I think it is great that this was brought up. I basically agree with Arnie.
We must not ignore the world we live in or the public discourse. This means
also that not acknowledging tragic events, and continuing to talk about
whatever we already had in the newsletter/ whatever we were raising funds
for anyway, also is wrong. We must show sensitivity.
In order to succeed, we must also be strategic in our work. That means that
we consider the timing of everything. If the external events have something
to do with what our organization deals with - then we must mention it. And
if our target audience or beneficiaries are impacted then we should have an
emergency campaign in order to provide whatever additional services are
needed, or at the very least to raise the profile of our issue again if it
is connected.
But that must always be done in a way that respects the people that we
serve. Photos are very touchy and one must always get permission from the
parents of minors. Some organizations for whom I have worked had a policy
not to use photos of children no matter what.
Fundraiser's very often have bad reputations as being unethical.
Unfortunately, some do these kinds of things and it reflects poorly on all
of us.
Rachel Canar
NGO Catalyst
On Sun, Nov 22, 2015 at 12:23 PM, arnie draiman <ajdraiman@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
daniel,
you raise an excellent question.
my two cents is to always take the moral and ethical high road and never
never ever ever use events (particularly tragic ones) for fundraising
purposes. and certainly not publicly. that is, if you need to turn to a few
donors individual, and say, we need a better security fence around our
facility, fine.
i recommend to all of my donors, philanthropists, and foundations to avoid
any non-profit that capitalizes on events to do fundraising. (and even
those capitalize on reports like showing pictures of pathetic starving
children and claiming that one-third of all children in israel are
starving, etc.)
now, having said that, if your organization deals with issues related to
events (for example, you provide psychological support for people with PTSD
in sderot), then you can state as a fact that you had 'x' more people this
past year need your services because of war 'x' and 'y', etc. but do NOT
give me "our children are suffering and without your immediate help, they
will continue to wet their beds at night" etc.....
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: FreeLists Mailing List Manager <ecartis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, Nov 22, 2015 at 10:04 AM
Subject: frforum Digest V1 #2
To: frforum digest users <ecartis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
frforum Digest Sun, 22 Nov 2015 Volume: 01 Issue: 002
In This Issue:
[Fundraisers Forum] Fwd: The ethics of tragedy ??
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Daniel Meyer <iyimisrael@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2015 10:03:36 +0200
Subject: [Fundraisers Forum] Fwd: The ethics of tragedy ??
I would like to start a discussion and he
ar
your opinions.
It is not news that Israel has undergone a "pounding" in these last weeks.
There have been a number of incidents that have given me a lot of food for
thought as a fundraiser and I would like to hear your opinions?
The major issue is how much mileage can we make out of others tragedy?
1)_In Mishpacha magazine about 3-4 weeks ago A. Granot wrote about his
experiences with his adopted grown son from the Ukraine who was critically
stabbed in K.Arba - given a 15% chance of survival but walked out of
hospital on his won legs. He discusses how amazing the hospital staff was,
Bituach Leumi - who even flew the biological parents in - and said the only
thing that upset home were organizations who came for photo ops.
2) After a chayal was critically stabbed - a soldier "do-good" organization
went to visit him while he was still unconscious in ICU to offer help to
the family.
3) Just this last week we lost Ezra Schwartz z"l - the morning of his death
he had attended a seminar by a different yeshiva which had been
sub-contracted by his yeshiva Ashreinu - the whole of Friday (remember
there has been no funeral yet) - the sub-contracted educational institute
was posting all over the place how the last Torah he had learnt was
"theirs" and how he was therefore a student of "theirs
4) And then of course there are the inevitable crowdfunding and html
campaigns that come out less the 24 hours after a tragedy - dosn't the
memory belong to the family? Shouldn't we approach them for permission?
Your feedback and discussion would be welcomed. Am I off base or is there
some food for thought here?
Shavua Tov, Shavua Shaket, Mush
--
Daniel Meyer דניאל מאיר
Executive Director מנכ"ל
International Young Israel Movement (IYIM)
Israel Region
PH: 972-2-6505924
www.iyim.org.il
------------------------------
End of frforum Digest V1 #2
***************************
--
arnie draiman
050-515-6776
www.draimanconsulting.com
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Are you giving your money away properly? Be careful:
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=295713
