PRG Newsletter: A Nod to Fundraisers and Heroes

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PRG's monthly newsletter provides updates, practical tools, resources and information for our valued community.

Hungry, humble and hopeful –
an ode to the fundraisers of 2020

Melissa Irish
PRG Managing Associate

Most of us, especially those over 35, became fundraisers by accident. We may have worked for human rights causes in college marching in the streets with signs of protest, served abroad in third world countries administering basic health care, or led inner city youth on outdoor adventures to share our love of nature. By some strange and unplanned twist of fate, we realized that we could harness our passions for good and raise the necessary resources to help them thrive! Asking for money didn’t scare us, we loved working in teams and didn’t mind the pressure of an impossible goal. Rather we thrived on it. We got a dizzy thrill when hitting our targets, we liked networking and throwing parties. A fundraiser was born.

And what would we do without fundraisers? The fuel for our fires would wane, the resources needed to fight the good fight would go untapped and the abundance of wealth in the world would not be channeled for the greater good. In short, our collective dreams and vision for a better world would have no lift.

Photo by Samuel Regan-Asante on Unsplash

It is because of this, our final article of the year is an ode to development professionals, a special breed of smart, scrappy, lightening quick heroes. This year in particular, our courageous fundraising leaders faced unprecedented challenges and stood tirelessly to meet them. The world literally crashed around them, their organizations were thrown into disarray and the need for the missions became ever more essential or worse, put on the back burner while the attention of donors shifted to fight the pandemic.

Read More from Melissa

VOICES FROM THE FIELD!

PRG asked several Development Leaders from our clients these four questions:

Over this COVID year 2020, what was:

the craziest thing that happened at work
the most unexpected part of my job
the hardest part of my job
things I want to carry forward

Elizabeth Warner
Managing Director, Ploughshares Fund and incoming President of AFP Golden Gate

The craziest thing that happened is we hired and onboarded a new president, through an entirely virtual process, while said new president was working remote (and stuck because of COVID) in Melbourne, Australia.

The most unexpected part of doing my job during COVID was learning about backend, TV level production platforms in order to produce a high-end, high-quality virtual event.

The hardest part of my job this year was not getting to see and connect with the donors who - after nearly nine years - I’ve come to appreciate and adore like family.

One of the most unexpected things I will carry forward is the value of making events available to donors and interested people at no cost. Especially for issues like ending nuclear weapons - which are hard enough to get people’s attention on – the ability to open our programs and events to everyone, regardless of ability to pay for a ticket, was groundbreaking. Being virtual and free, we had hundreds of new people from across the country sign up for and attend our events. As a result, we have grown our email list and in fact gained more new donors than through previous events.

J Mullineaux
Executive Director, SRJC Foundation

The craziest thing that happened to me at work this year was being notified the day after my mother died that the SRJC Foundation had been part of the Blackbaud data breach.

The most unexpected part of doing my job during COVID was getting our very first donation through a Zoom solicitation, for $500,000!

The hardest part of my job this year was not being able to meet with donors face-to-face. I was new to this role in 2020 and I was not able to connect with donors and begin building relationships the usual ways. I have had a lot of phone conversations, but it isn’t the same.

One thing that I want to take from this year and carry forward is the way we have reached out to see how people are doing. We have been genuinely concerned about people’s well-being. We did this during the fires as well. We ran a report of everyone who lived within the evacuated areas and we reached out to make sure people were safe and were getting the support they needed. It led to some meaningful conversations.

We also took advantage of these COVID times to do some strategic planning. It was a great way for me to engage the Board, and as a new Executive Director, I learned a lot about the organization and our volunteers. I am excited to come out of COVID next year with a clear path forward.

Jennifer Sachs
Director of Development, LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, SF

The craziest thing that happened this year was in connection with our Giving Tuesday campaign held in May for COVID relief. We gamified the giving by offering the highest donors the opportunity to name our new baby goats at Enchanted Hills Camp for the Blind. There are now five growing goats with braille and print name tags on their collars.

I want to take from this year and carry forward is a resolute sense of resilience and ability to innovate as fundraisers. We couldn’t have a 70^th Anniversary celebration at our Enchanted Hills Camp for the Blind in Napa, so we had a series of Facebook Live concerts. With our corporate partner, Comcast, we held a Zoom workshop where 130 people attended from around the nation, a larger event than we could have hosted at LightHouse's headquarters. My team kicked it out of the park by being nimble and creative in these wild times.

PRG Special - Heroes Among Us

Hero Highlight - Providing Food, Support and Care during COVID

One of the most basic and vital human needs is having food to eat. In 2020, food insecurity was on the rise for many in the Bay Area, especially for the homeless and those precariously housed.

One organization knows this more than most. For 32 years, the Committee on the Shelterless, COTS, based in Petaluma, CA, assists those experiencing homelessness in finding and keeping housing, increasing self-sufficiency and improving well-being. They provide hot and nutritious meals daily to anyone in need. When COVID-19 hit in March, the team had to move quickly. And squarely at the heart of those plans and shifts was COTS staff member, Chef Janin Harmon.

Rapid Program Pivot
Chef Janin had to quickly – practically overnight – move from leading a full-service restaurant to a boxed meal program. In addition to serving the individuals and families in their program, COTS also feeds a significant number of homeless and food-disadvantaged people throughout their community. And their hero Janin has done so for the past nine months without missing a beat.

“My main goal and focus is we are feeding people. So we had to find a way and keep going,” shared Janin.