Raising Money to Aid the Needy: Tips From Social-Service Charities
April 3, 2011 | Read Time: 2 minutes
- Stay in touch. A donor’s focus will drift if he or she isn’t receiving up-to-date information—not just solicitations—in mailings and on the Web. “The donors have to be part of what you’re doing almost on a daily basis,” says John Ashmen, president of the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions.
- Remind supporters that the needs are not going away. Lincoln Park Community Shelter, in Chicago, tells donors that it takes an average of 18 months from the time a person loses his or her job until that person turns to the shelter for help.
- Adapt your fund-raising message to an improving economy. Arlington Life Shelter, in Texas, touted its efforts to meet basic needs during the downturn. Now the charity emphasizes its efforts to help clients find jobs. “We’re always riding that thin line of how to market ourselves,” says Becky Orander, the charity’s executive director.
- Work harder. Human Solutions, in Portland, has been able to maintain donations even amid greater local competition for donations, in part by increasing the number of annual fund-raising events from two to five.
- Explore creative uses of technology. Urban Ministries of Durham, in North Carolina, received donated services from a local advertising firm to create Spent, an online game that shows what it’s like to live in poverty.
- Look for other ways to generate revenue. The Denver Rescue Mission signed a respite-care contract with the city three years ago that pays the charity $40 per night for 24 beds to house homeless people leaving hospitals. “We get paid for those beds whether they’re used or not,” says Brad Meuli, the shelter’s president.
- Wait for better days. Many foundations base their grant-making budgets on a three-year average of their assets. “When we get to the point where they have three strong years that they’re averaging, foundations will look at raising their support for us and other human-service organizations,” says Brenda Roush, vice president of development at the Gathering Place, a drop-in shelter for women and families in Denver.
