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The Great Recession has created a tremendous need for the services or many nonprofit organizations and it has made fundraising to be even more of a challenge than usual for those agencies.
Some nonprofits are having more success raising money than others.
The United Way of Greater Milwaukee recently announced that a strong rally in the final week helped it raise $45.5 million this year, exceeding its $45 million goal.
The Milwaukee United Way raised $1.3 million more than it did in 2008. The organization says the success is attributed to the thousands of donors who gave to help the community bounce back from the recession, despite their own personal challenges.
“Everyone in our community should be celebrating because of what we accomplished together,” said United Way of Greater Milwaukee chief executive officer Sue Dragisic “In all of my years in Milwaukee’s nonprofit community, I have never been prouder than I am tonight. United Way’s success shows how generous and caring the Greater Milwaukee community truly is. There is a genuine sense of pride in our community. We take care of each other in good times and not-so-good times.”
Among the corporate highlights of the campaign:
- Johnson Controls Inc. had the largest overall dollar increase of any company, passing $3.2 million for a 48-percent increase, raising approximately $1 million in new contributions. Bucyrus International Inc. also showed impressive growth, posting a 172-percent, or $500,000, increase since 2006. Its success was largely due to the support of its labor workforce from the United Steelworkers Local 1343, AFL-CIO.
- MillerCoors ran a workplace giving campaign for the first time since 1999, raising more than $260,000 in new contributions.
- Rockwell Automation Inc. grew to a $2 million+ contributor, increasing donations by 11.3 percent from 2008.
- Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. Inc. remains the largest corporate sponsor over the last 100 years, raising more than $3.6 million in 2009.
- Weyco Group Inc. doubled employee giving over 2008, with a 68-percent increase in participation.
However, The Salvation Army of Greater Milwaukee is struggling to raise funds this year. Donations are down about 1 percent this year.
“That might not seem like a big deal, except that requests (for help) are up 30 percent,” said Faithe Colas, community relations director of the organization. “You wouldn’t be overstating it to say the need is as urgent as it has ever been.”
The community’s requests for food in the first eight months of 2009 surpassed the requests that were needed for all of 2008. The Salvation Army’s homeless shelter has been full to capacity all year long, she said.
“We have 120 beds. We’re turning away about 50 people a day, and we have a waiting list,” Colas said. “The unemployment and foreclosures have forced a lot of families to turn to other families, relatives, for help. But that’s only short-lived. Eventually, they have to reach out for help. Many have never done that before.”
In an attempt to boost fundraising, the Salvation Army recently started a “Virtual Red Kettle” fundraising campaign at http://www.onlineredkettle.org. More than two dozen Milwaukee-area companies or organizations have formed their own Virtual Red Kettles to help the cause so far.
The Salvation Army of Greater Milwaukee opened its Toy Shop on Dec. 2-5 to register area families to receive toys for their children. 5,462 families requested Christmas assistance for 15,344 children, a record number. And 2,546 of the 5,462 families were new families applying for Christmas assistance this year.
“We continue to see an increase for Christmas and emergency assistance,” said Major Jesse G. Collins, Salvation Army Milwaukee County Commander.
Another major Milwaukee nonprofit organization, the United Performing Arts Fund, met its fundraising goal this year and recently announced it raised $9.1 million from 22,500 donors in its 2009 campaign.
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