campaign plans to keep making fundraising appeals, but it is also helping organize events, such as protests at the National Rifle Association headquarters.

Pelosi, of Keep Guns Off Campus, says getting supporters to donate and protest is a good start but that little will matter if lawmakers don’t respond to demands for change. “We want evidence-based change, including an assault-weapons ban and national license registering, which is a tough hill to climb, but we think that would make a difference,” he says.

“We need leadership. I don’t know if that’s going to come from this president,” he says, referring to Trump. “We need leadership that doesn’t embolden white-supremacists and other groups. There’s definitely a link between these mass shootings and white supremacy. That isn’t a secret.”

Correction. Due to an editing error, the abstract of this article incorrectly called the Brady organizations “anti-gun.” They are in favor of gun control.