"In Kind" of Help

During times when people's hearts may be larger than their wallets, it is important to consider ways they can do great things for your Learning Center.

In kind donations are gifts of goods and services that can directly satisfy needs on you budget or can be transformed into financial support. This support can really add up. Whether it is donated office equipment and supplies to offset your expenses or donated services such as advertising or facilities use, there are many ways to accept non cash assistance.

One of the obvious transactions for in kind giving is donations to support special events. These donations come in 2 ways:

• Event facilitation - These donations reduce the overall cost of the event, increasing the cash net. Examples of this giving includes: discount of donation of facilities, meal or product donations (like wine for a wine tasting), music or performance services and many others.
• Property and gift donations - These are the things that fill the silent auction tables and populate the yard sale events. In many cases, these gifts really make an impact in an event's bottom line.

So it is a great time to take stock of your community and expand your support through these special gifts. Event how-to's for a gala, a golf outing and a wine tasting are on the Learning Center Website.

Keep in mind however that there are significant differences in the tax-deductability of in kind gifts. An interesting article is posted on the IRS web site. On the Idea Hub Forum as is a receipt for for accepting in kind real gifts of less than $500 (gifts valued over $500 require a qualified appraisal). Additionally, the standards valuing used goods is tricky. The best resource for this is probably the Salvation Army site.

Overall in kind donations can be a great manner of support!

News You Can Use

It May Not Be Rocket Science, But...


I came across a great interview in Advancing Philanthropy, July/August 2009. This is the publication of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Sandy Reese, a consultant in Loudon, Tennessee wrote the following advice to help get board members involved in fundraising...

1. Give them a firm foundation. Start by educating your board members. Make sure they know the basics. Share with them the principles of giving, such as:

• People give money because they want to
• People give to change lives
• People give to support success, not distress
• People give to make a change for the good
• People give to people
• People usually don't give unless they are asked

Put extra emphasis on the last two because they are the most important!

2. Share a simple system. Show your board that by learning a few easy techniques they can have a big impact on ongoing fundraising activities. Invite them to pick a place to start that seems comfortable to them, such as attending a special event, before they dive into major donor requests.

• Technique 1: Raise money for the students, not the organization. Learn to talk about the organization in terms of its constituents and their needs, not the organization’s needs.
• Technique 2: Tell the stories. Learn to tell a story or two about the great things happening at the organization. Tell about a personal experience.
• Technique 3: Speak from your heart. Learn to talk about the organization with all the passion of your heart. If you believe strongly in this organization, others will, too.

3. Make learning manageable. Since board members are busy people, train them in a I5-minute segment at each board meeting. You can accomplish a lot of learning in short bursts at each board meeting. Here are some things you can do:

• Have them pair up and share why they said "yes" to serving on the board. This helps them tap into their passion for the organization.
• Have them tell each other a story about how the organization is changing lives in the community.
• Have them share their thoughts about fundraising-what they are scared of and what they feel comfortable with. This helps them begin to overcome fear of fund raising.
• Create a crossword puzzle with the words in the puzzle being answers and the clues being basic facts of your organization. For example, one clue might be "the number of children served each year."
• Create a Jeopardy-type game around organizational facts.
• Have them brainstorm about people in their sphere of influence whom they can talk to about your organization or send an appeal letter to.

Over time, this will help "bring them along" and increase their comfort level with fund raising in general.

4. Give them concrete ideas of ways to get involved. People respond best to specific requests. Ask your board members to tare a particular action instead of just "helping with fund raising." Ask them to:

• Make their own gifts first. They will be much better at asking someone else for money if they have already given themselves.
• Think of people they know. Think about their family, neighbors, people they do business with, and people they have fun with. They are all great potential donors.
• Talk to people about the organization. Tell at least one person each week about their experiences with the organization.
• Invite the executive director to speak to their civic group, church group or other similar group. By putting the staff in front of a crowd, they are helping spread the word about the organization.

This is really solid advice for every Learning Center. Apply most of it and you will be successful!

Inspiration

So hats — or fezzes — off as this deserving and largely unknown group moves into its new home on the former Bangor Theological Seminary campus.

- Renee Ordway, Bangor(ME) Daily News

This quote is the last line of a really wonderful op-ed that appeared in the Bangor Daily News July 4, 2009. Renee is a reporter for the News and also has a daughter who was on the list to attend the Bangor Learning Center when the Valley of Bangor suffered a dramatic and devastating fire on New Years Day, 2004.

I urge you to read this piece. I how you feel the same pride I do - for our committed peers in Bangor and for the entire program. The story of the Ordways is the story of all our families. We really change lives!

Ideas that work

Pledge the Web!

We received a really interesting approach from Dan Stolworthy who is working on the Seacoast, NH Dyslexia Walk.

He alerted us to this innovative site that provides pledge-raising sites for events like ours. The site is dojiggy.com the product they are using is Pledge. This product which seems easily customizable, is $399 for a 100-person capacity. It may be an option worth considering. We'll follow up on this after the Seacoast event October 24.

You may also want to look at how Dan is customizing his site.

Good Luck, Dan!!

News You Can Use

70-Year-Old Relief Charity Adopts a New Name

The Learning Centers aren’t alone in their efforts to remake and rebrand themselves. A recent article in The Chronicle of Philanthropy recounted Christian Children Fund’s recent name change to ChildFund International. You can read the entire article here.

The similarities between ChildFund International’s efforts and our own are striking. The name Cornerstone Tutoring was chosen because it will be more easily communicated to the non-Masonic community than our current name. Similarly, Christian Children Fund chose to remove Christian from its name to help its sphere of influence reach to non-Christan countries.

The charities’ original names implied that they offered Christian programs or Masonic teaching for children. But ChildFund International phased out its Christian programs in the 1970s, and our Learning Centers provide dyslexia tutoring, not instruction in Masonic thought.

Even the rebranding process the charity followed is similar to our own. The article states that ChildFund International “conducted focus groups with donors, reached out to people who received help from the charity overseas, and discussed the idea with board and staff members.”

Anne Goddard, the charity’s president, noted that the change took time. “This is not something you do quickly,” Ms. Goddard states in the article. “Not only do your supporters identify you with a certain name, your staff identifies you with a certain name, and the communities we work in do. There was a lot of discussion; it was a slow process.”

ChildFund International hopes their name change will increase their donor base, especially among foundations and corporations.

What can we take from this? Change will always present a new set of challenges. But we change in hopes that with those challenges comes a floodgate of fresh opportunities.

Inspiration

Announcing the newest Idea Hub contest!

Sometimes all we need is an inspiring story to lift us up and remind us why we do what we do. That’s why we’re looking for submissions of your Center’s success stories.

Once a month, the staff at Scottish Rite Charities will choose the most compelling story submitted that month. The winning Center will receive a $100 donation and have their story featured in one of our Inspiration blog posts.

At the end of August 2010, we’ll post the winning stories from each month and have you vote on the best story. The winner will get a $500 donation for their Center.

Stories should be sent to ideahub@childrenslearningcenters.org. Submit as many stories as you’d like each month – there’s no limit on submissions or the number of times you can win! Stories are due the last day of every month.

A few guidelines for submissions: we ask that you send in stories rather than letters, preferably in third person. There’s no word limit, and the narrative can be written by anyone (director, board member, student, tutor, parent, volunteer, etc.)

The deadline for the first monthly contest is August 31st.

More questions? Contact us at 781-465-3341 or ideahub@childrenslearningcenters.org.

Ideas That Work

Giving Back

Last Saturday, the Lexington Learning Center raised over $2,700 at a multi-family yard sale. While the return was excellent, the real feat was the way Center Director Joyce Gillis got Center families involved with the event.

“It was a huge effort,” Gillis said. “It was a lot of work, but it was also kind of fun. It really had the effect of bringing Center families together.”

When the director learned that her Center’s funds would be cut, she posted an announcement in the Center waiting room asking for parents’ fundraising ideas and support. But she didn’t see a significant response until she approached parents personally.

“You have to go out and speak to parents and ask for their help. That’s what it all amounts to,” she said. “People like to be asked. Then it sort of snowballs.”

Gillis involved Center parents in every step of the planning process. She began by asking them to make lists of fundraiser ideas.

“The parents are the ones that benefit from the Center. In order for them to feel like they’re contributing, I thought we should get their ideas,” she said.

When a yard sale popped up on several people’s lists, the group chose it as their first fundraiser since they felt they could pull it together fairly quickly. Then they put together a list of items they thought people would be interested in buying.

Gillis sent out a mass email to active and former parents listing the items they needed and asking for donations and support. The director was up front about the Center’s needs. “I told them what the situation was, that we were in danger of closing, and that we would like as much help as we could possibly get,” she said.

Several parents donated items for the sale. One family brought in a truckload of their own things and a second truckload from a neighbor. Another supporter donated a wicker furniture set with a retail value of $3,000. The Center was able to get $750 for the set.

The event was held at a Center family’s home, and most of the items were stored in the family's garage until the day of the sale.

The director said part of the sale’s success was due to a massive advertising effort. Advertised as a Mammoth Multi-Family Yard Sale, the event was listed on Craig’s List, Facebook, community calendars and bulletin boards and the local newspaper. Parents also made fliers and signs and put them up all over town.

Gillis sent out several group emails asking for help in the days leading up to the sale. “I sent one close to the end when we still needed certain items, and another saying that we needed help the day of the sale,” she said.

She also worked to get students involved. When pricing toys, she would ask them what they thought a toy was worth. They also helped transport items for their parents.

Besides raising money, the event also raised awareness for the Center in the community. All signs, fliers and listings mentioned that the sale was a fundraiser for the Center, and Board Chair Ernie Pearlstein moved around at the event letting people know that proceeds went to the Center.

“It’s a way of letting people know that the Center is here and that there is a need,” Gillis said. “The funds aren’t falling from heaven.”

The director said that overhead for the fundraiser was very low since practically everything from signs to baked goods sold at the sale was donated. She said that she would definitely encourage other Centers to try a yard sale.

“It’s a way of bringing parents together. They’re working toward a common goal, and doing something of value to the community,” she said.

The Lexington Learning Center isn’t taking a break from fundraising. Supporters have a list of other events they plan to hold: next Saturday they’re doing a carwash.

Gillis said the future of her Center depends on families getting involved. “Up to this point there hasn’t been a lot of involvement from parents,” she said. “Getting them together is making a uniform group. They have a lot at stake. They’re trying to get help for their children.”