Simulating Poverty Gives Charity Supporters a Taste of Hard Times

Imagine being a single mother on welfare or a homeless student or a father who’s recently been laid off. Most people would say those must be difficult situations.

But those who participate in a “poverty simulation” take it a step further: They act out what it would be like to live through those hardships.

More than 1,080 organizations have purchased the Missouri Association for Community Action’s “poverty simulation” kit, which puts people in the shoes of struggling, low-income individuals. Although not often used explicitly for fundraising, many organizations — including local charities and major foundations — have used the simulations to attract support for their causes and educate people about what it’s like to be poor.

“I’ve seen some real hardened souls changed by their experience in this,” says Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks. The nonprofit joins with charities and other organizations to hold up to 50 simulations a year, Ms. Hamler-Fugitt says.

During the exercise, participants are randomly divided into “families” and given a packet of information that describes the imaginary situations they are in. The packets reveal how much money they earn, which state agencies they rely on, and a list of debts they owe.

When the simulation starts, the participants need to navigate a hectic world — represented by “resource tables” that line the room — of frustrating bureaucracies, jobs that offer little flexibility, and unreliable public transportation. After the simulation ends, the group talks about their experiences and the real-life poverty in their communities.

When the Missouri Association for Community Action holds simulations, it tries to staff the resource stations with local low-income volunteers who have been through the same issues as the people portrayed in the exercises, says Jessica Long, marketing and communications manager.

The events, which can last up to three hours, offer stark, visceral lessons in how difficult poverty can be, say officials with the Missouri Association for Community Action. The group works with Missouri’s 19 county community-action agencies to fight poverty across the state and has been selling the simulation kits, which cost $2,150, for more than a decade.

Events Spark Awareness

Ms. Hamler-Fugitt says that aside from education, some of the nonprofits her organization partners with use the exercises to build new donors or recruit new board members and volunteers. She says the hope is that people get involved after the simulation through their “time, talent, or treasure.” And many organizations, including her own, have seen success.

Simulation participants, she says, “are much more likely to come outside of their comfort zone and say, ‘I want to be involved. I want to be an agent of change.’ ”

Mercer University, which started holding poverty simulations for students several years ago, reported similar results. In 2013, it started promoting large simulations with the United Way of Central Georgia, inviting government officials, business leaders, United Way board members, reporters, and others.

Mercer now holds at least four simulations a year at various locations, with George McCanless, president of the United Way of Central Georgia, speaking at some.

Although neither Mercer nor the United Way solicits donations following the simulations, Mr. McCanless says the events can help raise money.

“We really cannot associate any specific dollar amount, but the simulations are certainly critical in increasing awareness, which certainly is beneficial downstream in fundraising,” Mr. McCanless wrote in an email to The Chronicle.

The university hasn’t seen any additional revenue from the event, says Mary Alice Morgan, senior vice provost for service learning at Mercer. Still, she believes many more people have gotten involved in helping the poor as a result of the simulations, whether they be students, business leaders, or others. She also thinks they’ve prompted local foundations to aid groups fighting poverty.

National grant makers have held simulations, too. The Annie E. Casey Foundation, along with a few big charities, paid for two simulations at the 2015 New Partners for Smart Growth conference in Baltimore. The annual meeting is held for government officials and others who work on economic development in their communities.

The nonprofits wanted attendees to experience how the most vulnerable are affected by situations like whether bus stops are located near day care centers or key government buildings, says Scot Spencer, associate director for advocacy and influence at the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

“I thought it was a very valuable tool,” Mr. Spencer says, who noted that the foundation is considering whether to work with a local nonprofit to hold another simulation. “It reminds us of why we do what we do.”

More Than a Game

Simulations aren’t the only way to help people to feel the plight of the needy more deeply. Interactive games can get the same results.

For example, participants in Spent, an online interactive game developed for Urban Ministries of Durham, “live” on a very tight budget, leading them to make tough decisions, such as whether they can afford to go to the dentist for a severe toothache or to stay home from work to care for a sick child. At the end of the game, people are asked to donate or share their results on Twitter or Facebook.

Such experiences can be effective in engaging donors, says Robert Kissane, president of the fundraising consulting firm CCS. but you have to do them well. The message can get lost if the game feels fake or silly.

“It’s got to be authentic,” he says. “Otherwise you run the risk of it being cartoonish.”

Ms. Long of the Missouri Association for Community Action agrees.

“You want people to have fun and enjoy the experience,” she says. “At the same time, you want them to get enough reality from it that they understand it’s not a game.”