Читать книгу Effective Fundraising - F. Warren McFarlan - Страница 11

Solicitation is of enormous importance to most social enterprises regardless of size and type. The parish church or temple, for example, lives almost completely on members' donations. It is not unusual for 90% of all funds for the year to come from an annual stewardship campaign. Additionally, the funds for special projects for the church, like an elevator acquisition or rebuilding of a bell tower, come from capital campaigns rooted in members' philanthropy. Members must ask other members to make this happen.

In a different vein are schools and universities that have operational cash flow streams such as student tuition, sports contest admission fees, art museum and theatre admission fees, and so forth. These streams are normally inadequate to cover all operating expenses. Large schools and universities (like Exeter and Harvard, for example), therefore, often have large endowments (the result of philanthropy of previous generations) plus large development departments to raise current funds. Endowment income plus annual gifts are how these institutional budgets are balanced. Additionally, these institutions have very active planned-giving programs, which extend the reach of the institution plus periodic multibillion-dollar capital campaigns. Survival of the institution often depends on growing these sources of funds. Alumni and trustees, of course, are critical to the effective making of asks bolstered by both the institution leadership and their development professionals. The lay solicitors who believe deeply in the organization's mission, however, add a special credibility to the fundraising effort.

Similarly, institutions like Boston's Museum of Fine Arts have both annual fund campaigns and capital campaigns. In addition, however, they also have potential donors of individual pieces or collections of art who must be courted. Someone who has given objects to a museum has a credibility that few administrators can have. A final example, nonprofit hospitals depend on capital campaigns for new facilities and research funds. Grateful patients make very useful trustees and are invaluable for making the ask.

Some social enterprises are prosperous, like well-endowed schools, whereas others, like small house museums, already cash strapped, are currently seeing philanthropy dropping at a 7% rate per year because of the difficulty in developing a persuasive sales pitch in this new charitable unfriendly tax world. For some institutions, this funding shortfall is so severe that it means bankruptcy or forced merger. For example, all across New England, small colleges and museums have been closing or merging over the past decade, driven by cash flow shortfalls both in the face of new tax laws and being out of favor with the donors as a charity of choice.

The same consolidation has been going on in the nonprofit hospital sector for the past 30 years. Overlay a map of the hospitals in New England 30 years ago on a map of today's hospitals and one sees a war zone with massive casualties and few survivors. Philanthropic success can literally ensure survival in one's current form or be a key to major transformation or strategic alliance. The ask, in short, is a vital function, and people must be willing to be trained to do it. A social enterprise board needs many skills to exercise its responsibilities effectively. Fundraising skills of its members as givers, connectors, and askers, however, often are critical ones. Consequently, the timeworn phrase GGG (give, get, or get off) is still operative for the board members of many social enterprises. Both givers and connecters at the very top of an organization are essential to the health and survival of many social enterprises. The author was recently accused wryly of being a shameless proponent and advocate of stewardship at the top. It is a sin he will readily confess to.