I’ve been seeing billboards promoting a one-day fundraising event on my drive to and from work. What an awesome idea, I’d think to myself. I listen to WITF-FM on my morning commute and I heard the gang there promote this event as well. I’m active on Twitter most of the day for my job and have seen many local organizations promoting their involvement in this much-awaited event. I’m talking about the Extraordinary Give, a 24-hour marathon of giving, organized by the Lancaster County Community Foundation. This organization’s vision is: to create extraordinary community through inspired giving for sustainable, meaningful impact.
Then, this morning, the day of the Extraordinary Give, I heard one of the WITF crew mention the $25 minimum during a pitch for their own organization (I am a member-supporter of this amazing organization, by the way).
That little campaign caveat blew my mind.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve heard in fundraising campaigns of various sorts that “no gift is too small” and other similar messages. Although it sounds cliché, the “every penny counts” message is still important.
Screen shot of the event details where it says $25 minimum
Think about the change jars at grocery store checkouts, the Ronald McDonald change boxes at McDonald’s drive-thru lanes, and the opportunity to “round up at the register” for a specific retail store’s choice organization. All of these small gifts, often just coins or wrinkly dollar bills, can and do add up. If they didn’t, I doubt the very smart and established organizations behind these efforts would surely not continue them.
So, for that reason and for others, I just cannot fathom why it was decided to set the minimum gift for today’s online giving event at $25. This amount is pocket change for many, I know; but the fact is that it’s also gas in the tank or a bill paid off for many, too. This is a tough time of year for many people in our county: higher heating bills, extra car expenses and saving for holiday purchases. Perhaps someone with a heart of gold wanted to give today but could only spare $10. He or she went to the giving form, only to be disappointed when they see radio buttons for amount options listed in this order: $50, $100, $250, $500 or Other, Minimum $25.
As you can see from this screen shot in the amount section, it states the $25 minimum. Had someone not heard about the minimum before they got to this form about and they had planned to donate $10, they'd immediately be turned off, discouraged and/or frustrated.
Had the minimum be lowered to $5 or even less, they could still donate the dollar amount most comfortable for their current situation and still feel a part of the Extraordinary Give: you know, that they made a difference right in their region.
Giving is satisfying. When you turn away a small gift, you take that potential feeling away.
Think about all of the missed opportunities to groom new contributors! It sends the wrong message to not accept a donation offered by someone who cares and is willing to give what he or she can afford. Think of just how much more money these nearly 200 organizations could have raised if gifts of ANY size were accepted. Think about the message it sends when it is stated: “you don’t have enough money to help.” I know that certain demographics are more desirable when it comes to fundraising, but for an event like this, a regional day of giving, why exclude members of our community? Sidebare thought: If this minimum is a credit card processing platform issue, then the Foundation should consider PayPal or another solution that allows gifts of any size. I work in technology and I can’t imagine this minimum to be a technical hurdle; I sure hope it is not. Think of the wildly successful crowdsourcing fundraising platform, Kickstarter, even.
Think about it this way. That $10 or even $5 gift could be the first charitable contribution someone made, and because that act of giving and that feeling of being include could feel so satisfying, when the tides turn for that person, whether it be catching up on bills, getting a raise, or whatnot, they could choose to donate again—and more the next time—because maybe they are more financially comfortable. And, if this person gave even that small amount with his or her children present, it also sends a nice message down the line that, again, everybody can help and every dollar counts. Does that make sense?
A perfect example to illustrate the power of many small gifts is the Obama campaign. All of those small gifts added up to millions. Of course there were major donors in the mix, but so much of that campaign was based on the “give what you can” message. I realize this campaign was nationwide and a way more public campaign that is unfair to compare to a local drive, but think of the impact a similar approach would have had on our local community! Again, as I stated earlier in this post—just the act of someone giving can promote those philanthropic values and groom them for a lifetime of giving what and when they can.
Back to President Obama to illustrate my point. An Oct. 26, 2012 New York Times article, “Obama and Romney raise 1 billion each”, quoted:
“… Mr. Obama has also turned to the very smallest donors, building an army of millions of supporters who have given as little as a few dollars each.”
USA Today wrote on Oct. 6, 2012, in “Obama brings in $181 million in September” that:
“As it has from the beginning, Obama’s campaign has paid particular attention to small-dollar donors. One fundraising e-mail from campaign manager Jim Messina last month asked for as little as $5…”
I’m thankful for those that are financially and physically able and willing to dedicate so much of their lives (time and money) to philanthropic and volunteer efforts: those big checks are desperately needed to get the work we need done, the support and resources we need, and the facilities we need—in fact, I don’t doubt that major gifts make up the bulk of total fundraising efforts for most organizations. I get that, I do. But this post is about rallying financial support from EVERYONE. You know, letting the little guy participate in a huge day of giving. I am fully aware that many, if not all, of these individual organizations accept donations of any size regularly, so my point here is that this particular campaign could have been more inclusive. Why a minimum for this one-day event? Why miss an opportunity to make the day more successful than it already is?
The Day of Extraordinary Giving was impressively promoted and a well-executed effort that, at the time of this writing, raised more than $1.1 million for some very fine, deserving organizations. The Leaderboard is a fun way to track the success of the day and root for your favorite organization–and the friendly competition is inspiring. It is an amazingly generous community we live in (I’m relatively new the area and love it here), and the efforts of the Lancaster County Community Foundation should be applauded, loudly, as should that of everyone from all of the participating organizations. This post is not meant to take away from that one bit. However, I can’t help but think there was something missing.
And P.S. If you are reading this before 11:59 p.m. on Nov. 30, 2012, you still have a few hours to donate to one or more great, local organizations. At $25 or more, of course!
Edited to add at 9 p.m. after original publish of this post – Lancaster County Community Foundation kindly replied to my tweet asking about the minimum and I thanked them for the explanation. It makes sense to set levels of giving based on research and they know their business better than I do. I am happy they responded to my question and I still stand by my feelings above for ANY type of effort. Here’s the tweet:
