Covid-19: 7 Fundraisers in 7 Places – Update
Covid-19: 7 Fundraisers in 7 Places – Update Covid-19 has created an intensely challenging moment in our lives, our history, and our economy. I was curious to know how my colleagues, who generously shared their insights at the beginning of the pandemic, are adapting to the changing situations in their parts of the world. Are they struggling? What can we learn? How are donors responding to the situation? The two common themes emerging from this mosaic of perspectives are 1) that successful fundraisers continue to fundraise, while being mindful and intentional with a focus on engagement and stewardship and 2) donors continue to support the causes they care about. Seven Fundraising Professionals in Seven Places: Robert Dixon, Director of Development at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada Melody Song, Fundraising Consultant, Founder & Solution Designer Dogoodhere.org, Berlin, Germany reporting on China (based on interviews with family, friends in the charity sector, and Ying Ye, General Secretary for the Fundraising Innovation Centre, Shanghai, China) Rodney M. Grabowski, Vice President for University Advancement University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA Anup Tiwari, Board Member, South Asian Fundraising Group, New Dehli, India Deborah Berra, CEO, Stiftung Kindernothilfe Schweiz, Aarau, Switzerland Daryl Upsall, Chief Executive, Daryl Upsall & Associates and Daryl Upsall Consulting International, Madrid, Spain Bill Littlejohn, CEO and Senior VP, Sharp HealthCare Foundation, San Diego, California, USA Are you seeing any particular changes or trends in giving? Robert Dixon in Toronto, Canada: I said last time that the crisis could prompt a surge in giving to the community – and everything I’ve seen since then supports that theory. At Ryerson, we’ve been humbled by the number of alumni and staff giving generously to help our students who are facing reduced income and higher costs. Companies and grant-makers across Canada and further afield are coming together to maximize their impact among frontline workers and vulnerable communities. And our major donors remain passionately committed to the causes they support. Of course, economically the future is uncertain, and no-one can predict how philanthropy will ultimately be affected. Financial activity has been significantly reduced, many are facing job losses or lay-offs, and governments are acting on an unprecedented scale. We’ve refocused much of our fundraising activity on engagement rather than solicitation, with a change in our short-term revenue expectations as a result. But the crisis so far has demonstrated the resilience of the human spirit and our innate capacity for extraordinary generosity, which should give fundraisers everywhere hope for the future. Melody Song in Berlin, Germany: In China the crisis gave birth to a new type of nonprofit organization: Open Source Social Project. An example is Wuhan2020 which is a community of 4000 volunteers that contribute in real-time to “establish a synchronous data service for hospitals, factories, procurement and other information, and to convene all those who want to contribute to the anti-virus campaign so that everyone with relevant skills can participate in the development of related topics, and complete it in a self-organized and collaborative way with open source community culture.” This type of project is what China’s nonprofit sector is looking for in the future on an agile approach to further a cause rather than building NGOs. Rodney Grabowski in Buffalo, New York, USA: Like most other institutions of higher education, we established student emergency funds and a health care support fund that people could contribute to. Our method of solicitation was through email with the ability to give online. Over the course of the past 4 weeks, we have had 500+ donors contribute over $145,000 with an average gift of $290. It is interesting to note, of the $145,000; $53,000 was contributed from 3 individual donors therefore, the average donation less the big gifts is $185. Our typical average gift for phone is $97 and direct mail $166. We are seeing a higher average gift as a result of this significant cause-based giving approach. That said, we have regularly been reaching out to our donors that have made 6+ figure gifts in the past and there is very little interesting by this group in contributing to these funds. Honestly, this is not surprising to me as I reflect on the maturity of the program at the University at Buffalo versus other institutions of higher education that I have worked at. While the University at Buffalo is almost 175 years old, in many ways we are a young institution. In the 1960’s we transitioned from a private university to a public university that is part of the State University of New York System. UB is one of 4 university centers within the SUNY System of higher education (64 institutions of higher education). The public version of the University at Buffalo did not invest in pursuing philanthropy until the late 1980’s and the program did not start maturing until the early 2000’s. While we have seen some good results for the emergency funds and have received a few 6 and 7-figure gifts, most gifts of this size have been put on pause by the donor until they can see the other side of the pandemic. Anup Tiwari in New Dehli, India: The scale of giving has expanded. More people are giving. Because a large number of daily wage labourers are stuck without earnings due to the lockdown, citizens and NGOs are donating dry rations and cooked meals every day. There have been two TV telethons to raise funds for Oxfam and Save the Children India. All small and big NGOs have launched their campaigns. However, most of the money is going to PM Cares Fund, a newly instituted non-profit fund backed by the government. Contributing to it is considered ‘prudent’ by corporations and big donors. The fund is being extensively promoted across all TV channels and social media. Deborah Berra in Aarau, Switzerland: Ich vermute, dass mehr Gelder NGOs zufliessen, die lokal tätig sind. Dazu können Organisationen, die in der Schweiz tätig sind, besser Auskunft geben als ich. Ich warte die kommenden Monate ab
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