[Fundraisers Forum] An article for your perusal and comments

From: Gidon Ariel <gidon.ariel@xxxxxxxxx>
To: frforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 28 May 2013 16:13:06 +0200
Esteemed colleagues,

It was a pleasure meeting some of you next Tuesday, but today I got a
letter from a friend asking to learn about fundraising from me.
I ended up writing the following, and hope that this is the right forum to
discuss things like this online! If not, I would appreciate being pointed
to said right forum.


Your suggestion to learn how to collect charity effectively by studying
texts related to the collection for the daily korbanot is interesting to
say the least. I actually happen to have a little experience with
fundraising for Jewish causes, and in fact am presently employed by one,
but I never heard nor thought to look to this source for instruction. At
most, perhaps, for inspiration:-)

As a de facto professional fundraiser, I would first say that the very
terminology of "collecting" is perhaps still used among the charedim-ultra
orthodox, but is an anachronism for others. When your potential pool of
givers thinks of his donation as a requirement and as the fundraiser as an
agent, simply doing the service of collecting, then it is suitable, I
guess. But from my experience, since the palm shakers are many, the
potential givers do not consider them as an integral part of the community,
a veritable hired hand, so to speak. If no one would "collect," then
motivated givers would find the way to get their donation to the
organization or individual in need of their choice.

Modern fundraisers in my opinion, are not even that, people who have a
cause that they are affiliated with and one way or another "raise" funds
for that cause. People today, potential donors, are inured to the tens of
thousands of causes all vying for their money. I think such modern
professionals would either see themselves as "friendraisers," people who
catch the attention of people who heretofore knew nothing of the cause, and
with their permission educate them about it, raise their awareness about
it, and little by little recognize the more interested ones. Then, the
professional puts on the hat of the "funraiser," enabling the friend to
feel good and associate the cause with social activity and fun. Once these
positive experiences and feelings are associated with the cause, the friend
will feel an inner urge to accept partial ownership for the cause or any of
its projects, and therefore donate to it as surely as he or she would
"donate" to their own child's health and wellbeing. At that point, in fact,
we come full circle, and the fundraiser truly does go back to being the
"collector," the agent of both the donor and the cause to assist the former
in getting his or her donation to the latter.

If the system that you have been using works for you, then I guess you
should continue with it. Not every lemonade stand needs to strive to become
The Coca Cola Company. But I think that someone motivated to help both the
cause and the world of donors owes it to themselves and to both of the
other players to learn the modern theories and methods, keep up with the
industry, and always stay real.

Thanks,
Gidon Ariel
Director of Foundations and Special Projects
Zichron Menachem
054-5665037
gidon@xxxxxxxxxxx
[Fundraisers Forum] An article for your perusal and comments

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