How Charities Get Employees to Contribute

Nonprofit groups do not have to have highly paid employees to make it

worthwhile to ask them for donations, say some longtime fund raisers.

While most charities won’t raise much by soliciting employees, many nonprofit officials say doing so usually provides useful income and helps connect employees to an organization’s mission. Charities that emphasize participation, rather than the amount of money donated, often find the internal fund-raising drives increase morale among employees, experts say.

Not all employees, however, feel charitable about giving to their employers. Earlier this year staff and faculty members at Northern Arizona University, in Flagstaff, were solicited for donations through a letter that included a magnet with a picture of the campus. Kathleen Z. Mayes, the fund raiser in charge of the staff campaign, says one person responded by sending back the magnet, ripped in half, with a note that said, “I gave at parking services.”

While Ms. Mayes received less than a handful of such comments and expects to raise around $500,000 for the university from employees and retired university staff members, she and other charity officials say fund raisers need to be sensitive to a range of issues when raising money from employees, who often work long hours for low pay.

“It’s always delicate because you don’t want people to feel pressure,” says Rob Parker, a senior vice president at Boys & Girls Clubs of America, in Atlanta. “We moved away from quotas and are trying to focus on giving everyone an opportunity to participate.”

Getting a large percentage of employees to give, regardless of how little is donated, can help attract other donations. The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra proudly tells potential contributors that all of its employees make donations, says Thomas N. Akins, director of public relations. “We use it as a central fact when we are soliciting funds in the community,” he says. “It’s a testimony to the belief and faith of people who work here in our mission.”

Following are some nonprofit organizations and the approaches they have used successfully to spur employee giving:

The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore. About six years ago, the federation decided to ask each of the 75 charities it supports to choose an employee to coordinate solicitations of their organization’s workers rather than asking federation fund raisers to make the appeals. The approach has helped increase fund raising by $70,000, to $218,000 so far this year.

At the start of the campaign, which runs from September through June, Marc N. Blattner, the federation’s annual campaign director, meets with the designated employees and talks about the federation’s goals.

“We try to instill in them the message that we are not just working professionals but also members of the community and we need to give back — not just with our professional time, but with our personal resources as well,” he says.

Some of the charities invite colleagues from other groups supported by the federation to talk about their work as part of the fund-raising campaigns. That way employees don’t feel that “I’m paying my own paycheck,” says Mr. Blattner, but rather that they are supporting another need in the city. To date, 80 percent of staff members have contributed.

Audubon of Florida. The Florida chapter of the National Audubon Society has had success getting its employees to give by enlisting them, regardless of job title, as fund raisers for the cause.

In preparation for a day of bird watching, an event the group uses to raise money, staff members sent out letters to family, friends, and others asking them to pledge a certain amount for each type of bird species the employees sighted.

The voluntary event held in March has so far raised $150,000 and attracted nearly 90 percent of the charity’s 75 Florida employees, even those who don’t usually spend time looking at birds. Stuart D. Strahl, the executive director, tries to make participation easy and fun, giving employees sample fund-raising letters to copy and writing thank-you notes to all donors himself.

Many staff members sponsor one another. Says Mr. Strahl, “Anybody who asks me, I’m going to give something to.” This year, Mr. Strahl has personally contributed $1,500 so far.

But he says the amount is not nearly as important as giving something, either time spent with the bird-watching event or a cash contribution. “Even if it’s just a dollar,” he says. “A dollar gives you ownership over the program, its results, and its mission.”

Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Last year the 30 employees who volunteered to ask their peers at the national office, in Atlanta, and five regional offices, for annual contributions got a little help from an in-house expert.

Rob Parker, senior vice president of resource development, gave the solicitors a 20-minute presentation on the “art of the ask,” during which he covered how to schedule a meeting, how to obtain a commitment and get the pledge form filled out, and how to connect personally with the donor. While he stressed the importance of face-to-face meetings, the employees were free to solicit their peers however they chose.

Employees were also encouraged to make their gifts in honor of a personal hero. For example, one senior staff member selected his older brother, while the group’s president chose Secretary of State Colin Powell. After the gifts were made, the charity’s fund raisers wrote personal cards to those honored to tell them about the contributions.

To further increase motivation during the three-week fall campaign, employees were invited to participate in a simulated Boys & Girls Club for an afternoon to play Ping-Pong or educational computer games, watch a magician perform, and participate in other activities typical of one of the 2,851 Boys & Girls Clubs throughout the country.

“We took what was a real dry process,” says Mr. Parker, referring to an average fund-raising campaign, “and added some fun elements to it.”

The games-filled afternoon, coupled with the heroes theme and the fund-raising training for staff solicitors, helped ensure that 95 percent of the 300 employees donated $150,000 in gifts, an increase of $15,000 from the previous year, says Mr. Parker.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The symphony has been collecting contributions from its employees since 1994, bringing in $63,000 this year from two-thirds of the 150 people who work for it.

To emphasize how much it appreciated such support during tough economic times, the charity’s staff-campaign committee this year put together a 20-minute video about how the contributions helped the orchestra.

Kimberly Thurston Hanley, the staff-campaign chairman, coordinated the effort, in which each of the nine committee members for the fund-raising drive was filmed in an area of the building that might be unfamiliar to many employees.

Sites included the elevator where pianos are transported to the stage, and the diesel-engine room, where the power generator is located. In each setting, the campaign committee members spoke about how the different areas helped the orchestra perform.

Ms. Hanley says she received a lot of e-mail messages from employees praising the video, and at least one person asked how she could get involved with the fund-raising campaign committee the next year.

“The staff that is here really love the organization,” says Ms. Hanley. “But it’s evident to everyone that we are in times of belt-tightening. The annual fund really boosted morale.”

Samford University. Offering employees more options for how their money would be used helped the Birmingham, Ala., university increase annual employee giving from $150,000 in 1998 to $181,504 in 2001.

Previously, the 700 faculty and staff members were asked to contribute to either the university or United Way during two separate fund-raising drives. Those solicitations have been consolidated into one, six-week period, and other options have been added. Employees can contribute to a Habitat for Humanity house sponsored by the university, as well as to a staff emergency-assistance fund.

Of the money contributed last year, $34,526 went to United Way, $117,062 went to Samford, $17,669 went to the Habitat house, and $12,247 went to the employee emergency fund.

Lee Insko, the faculty and staff campaign coordinator, sent a weekly e-mail message with the latest contribution figures during the campaign to the vice presidents and deans of each school, in part to spur friendly competition. After receiving the figures, the deans “can say the law school is lagging behind the business school, or whatever they need to to motivate people,” he says.

Mr. Insko hand writes thank-you notes to donors within days of receiving pledges.

In addition to raising more dollars, the revamped approach has also driven up participation, from 63 percent in 1999 to 77 percent in 2001. “It’s a lot of work,” he says. “But it pays off.”

World Vision. The challenge of fund raising for a specific project helps motivate the 550-person staff of this international-relief charity, in Federal Way, Wash. Since 1987, the charity has selected a part of one of its programs and asked its employees to come up with $80,000 to $100,000 to help offset its expenses for the year.

In the fall, the charity asked its employees to support a multiyear effort in Mudzi, Zimbabwe, where many adults have died of AIDS. The staff members’ contributions will support local workers who will check on households where older children are taking care of younger siblings, says Dana Buck, who has helped coordinate staff fund raising since 1987.

About half the money is raised through payroll deductions, with other money coming from two in-house auctions. The first and larger auction, which had items including sports memorabilia and a boat, was open to the public and employees, and raised $78,000 this year. Leftover auction items were then sold during a staff-only lunch, which raised $5,200 this year.

Next year the charity is considering swapping the auction for a previous approach that involves staff members on a more personal level.

Each staff member will be given $5 and asked to come up with a strategy for turning the money into a larger gift for the charity over the next eight weeks, says Mr. Buck.

In past years, employees have used the money to make fliers for advertising sailing lessons and sold tickets to a Star Trek spoof.

“Some employees can’t afford to do a payroll deduction,” says Mr. Buck. “This gives them the opportunity to contribute financially without putting the burden on them.”