K-State Proud

I’m a little disappointed with the K-State Proud campaign this year. Don’t misunderstand me, I think it’s a great idea. I’ve donated both years and I think that t-shirts really entice students to donate. I also think it’s a great idea that it’s students helping students. Overall, it’s a great campaign and helps a lot of students in need.

However, this year I don’t think it was a good idea to put those huge banners all over campus. They could have told us how great the campaign did by putting it in the collegian or maybe putting posters all over campus. Instead, they put HUGE banners on several buildings on campus. In the last two weeks I’ve noticed a few more as I’ve been on campus. While this is a great idea for letting us know how well the campaign did, I don’t agree with it. I know those banners couldn’t have been cheap and I don’t think that it was a good idea to spend the money on them. I don’t think that getting the message out that way is the best route. Even if the banners were donated I think the money from those donations should have gone towards the cause instead of advertising how well the campaign did. I know I’m not the only one who thinks this because last week I saw a message in the fourum asking how much the banners cost the campaign. Obviously, at least one other student thinks the banners were a waste of funds. I know that when I saw them my first thought was how much money it took from the scholarships for students. I know the campaign is new and getting the message out is important but I don’t think this helped the campaign for those people who are wondering where the money went to. The banners say where the money went but they don’t say how much was spent on advertising and things like that. Now I’m wondering how much money was really raised and where ALL of it went?

A Night of Too Many Stars

So it seems as if Comedy Central has jumped on the bandwagon for TV fundraisers.  I was skeptical about watching it but since nothing else was on tonight (Sunday) I decided to watch a few minutes of it and I ended up watching most of it.  They’re raising money for autism and there were so many famous people I couldn’t even begin to name all of them on here.

I thought it was a nice change from most telefunds because it was all focused on comedy.  It wasn’t a bunch of famous people attempting to sing or perform stunts, or try bad circus acts.  Two of my favorite parts were when  Will Ferrall impersonating President Bush and when Steve Carell showed how $100 could be spent.  They also had the Blue Man Group, several cameos from numerous stars, and it was all hosted by Jon Stewart.

But not all of it was jokes and laughs.  They also showed clips of families with children that have autism and how they struggle financially.  It reminds viewers that these stars are trying to help people who could really use the donations to help their children.

E-mail Campaign

I thought I’d add to my presentation by giving part 3 of 6 from the echoinggreen.org/blog/putting-the-fun-back-in-fundraising about E-mail campaigns.  I didn’t really like the idea of sending e-mails and asking for money but this blog gives some good advice to fundraisers about e-mail campaigns.  Here are a few highlights:

It’s also a way to build relationships

It suggests using something in the news to create the subject of the e-mail.  That way readers know that the e-mail and subject are also current.

It emphasizes keeping a privacy a priority.  Everyone is concerned about their privacy and if you guarantee privacy your potential donors then they’re more likely to have confidence in your organization.

The blog gives great suggestions for when to send the e-mails as well.  It recommends times when people are more likely to check their e-mails.

I think the most important part is the last point in the blog: don’t ask for money in the first e-mail! “ You wouldn’t ask for money the first time you met someone, and you shouldn’t in the first time you email someone either.”  I agree with this and I think that non-profits should follow this suggestion as well.  I also believe it ruins the relationship you’re trying to build when all you do is ask for money.  That’s not a very good relationship if all you want is money.  You should build the relationship and build in trust and confidence before you start asking for money

More on Social Entrepreneurship

Google Alerts strikes again. I tripped over this blog entry about a new book, Forces for Good, which also discusses “The Power of Unreasonable People.” Majority of discussion about these books relates to nonprofit organizations modeling them after “their for-profit counterparts.” Interesting read. Check it out.

— Prof. Harvey

Nonprofit Exeutive Salaries

Though we haven’t spent much of any time in class discussing the salaries of nonprofit executives, and how they impact giving/contributions/fundraising-in-general, I came across this online article from one of my Google Alerts. A Portland, Oregon, TV news station looked at the salaries of nonprofit executives as part of an investigative journalism piece. An interesting read of how an audit can change executive’s perspectives. The article, as expected, is a little critical, but a rather interesting look at just how much salaries may impact administrative expenses. As many of my students know, I’ve discussed administrative costs, efficiency, and accountability ad nauseum in our discussions about the economics and and ethics in philanthropy.

Something to think about. — Prof. Harvey

Why Such a Small Percentage??

I’m new to the non-profit sector, especially when it comes to fundraising. Our talks in class have made me think about the small percentage money from fundraisers that actually goes towards the cause. Like most people, I thought the entire amount was donated to what it was being raised for. I had no idea that such a small percentage (1% – maybe 10%) actually goes to charity. I can understand why people don’t trust fundraisers because they see that very little of their donation goes towards the cause. So my post this week is mostly me asking two questions and posing some solutions. Please feel free to add to it and correct me where I’ve misunderstood.

1. What I don’t understand, is where all the rest of the money goes? We have talked about how if a person was hired to raise the money then some of the funds go to that person. But if the fundraiser is put on by people already involved with the organization, then where does around 90% of all the money go? I understand if some of it goes towards paying for bills (electricity, water, rent/mortgage on a building, etc) or to pay for the things that went into the fundraiser (caterers, renting a building, buying food for a blood drive, etc) but if several thousand dollars are raised then I think that’s more than enough for bills. I can also understand if the money goes towards paying employees. But if the organization is small then I don’t understand. I’m an unpaid intern at the Manhattan Arts Center and the marketing/education director, secretary, and electrionics people are all part time. I also think the director is too. So if a lot of money is raised for a small non-profit then I would think more than a small percentage would go towards the cause because there are less people to pay.
What I would like to see, is non-profits posting exactly how much of the funds (dollar amount or the percentage) goes towards what. It could help donors feel better about how their money is being used. As of now, their money could be being used for anything. It could be going straight into someone’s pocket or to help the organization. Showing where the money goes could reveal money being used for bad things. I do understand that people could lie about where funds are going but I think it would be a good step forward.

2. My second question is: are there any organizations where 100% of what’s donated actually goes towards the cause? I’m going to assume that all the blood donated to the Red Cross goes to help people, even though it might not be used it’s still there for people who need it. I’m wondering about fund raisers that just raise money. In my point of view, I can’t see why every organization has at least one fundraiser a year has all of its funds (100%) go straight to the cause. If the organization is honest about where all the money goes on its other fundraisers then this one would help with donor relations. Donors might be more likely to donate to this fundraiser because they know their money will actually help the cause. I would be more likely to donate if I knew that all of my donation goes to where I intended it to go.