Fund Raising
14
Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina
Crisis response
The American Red Cross has
received more than $2 million in contri
butions for victims of the recent earth
quake in Kobe, Japan.
March 1995
Making choices
Forsyth United Way sets
new funding priorities
The United Way of Forsyth
County has adopted a ne\y
funding approach that identi
fies 10 issue areas ranging
from famiiy violence to alcohol
and drug abuse. Its 53 member
agencies are adjusting to the
change.
By Barbara Solow
Winston-Salem
-j-he United Way of Forsyth
I County is changing the way
I it distributes the dollars it
raises for nonprofits in the Triad.
A year-long evaluation culminat
ed in a board decision Jan. 17 to
allocate funds in 10 major areas of
need and to hold off on funding any
new programs until additional
guidelines can be established.
The 10 areas, in order of priority
are: interpersonal and family rela-
t i0nship s;
basic needs;
health needs;
literacy and
education
needs; eco
nomic securi-
ON
FUND
ty; substance
abuse; person-
al/neighhor-
hood/commu-
nity safety;
mental health;
employment;
and social and
leadership
skills develop
ment.
The United
Way’s 53 mem
ber agencies
Floyd Davis
have been asked to submit funding
proposals in one or more of those
areas tor consideration by the hoard
in May.
Floyd Davis, president and chief
executive officer of the United Way,
says the new approach is designed
to give donors more confidence in
the United Way system.
“We’re trying to demonstrate to
donors that we are interested in
their input,” he says. “If we are mov
ing in the direction they want us to,
we hope our donors will continue to
support us and support us at higher
Look for UNITED WAY, page 15
Triangle UnHed Ways eye
possible merger
Afowing desire for donor clioice oppearsto to
one factor in a merger ptoposol tor three Triongle-
oteo United Ways.
A nine-member panel tiot hos been studying the
merger issue for more than o year recently recom
mended that Wake, Orange and Durhom county
Unit«l Woys form o new organization called
Iriangle United Way to he hosed in Research
Triangle Park.
Componies in die pork that donate to the United
Woy hod been calling for a single fundraising orgo-
nizotion because their employees live in o number of
the region's communities, in fact, a joint United
Woy campaign has been going on in RTP for several
yeors.
Under the proposed merger plan, the new United
Way would have a 12-memher boord with equal
representfltion from each county. Donors would be
able to designate specific orgonizations or parts of
the tegion where they wont their contributions spent.
The propMol is still being considered by the individ
ual United Ways, flo dote for a final decision hos
been set.
Mere ore 1994 fundraising gools end totals for the
Triongle-oteo United Ways os reported by the United
Way of North Carolina:
• feater Durham United Woy: S4 million goal;
$4.02 million raised.
• Greater Orange United Woy: $1.13 million gool;
$1.13 raised
• Wake County United Woy: $10 million goal;
$10.02 million raised
End of a fundraiser
Ketchum closing
The Pittsburgh firm, founded in
1919, says it will complete cur
rent business before closing
later this year.
By Todd Cohen
Charlotte
I >^tchum Inc. in Pittsburgh,
which has shuttered all its
/ \ regional offices in the U.S.,
including one in Charlotte, now says
that later this year it will end its
reign as the oldest and once the
largest fundraising firm in the
world.
The company blames its demise
on an unsuccessful expansion into
Britain, debt stemming from the
purchase of a Pittsburgh office
building and a decline in fundrais
ing by nonprofit hospitals in the face
of uncertainty about health-care
financing.
In recent years, privately-held
Ketchum has consolidated all its
sales and administrative operations.
Its workforce also has fallen to 70
employees in the U.S., down from
200 five years ago.
Robert Carter, Ketchum’s presi
dent and chief executive officer, did
not return repeated phone calls.
Bob McCully, the company’s
director of advertising, says that
Ketchum will complete current pro
jects before closing. Its field staff of
resident directors working on indi
vidual campaigns will continue to he
assigned out the Pittsburgh office.
Former employees and people
familiar with Ketchum say that the
company’s business has been up
and down in recent years. As a
large company, the firm was vulner
able to a number of forces.
The recession of the early 1990s
caused a falloff in business, which
was doubly painful because of the
company’s large overhead, includ
ing its regional sales offices. In fact,
Ketchum reportedly was looking for
buyers for itself several years ago.
The staff of Ketchum’s Charlotte
offices was reduced in size several
years ago when a number of senior
executives quit to form First
Counsel Inc.
More recently, Niles Sorenson,
who was president of Ketchum
Southeast and ran the Charlotte
office, resigned to become vice pres
ident for financial development at
the YMCA of Greater Charlotte.
Sorenson would not comment on
Ketchum’s plans. He says he
resigned so he could spend more
time with his family.
Gearing up
Food Bank prepares to
“make the ask”
The Food Bank of North Carolina
hopes that more than a year of
planning will pay off in a suc
cessful capital campaign.
By Todd Cohen
Raleigh
A fter more than a year of
/ \ planning, the Food Bank of
/I North Carolina is getting
down to the nitty-gritty of raising
money for its $1.7 milhon capital cam
paign.
Most of the planning so far has
consisted of deciding whether to
undertake the campaign, which
would pay for much-needed larger
quarters and refrigeration equip
ment.
That decision was made with the
assistance of Capital Consortium, a
Raleigh fundraising firm, which con
vened focus groups of community
leaders and helped the Food Bank
prepare a
“case state
ment” spelling
out the need
for the cam
paign. The
planning also
included a
“testing of the
waters” to
determine if
the community
would support
a campaign.
The latter included thorough
interviews with community leaders
and presentations to the United Way
and the Major Campaign Review
Board, a volunteer group that helps
plan and schedule major capital cam
paigns.
Now, the Food Bank is assembling
the campaign’s leadership team and
identifying potential prospects who
might make major gifts. Marketing
Kate McGuire
materials also are being prepared.
“The prospect list is a process
that will never end,” says Kate
McGuire, the Food Bank’s director of
development.
Ron Doggett, chairman and chief
executive officer of Goodmark Foods,
has agreed to be campaign chairman.
Two of his main tasks now are to
assemble the remainder of the cam
paign leadership team and to help
identify prospects for major gifts.
Another aspect of raising money
will be ongoing screening sessions,
held last month and this month, at
which a handful of community and
business leaders are asked on a con
fidential basis to help identify possi
ble donors.
Lea Daughtridge, a consultant
with Capital Consortium, character
izes that process as “true prospect
ing.”
Look for FOOD BANK, page 15
Capital Consortium
adds directories,
names staff
C apital Consortium Inc., a
Raleigh fundraising firm,
is preparing new directo
ries of corporate giving in North
Carolina and Georgia foundations.
The firm has also made sever
al staff promotions.
Anita Gunn Shirley, who had
been director of research and pub
lications, is now vice president of
research and publications. She
says the two new directories will
be available this fall.
Shirley, who has worked for
Capital Consortium for nearly
seven years, previously was a con
sultant to Orange Con^egations in
Mission in Hillsborough. She also
has worked for the Donors Forum
of Forsyth County, the Mary
Reynolds Babcock Foundation and
the North Carolina Center for
Public Policy Research.
Capital Consortium already has
published several editions of
“North Carolina Giving,” a directo
ry of Tar Heel foundations, and
“Virginia Giving,” a directory of
Virginia foundations.
Shirley also is the co-author
of “North Carolina Religious
Grantmakers,” a guide to local,
regional and national funds pub
lished by Orange Congregations in
Mission.
Capital Consortium has
named Marc Rountree interim vice
president for consulting services.
Rountree, who formerly worked in
the Raleigh office, now is based in
the firm’s Mid South regional office
in Louisville, Ky.
The firm also has named
Priscilla Bratcher, former vice
president for development with the
American Social Health
Association in Research Triangle
Park, to its fundraising consulting
division.
Todd Cohen
BRIEFLY
Students seek migrant
scholarships
North Carolina State
University students hope to
establish a new fund to help
children of migrant workers
attend college. The campus
group, Student Action with
Farmworkers, plans to solicit
donations from the student
senate, individuals and local
philanthropic groups.To
donate, call (919) 512-
0244.
N.C. visual
artists head to Israel
The N.C. Arts Council
announced a new residency
in Israel for photographers
and videographers. The
council is collaborating with
the Light Factory and the
Mint Museum of Art in
Charlotte, and the
Asheville Art Museum, to
send four North Carolina
video or photography artists
to Israel. The program
stems from an agreement
made in April between
Gov. Jim Hunt and Israeli
leaders to increase cultural
and economic exchanges.
For information, call the
North Carolina Arts
Council at (919) 733-
5722.
New scholarship
named for journalist
Friends of the late Elton
Casey, a sports columnist for
the Durham Herald-Sun
donated $ 10,000 to estab
lish a scholarship in his
name at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel
Hill. Beginning in 1996,
$500 will be annually
awarded to a student who
aspires to sports reporting.
Grants available
from government
Learn and Senze America, a
grants program of the
Corporation for National
Service, announced millions
of dollars in new grants for
fiscal year 1995. The grants
will be awarded for school-
based, community-based
and higher education pro
grams. Call (202) 606-
5000.
NCCU vice chancellor
resigns for new job
William Lea, interim vice
chancellor for development
at North Carolina Central
University in Durham, says
he will resign at the end of
March to take a new posi
tion elsewhere. Lea, who did
not give details about his
new job, has served as vice
chancellor at NCCU for a
little more than a year.