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PVA RESPONDS TO CHARGES OF INEFFICIENT
FUNDRAISING -- PVA admits that telemarketing
doesn't give the best return.
Background story on WPVA's inefficient
fundraising efforts here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfMAR07/nf031707-7.htm
What I find interesting in the
explanation given below is that Rosenberg never mentions the possibility
of a PVA training program for its members.
How about training PVA members (those who
are able) to work
from home and have them do the telemarketing for the organization?
Or, if the PVA doesn't have enough members in a given area to do this,
how about hiring other disabled vets?
That way, the veteran would have
income, and the PVA would have a much more efficient fundraising
mechanism.
Why isn't this being done? Why
wasn't this mentioned?
Story here...
http://www.jsonline.com/
story/index.aspx?id=584615
Story below:
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Realities of veterans group's fund raising
By PHILLIP E. ROSENBERG
The Journal Sentinel's March 16 front-page article "Veterans charity
rated inefficient" highlighted what is a frustrating reality for
non-profits the length and breadth of Wisconsin and beyond. That is, you
have to spend money, often a lot of money, to make money.
At Wisconsin Paralyzed Veterans of America, we are always interested in
driving down the costs of raising funds for our programs and driving up
generosity and giving - so that we can focus all the money we raise on
helping to improve the lives of our returning service members and
paralyzed veterans.
In fact, anyone who donates directly to our organization on our Web site
( www.wisconsinpva.org ) by
credit card or by check in the mail will see 100% of the donation being
used for services to our members.
To be a regular member of WPVA or a board member, one must be a
paralyzed veteran by injury or disease, for example, multiple sclerosis.
This means we have only 272 regular members in Wisconsin.
Even counting the 224 associate members (anyone who supports our
mission), this is a very small base from which to draw financial
support. In comparison, the other major Veteran Service Organizations in
Wisconsin have thousands of members. For instance, Disabled American
Veterans has 20,000 members, and the American Legion has 74,000.
With only a $350,000 to $400,000 budget, the $100,000 we receive
annually from the telemarketing firm with which we contract goes to our
programs. However, under Internal Revenue Service auditing standards, we
must report the gross income and expense of our telemarketing firm in
our audit and on our Form 990.
Would we like to receive a larger percentage? Absolutely. If someone can
recommend a fund-raising firm that can guarantee $75,000 to $100,000 per
year at much less cost, we will gladly pursue a relationship with it.
We also want to establish a fund-raising advisory committee of
influential local people to recommend alternative, lower-cost methods of
raising more funds for our programs. Our board members have neither
financial resources of their own nor know people with financial
resources whom we can ask for contributions.
Believe me when I say we will not rest until we have established such a
committee and have been successful in dedicating 100% of what we raise
to serving the paralyzed veterans of Wisconsin.
Having volunteered for the WPVA since its inception in 1979, I say for
certain that the organization has always advocated for the rights of
paralyzed veterans and has worked on behalf of anyone with disabilities.
Our focus has always been in promoting the abilities of the disabled. We
have several programs designed to specifically improve the quality of
life of our members.
Operating these programs takes money, and that is a point the article
failed to stress. Over the years, we have tried various fund-raising
activities, such as raffles, sock hops and pancake breakfasts. These
raised very little money.
In an attempt to reduce our dependency on telemarketing, we have written
numerous grant requests to private and public foundations. These efforts
produced very little funding. We also brought in several professional
fund-raising firms for assistance, but their start-up costs were
expensive, and our small operating budget would not allow us to utilize
their services.
We realize that telemarketing doesn't give the best return. Given our
size and circumstances, it has raised more money than we ever had raised
since our inception. The article stated that the average charity
received 37% of the revenue raised by commercial fund-raisers. If we
could find a firm that would do that for us, we would not hesitate to
change our fund-raising program.
In an ideal world, raising money - for a great cause - should be free.
Until it is, I have to keep asking the great and generous people of the
Badger State to please give all they can to WPVA.
As a Vietnam veteran, I challenge the Journal Sentinel and its readers
to call our office anytime to discuss fund-raising issues and to provide
us with any information that will help us with this dilemma.
Phillip E. Rosenberg is president of Wisconsin Paralyzed Veterans of
America.
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Larry Scott --
