:Forest Folk

Most non-profits focus their fundraising efforts on a highly defined constituency - children with Hodgkin’s Disease, avid birdwatchers, etc. However, when non-profits make forays outside these self-imposed boundaries, they often find new and lucrative fundraising opportunities.

Women are the primary donor base of the Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault. Recently, however, SACASA reached beyond these parameters. Encouraged by success the first time it expanded its constituency, the organization then ventured beyond them with great results.

SACASA’s first move came in the midst of scandal. After a talk hosted by an adult survivor of childhood molestation, it found itself with new clients who paid the full fee for its services. What is different here is that these clients were men; the speaker was a man and headed a support group for men in the same situation as he.

Moving from women who had been sexually assaulted to men who experienced the same ordeal was not a stretch, but the organization ventured into uncharted territory and reached out to men with no obvious sexual assault history.

The organization, which had few male donors, board members, and volunteers, set as its goal making long-term large donors out of men. What the organization did have was married women who were long-term large donors, and it turned to their husbands for help.

These wealthy men provided knowledge and connections. They revealed that the men the organization was targeting, “movers and shakers” in the community, were likely to give funds if some of the blatant sexuality of the cause was removed and if the program was framed as a competition for which the reward would be prestige.

SACASA named the program the Men’s Anti-Violence Project, and bluntly stated to its potential donors that this was a giving circle reserved for high-profile men in the community and listed people that it already had on board. They asked for a minimum donation of $5,000.00. The “inaugural” members of the Project would be recognized by name at a press conference.

SACASA set a goal of getting 20 inaugural members at $5,000.00. They got 35, and then closed the “inauguration” phase to maintain the prestige and competitiveness of giving.

Not only has it raised at least $175,000.00, it did so relatively cheaply and in a way that raises its community profile. Further, these are likely to be long-term relationships as the men are pledged to another donation and have recruited other men to join and in bringing their wives into the organization.

SACASA succeeded because it had a well-executed plan. However, the foundation of the organization’s success was in identifying the right constituency. The interests of men were not antithetical to the interests of the organization’s traditional constituents, as demonstrated by the men who began to use the services. Rather, it was the case that neither the organization nor men realized that they had any similar interests. Money flowed when the connection was made.

Learn more about raising money and read about interesting fundraising ideas.

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