ALL 'ontrihiltior - TZEDAKAH Year-end giving makes a big difference to our Jewish organizations. Barbara Lewis Contributing Writer I t starts before Thanksgiving. Mailboxes fill up with appeals from nonprofit orga- nizations: Give us your money before Dec. 31. Every charity that's ever gotten hold of your name and mailing address — or your email address — seems to be competing for your hard-earned dollars. Why do they all inundate us at the end of the year? Two words: tax deduction. Actually, it's a little more complex than that. Many donors are inspired by the giv- ing spirit of the end-of-the-year holidays as well as by the opportunity to avoid taxes. Giving tends to go way up in the final quar- ter of the year. Some donors begin planning where they want to spend their charitable dollars well before the start of what fundraisers call the giving season. A Google study last year found that donation-related searches increased by 30 percent in August and September. Many Jewish charities rely on their end- of-year donations as an important part of their fundraising program. Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit has its annual campaign, endow- ment campaign and other efforts going on throughout the year, but 30 percent of the cash collected annually comes in during December, said Finance Director Becky Stasch. That includes payment on pledges made earlier as well as immediate payment on new pledges. At the end of the year, we step up our efforts, especially with donors we haven't heard from yet during the year," said Lisa Cutler, Federation's director of campaign and community development. Most of the nonprofits use a combination of direct mail and online appeals that use email blasts and social media platforms like Facebook. Growing Local 1^Imie.1., LI The Detroit Jewish News Foundation's William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History is a treasure trove of historic material. Since its launch just over a year ago, the archive has attracted more than 10,000 visitors who accessed more than 30,000 pages from old issues of the Jewish News. The 270,000-page archive starts with the 20 December 18 • 2014 m Personal Touch Professional fundraisers agree that the key to getting donors to open their wallets is to touch their hearts. For human services organizations that means staying away from statistics and focusing on the people who benefit from their work. Other nonprofits appeal to donors' intel- lectual interests. The Detroit Jewish News Foundation and the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan, for example, may attract those with an interest in local Jewish history. Jewish Family Service (JFS) is in the midst of a campaign called Friends of the Family. Its year-end mailer tells the stories of some of the people the agency has helped. Although JFS uses social media and email to promote the campaign, direct mail remains the most powerful tool. "People like to have something in front of them to read:' said Debra Marcus, JFS's chief development officer. Marcus also tries to make the mailing as personal as possible. "We have board members hand-address- ing notes to people they know:' she said. They send the hand-addressed messages via first-class mail, rather than bulk rate, to cre- ate a more personal appearance. JFS's mail appeal went out the week after Thanksgiving, and Marcus says it has definitely led to an increase in donations. Although they've recently tweaked the JFS website to make it "super easy" to give online, most donations still come through the mail, Marcus said. Giving Tuesday Many charities, including Friendship Circle in West Bloomfield, used the Giving Tuesday handle to help promote its cam- paigns. Giving Tuesday (also called #GivingTuesday) was started two years ago by the 92nd Street Y in New York (a Jewish orga- nization) and the United Nations Foundation as a response to the commercialism and con- March 27,1942, edition of the Detroit Jewish News. But wait, there's more! The Jewish News acquired its respected competitor, the Detroit Jewish Chronicle, in 1951. From 1914 to 1951, the Chronicle published an esti- mated 90,000 pages, which live on in rolls of difficult-to-search microfilm in a reference library. The Detroit Jewish News Foundation plans to digitize and integrate the entire content of the Jewish sumerism of the post-Thanksgiving period. After the spending frenzy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, many charities encour- age donations by putting their appeals on Facebook, Twitter and other social media on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving with the hashtag GivingTuesday. Last year, donors gave 90 percent more on Giving Tuesday than they did in 2012, according to the Association of Fundraising Professionals, and the number of participat- ing organizations quadrupled, from just over 2,500 to more than 10,000. Friendship Circle, which helps people with special needs, joined in Giving Tuesday this year, figuring it was a good way to pique the interest of prospective donors. They offered something in return: For contributions of $50 or more, donors will receive an item made by a Friendship Circle client. "It's the time of year when everyone is shopping," said Bassie Shemtov, Friendship Circle director. Giving Tuesday messages are a good reminder that there are other ways to use funds. For the past several months, Friendship Circle's goal has been raising $225,000 to furnish and equip the Farber Soul Center, a new facility that will include a studio where clients can create art and a gallery where they can exhibit and sell their work, a cafe that will provide work experience for cli- ents, and a hall for special events. On Dec. 11, Friendship Circle sent out an email blast with an offer from benefac- tors William and Audrey Farber, for whom the center is named, to match every gift through the end of the year. Shemtov said she hopes the email will be the push donors need to bring in the final $15,000 the center needs. Shemtov's husband, Levi, Friendship Circle's executive director, said 37 percent of last year's individual donations came in during the last quarter. Chronicle into the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History. When this effort is completed in 2015, the community will have a 100-plus-year store of timeless infor- mation about family, friends, organiza- tions, businesses and more. Access to this information will be fast, free, fully searchable and always available – in perpetuity. But we need your help! This is a one- time appeal for your support to help fund the digitization of the Jewish Raising Awareness Kadima, which provides residential and outpatient services for people with chronic and persistent mental illness, chose not to wait until Giving Tuesday to start their end-of-year appeal. Before Thanksgiving, the agency sent out a mailer with stories and photos of clients, and they personalized the let- ters that went to previous donors, said Michelle Malamis, development director. They also sent an email blast appeal and promoted it via social media. Malamis said she hoped the fundrais- ing campaign will also raise awareness of the agency, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary. "We are the biggest kept secret in the community; so we're hoping this will also help educate the community about who we are and what we do," Malamis said. A few years ago, the Greater Detroit Chapter of Hadassah decided to cash in on donors' inclination to give at the end of the year by moving its annual telethon from the spring to November. This year they held three sessions at members' homes, each with a party theme — Chocolicious, Nibbles and Nuts, and Kugelicious — to attract vol- unteer phone solicitors. They called all local Hadassah members who hadn't yet responded to an earlier mailed solicita- tion. "We noshed a little, talked a little and had a lot of fun," said fundraising vice president Carol Ogusky. She said she didn't have the results tallied yet, but she was very pleased with the results. Local fundraisers aren't perturbed by the competition among agencies for charitable dollars because Detroit has a reputation for generosity. "We have a very charitable and giv- ing community, so we are lucky," said Federation's Lisa Cutler. ❑ Chronicle. Your tax-deductible gift will enable the Detroit Jewish News Foundation to further connect our generations to each other, to the Jewish commu- nity and to Detroit, where so many started their pursuit of the American Dream. Mail your check to the Detroit Jewish News Foundation, 29200 Northwestern Hwy., Suite 110, Southfield, MI 48034, or donate online at www.djnfoundation.org/donate.