Milestones in Nonprofit Fundraising: Fascinating Facts

For your pleasure and amusement, here’s a very brief history of nonprofit fundraising from colonial times to the present:

1644: Harvard University kicks things off. Four New England colonies instituted “College Corne,” asking families to contribute a peck of wheat to support Harvard. For over 10 years, these contributions funded the entire teaching staff.

1847: The first documented response to a crisis. Americans donated generously to help Ireland during the devastating potato blight. 

1891: Here come the bells. A Salvation Army captain put out a large pot at a San Francisco ferry landing, launching the tradition of Christmas kettles that spread all over the country and continues to this day.

1901: Cookbooks for causes. The first fund-raising cookbook was The Way to a Man’s Heart. It was a fundraising tool for the Jewish Settlement House in Milwaukee. The initial printing in 1901 sold out, and the book ultimately sold more than 2 million copies. 

1902: The origins of the thrift store. The first Goodwill store was started when founder Reverend Edgar Helms started collecting used household goods and clothing from wealthy families, hired poor people to make repairs, and resold the items to raise money for the organization. 

1918: First major national fundraising campaign. The war generated tremendous national unity. The Red Cross tapped this for the benefit of its international work, raising more than $400 million dollars during World War One.

1950: The Salvation Army launches the first direct mail appeal. The Commander in Los Angeles posed this question: "Could we mail to a million households in Southern California this Christmas?" They scoured every directory in wealthy areas, mailed a million pieces, and raised more money than anyone thought possible. 

1952: Congress establishes the discounted postal rate for nonprofits. This new rate made direct mail more economical and launched a fundraising method that floods your mailboxes to this day. 

1963: The U.S. Postal Service creates zip codes. Zip codes made it possible for fundraisers to target mail and select names based on census tracts. In tandem with computer databases, this made direct mail fundraising much more effective.

1970: Fundraising turns to heart-wrenching stories of people in need. Here’s one tagline: "All she wants for Christmas is a red coat with gold buttons." Not only did that appeal secure hundreds of thousands of dollars, but the Salvation Army was inundated with red coats.

2014: The Ice Bucket Challenge goes viral. This social media campaign centering around dumping a bucket of ice water on someone's head promoted awareness of the disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerorsis (ALS) - and raised $115 million for research.

From pecks of wheat to cookbooks to ice buckets – what a long crazy journey it’s been, and continues to be.

Just Showing Up Isn’t Enough: Defining Your Board’s Job

Your Board of Directors is the heart and soul of your nonprofit organization – carrying the responsibility for prudent fiscal management, overseeing programs that fulfill your mission, and defining organizational focus. But board members cannot do their job if they don’t know their roles and responsibilities.  

So here are some basics of the job:

• Mission: The board is responsible for defining the organization’s mission and what it strives to accomplish. This mission serves as a guide to organizational and program planning, board and staff decision-making, volunteer initiatives, fundraising and outreach, and setting priorities for the future.

• Community representation: Your board should represent your community and your clients as you make decisions, and ensure that the membership of the board and its committees is appropriately balanced.

• Public outreach: Board members serve as the organization’s ambassadors and advocates, along with overseeing an effective public relations program.

• Program Management: The board’s fundamental role is to assure that current and proposed programs are consistent with the mission and of high quality. This also includes developing and approving governance policies in regard to program.

• Fundraising: An organization can only be effective if it has funds to meet its purposes. Board members should set fundraising goals, help develop effective fundraising plans, make annual gifts, provide connections to potential donors and other financial resources, and participate actively in annual fundraising events and campaigns.

• Planning: The board works in partnership with staff to evaluate strategies and plan for the future. The planning process enables the board and staff to translate the mission of the organization into feasible, measureable goals and objectives.

• Legal Compliance: This includes monitoring and updating personnel policies, your policy and procedures manual, and health and safety plan; adherence to local, state, and federal laws (including tax reporting, personnel, health, safety, labor); and adherence to provisions of your bylaws and articles of incorporation.

• Financial Management: This encompasses monitoring and understanding the budget, ensuring cash-management controls are in place, overseeing investments and insurance, ensuring that revenues are stable, and encouraging cultivation of resources that are sustainable for the long term. 

• Executive Director Supervision: Every board should do an annual performance review in order to support the Executive Director, strengthen the relationship between board and staff, and plan for the future. The board also makes final decisions when hiring or firing the chief executive..

• Board Recruitment:  All boards have a responsibility to identify needs in terms of member experience, skills, influence, diversity, and demographics, as well as taking an active role in recruiting new members. Your board is also responsible for properly orienting new board members and periodically assessing board effectiveness.

One of the biggest mistakes nonprofits make is luring people onto a Board by saying all they have to do is show up for a meeting once a month. Problem is, if that’s what you tell them, that’s usually all you’re going to get. If you want more, you need to ask for more. You need to be upfront, honest, and clear about what the job really entails.

Some Thoughts on Gratitude

Thankfulness, thanks, appreciation, recognition, acknowledgment, credit - that's the definition of gratitude according to the dictionary.  

Thanksgiving is a great annual reminder to be grateful for the good things in our lives -- family, friends, home, work. It's also a good time to remember the many nonprofit organizations that have touched our lives and made this world a better place.

Here is my top ten list of nonprofits I plan to recognize, acknowledge, thank, and support this season:

• Planned Parenthood: Planned Parenthood has been providing affordable accessible health services for all women since 1916. Supporting them is one small way to make an important personal and moral statement in today's political climate.
• Soccer Without Borders: I play in a weekly pick-up soccer game. I know how this beautiful game builds confidence, skills, friendship, and community. This nonprofit uses soccer as a safe haven and a vehicle for positive change worldwide, from Oakland to Uganda.
• West Marin Community Land Trust (CLAM): In rural West Marin where I live, CLAM provides desperately needed affordable housing for people who are raising their children and work here.
• Tomales Bay Library Association: When I was a kid, I walked to my local library every Saturday to browse, read, and take out books. As an adult, I still do. I believe that free public libraries are the foundation of community and democracy.
• Point Reyes National Seashore Association: I'm blessed to live right next to amazing forests and beaches and meadows; our national parks preserve these beautiful wild places that touch our souls.
• West Marin Community Services: You may have passed through Point Reyes or Inverness and just thought of these small unincorporated villages as charming tourist destinations, but real people with real needs live here. This organization provides a food bank, emergency services, holiday assistance, and much more.
• Oregon Shakespeare Festival: I am grateful not just for nonprofits that feed people but also those that feed our souls with creative, imaginative, eye-opening art that is moving and thought-provoking.
• J Street Education Fund: J Street is a pro-Israel, pro-peace organization that advocates for an equitable two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Despite all odds, I hope to see this dream realized in my lifetime.
• HIAS: Originally formed to help protect Jews during the 1930's, this agency now helps all of those whose lives are in danger for being who they are - and stands for a world in which refugees find welcome, safety, and freedom.
• The Dance Palace Community Center: The list wouldn't be complete without this nonprofit I founded and ran for 37 years. At its heart, it's about building and sustaining community through recreational, cultural, and social services for people of all ages -- and I'm proud that it continues to do so.

Take a moment to think about those nonprofit organizations that matter to you. And then take a moment to make a contribution so their work can continue. Like me, you'll be glad you did.