Guiding Vision

Last week on the Super Fundraiser blog I posted a picture of Kermit having his Thanksgiving dinner.  Today I read about shelter dogs in California who were treated to a Thanksgiving meal. (At least they are real dogs, not muppets.)

According the the Orange County Register:

Among the Thanksgiving crowd were 40 canine diners, many of whom were rescued dogs. The oldest of the pack, a 16-year-old terrier, had few teeth but ate plenty of mashed potatoes, Schwartz said.

Of course there were humans in attendance as well, about 300 of them. The event was the annual fundraiser for Rescuing Unwanted Furry Friends (RUFF) and raised $10,000 for the organization.

Chili’s Create a Pepper cause marketing campaign benefits St. Jude Children’s Research Hospitals. Restaurants all across the country are offering patrons a chance to color a pepper and make a donation. Troy and I were at Chili’s a couple weeks back and here he is showing off his creation. Who can resist the chance to be a kid again and color, especially when it helps real kids in need?

This is not the first year for this campaign, as I remember they did this last year. Though it seems that there are several additional elements this time around… you can also buy t-shirts or dog tags and 60% of the purchase price will go to St. Jude’s. On the create a pepper website you can create a virtual pepper, order merchandise or make straight donations.

All this leads up to the big day this Monday, September 24th, when Chili’s restaurants will donate all of their profits for the day to St. Jude. A minimum of $100,000 will be donated to this great cause.

On Step by Step Fundraising I’ve been working on an article series about why people give to charitable causes.  There are so many reasons and most people give for more than one reason.  Generally people give more to causes that fit their personal interests and values, and give most to causes they are passionate about.

In the first article in this series I described 5 general reasons why people donate to charitable causes.   The second article went into more detail on why an individual would give to one organization in particular.

Next time I’ll take a look at why someone would NOT donate.

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Association of Fundraising Professionals conference in Dallas. Actually I was just there for one day, heard the opening session and toured the exhibit hall. But it was enough to make a big impression. I’ll definitely be going next year.

One of the amazing people that I met was Janet Ginn. She is the President of Heifer Foundation, the endowment and planned giving arm of Heifer International.

While many companies were at the exhibit all — it took all day to visit all the booths — Janet was there simply to publicize Heifer and give away copies of her book Circle of Giving: Donors’ Stories of Wisdom. Actually, when someone asked why they were exhibiting, she said, “I’m just here to encourage you, to know that we’re all in this together.”

More Photos from AFP

Last month I wrote a book review & case study about raising funds with a houseparty. One of the pitfalls that some organizers can fall into is trying to combine purposes, such as combining an open house with a fundraiser party. Now at year-end, some well-meaning hostesses are combining holiday parties with requests for donations to charity. (more…)

I’ve been recommending the book The Fundraising Houseparty by Morrie Warshawski ever since getting a review copy earlier this year. I’ve been familiar with the houseparty idea for a long time - some groups plan it as an afternoon tea, others as a coctail party - the style can be adapted to the group’s needs and interests. But the concept is the same.

I like how the party, with a presentation and first hand accounts of what the non profit is doing, really helps the attendees feel connected to the non profit. Especially when people who have been helped by the organization are present to tell thier story. It’s so powerful.

Here’s a link to my review of the book and a case study:Read the Review

Yesterday I did a teleseminar with Chris Brisson of RaffleSecrets.com. We’d asked website visitors to submit their questions ahead of time and got a lot of great questions. It was really an interesting conversation with Chris and I both adding our own lessons for success from our experiences. Now the recording is available for those who didn’t get to listen in to the call.

One of the reasons that I like raffles is that if all of the prizes are donated then nearly all of the profit goes toward the cause. Of course a lot of people want to get the “big prize” i.e. cars, houses, etc. but often those can be difficult to really make money on because the prize is usually not donated. Organizations can get into some liability issues that they hadn’t anticipated. Chris and I discussed some ways to plan ahead of time to be prepared for such issues. (more…)