The continuing challenge of fundraising

According to a recent article in Contribute magazine entitled 'Donor drain: As mistrust grows, loyalty goes,' most nonprofits post an average gain of just 10 percent each year: they lose 52 percent of their donations, which is then offset by a 62 percent gain in new or upgraded donations.

Author Tracie McMillan equates this to 'pouring a river of money into a nearly open drain.'

There are two main points that this article suggests that non-profits must embrace in order to reduce the 'churn' of donors.

First is transparency in accounting and accountability about the community impact contributions make.

And the second is manking sure that donors are adequately thanked.

While United Way of Summit County suffers from some of the same loss of donors that other non-profit organizations face, we take great care in being full transparent with our finances and we strive to appropriately thank all our donors.

So, as we continue to reach out to new donors and increase the money available to our affiliated agencies to help them do more of what they do and do it better, your United Way of Summit County will always work to ensure we keep as many of our current donors as we can.

To read the article in Contribute Magazine, click here.

Shelter for the homeless

By Bill Lilley Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, Dec 08, 2007

Representatives of about 50 agencies met in Akron Friday to discuss what nearly every group is witnessing: A sharp increase in the number of people seeking shelter.

The Battered Women's Shelter, which has a capacity for 66, reported a significant recent increase and currently is housing at least 90.

Access Inc., a homeless shelter for women and children, reports a 450 percent increase in requests for shelter since July.

The Interfaith Hospitality Network is housing 32 percent more people than last year at this time.

The Haven of Rest is operating above its capacity with nearly 220 men and women per day.

''It's a different problem we have today, especially with the foreclosures,'' said Jerry Egan, manager of the comprehensive planning division for the city of Akron.

The seed for the meeting was planted in mid-November when it became evident to Debra Manteghi that there was a sudden and desperate increase indemand for housing for low-income families.

''I got five phone calls and numerous e-mails in just one day — that's unprecedented,'' said Manteghi, district homeless education liaison for the Akron Public Schools. ''Usually, I can get people who need help into shelters, but all the shelters were full at that time.

''I felt terrible. I had people crying about their situation. I talked to desperate fathers. People — entire families — were living in cars and we had no place to send them because the shelters already had unusually high waiting lists.''

Inspired dialogue

That situation inspired Manteghi to initiate dialogue with other community agencies. The result was Friday's 90-minute meeting, the first of what is expected to be a series.

Several problems cited by participants as causing the sharp increase were:
Home foreclosures.
Closing of subsidized public housing projects.
Decrease in subsidies to landlords who provide housing for low-income families — a program known as Section 8.
Lack of adequately paying jobs.

''It's a 20-foot hole and we've been given a 10-foot ladder,'' said Sylvia Hines of Access.

Reopening shelter?

Pat McGrath, executive director for Catholic Social Services of Summit County, and Egan from the city explained that reopening a temporary shelter in the Ocasek Government Office Building parking area isn't practical today.

''After 9/11, we simply couldn't do that again,'' McGrath said.

Sleeping in garage

That effort ran from Nov. 1 through March 31 for four years. The Salvation Army donated 120 cots and mattresses for people sleeping in the parking garage of the state office building. The cots were torn down by 6 a.m. each day and then put up again after 6 p.m.

The Salvation Army provided one hot meal per day. The program reached its highest total — 130 — in the first year.

''We knew it was going to end because of the construction of the new Haven of Rest,'' McGrath said. ''The economy also picked up at that point in the mid-1990s in the Akron area.''

The problem, although it didn't go away, appeared to have at least leveled out.

Until this fall.

Looking for solutions

Several suggestions for possible avenues to a solution were forwarded by agency leaders in the last 10 minutes of the meeting.

That gave Lois Foster of the United Way hope that a definitive plan of attack is possible.

''There were a lot of good suggestions,'' Foster said. ''What we need to do now is pare the suggestions down to what is viable and get back together soon.''

Foster said the United Way's Basic Needs Council will set up the next meeting. It is expected to be within 30 days. Additional leaders from social service agencies are expected to be invited.

''If we wait longer than that,'' Foster said, ''this whole thing could be doomed. And we can't afford to lose in this battle.''

That gave hope to Sue Pierson, too.

She is vice president of InfoLine — which played host to Friday's meeting — and also is chair of the Continuum of Care for the Homeless.

Akron 'pulls together'

''I was incredibly pleased with the turnout,'' Pierson said. ''What it says is that Akron, as usual, pulls together when we have a problem.

''That's one of the incredible things about this community. And it makes me feel great to be a part of this and gives me hope that we can help more people in more ways.''

Bill Lilley can be reached at 330-996-3811 or blilley@thebeaconjournal.com.

In the cold

Below is the text from an editorial in today's (12/07/07) Akron Beacon Journal and available on Ohio.com.

The community has an obligation to protect the homeless

Published on Friday, Dec 07, 2007

When the weather turns cold, shelters and social service agencies usually expect a spike in the number of homeless people who seek relief from the harsh elements. It is predictable. Park benches and doorways offer no protection against sleet and snow.

Still, a higher-than-usual level of need for shelter and assistance in Summit County this fall has the shelters and service agencies concerned. They report a dramatic increase in the number of people seeking shelter. The 100-bed facility for men at the Haven of Rest Mission is now putting out mats at night to accommodate the overflow. Other shelters likely are straining to provide emergency help for those in need. Shelter operators and agency officials say the situation has not been as acute since the garage under the Ocasek Building in downtown Akron was pressed into temporary service early in the 1990s.

The long, dark nights of winter are here, and there's urgency to the plight of residents who have no place to go. The hope is that an improved capacity to share information will enable the service organizations more efficiently to direct the homeless to centers in the community where they can get the appropriate protection from the cold.

It is reassuring, meanwhile, that the United Way of Summit County and InfoLine have scheduled a public meeting today for the agencies on the frontlines to figure out the dimensions of the problem and the causes behind the upsurge.

United Way of Summit County Seeks Outstanding Volunteer Stories

United Way of Summit County Volunteer Center is seeking stories of volunteers, individuals and/or groups, who inspire by example to celebrate during its 7th Annual Volunteer Celebration. This year’s theme is “Volunteers…Priceless.”

The Celebration will be held Thursday, May 1, 2008 at St. Joseph's Family Center, 610 W. Exchange Street in Akron. This event celebrates outstanding volunteer efforts of individuals and groups in our community. The week of April 27 through May 3, 2008 has been designated National Volunteer Week.

As part of the festivities, various “Volunteer Stories” of individuals or groups who have displayed extraordinary volunteer services within organizations and/or within their own neighborhood will be acknowledged. Stories must be submitted by 3 p.m., Thursday, January 10, 2008. Volunteer Story Submission Forms are available by contacting the United Way of Summit County at 330-762-7601 or by visiting our website at http://www.uwsummit.org/.

Cindy Kellett of the Akron Art Museum, and chair of the Volunteer Celebration Committee, said, “It’s a natural that we get stories from many non-profit organizations about those wonderful people who volunteer so much of their time to those organizations and we love hearing those stories. But this year, we also hope that people will use this as a chance to celebrate and honor individuals who give of themselves in their neighborhoods. For example, if you know of someone who regularly shovels snow or rakes the leaves of a neighbor for free, those are the type of stories that we would really love to hear about as well.”

“The individuals in our community who volunteer reach above and beyond to give back to all of us,” said Bob Kulinski, President, United Way of Summit County. “This community has enjoyed a rich legacy of caring volunteers for generations, and we are very proud to honor them.”

United Way of Summit County improves lives by mobilizing community assets for health and human services. For more information on any program or to volunteer, call the office at (330) 762-7601, visit our website at www.uwsummit.org, or write to us at United Way of Summit County, 90 N. Prospect St., P.O. Box 1260, Akron, Ohio 44309-1260.

Philanthropy gets serious for some companies

Growing number are making donations from revenue, not from profit
By Drew Armstrong
Inc.com

With the holidays gearing up, companies will soon start preaching about "the season of giving," in hopes that their products will be the ones customers put under the tree at Christmas. But some companies have made the giving spirit a part of their year-round operations and have turned the idea on its head — making good deeds and charity a part of their business plans, and donating revenue to non-profits that matter to their CEOs, employees and customers.

Last year, philanthropic giving in the United States grew 6 percent to $260.28 billion, according to data by the Chicago-based Giving USA Foundation. While corporate giving made up only 5.3 percent of that total in 2005, it represented a 22.5 percent increase from the previous year — in large part due to the outpouring following the South Asia tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

Most of these gifts go to charities and foundations — the usual routes for philanthropic contributions. But a growing number of companies have taken their philanthropy a step further, not in how much they give, but in how they do it. Instead of just making donations, they’re making philanthropy a core part of the company's mission. With each item they sell, a portion of the revenue automatically goes to the company’s chosen cause, often a specific non-profit that has become a de facto partner.

According to Dwight Burlingame, associate executive director at Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy — which wrote the Giving USA study — the old style of corporate giving is now almost matched by this new brand of corporate philanthropy, which he estimates at a near-equal 5.2 percent of total philanthropic contributions.

Most corporate giving today is focused on, 'How can I do good at the same time I do well for the company?'" Burlingame says.

For companies following the new charitable path, that means finding causes that relates directly to their products and helps tie customers' philanthropic values to the companies'. It also lets consumers combine their shopping with their philanthropy — important, since not everybody has the time to spend hours searching out a charity that fits their passions, or wants to receive reams of junk mail asking for contributions.

Outdoor gear manufacturer Patagonia helped pioneer the trend, and now gives away 1 percent of sales to environmental causes. Ethos Water, purchased by Starbucks in 2005, gives away 5 cents of each bottled-water sale to clean drinking water programs in developing nations such as Bangladesh and Honduras. Even Internet companies are getting into the act. GoodSearch.com, an Internet search engine, gives 50 percent of its advertising revenue to a huge slate of charities chosen by its users.

It’s important to note that these companies are giving away a percentage of revenue, not profit. That means they’re putting their balance sheet more at risk than an organization where giving is dependent on making money for its owners first. “I think customers are pretty savvy, and they smell a fraud a mile away,” says Kim Jordan, whose New Belgium Brewing Company gives away $1 of every barrel of beer sold to local causes like care for kids with learning and developmental disabilities. “If [corporate philanthropy] turns out to be a hollow promise, there’s huge backlash. And that kind of thing gets found out eventually.”

With more companies than ever jumping onto the branded philanthropy bandwagon — you can buy a pink food mixer made by KitchenAid to support breast-cancer awareness for $299.95 — customers are likely to pay closer attention than ever to the sales pitch. To make sure they’re not just buying into a marketing gimmick, consumers need to check the fine print.

To make that easier, one organization brands philanthropy-involved products with the “One Percent for the Planet,” label, which promises that one percent of the product’s revenue will go toward environmental causes. One Percent for the Planet has about 450 member companies, up from just 90 a year and a half ago, says executive director Terry Kellogg. Mostly made up of small and midsize businesses, the group also allows bigger companies to join with specific branded product lines, like hats and shirts from clothing maker Volcom’s “v.co-logical” label.

While these companies are giving away a share of their revenue, their generosity hasn't exactly been bad for business either. Casey Sheahan, Patagonia’s president and CEO, explains the company’s philosophy: “Every time we do good, we end up making money.” Along with food company Newman’s Own, which gives away 100 percent of its profits to charity through owner Paul Newman, Patagonia helped lead this new wave of company philanthropy. In 1985, the company decided to give 10 percent of profits as an “earth tax,” to offset the resources the company used. As Patagonia grew, that number turned into 1 percent of revenues, and to date, the company has given over $26 million to environmental causes.

“This is in large part enlightened self-interest,” Sheahan says. “To have a business, our customers need to have wild places to recreate…. There’s no business to be done on a dead planet.”But it also helps the company appeal to its nature-loving customers, when it comes down to choosing products from a wealth of competing outdoor clothing makers. “We see it as a tie-breaker,” Sheahan says. To that end, the company has started looking for other ways to grow the philanthropy brand. A few years ago, they switched to all-organic cotton, a risky move that they weren’t sure would pan out, because of a shortage of suppliers. The move was a success, and other manufacturers — including Nike — have since followed suit. Customers, meanwhile, have responded by picking up the items in droves.

Others have started to follow Patagonia's lead, according to the Center on Philanthropy's Burlingame. “Today, almost all of the giving is thought of strategically as, ‘How can it increase my brand recognition?’”
GoodSearch.com has done philanthropy branding one better, making giving its entire identity. The company has partnered with Yahoo, which lets GoodSearch borrow its technology on the site so that Web searchers are using the exact same tool they would at Yahoo.com. But instead of just clicking and surfing, users choose a charity from a list of thousands that have registered with the site.

Each time the user searches the Internet, half of GoodSearch’s advertising revenue gets funneled to the charity of their choice. So far, GoodSearch has registered around 20,000 charities and is growing at a steady clip — donating thousands of dollars to charities ranging from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to the Elephant Sanctuary.

“Companies are finding that they can grow their businesses by being socially responsible," says GoodSearch co-founder and president Ken Ramberg, who also founded job search engine JobTrak and eventually sold it to Monster.com. "That’s generating interest in their products where they may not have had it before. Sure, they may be giving a percentage away to charity, but their overall revenue is growing."

GoodSearch's motto? "Why wouldn't you use it?"

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