Benevon Weblog

Good news in Oklahoma

In its 25 years of providing food for the people of Oklahoma, the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma has never received a gift like the one it received last fall. A week after their fundraising event, a donor stepped up with a million dollar donation over five years, and the donor's colleague contributed another $100,000. The food bank is in its third year of active coaching with Raising More Money, and we couldn't be happier for their ability to connect with these major gift donors. And the timing couldn't have been better. Like many food banks, the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma has been in overdrive providing for hurricane victims, as well as for residents.

"This pledge comes at one of the most challenging times for the Food Bank," said Rodney Bivens, the executive director. "Though this gift will do much for us, we still need the community's assistance to continue 'Fighting Hunger...Feeding Hope.' The demand is greater than it's ever been especially since Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma wreaked havoc across the Southeast. We are still helping evacuees living in transition in Oklahoma."

According to the food bank, it provides meals to 56,000 Oklahomans every week. The generous donation will now allow the food bank to increase regional delivery to those in need throughout the 45,000 square mile service area and to feed more seniors and children throughout central and western Oklahoma.

Designer kids

We came across a story from Bloomberg News a couple of months ago on how rich teens are now snatching up $1,500 purses and $480 cashmere track suits. According to the Harrison Group, a Connecticut market-research firm, materialism is way up among the 13 to 24 age group. In their poll of 500 people in that age group, two fashion labels--Armani and Gucci--joined their "brand-love index." Other labels in this index include Microsoft, Apple Computer, and Abercrombie & Fitch.

(The article was reprinted in The Seattle Times.)

We find it interesting that stories like this, which get a full page in the "Living" section of the newspaper, seem more "feature worthy" than stories about teen philanthropy. Occasionally, we do see features about extraordinary kids who have taken on a purpose greater than themselves, but those articles seem few and far between.

This isn't to say that the same kids (and parents) who buy designer goods aren't also charitable. It just seems incongruous to think that kids who lust after the latest designer fashion accessory are also tuned in to the less fortunate in society and in using their excess funds to make a difference in the world. Can you imagine a time when abundance channeled into generosity is more interesting than abundance channeled into over-indulgence?

Either way, this trend shows a whole new realm of possibility for nonprofits. If these kids are begging their parents to buy them $900 purses to go with their "socialite" pink cashmere track suits made by Juicy Couture (a unit of Liz Claiborne), why can't they beg their parents for $500 to help homeless or abused children?

Are we just being idealistic? What's your opinion? Please write us at info@raisingmoremoney.com.

Our Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions

We here at Raising More Money believe that fundraising is 90% science and 10% art. Accordingly, we have established a number of benchmarks for groups to reach on their path to sustainable funding. Based on "mea culpas" from our workshop alumni, here are ten suggested resolutions your organization could adopt this year.

Wishing you fundraising success in 2006.

In support of the American Red Cross

Raising More Money has been working with many chapters of the American Red Cross for a long time and is inspired by how much they do for millions of Americans in their darkest hours of need. In this podcast (four minutes and forty seconds), Terry Axelrod offers her perspective on the American Red Cross.

We hope the upcoming hearings of the Senate Finance Committee are productive in strengthening the American Red Cross, whose mission is so vital and whose chapters are so dedicated to being the nation's safety net.

Press opportunity for nonprofits

Here's a great opportunity for nonprofits to share a little bit of themselves. Reporter Jackie O'Neal writes a weekly column as charity editor for BellaOnline, The Voice of Women, and she is looking to interview key individuals at local and national charities on upcoming events and updates, news, promotions, etc.

For an example of their current listings in this section, go to http://www.bellaonline.com/site/charity.

According to their Web site, BellaOnline is community of women who live all around the globe. Each is a writer for the site. The Web site states, "Overall, BellaOnline aims to provide high-quality, helpful, trustworthy content, at no cost, in a low advertisement environment for our millions of visitors."

The reporter asks for leads by Jan. 31 but says she'll accept ongoing suggestions. To reach Jackie O'Neal, e-mail her at charity@bellaonline.com or call (609) 441-0115.

A very charitable year

We feel everyone is getting a little tired of hearing about donor fatigue, so we've declared that topic dead for now. Instead, we want to celebrate donor compassion! Here's the latest on the generosity front.

Some charities not connected to disaster-relief efforts told The Washington Post in a Jan. 9 article that last year's catastrophes, particularly Hurricane Katrina, actually helped fundraising efforts because they heightened awareness of non-profit groups that aid people in need. The article, "Despite Predictions, Charitable Donors Just Keep Giving," is available to registered subscribers on The Washington Post Web site.

"I think it's going to be a banner year," Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, told The Washington Post. In a recent survey, the publication found that many of the nation's biggest charities are raising as much or more than they did in the late 1990s, when the strong economy and booming stock market boosted charitable donations 50% from 1996 to 2000.

Added Eugene Tempel, executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, "It's so logical to think that there would be this donor fatigue, but there's not much evidence of it."

In one corner of the world--Stamford, Conn.--the local paper, The Advocate, found donors to be very generous in 2005. According to a Dec. 27 article, individuals and businesses dug deeper to support local organizations. Both the United Way of Norwalk & Wilton and the YMCA of Norwalk raised more money in 2005 than in 2004.

"While there was more competition (for philanthropic donations), there was more giving," said Christopher Bruhl, president of SACIA, the Business Council.

Nancy Roberts, president of the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy, said she thought the natural disasters would draw money away from community-based nonprofit organizations, but she has seen no proof of that.

"I'm not hearing from nonprofits that giving is down," Roberts said. "It could be that people are giving deeper and sending to natural disasters as well as charities…but we don't have that data right now."

If you have stories to share on donor compassion, please write to us at info@raisingmoremoney.com.

Seeds of hope

We work with so many inspirational groups that it's hard for us to imagine the world without these wonderful nonprofits. This week we are highlighting the work of The Southside Community Land Trust in Providence, RI--a great example of turning trash into treasure. During the 1970s, Providence's Southside was littered with vacant property and contaminated land that no one wanted. In 1981, a group of students from Brown University converted one of those lots into a model "sustainable house" and organic farm.

Today, twenty-five years later, the Southside Community Land Trust has reclaimed five acres of once blighted land; helped fifteen schools start their own gardens and gardening clubs; started a farm on fifty preserved acres for teaching sustainable farm practices; established the Broad Street Farmer's Market, the only one in the state to accept Food Stamps/EBT; and assisted in the start-up of several minority-owned farm businesses.

Kate Hitmar, the group's outreach and development director, said it's so heartening to see children really get into gardening and to walk around events watching people enjoy plates of homegrown roasted vegetables and farm-fresh organic eggs.

For more on their story, click here.

A salute to five-year groups

Raising More Money ended 2005 with 70 new groups who joined our Five-Year Sustainable Funding Program. This program was launched about a year ago so we could stay in a constant dialog with our groups and support them in fulfilling on a future that they had never before thought possible--sustainable funding. We acknowledge these 70 groups for recognizing that sustainable funding is within their reach and for trusting us to help them get there.

During our Five-Year Sustainable Funding Program Kickoff Call on Jan. 3, various groups started 2006 thinking big. Most said they wanted an endowment or to launch a capital campaign. We are so excited to be starting off the new year helping nonprofits reach their dreams.

Happy New Year

This first week of the year is when many of you may be coming back to reality saying, "Oh my gosh, we have to start this whole fundraising cycle over again." Fortunately for those of you following the Raising More Money Model, you'll be starting the year with multiple-year pledges and it won't be so painful. In this brief audio clip, we get you in the mood for sustainable funding with an upbeat message from Terry Axelrod and a preview of some Raising More Money New Year's fundraising resolutions, such as having your Point of Entry Events be sizzling and having one every month of the year.

We'll be posting our Top Ten New Year's Resolutions in the Jan. 19 issue of the E-New$.

Best wishes for a prosperous 2006.

Click here to listen to the audio clip.