3 Myths About Business and Charity

Tomorrow is the day that we give away coats for the kids at Community Partners of Dallas.  As you may know, CPD works with kids who are involved with the Child Protective Services system – so our clients are abused and neglected children who have open cases with CPS.

I have been here as CEO for almost 11 years and the coats we give out have pretty much single-handedly been supplied by the employees at Fidelity Investments for every one of those years – and even more years could be tacked on to the total from before I came here.  I don’t know how our relationship with Fidelity began, but we are surely blessed because of it.  I have no idea what we would do without them, as Fidelity delivered more than 1,500 coats to us on Monday morning – volunteers are sorting and counting them in our warehouse even as I type this post.

1. MYTH:  Corporations donate a lot to charity.  Some corporations do, but for the most part very little charitable dollars come from corporations.  In the US, charitable giving statistics are as follows:  Individuals, 73%; Foundations & Bequests, 22%; Corporations, 5%   NOTE:  At CPD we are very close to the national averages, as we are 71%, 25%, 4%
2. MYTH:  It is easy to raise funds from businesses.  If you have ever been in a meeting where people (aka board members/event volunteers/lay leaders) are brainstorming about how to raise money, invariably someone will pipe up and say “Well, you just need to call <insert name of big company here> and get them to give us some money.”  NOTE:  Notice that I used the word “you” in the “YOU just need to call” – that was on purpose, people.  Corporate money is the hardest money to raise in any economic environment and even more so in this kind of economy.  In fact, corporate giving declined 3% in 2011 and who knows what it will be like in 2012…
3. MYTH:  Money is all corporations give to charity.  Businesses do give funds, but many give in-kind donations that are worth thousands of dollars.  Corporations also provide volunteers to help charities and some even pay their employees to do volunteer work.  NOTE:  Working with corporations takes a lot of follow up and follow through.  If you are a charity who wants to “go for” corporate funds, be sure that you know this and plan accordingly.  Lots of emails, phone calls, and personal contacts are vital.  Corinne Karp, our Director of Corporate Development, does an outstanding job at this, so feel free to call her at 214-624-7588 to get your company involved today.

Thank you to everyone at Fidelity Investments for your huge gift to CPD.  You are champions and myth busters!

 P.S.  My #FundraisingFriday gift is going to CPD.  If Fidelity employees can do it, so can I.

I'm thinking about Coats

 

Community Partners of Dallas is giving away Coats tomorrow.  Unless you have lived without one, you may not know just how important a Coat can be.

 

• Coats keep us warm.
• Coats keep us from getting sick – at least according to my mom who is adamant that you can get sick if you don’t keep warm.
• Coats are fashionable and will help define your personal style – my favorite reason for a coat.
• Coats help us remember that it really will get cold some day in Dallas – I promise, it will.

 

For the abused and neglected kids of Dallas County, a Coat is a not just a Coat and not even just those things I listed above.

 

For these kids, even if their lives are in turmoil and they have started to believe all the things they have been told by their parents – that they are stupid and worthless and ugly and dumb – a Coat is something special.

 

• Coats mean that someone cared about them.
• Coats mean they are warm and fashionable.
• Coats mean they are just like the other “normal” kids at school.
• Coats mean that they fit in.

 

And for them, that might be all they need to see a new future.

 

P.S.  Please join me in thanking the Presenting Sponsor of our Coat Drive, Fidelity Investments, and all of the other donors and many volunteers who worked to make this drive happen.