Letter Archive:
M/D/Y Topic of Focus

Fund Raising

At any given time there are dozens of organizations hosting fund raising events.

A front page story in the June 12, 2007 Vancouver Sun reported return-on-effort continues to shrink. Long established charity lotteries have suffered tremendous decreases in sales as newcomers continue to fragment the marketplace.

Brian Morton in the Vancouver Sun September 7, 2006 reported: “collectively charitable organizations in BC have total annual revenues of $11 Billion dollars and a total paid staff of 147,000. Organizations in BC have about 1.5 million volunteers”.

Top four non-profit organizations:

• Religious 19%
• Sports & recreation 17%
• Arts & culture 10%
• Social service 9%

Although hospitals, universities and colleges represent only one per cent of organizations, they account for 18% of total revenues. 

Excluding hospitals, universities and colleges, organizations receive 46% of their revenues from government, 34% from earned income, 16% from gifts and donations, and 5% from other sources.

Many are falling short of their targets with results as varied as the number of non-profits.  However, with 1.5 million volunteers, it suggests that many of us are very generous with our time and support.

There are reasons particular organizations have more success than others.

I recently attended the annual Coast Mental Health Foundation “Courage to Come Back Awards”.  I was curious why each place setting had a package of tissues. The 9th annual award banquet turned out to be an extraordinarily emotional evening.  Every recipient’s experience captured the audience’s attention, motivating donors to use the gift envelopes conveniently placed at each table. The Foundation reached all its goals, the audience experienced an evening filled with hope and inspiration and the sponsors received full value.  The packages of tissues were put to good use.