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10 • Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina Opinion Passing the hat July/August 1994 Ifs time to coordinate fundraising resources T| ^aney and people are the lifeblood of /l^ philanthropy. But the need for more J. VJ. and more dollars - often simply to keep operations running - can preoccupy the nonprofit sector. Fundraising is fine if you’re a big university or an organization that can afford a profes sional development staff or high-priced consul tant. In well-heeled nonprofits, raising money is assumed to be part of the cost of doing busi ness and is part of the mix of daily work. In Charlotte, the Triangle and Winston- Salem, nonprofits contemplating big capital campaigns can submit their plans to volunteer review boards. The boards offer advice on the campaign itself and help schedule it. They also provide an early-warning system to civic and business leaders whose organizations eventu ally will be asked to help fund the campaigns. But what of smaller nonprofits that have to make ends meet just like their larger counter parts but lack the resources or the know-how to mount sophisticat ed fundraising ef forts? The reality is that smaller nonprofits must fend for themselves in a poorly reflated mar ketplace. In the year ended April 30,1994, 47 profes sional solicitors raised $26.4 million for 325 “sponsor events” m North Carolina. Sounds great. That’s a lot of dollars for charity. The rub is that, on average, just under 40 cents of every one of those dollars raised actually found its way to the nonprofit “sponsor.” The solicitors pocketed the remain der. Some solicitors pocketed nearly 95 cents of every dollar raised. As the Philanthropy Journal went to press for this issue, state law makers were considering a bill that would require phone solicitors to identify themselves before making a fundraising pitch. The bill also would require a solicitor, if asked by the EDITORIAL person being solicit ed, to disclose the percentage of dollars raised that would go to the solicitor. That’s useful information for people to have when they’re being solicited. But it still does not help nonprofits handle continuing con cerns over fundraising. The Journal has suggested in several recent editorials that North Carolina needs an organization to help connect nonprofits, foun dations, government, education and business. Members of our philanthropic community have not learned how to talk to one another, work together, avoid petty feuding or truly support one another. Some thoughtful people say privately that something akin to a North Carolina Council on Philanthropy would run into powerful opposi tion from people who like to position them selves as supportive of the nonprofit sector as a whole - but whose true agenda includes amassing political power within the sector. In calling for better links between people and organizations, the Journal is not suggest ing that more bureaucracy alone will set us free. On the contrary, stronger communication and mutual support simply will further each of our individual efforts. Perhaps a good place to begin is with the pivotal issue of fundraising. Wise heads in the world of nonprofits, foundations and corporate grantmaking ought to be able to marshal the resources and expertise to help small and medium-sized nonprofits navigate the cold and sometimes turbulent waters of fundraising. In providing such assistance. Tar Heel phil anthropy can offer more enlightened steward ship of its collective resources and help non profits focus their attentions on providing ser vices rather than on dialing for dollars. And in working together on nonprofits’ fundraising needs, we can begin to move in the direction of a more tightly knit philanthropic community. Ministry and money Church fundraising a mixed blessing % / recently celebrated the 33rd anniver sary of my ordination as a priest. I told my congregation that the church I was ordained into 33 years ago no longer exists. There has been that much change at the church. There also has been a lot of change in our culture. There has been a lot of change in me, too. When I studied in the seminary in the 1950s, there were no courses on how to raise money. I guess church authorities assumed God and the congregation would provide. I don’t remember ever having a thought on the subject while in school. There was no position in the church called development director. But times have changed: My Diocese hired one a few years ago, and now my parish has hired a development director part-time. I am most grateful to the person we engaged. He made it possible to go way over the goal for our recent capital drive. As DONALD F. STAIB Father Donald F. Staib is pastor of Immaculate Con ception Catholic Church in Durham. e now have to sell the people, moke 0 good pitch, promise a world-class program, use good marketing tools and exhibit the symbols of success. a result of this suc cess, we will have a new million-dol- lar building and be able to make need ed repairs to our old building. The next task of our development director will be to find ways to increase our weekly offertory. But I am not yet comfortable with the idea of development directors in the church. It means I have been a failure as a preacher and minister of the Gospel. Having a director of development implies I cannot persuade people from the pulpit that they have a responsibility and a need to give. I have not been able success fully to convey to people that our response to God for gifts to us is that we in turn must share our talents and treasure with the church and with less fortu nate people. Having a development direc tor brings something else to the church: A professional person who has all the best contempo rary worldly Avisdom of getting Look for STAIB, page 11 Community connection Reporting on people who do good TT TTien my boss asked me to write a 1/1/ column to mark the end of my f r tenure at the Philanthropy Journal, I thought it would be easy. When I sat down to write it, I found out otherwise. I’ve learned so much in the past year that the task seemed overwhelming. Unfortunately, my editor knows where I live, and he’s been hounding me for the copy. So here goes. Last year at this time, I thou^t a foundation went under a house, a fundraiser’s sole purpose was interrupting one’s dinner, cor porate giving was a misnomer and a nonprofit was a taUing business. Actually, I knew what a nonprofit was, but I had no idea what an important role nonprofits play in Katherine Noble spent the past year as the Z. Smith Reynolds-Josephus Daniels Philanthropy News Fellow for the Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina. She recently began working as a funding opportunity specialist in the Office of Research Support at Duke University. w hat made the job exciting was helping this strug gling sector shape its identity, gain its focus and increase its strength through stories that educate and inform, and sometimes just remind members of the sector that they are doing good. North Carolina. So, I’ve learned a lot of new definitions. I’ve also learned a lot about the people, many of them heroes, who give those definitions mean ing. In fact, one of the best things about working at the Philanthropy Journal was that I got to know so many caring people who have dedicated their professional lives to helping oth ers. And I got to ask them lots of questions. I could write my departing words as a journalist about any one of the many people, organi zations or conferences I’ve reported on in the past 12 months. Instead, I’d like to say how lucky the state’s nonprofit sector is to have the Phil anthropy Journal, and how for tunate I’ve been to be a part of its first year. When I started at the Journal in June 1993,1 thought one of its primary functions should be to uncover and expose Look for NOBLE, page 11 PWlanthropyJournal Of North Carolina The PhllanihJWi/.Journal of North Carolina ~ is a monthly publication of The News and Obser\ier Foundab’on, ’ ‘" a 501(c) (3) private foundation funded by The News and Observer lhiblishingUo..KaJei^N.C. ;• 'j EDITOM AND PUBLISHER , , TODDCOHEN- An anniversary in print Connecting people who care DiREcmR oFMAimma AND DEVELOPMENT MARGUERITE LEBLANC ■.‘STAFFWRITER ■: I. . BARBARA SOLOW - (919) 829-8921 WIUJAMR. KENAN JR. PHILANTHROPY NEWS FELLOW SUSAN GRAY—(919)^94)917 "mSIGNER MARGARET BAXTER- (919) 82»«988 PHILANTHROPY INTERN. KATEFOSTER- m 4 little over a year ago, I left my job as /I business editor of The News & Observer in Raleigh to start the Philanthropy Journal. I scouted around the building that’s home to The N&O for a vacant desk and found one in the business office. Sitting down at the empty desk my first day on the job, I found it hard to imagine how a full-blown newspaper would materialize in the next two-and-a-half months. In mid-August, however, the inaugural issue of the Philanthropy Journal rolled off the presses of The Smithfield Herald, which is owned by The News and Observer Publishing Co. The company funds The News and Observer Foundation, which publishes the nonprofit Journal. As I watched those presses spin paper and ink into the finished product of a newspa per, I saw the manifestation of the remark able privilege of free communication we ABOUT CHANGE Americans enjoy: From the Federalist Papers to the Internet, our ability to talk openly to one another strengthens the American exper iment. Our mission at the Philanthropy Journal is to connect North Carolinians who care. Whether they toil in the nonprofit sector or in the commercial marketplace, whether they teach or govern, whether they raise money or give it away, philanthropists can feel alone and overwhelmed. Our job at the Journal is to strengthen the community of philanthropy by bringing its members closer together and by reaffirming the value of their work. In addition to publishing the Journal each month, we’ve tried to fulfill our mission in other ways. We’ve invited community leaders in Asheville, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Greensboro and Wilmington to meet with us in each of those cities to talk about Issues and programs there. The idea has been to learn as much as we can about what’s going on in philanthropy throughout the state so we can do a better job of reporting on it. And this fall, we will be sponsoring a statewide conference. Philanthropy ‘94, which will be held Oct. 21 at the Omni Durham Hotel, will feature speakers and workshops focusing on the issue of steward ship. It also will include presentation of the North Carolina Philanthropy Award to an individual or organization who has made a significant contribution to improving life in our state. The conference, to be held annual ly, also will give people a chance to meet and talk to one another. The newspaper that rolls off The Look for CHANGE, page 11
Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina (Raleigh, N.C.)
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