I World
Pitching Charity
Jacob Berkman
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New York
H
arriet Mouchly-Weiss has a 2-
foot tall stack of abject letters
from nonprofit organizations
telling her of their dire financial straits
because of the economic meltdown.
It was probably an ineffective approach
— at least for Mouchly-Weiss.
"If I get one more pathetic letter I am
going to croak:' said the New Yorker.
In the nonprofit world, marketing is
often a nice word for fundraising, and if
organizations are going to listen to anyone
about how to message their causes now,
it should be Mouchly-Weiss. She is the
managing partner at Strategy XXI, a mar-
keting consulting firm that specializes in
nonprofits.
Mouchly-Weiss also sits on the execu-
tive committee of the UJA-Federation of
New York and is on the boards of the New
Israel Fund, the Abraham Fund and the
Israel Policy Forum.
Her message is clear: With nonprofits
facing a shrinking fundraising pool as
funders either lose money or become
more tightfisted, organizations will have
to come up with an effective pitch for con-
vincing donors that they are running tight
ships. And nonprofits have to recognize
that their messaging may be their meal
tickets.
Or as Gary Wexler, the president of
Passion Marketing, a creative marketing
firm that focuses on the nonprofit sector,
puts it, "Marketing is going to be every-
thing in this time'
Wexler adds: "If nonprofits don't tie
their fundraising to marketing and inte-
grating it, they will be sunk."
The first step, Mouchly-Weiss says, is for
nonprofits to become less frivolous. They
must let their donors know that they are
cutting ancillary expenses, such as expen-
sive dinners, and focusing solely on fulfill-
ing their missions.
"I hope the situation will compel us to
go right to the issue as opposed to focus-
ing on entertaining people she said.
"People are going to be much more critical
of the way money is spent. People will look
at overhead. And then I think that non-
profits are going to have to demonstrate
the real need and effectiveness of their
solutions:'
The Israel Policy Forum, an advocacy
A36
October 23 • 2008
iN
group that Mouchly-Weiss chairs, elimi-
nated the glitz from its upcoming annual
banquet. In June, the group had booked
the grand ballroom at the Hyatt Hotel in
Manhattan, but recently decided to down-
grade to a smaller space at the hotel.
IPF, which pushes for deeper U.S.
involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, also opted to focus more on an
educational program instead of a posh
reception, and slashed the ticket cost from
$1,000 to $500.
"We have really tried to avoid the quint-
essential rubber chicken New York dinner:'
said the organization's executive director,
Nick Bunzl. "And this year we have par-
ticularly tried to focus on change'
Priority Shift
Nonprofits should emphasize their emer-
gency, says Gary Tobin, the president of
the Institute for Jewish and Community
Research in San Francisco, which studies
the Jewish nonprofit sector.
"What is going to matter most to people
are those programs for the hungry and the
poor, people on Medicare and the home-
less:' Tobin said.
"You have to appeal to a shift in priori-
ties and mission in a time of crisis. JCCs
should be emphasizing scholarships, day
schools the same he said. "Everybody
needs programs that serve people in need.
It's just a matter of how you package it:'
For the Jewish Agency for Israel, the
trick will be communicating to American
donors that overseas Jewish needs are just
as important as domestic needs, says the
director of its North American communi-
cations department, Jacob Dallal.
The Jewish Agency, a century-old orga-
nization that focuses on promoting immi-
gration to Israel and Zionist education in
diaspora communities, has been hit with
a "double whammy," with donations in the
United States falling as the costs of provid-
ing services overseas rises.
For instance, because of inflation and
the falling dollar, the cost of sending a
child to a session at a summer camp in
the former Soviet Union has jumped from
$670 to $850.
While the Jewish Agency has made its
financial troubles public, donors may not
respond to that message alone, Dallal said.
"It's part of the argument, but I don't
think it is the whole argument," he said.
"We have to explain how we fit into the
larger picture and we will continue to do
that. It is then up to Mr. and Mrs. Cohen in
Oklahoma, who give money to their local
federation, to decide. We have to give as
clear as possible all the information that
we can about how our programs run."
Donors will give to causes they deem
important during tough times, said
Steve Rabinowitz, a founding partner at
Rabinowitz-Dorf Communications, which
specializes in strategies for nonprofits and
political interests. He cites the unprec-
edented amounts raised over the past two
years for presidential campaigns.
But, Rabinowitz adds, nonprofits must
strengthen their messages and prove to
their benefactors that they remain vital.
"What is the value in the sky-is-falling
method?" he asks, noting that several non-
profits with which he consults have alter-
nated sending messages of desperation
and strength. "Several nonprofits are now
afraid of advertising large gifts they receive
because it might tell smaller donors that
they don't need smaller gifts. But if they
claim poverty, then it might" signal that
— for a reason — no one is giving.
"It is a real Catch 22:' Rabinowitz says,
"but organizations have to show that
despite the difficult times, people are con-
tinuing to give because it continues to be
part of their lives. They just have to take
into account people's difficulty or nervous-
ness, and be understanding and make the
case that yours continues to be a commu-
nity priority"
Haves Should Give
The UJA-Federation of New York may have
caught on first.
In late September, just as the economy
was falling into meltdown mode, the fed-
eration raised $43 million in one night at
its largest fundraiser, the Ace Greenberg
dinner — an increase of $2 million over
the previous year.
For weeks before the event, the federa-
tion's CEO and executive vice president, John
Ruskay, and other top staff met personally
with major donors stressing that they had to
keep up their donations and in some cases
increase them. Ruskay had a simple pitch:
Those who can give should give.
The rest of the North American fed-
eration system, which takes in about $1
billion annually through the federations'
collective annual campaigns, is trying to
pick up on Ruskay's message, says Adam
Smolyar, the senior vice president for stra-
tegic communications and marketing at
the United Jewish Communities.
The UJC, the umbrella organization for
Photo courtesy Strategy XXI
For nonprofits in a tough economy, marketing pitch must be perfect.
Harriet Mouchly-Weiss says nonprofits
need to solidify their marketing strategies.
the federation system, is forming talking
points to pass on to the federations that
play off the New York message, he said.
And the UJC has started an Internet-based
message board for marketing directors at
federations to bounce ideas off each other
and share best practices.
"We need to deal with how you both
raise money from the existing donor base
when the donors are affected by the eco-
nomic situation and how you make the
case for giving more persuasive and acute
at this time Smolyar said.
"Marketing and fundraising in my
opinion absolutely have to work together.
In our case in particular, the messag-
ing needs to be refined and updated. We
need to talk about the reasons why people
should give to the annual campaign, what
it provides, and what services are provided
to help people like you. These are all mar-
keting messages."
But Wexler of Passion Marketing says
that nonprofits now must think beyond
their own message and figure out how to
work together as a sector.
Wexler is trying to help the Los Angeles
federation convene the city's major non-
profits — Jewish and non-Jewish — to
speak about how they can work together.
The trouble, he said, is that most non-
profits are starting to strategize way too
late in the game. At the same time, he
expressed alarm over the attempts by sev-
eral nonprofits to make the economic cri-
sis the center of their marketing message.
"Now there is almost a panic, and non-
profits are becoming emergency shops
saying that this has become their major
project and goal, and they are abandoning
the process of maintaining who they are
Wexler said. "It will be essential that they
stay on mission."
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