October 1994
Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina* 15
Ketchum
Continued from page 14
employees.
The Charlotte office serves as the
center for the Southeastern region,
covering areas from Washington to
Texas. It oversees about 20 active
accounts at any one time, or about
one-fourth of the company’s total,
says Niles Sorensen, Ketchum’s cor
porate senior vice president and pres
ident of the region.
Charlotte cheats have included the
YMCA of Greater Charlotte, whose
recent $18 million capital campaign
was its fourth with Ketchum; Myers
Park Baptist Church; Goodwill
Industries of Southern Piedmont;
Central Piedmont Community
CoDege; Spirit Square Center for the
Arts; and the North Carolina'
Blumenthal Performing Arts Center.
Ketchum’s other southern cheats
include Hospice of Rutherford
County; the YMCA in Palestine,
Texas; the Air Force Memorial
Foundation in Washington; and
Meharry Medical Cohege in Nashvihe.
“Our plulosophy is that the most
effective sohcitation is peer-to-peer,”
says Sorensen, who’s been with
Ketchum for 13 years. “If a volunteer
has given time and money and asks a
peer for a contribution, it’s hard to
say ‘no.’”
Chents pay for Ketchum’s services
through a set fee that’s negotiated in
advance and is based on the amount
of time and work a campaign will
take, not on the amount raised.
“A flat fee is part of our code of
ethical standards,” Sorensen says.
“This way there is no direct relation
ship between the money donated and
what the company receives. It’s hard
for volunteers and donors to feel a
shared ownership if the firm gets a
certain amount for every dollar
raised.”
Ketchum’s standard contract has
a 30-day escape clause, and mini-
goals are developed for raising the
funds. If the benchmarks are not
reached, the contract can be renegoti
ated, if necessary.
“We believe in giving full value
and behaving ethically,” says Robert
Carter, Ketchum’s chief executive
officer. “About 30 percent of our
clients are repeat business. If you
don’t perform ethically, people don’t
come back.”
A Ketchum guideline says a cam
paign’s total expenses should not
exceed 10 percent of the amount
raised. Consequently, the company
rarely takes on campaigns raising
less than $750,000.
In 1935, Ketchum was one of three
firms that formed the American
Association of Fund Raising Councel
(AAFRC), which remains one of the
leading authoritative voices in philan
thropy.
Charles Stephens, director of
development and communications for
the Indiana University Center on
Philanthropy, says that ethical codes
tor professional fundraisers are
designed to discourage fundraising
based simply on the self-interest of
the fundraiser.
“Nobody can guarantee the
amount of money that is going to be
raised,” says Stephens, a former
board chairman of the National
Society of Fund Raising Executives.
Not basing fees on a percentage of
funds raised, he says, also “takes out
the potential for going after gifts just
to make the goal, rather than going
after gifts that would be of most bene
fit to the organization.”
This past year, Ketchum decided
to expand its services. It introduced
the Ketchum Institute, which offers
an intensive two-day seminar on
managing capital campaigns.
Sorensen says fundraising has
changed. For one thing, nonprofits
considering capital campaigns must
rely more heavily on a smaller pool of
campaign leaders.
“Because of [corporate] buyouts
in the late 1980s, there are less local
ly-owned firms to turn to - they’re
owned someplace else,” he says.
“Community leadership is scarcer,
and it’s being asked to do more. It’s a
real issue organizations have to deal
with.”
He also sees an increased empha
sis on planned giving.
“With the general graying of the
population, it’s taking a higher profile
as people try to maximize their
opportunities to give. Planned giving
used to just mean wills, but now it
includes bequests, annuities, insur
ance polices and trusts. It’s definitely
a bigger part of giving now.”
Stock
Continued from page 14
citizens groups in Durham.
Neither the Durham Committee on
the Affairs of Black People nor the
Friends of Durham - two of the city’s
other influential poUtical action com
mittees - raise money from stock con
tributions, bequests or other planned
gifts.
Chapel Hill lawyer Tom Stern - a
former president of the People’s
Alliance - says the group’s giving pro
gram is part of an agenda that goes
beyond election campaigns.
“People sometimes don’t realize
that our PAC work is only about five
percent of what the affiance does in
terms of time and effort,” he says. “In
terms of impact, it maybe represents
a higher figure. But we have a lot
more going on.”
Food
Continued from page 14
soft costs of a new building and the
committee can help with that.”
Focus group sessions showed
that the Food Bank has a strong
“case” for support from corpora
tions, foundations and individuals.
“^^at you have going for you is
that once people get what you are,
that prevails over a lot of doubts
they may have,” said Mark
Rountree, Capital Consortium’s
vice president for consulting. “This
is hunger, this is food. That’s at
the top of anybody’s need list.”
The next step for the Food
Bank is to identify a campaign
leader and begin to solicit “lead
gifts” totaling 15 percent to 25
percent of the overall goal that will
act as seed money for the drive.
In July, the Major Campaign
Review Board - a volunteer group
of Triangle-area community lead
ers that schedules major fund dri
ves - approved a public “window of
opportunity” from this month
through June of 1996 for the Food
Bank campaign.
Capital Consortium’s plan rec
ommends that a volunteer cam
paign steering committee be
formed to make a final decision on
the goal and fundraising timeline.
Kirkpatrick said that process
will help even more people become
invested in the Food Bank’s cam
paign.
“Significant people in this com
munity have already endorsed our
decision” to build a new building,
he said. “The idea of this campaign
may terrify us. But we’re not going
to proceed without the right lead
ership.”
^apital Consortium, Jnc.
Fundraising Counsel, Research & Publications
2700 Wycliff Road • Suite 312 • Raleigh, NC 27607
(919) 783-9199 • FAX (919) 571-9937
Connection --
It’s our goal.
“Education is the key ingredient in the success of our
children,” says Ted R. Rogers Jr., IRM network
analyst, volunteer tutor/mentor and semi-professional
foothaU player. Whether it’s helping a local student
at Brogden Middle School achieve educational goals,
playing footbaU or just being a friend, Ted’s energy
is hmitless when it comes to helping young people.
Ted joins hundreds of other Triangle Area IBMers
who volunteer in local schools. Encouraging
and supporting these volunteer efforts is only one
example of how IBM supports K-12 education
in our local communities.
We realize that improving education is fundamental
to maintaining competitiveness. Whether it’s School
Business Partnerships, equipment grants, model
schools or parenting seminars, IBM in the Triangle
Area is committed to making a difference. With
volunteers like Ted, we know we’re making
our K-12 connection.
fool hall
with his student friend Corey Wilkerson.