• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

Funds development staff members ease financial pressure for nonprofits

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Workers stuff some of the 4,000 envelopes soliciting donations from area residents and businesses outside the Alzheimer's Support Center in the Olde Towne Mall.

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Shelly Scharine stuffs information into envelopes as she and other volunteers prepared letters to area people and businesses soliciting donations to the Alzheimer's Support Center.

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Dan Wilcox uses a glue stick to seal a letter soliciting donations for the Alzheimer's Support Center.

JANESVILLE — You've got to be willing to invest money to make money.

More local nonprofits have come to that conclusion and are paying professional funds development employees with the hope that they'll bring in donations.

U.S. News and World Reports recently identified fundraising as one of this country's top 30 professions for the future.

"Fundraising knowledge and know-how is in huge demand in this challenging economy when giving is at a premium," said Paulette V. Maehara, president and CEO of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Local nonprofits agree.

Finding money is more difficult for all charities in a bad economy, said Gary Smith, Rotary Gardens' board president.

"We're getting people saying, 'I believe in the gardens and will always support it, but I just can't give this year' or 'I can't give as much as I normally give,' " he said.

Marcia Whittington, vice president of the HospiceCare Foundation, agreed.

"It's been much more challenging over the last 12 to 18 months, and the first half of 2010 will be the same," she said. "We're still seeing people give at a lower level and doing what they can."

Specialized staff

Rotary Gardens hired a funds development employee by 1996 and today spends about $35,000 for its funds development director, Smith said.

HospiceCare did the same in 1999, Whittington said, and commits close to $40,000 a year to funds development in Rock, Walworth, Green and Jefferson counties.

Big Brothers Big Sisters made a similar hire in 2002 as a transition into its long-term plan of fund development, Burden said. This youth-mentoring organization spends 7 percent of its annual budget for this position that also involves marketing, said Luke Janiak-Fenton, executive director.

Dan Wilcox, fund development and public relations coordinator for the Alzheimer's Support Center of Rock County, initially was contracted in 2004 as part of a strategic plan, said Tammy Pence, education coordinator and interim director. His annual salary is $27,500 without benefits, he said.

Pence said hiring a funds development staff person has created more community awareness about the Alzheimer's Support Center. The position also is responsible for raising half of the center's revenue, said Kirk Stowers, board president.

In four years, Wilcox has raised nearly $150,000 through three annual fundraisers alone.

"It just takes a lot of pressure off the organization (financially). You need somebody with that expertise," Stowers said.

Pence agreed: "Our organization would not stand well without it."

Smith said the investment in funds development staff is well worth it.

"It gives some consistency and follow-through in contacting potential donors," Smith said.

Grants and sponsors solicited by funds development staff total about $250,000 a year for the botanical gardens, which Smith said makes up about one-third of its $740,000 budget.

Janiak-Fenton said Big Brothers Big Sisters is too large not to have someone focused on funds development and marketing.

"Our organization would truly be hurt without having a fund development person in place," he said.

Whittington said having a dedicated development coordinator in Rock County "makes for such an easier opportunity to raise dollars and educate the community regarding the work being done with HospiceCare."

Finding money

To find givers and money, funds development staff—some part-time and others full-time—learn how to tap into grants, collaborate with others, reach into the community and be creative, they said.

"I'm trying to establish relationships with people who have money that actually have gone through something with Alzheimer's," Wilcox said.

He represents the center as an ambassador with Forward Janesville.

"That has helped immensely to form those relationships within the community," Wilcox said.

Rod Jones, funds development director at Rotary Gardens, said he attends seminars at UW-Madison to find grants and continually markets the gardens.

"It's all about personal connections, networking and explaining how the gardens give back to the community," he said.

JoLynn Burden, marketing/fund development coordinator for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rock, Walworth and Jefferson Counties, said her agency partners with five United Way offices in its service area.

But she said the agency also has created "relationships with sponsors and funding sources built on trust, belief in our mission and positive community communication."