Читать книгу The Community Table - Susan Cole Urano - Страница 9

INTRODUCTION

START WITH a purpose. All fundraising events are based on a great idea, but the decision to undertake the huge amount of work needed to succeed depends on why you do it. Is the cause something you care about? Does the fundraiser align with the mission and work of the organization? Does it have a compelling purpose? Events can be an important component of any nonprofit organization’s fundraising plan, especially if you are looking to build visibility and community. But they are also a lot of work and have the lowest return on investment of any fundraising strategy. This book details how to put on a successful event by highlighting your community’s assets and, on a deeper level, by considering how events can build and strengthen community, especially in small and midsize rural towns.

Bounty on the Bricks was held to raise dollars to feed people. In our region of Appalachia, some people do not have the ability to feed their family on a regular basis and are increasingly dependent on food pantries. Many residents don’t have access to fresh food or possess the skills to prepare a meal from scratch.

Athens County is the poorest county in the state of Ohio. Located in the northern part of the Central Appalachian region of the United States, the county faces many of the same challenges as counties in West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, Tennessee, western Virginia, and North Carolina. The region is still struggling with the costs of historic extraction industries: poor air and water quality, environmental decay, and long-term unemployment. Athens County is a hotbed of opioid and heroin addiction and suffers from their effects on families, babies, the workforce, and health and from the resulting increase in crime.

Athens, a county of about sixty-six thousand people, is the most economically divided county in the state. About 20 percent of our residents and 30 percent of our children live at or below the poverty level. Almost one-third of the population is classified as food insecure; 61 percent do not have handy access to a grocery store.

People are hungry throughout Athens County. In 2013, Feeding America reported approximately 21 percent of Athens County residents were struggling to obtain enough food to feed their family—compared to 15 percent in Ohio and 17 percent in the nation. That means almost 13,820 of our neighbors struggle to put meals on the table each day. The Ohio Association of Foodbanks estimates that food-pantry visits increased in the county by 66 percent between 2006 and 2014. Over half of Athens County children are currently eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, compared to 45 percent in Ohio, according to the National Center for Education. Because children move through the school system, their hunger is more visible than that of adults. More programs exist to feed children during the school year, but during breaks and over the summer, they lose access to this food.

The first year of the fundraiser, a donor sponsored a screening of A Place at the Table, a film about hunger in the United States narrated by the actor Jeff Bridges. The public was invited to see the film the evening prior to the event. Ohio Foodbanks director Lisa Hamler Fugate spoke afterward and facilitated an audience discussion on feeding the hungry in Ohio.

Event volunteer coordinator Liz shared, “I always like to do stuff for the community. I think seeing the movie the first year, A Place at the Table, really changed my perception about hunger and poverty. I have teacher friends who tell me about the kids that go hungry in their classrooms. I think it’s cool that everyone (on the committee) is so willing to help.”

The food thread wove our mission of building a healthy, inclusive community into the idea of presenting a community meal, thereby raising funds for our region’s foodbank. We knew that the foodbank, which supplies over seventeen food pantries in seven counties, was a stable, effective, well-run organization. This gave us the confidence we needed to recommend that proceeds go to support its work. We listened to the staff’s expertise, and the foodbank became a strong partner. We worked closely with the staffs of our other partner foundations to identify and track their funding and to measure its effect on the community.

Fundraisers and nonprofit leaders are always on the prowl for new ideas, new ways to engage donors and community. But this work is important to the health of a community in ways that go beyond the money generated. This book provides specific information on how to put on a successful fundraising event by highlighting community assets and, on a deeper level, considers how this work builds and strengthens the community.

People who work at nonprofits, serve on nonprofit or religious boards, work as professional fundraisers and development staff, lead community change, belong to a community group, or work in philanthropy will benefit from this book. They will learn what is needed to mount a successful event, including when and why to put on a fundraiser, and when not to. Each chapter treats in detail and chronological order a key component in the process. Worksheets are included to help plan an event.

Teamwork is the engine that drives the work of fundraising events. Chapter 1 begins with that engine: How should you choose your people? It describes whom you need to build a strong team of capable community leaders and where to find them. It shares the characteristics of a good team and shows how to build trust and confidence. Good teams develop over time. They solve problems and manage conflict in creative ways that respect all their voices. Their volunteers have fun and celebrate success together!

Chapter 2 looks at the valuable role of volunteers in fundraising success. How do you ask people to give of their time when they are busy? Who is likely to say yes? How will they work together? It outlines how to plan an effective meeting, resolve conflicts, and create an atmosphere of community.

Where do great ideas come from? That is explored in Chapter 3. Where do you find good fundraising ideas? What unique attributes of your community can be used to mount a successful event? How are ideas tested? What approach has the potential to generate both money and goodwill? What ones are inspirational?

Once you have decided on what event to hold, the next step is to draft a realistic and comprehensive budget. How much is needed? What will people pay? What else can boost profits? Chapter 4 deals with income and expenses. What are the possible sources of income? What expenses will you need to consider? What is the value of the event? Who authorizes expenses; who writes the checks? How does money travel through the organization? Who is really accountable?

Chapter 5 focuses on marketing. It explores what media people look at and respond to, and explains the importance of crafting a compelling message. What graphics align with the purpose of your event? Will video enhance your message? How will your community know what happened and who made it happen?

How do you enhance your potential revenue? What other options to capture profit exist? Who will pay for it all? These questions are answered in chapters 6 and 7. Chapter 6 covers the basics of sponsorships and their key role in financial success. Who are likely sponsors and why do we need them? How are they approached and for what amount? What do they get in return? Why shouldn’t they be given everything they ask for? How do you recognize sponsors and thank them for their help in your success? How should you collect their contributions? What is the value of a sponsorship? How should you treat competitive businesses? Can your and your sponsor’s promises be kept?

Most community problems are too big for one organization to solve alone. Often several are working to deal with the same issues. This concept of collaboration can apply to fundraising events. Chapter 7 explores potential partnerships that may enhance and even amplify your success. You’ll learn how to construct a successful collaboration—from letters of agreement to joint celebration.

The next step is staging the event. In Chapter 8, event logistics are treated in detail, including timelines, regulations, location, food, supplies, rentals, permits, sound, and accessibility—the million details that require your attention. Where will guests park? What is your liability? The list can seem endless, but the worksheet contained within the chapter should help a logistics chair sort through the items in order of importance and sequence.

Guests almost always need food and refreshment. Whether you are providing water coolers and granola bars at a 10K race, or serving a seven-course meal with champagne at a formal gala, the best way to welcome and show hospitality to guests is to feed them. Chapter 9 covers food and beverages. What rules and regulations will you have to deal with? What will be served and how? Are warming, cooling, and cooking facilities needed? And, in today’s world, how are special diets taken into consideration?

Chapter 10 explores different ways performers and entertainment can add value to your fundraising event. How do you begin to scout possible entertainers? How much should you pay? Do they require special care? If yes, who is in charge of that? What kind of special equipment might be needed?

Chapter 11 presents ways to tell your story. How do you construct a compelling message? When is the right time to share it? We’ve all been to events where the speakers drone on while our stomachs growl and our eyelids start to droop. What is a realistic attention span for guests? This chapter shows different ways to get your message across at the actual fundraiser.

Chapter 12 offers ways you can increase your profit during an event. It gives specific details about on-site auctions, raffles, the sale of related merchandise, and approaches for soliciting additional donations from your guests.

Chapter 13 explores how to share results and lessons learned and celebrate success. I provide insights and illustrations from past fundraisers and detail the building blocks to mount your own event so as to maximize your values, goals, and intention. I share stories from my thirty years of experience of the ups and downs of community fundraising and include interviews of key committee people, sponsors, foundation partners, and guests.

There is another, often unanticipated outcome of community event fundraising. Sharing a meal with neighbors knits us together in a dense web of support for those in need and enhances our identity as a community. Community fundraising builds relationships; those relationships determine our vitality as a town. An intricately connected community can weather most storms.

What’s good for building community is good for philanthropy. In Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Robert Putnam observes, “volunteering is among the strongest predictors of philanthropy, and vice versa.”¹ “In round numbers, joiners are nearly ten times more generous with their time and money than non-joiners. Social capital is a more powerful predictor of philanthropy than is financial capital.”² Peter Block, in Community: The Structure of Belonging, states, “The context that restores community is one of possibility, generosity, and gifts, rather than one of problem solving, fear, and retribution.”³ Feeling connected allows a new conversation to take place—one focused on possibilities rather than problems. It requires citizens to act authentically and to choose to exercise power as a collective rather than relinquish voice to a select few. This cultivates a space where all voices can be heard and collective decisions made that are in the best interest of the community.

A great fundraiser builds on our community’s assets to lift those who need a little help in this world. In the process we continue to reinforce our dense web of social connection. We celebrate each other’s successes, share our talents, and have fun together. But that’s not all. Lew Felstein, retired director of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, said, “We must learn to view the world through a social capital lens. We need to look at front porches as crime-fighting tools, treat picnics as public health efforts, and see choral groups as occasions of democracy. We will become a better place when assessing the impact of social capital becomes a standard part of decision making.”

Fundraising events can be a recipe to build social capital in a community. They offer citizens a reason to work together, to celebrate their assets, and to shine. The results can be improved food access, stronger relationships, and denser networks and webs of communication. And the “profit” goes way deeper than the money raised. The true profit is a healthier, more positive community that can take pride in its accomplishments. This profit takes our attention away from mere problem solving and leads it toward a celebration of who and where we are as a people.

* * *

EVENTS CAN be an important part of a fundraising plan. But there are good reasons not to do a fundraiser as well. Events don’t usually raise a lot of money compared to individual donations, and they don’t necessarily build loyalty to your organization. One obstacle to your success can be the lack of access to good volunteers! Most events work best with a full team of committed, excited volunteers who will plan the event, raise the sponsorships, sell the tickets, and do the work it takes to “set the table” for your guests. If volunteers are not available, don’t plan a fundraiser.

Don’t hold a fundraiser if your organization is in financial crisis. Successful fundraising events take a long time to plan, usually a year. They enlist a tremendous amount of volunteer and staff time. And they don’t raise the kind of money an organization can generate by directly asking donors and receiving a check. Besides, it’s hard to have fun when in crisis.

The main reason to do a fundraiser is to have fun, raise your visibility, and attract new supporters to your mission. If the board is worried about how the organization will continue to survive, if they have to lay off staff or go out of business, a fundraiser is not the answer.

If you are not in crisis and have a strong core of volunteers and a creative, fun idea, then you’re ready. Now, let’s look at how your idea to raise money aligns with your purpose for the greatest impact!

NOTES

1. Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), 118.

2. Ibid., 120.

3. Peter Block, Community: The Structure of Belonging (Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehner, 2009), 29.