The drop in generosity is a real thing. I volunteer with a major youth program as well as a professional society. Since Covid we have seen a drop of over 50% in active volunteers and nearly no interest among the parents of the youth that join us.
that's extremely sad to hear of no interest from the parents. I know you can't require it, because that would be unfair to the kids. I have to say tho, I've been a volunteer in many ways/organizations my entire adult life (I'm 73) & have faced similar lack of parental involvement when I was working w/ scouts, Sunday School, & working in a private K-12 school, beginning as serving from room parent to Volunteer Organizer for the entire school to VP & Pres of the Parent Assoc.
I volunteer weekly at a great organization that serves the children in our community. Last year we provided over $300,000. for the kids in clothing, school supplies & help time-wise & $ for teachers. In addition to that $ each year we give 2 fully paid, 4 yr scholarships, room & board & books, to HS graduates, along w/ $5,000 scholarships to an add'l 5-6 students plus fully pd 2 yr for Tech school student. In addition to that we have fabulous grant writers who bring in funding for providing emergency $$ to police & fire depts when they need to immediately relocate a family; & $$ for aging out of foster care kids for clothing & training. Our organization is totally run by volunteers, putting in hundreds of hours weekly.
Our members, however, are largely made up of retired women, but we're actively targeting younger.
BTW, no we're not the Jr. League.
members of our organization pay annual dues, plus agree to donate a small minimum annually or more to their ability
oh books!! About 8 yrs ago I got ready to move from 1 state to another, moving from a relatively large home to a smaller one & had literally thousands of books!! Among other things that wouldn't go w/ me (funny side story, I took panorama photos of everything in the house to send to my 3 boys asking them what they wanted me to save for them before the sale - the only things they mentioned were BOOKS!!) Anyway, I hired a mom/daughter team, they came in, brought in some of their own tables if needed, clothing racks, whatever, staged each room in various ways & held a HUGE sale. They did all the pricing; lowered the price the 2nd day, a bit more the 3rd day; whatever was left I had the choice of keeping or they had an auctioneer come in & totally clear everything, plus CLEAN my house, no charge. Anyway, prior to the sale I had tried to donate a bunch to libraries, etc., but they didn't want anything but the ones sons & I wanted to keep HAHAHA. So all those books were left on the shelves & most were sold, not for much maybe, but gone!! I certainly didn't want to haul 'em cross country. I love my Kindle, can't imagine holding up a hardback ever again, never thought I'd like reading on my phone but also love that now when I'm waiting for an appt, ie.
The neighborhood I'm in now, we have a new neighbor who DID haul her HUNDREDS of books cross country, then had to have bookcases built so she could unpack the boxes that were stacked in her gararge so she could get her car in.
Ok, the organization I volunteer for, we have a thrift store & we accept books!! People do love to buy them - we were selling paperboacks for $1, hardbacks for $2 but those might all be going up a dollar.
My boys now have kids (I have 6 grandkids) & they all buy real books, altho some of the grands are also slowly getting into Kindles.
Being the VP of a local non-profit, we are finding it harder and harder to find and keep donors. One of the big issues is that our corporate donors now have more stringent rules regarding what they're allowed to do. Our golf tournament, which typically raises the most money for us annually, is now becoming harder and harder to find golfers to attend. It's expensive, but for an event that used to have us doubling up foursomes, we are now struggling to get the required minimum of 72. The needs of our members haven't changed. In fact, they've gotten more dire with the insurance co-pay accelerator and other financial strains, we are working hard to provide for them. I'd love to find a solution that taps into a new target donor pool. Anyone have ideas? My ears are open.
It helps to have your non-profit become the focus of an industry category. For example, Marriott used to be a big supporter of I believe children’s miracle network (it’s been a while so it could have been something similar). They encouraged their hotel GMs to support charities as part of their MBOs so market leaders organized various events. Vendor companies such as USA Today supported the events with sponsorships. I recall that Footjoy did some good deals with them for participant shoes.
Sadly, companies cut marketing budgets during covid and cuts are slow to recover just like reduced staffing.
Before I made my radical transition to a totally different country, I had to make huge decisions about my many books. Since I have a Kindle, I decided which ones I really wanted to read and bought them again on my reader. All my books then went to the local Hospice resale store. They love used books and have found some real gems in collections that have just been boxed up and donated.
As for those poor Hamptons inhabitants, my heart bleeds. They come across as being a bit spoiled to my way of thinking. How would they ever survive if the bottom fell out of the world?
I'm going to guess a lot of those Hampton inhabitants are donors. To my way of thinking, there will always be people with more than I have & those w/ less. Jealousy is a killer of souls
I agree with you (SPW) on the Hamptons crowd. Supply and demand; if you don’t like the prices go somewhere else! It’s not about inflation, it’s about what the local market will bear. I doubt the one percenters even ask about the price; after all, if you have to ask, you can’t afford it. Gasp!
The drop in generosity is a real thing. I volunteer with a major youth program as well as a professional society. Since Covid we have seen a drop of over 50% in active volunteers and nearly no interest among the parents of the youth that join us.
that's extremely sad to hear of no interest from the parents. I know you can't require it, because that would be unfair to the kids. I have to say tho, I've been a volunteer in many ways/organizations my entire adult life (I'm 73) & have faced similar lack of parental involvement when I was working w/ scouts, Sunday School, & working in a private K-12 school, beginning as serving from room parent to Volunteer Organizer for the entire school to VP & Pres of the Parent Assoc.
I volunteer weekly at a great organization that serves the children in our community. Last year we provided over $300,000. for the kids in clothing, school supplies & help time-wise & $ for teachers. In addition to that $ each year we give 2 fully paid, 4 yr scholarships, room & board & books, to HS graduates, along w/ $5,000 scholarships to an add'l 5-6 students plus fully pd 2 yr for Tech school student. In addition to that we have fabulous grant writers who bring in funding for providing emergency $$ to police & fire depts when they need to immediately relocate a family; & $$ for aging out of foster care kids for clothing & training. Our organization is totally run by volunteers, putting in hundreds of hours weekly.
Our members, however, are largely made up of retired women, but we're actively targeting younger.
BTW, no we're not the Jr. League.
members of our organization pay annual dues, plus agree to donate a small minimum annually or more to their ability
oh books!! About 8 yrs ago I got ready to move from 1 state to another, moving from a relatively large home to a smaller one & had literally thousands of books!! Among other things that wouldn't go w/ me (funny side story, I took panorama photos of everything in the house to send to my 3 boys asking them what they wanted me to save for them before the sale - the only things they mentioned were BOOKS!!) Anyway, I hired a mom/daughter team, they came in, brought in some of their own tables if needed, clothing racks, whatever, staged each room in various ways & held a HUGE sale. They did all the pricing; lowered the price the 2nd day, a bit more the 3rd day; whatever was left I had the choice of keeping or they had an auctioneer come in & totally clear everything, plus CLEAN my house, no charge. Anyway, prior to the sale I had tried to donate a bunch to libraries, etc., but they didn't want anything but the ones sons & I wanted to keep HAHAHA. So all those books were left on the shelves & most were sold, not for much maybe, but gone!! I certainly didn't want to haul 'em cross country. I love my Kindle, can't imagine holding up a hardback ever again, never thought I'd like reading on my phone but also love that now when I'm waiting for an appt, ie.
The neighborhood I'm in now, we have a new neighbor who DID haul her HUNDREDS of books cross country, then had to have bookcases built so she could unpack the boxes that were stacked in her gararge so she could get her car in.
Ok, the organization I volunteer for, we have a thrift store & we accept books!! People do love to buy them - we were selling paperboacks for $1, hardbacks for $2 but those might all be going up a dollar.
My boys now have kids (I have 6 grandkids) & they all buy real books, altho some of the grands are also slowly getting into Kindles.
Being the VP of a local non-profit, we are finding it harder and harder to find and keep donors. One of the big issues is that our corporate donors now have more stringent rules regarding what they're allowed to do. Our golf tournament, which typically raises the most money for us annually, is now becoming harder and harder to find golfers to attend. It's expensive, but for an event that used to have us doubling up foursomes, we are now struggling to get the required minimum of 72. The needs of our members haven't changed. In fact, they've gotten more dire with the insurance co-pay accelerator and other financial strains, we are working hard to provide for them. I'd love to find a solution that taps into a new target donor pool. Anyone have ideas? My ears are open.
It helps to have your non-profit become the focus of an industry category. For example, Marriott used to be a big supporter of I believe children’s miracle network (it’s been a while so it could have been something similar). They encouraged their hotel GMs to support charities as part of their MBOs so market leaders organized various events. Vendor companies such as USA Today supported the events with sponsorships. I recall that Footjoy did some good deals with them for participant shoes.
Sadly, companies cut marketing budgets during covid and cuts are slow to recover just like reduced staffing.
Before I made my radical transition to a totally different country, I had to make huge decisions about my many books. Since I have a Kindle, I decided which ones I really wanted to read and bought them again on my reader. All my books then went to the local Hospice resale store. They love used books and have found some real gems in collections that have just been boxed up and donated.
As for those poor Hamptons inhabitants, my heart bleeds. They come across as being a bit spoiled to my way of thinking. How would they ever survive if the bottom fell out of the world?
I'm going to guess a lot of those Hampton inhabitants are donors. To my way of thinking, there will always be people with more than I have & those w/ less. Jealousy is a killer of souls
I agree with you (SPW) on the Hamptons crowd. Supply and demand; if you don’t like the prices go somewhere else! It’s not about inflation, it’s about what the local market will bear. I doubt the one percenters even ask about the price; after all, if you have to ask, you can’t afford it. Gasp!