Social Service/Public Welfare/Human Services

Christmas in July isn’t the newest marketing idea thought up to boost cash flow for organizations whose donation streams drop when temperatures rise. It is, however, highly effective.

Children are starving, but the show must go on. And if you're raising money to support a symphony, how do you convince donors that they should not only give to your cause — perhaps in lieu of helping hungry children — but also feel good about it? 

A Three-Step Conversion Strategy FS Advisor: March 21, 2006 By Abny Santicola, editor, FundRaising Success Advisor In a presentation at the DMANF 2006 Washington Nonprofit Conference last month, representatives from the American Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity shared the multi-channel fundraising strategies that helped them raise massive amounts of money to respond to 2005’s various natural disasters. For both organizations, the multi-channel effort began with contacting donors via the method with which they seemed most comfortable. According to Tim Daugherty, Habitat’s senior director of direct marketing, the organization’s “Integrated Agency Campaign” was comprised of three parts: Step One: Reach out to donors via

When Hurricane Katrina hit, Mississippi-based Hope Haven found its entire complex submerged in 6 feet of water, leaving its buildings either water damaged or destroyed. Director Terry Latham says that while the organization, a 10-year-old shelter for abused and neglected children located about a mile- and-a-half from the Gulf of Mexico, had the money to fix the buildings, it also had 12 to 15 children to care for and no furniture.

One of TV’s hottest shows right now is “Law & Order: SVU,” which dramatizes the society-wide problem of sexual and domestic violence. The sorrowful stories make for great TV, but what about when it comes to raising money for organizations that support its victims and work to eradicate it?

“The mission of the Project H.O.M.E. (Housing, Opportunities for Employment, Medical Care and Education) community is to empower persons to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty, to address structural causes of poverty, and to enable all of us to attain our fullest potential as individuals and as members of the broader society.”

Sitting squarely in the upper echelon of effective and highly respected nonprofit organizations, the Texas-based Mothers Against Drunk Driving celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. For the past decade, the nationally acclaimed drunken-driving education organization has held steady as a $47 million charity fueled in large part by direct-mail fundraising.

An impressive number, by anyone’s standards. But MADD’s top dogs read “steady” to mean “static” and decided a few years ago that the organization needed a major kick in the fundraising pants. Enter Bobby Heard, who took over as national director of programs and development in 2002.

Organization: International Women’s Health Coalition, New York City, founded in 1984 by Joan Dunlop and Adrienne Germain to generate health and population policies, programs and funding that promote and protect the rights and health of girls and women worldwide. 

“If we’re going to eradicate substandard housing from the face of the earth, we need to be focused and organized.”

So says John Cerniglia from Habitat for Humanity International, which has been providing affordable housing to low-income families since 1976.

And he means it. His word choices sometimes make a face-to-face visit to a major donor sound more like a covert operation for Mission Impossible’s Ethan Hunt than a friendly chat between board member and prospect.

John Laurence Gile, executive director, Project Angel Food, which delivers meals and companionship to more than 1,200 people living with AIDS and other serious illnesses in Los Angeles County each day. Current budget: $4 million.