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What happens to December's spirit of giving during the rest of the year?
January 26, 2004
By Louise Chatterton Luchuk
"I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month." --Harlan Miller
Certainly, many charities would agree with Miller. While they are thankful
for the generous outpouring at Christmastime, both in terms of volunteer
support and donations, the needs and the work continue year-round. Christmas-related
charities and charities with major campaigns during the holiday season
must work hard to leverage the December support that pours in when Canadians
are in a generous frame of mind.
Building relationships first
Almost half of the operating budget for The Mustard
Seed, an inner-city mission in Calgary, is raised during the Christmas
season through specific appeals and the seasonal generosity of donors.
In addition, there are donations of toys, socks, hygiene products and
supplies, plus donations specifically for the annual Christmas dinner
that feeds more than 1,400 people. The development staff must be doing
something right because in 2002, 47% of new Christmas donors continued
to support the ministry with at least one more gift after Christmas.
Diana Schwenk, senior coordinator - development, attributes this
in part to their practice of phoning donors, regardless of the donation
amount, to say thank you. There were 8,000 new donors for Christmas 2002,
so that's a lot of phone calls! "The person on the other end of the line
is often waiting for the other shoe to drop," says Schwenk, "but this
phone call is not an ask, it's a phone call to express our thanks. It's
a hefty goal to make all those phone calls but we want to build a relationship
with our donors." Next, new donors are sent a donor information package
that includes the newsletter and other information about The Mustard Seed,
again without any mention of asking for more money.
The December volunteer phenomenon
Bruce Reith is the executive director of another Alberta mission, the Edmonton-based
Hope Mission. "In December we
are overwhelmed with people wanting to volunteer...and in January they are
gone." Some people only want to volunteer at Christmastime and it is a
special part of their own Christmas traditions. At Hope Mission this type
of volunteer starts calling in September. "It's the people who call three
days before Christmas because they would like to help serve a Christmas
dinner that we likely cannot accommodate at such late notice." comments
Reith.
When it comes to helping after Christmas, about 30-35% of Hope Mission's
Christmas volunteers want to keep volunteering and the Mission is focusing
on this group. Successful strategies have included recreating the Christmas
events with special dinners at Easter and Thanksgiving, plus a summer
barbeque. In addition, the volunteer application form asks questions about
a volunteer's interests. Then staff work to educate volunteers about other
volunteer activities that match their interests.
Christmas dinner for 25,000
There are also many organizations whose sole focus is to serve a need at Christmas,
organizations like the Ottawa-based Christmas
Exchange. Although there is an obvious Christmas focus and a subsequent
outpouring of donations and people wanting to volunteer, the work is year-round.
Explains Marilyn Matheson, executive director, "If you were planning
a Christmas dinner for 25,000, you'd start early, too!"
However, it is a challenge to promote the charity during the rest of the
year. The media doesn't pick up stories about Christmas when it is spring-like
weather outside. It's also difficult to stand out from the crowd of Christmas-based
appeals when the festive season rolls around. Thankfully, the Christmas
Exchange retains about 90% of its volunteers and 80% of its donors from
one Christmas season to the next. Matheson attributes this, in part, to
the fun and positive atmosphere of her organization. There are some volunteers
who choose to stay involved year-round to help with special events, administrative
tasks, the direct mail campaigns, and data entry for the centralized database
that coordinates Christmas giving in Ottawa.
Matheson's organization has a very positive approach to recognizing and
supporting the data entry volunteers. "Many of the volunteers who do the
data entry during the day are looking for employment and need the office
experience to add to their resume," she says. "After the rush, we assist
volunteers by allowing them to use our office computers to develop their
resume. If they are interested, we will also review their resume, conduct
mock interviews and provide references. This means that every year we
must train more volunteers to do the data entry because these people find
jobs and are no longer available during the day. However, they generally
stay as volunteers for special events."
Space and location limitations
The Breakfast with Santa
Foundation provides breakfast, a gift, and a special visit with Santa
Claus for children referred through organizations such as women's shelters.
Maria Esteves, president and founder, says her biggest challenge
is not in finding or retaining volunteers for the breakfasts each year.
Eight years ago, there were 4 volunteers plus 35 high school helpers for
a single breakfast for 75 children. In 2003, there were 185 volunteers
and four breakfasts for 585 children. Esteves' volunteers are excited
to return because giving a child a morning away from their problems is
a rewarding experience.
Rather, Esteves' biggest challenge right now is the fact that the organization's
head office is in her house and she can't have volunteers coming into
her home in the way that you can when you have official office space.
Therefore, she is limited in the number of year-round volunteers that
she can involve. That means there are some tasks that she cannot hand
off to volunteers, which would free her to do other activities. Rental
rates in Mississauga are incredibly high and donating office space is
not something that people typically think to do. She is hopeful that will
change in 2004.
The Foundation does have warehouse space, which is a good thing considering it took four months last year to sort through all the donated toys. The public has very generously supported her charity and she is grateful for the outpouring of toy donations. However, monetary donations are also needed to cover the expenses like insurance (which keeps increasing). The organization is completely volunteer-driven but even without staff salaries, there are some expenses that she cannot get around.
In the world of charities, December represents a significant portion of
yearly giving. With thankful hearts, organizations accept the donations
of money, goods, and volunteer time. Then they must get down to the business
of finding creative, well thought out leverage strategies to build year-round
support for their organizations.
Louise Chatterton Luchuk is a freelance writer and consultant who combines
her love of writing with experience at the local, provincial and national
levels of volunteer-involving organizations. For more information, visit
www.luchuk.com.
