Donations
06/09/14 05:29
It takes a lot of work to be a community. In our town, September is United Way month. Of course the United Way of the Black Hills raises funds for its agencies all year round, but during September there is a special emphasis on the fund. Member agencies suspend their direct appeals for financial support during the month and focus on the combined effort. This year’s goal is $1,975,000. That’s a lot of money. Of course the community gets a lot from that money. United Way supports 35 member agencies in our community that provide services from basic health care to counseling to youth services, to education and advocacy. Several member agencies are close to my heart because I have invested a lot of volunteer hours in their work.
The Front Porch Coalition works to prevent suicide in our area. Black Hills Habitat for Humanity works in partnership with those in need to provide simple, basic housing. Cornerstone Rescue Mission provides meals and shelter for this with nowhere else to go. Working Against Violence is a domestic abuse shelter and advocate for more peaceful homes. There are a lot of other agencies working together to serve our community.
What I know, having served on the Board of Directors of member agencies, is that United Way, generous and large as it is, doesn’t fund the operations of those agencies. It may be a major donor, but each of those agencies has to figure out how to raise a lot of additional money in order to keep in business. I used to joke about one agency that fund-raising was a 12 month a year business: one month for United Way and the rest of the year to make up what United Way doesn’t pay.
The people of the hills are amazingly generous, but there is a certain amount of donor fatigue that develops. I know that both as a person who has done a fair amount of raising funds for organizations and as a donor.
For just one example, we pay taxes to support law enforcement in our state. We agree that law enforcement is important and we want to support those who put their lives on the line to protect us all. As a Sheriff’s chaplain, I spend a fair amount of time with those who work to keep our communities safe and I appreciate their work. I want to be supportive. And I am on the call list for donations to the South Dakota Sheriff’s Association, the South Dakota Peace Officer’s Association, and the South Dakota Highway Patrol Association. It seems as if I were to make a small donation to each organization of law enforcement officers that makes an appeal to me and then stuck all of their stickers on the back window of my car, I would have so many stickers that I would get pulled over for having covered up the window.
Then there are the arts agencies. In our town March, on the opposite side of the calendar from September, is the month of the Allied Arts Fund Drive. Like United Way, it is a single agency that funds multiple arts organizations. Like United Way the member organizations fund-raise independently in order to make their budgets.
There are plenty of opportunities to invest in organizations. Of course, we are not able to contribute to every cause that seems important to us. And we have to limit our contributions to the causes that are closest to our hearts simply because our funds are limited. The annual budgets of the agencies we support far exceed our family’s budget. The whole point of these organizations is to spread out the cost by having many supporters.
There is an old formula that invites people to plan their family budgets by setting aside 10% for donations and 10% for savings right off the top. The invitation then is to live as joyously as possible with the remaining 80%. Of course this is a guideline and an ideal. In real lives there are months when the savings have to take a back seat to survival and other months when a little extra can be set aside to make up for the short months. In real life one has to dip into savings to get through a crisis. It is also true, however, that in real life part of that 80% is discretionary spending. Sometimes I dip into my wallet to support a cause or help someone in need simply because giving is a source of pleasure. I have a small amount of discretionary money and giving is one of the things I like to do with my money. I know that planning makes giving more effective than impulse. And I know that impulsive action in regards to money can lead one astray from the larger goals set for our resources. But I confess that I do give in to impulse from time to time.
For us, of course, the largest amount of our giving is directed through the church. In a way that seems a bit self serving, at least on the surface. My biggest donation each month is to the church. The church’s biggest single budget item each month is my salary. The church gives me money, I give some of it back. It might be seen as an inefficient system. If I didn’t give so much to the church, the church could pay me less. But giving isn’t about efficiency. Nowhere in the Bible are we instructed to give in the most efficient manner. One of the things that my salary from the church gives me is the freedom to make my own decisions. No one tells me how much to donate, I make that choice myself. The church budget is set by the congregation. No one outside of my family “votes” on our spending priorities.
So the appeals for donations stack up. I try to be rational about them, but sometimes I am a bit random in my choices.
If I ever get it all figured out. I’ll be sure to let you know.
The Front Porch Coalition works to prevent suicide in our area. Black Hills Habitat for Humanity works in partnership with those in need to provide simple, basic housing. Cornerstone Rescue Mission provides meals and shelter for this with nowhere else to go. Working Against Violence is a domestic abuse shelter and advocate for more peaceful homes. There are a lot of other agencies working together to serve our community.
What I know, having served on the Board of Directors of member agencies, is that United Way, generous and large as it is, doesn’t fund the operations of those agencies. It may be a major donor, but each of those agencies has to figure out how to raise a lot of additional money in order to keep in business. I used to joke about one agency that fund-raising was a 12 month a year business: one month for United Way and the rest of the year to make up what United Way doesn’t pay.
The people of the hills are amazingly generous, but there is a certain amount of donor fatigue that develops. I know that both as a person who has done a fair amount of raising funds for organizations and as a donor.
For just one example, we pay taxes to support law enforcement in our state. We agree that law enforcement is important and we want to support those who put their lives on the line to protect us all. As a Sheriff’s chaplain, I spend a fair amount of time with those who work to keep our communities safe and I appreciate their work. I want to be supportive. And I am on the call list for donations to the South Dakota Sheriff’s Association, the South Dakota Peace Officer’s Association, and the South Dakota Highway Patrol Association. It seems as if I were to make a small donation to each organization of law enforcement officers that makes an appeal to me and then stuck all of their stickers on the back window of my car, I would have so many stickers that I would get pulled over for having covered up the window.
Then there are the arts agencies. In our town March, on the opposite side of the calendar from September, is the month of the Allied Arts Fund Drive. Like United Way, it is a single agency that funds multiple arts organizations. Like United Way the member organizations fund-raise independently in order to make their budgets.
There are plenty of opportunities to invest in organizations. Of course, we are not able to contribute to every cause that seems important to us. And we have to limit our contributions to the causes that are closest to our hearts simply because our funds are limited. The annual budgets of the agencies we support far exceed our family’s budget. The whole point of these organizations is to spread out the cost by having many supporters.
There is an old formula that invites people to plan their family budgets by setting aside 10% for donations and 10% for savings right off the top. The invitation then is to live as joyously as possible with the remaining 80%. Of course this is a guideline and an ideal. In real lives there are months when the savings have to take a back seat to survival and other months when a little extra can be set aside to make up for the short months. In real life one has to dip into savings to get through a crisis. It is also true, however, that in real life part of that 80% is discretionary spending. Sometimes I dip into my wallet to support a cause or help someone in need simply because giving is a source of pleasure. I have a small amount of discretionary money and giving is one of the things I like to do with my money. I know that planning makes giving more effective than impulse. And I know that impulsive action in regards to money can lead one astray from the larger goals set for our resources. But I confess that I do give in to impulse from time to time.
For us, of course, the largest amount of our giving is directed through the church. In a way that seems a bit self serving, at least on the surface. My biggest donation each month is to the church. The church’s biggest single budget item each month is my salary. The church gives me money, I give some of it back. It might be seen as an inefficient system. If I didn’t give so much to the church, the church could pay me less. But giving isn’t about efficiency. Nowhere in the Bible are we instructed to give in the most efficient manner. One of the things that my salary from the church gives me is the freedom to make my own decisions. No one tells me how much to donate, I make that choice myself. The church budget is set by the congregation. No one outside of my family “votes” on our spending priorities.
So the appeals for donations stack up. I try to be rational about them, but sometimes I am a bit random in my choices.
If I ever get it all figured out. I’ll be sure to let you know.