Report from
the Board:
Fundraising for LLLI
Nan Jolly,
Lynne Coates, and Susan Deo
LLLI Board of Directors
From: LEAVEN, Vol. 39 No. 6, December 2003 - January 2004, pp. 122,
141.
The word "nonprofit"
can be misleading. It doesn't mean that a nonprofit organization can't-or
shouldn't be-make a profit. It means that the profit made must be funneled
into the purpose and mission of the organization; returned to the "public"
so to speak. As with many nonprofit organizations around the world today,
LLLI is struggling financially. In this article, we will take a closer
look at LLLI income.
More than 75 percent of our
income is earned primarily through memberships and sales of publications.
The remaining 25 percent comes from contributions. Many of our donors
are LLL members, Leaders, Groups, and other friends of LLL, which is
not surprising because people give to organizations that they care about.
Currently, individual donors
give about 95 percent of the funds donated to LLLI. (Corporations and
foundations give the remaining five percent.) Our donors are people
with a passion for helping LLLI support mothers and babies! Many individual
contributions come in response to regular appeal letters. Updating our
mailing lists is essential. The Board received a helpful suggestion
from a Leader that Groups and Areas share names of potential donors
with LLLI so we can add them to the LLLI database for future appeal
letters.
While the major part of our
donations will always come from friends of LLL, we are striving to increase
grant funding from foundations and other agencies (e.g. government,
international). The LLLI Funding Development Department is searching
for potential grant opportunities and welcomes volunteers to help seek
more funds this way. We deeply appreciate the efforts of Leaders who
have applied for grants on behalf of LLLI.
Another place to look for
funds for LLLI is from companies whose objectives are compatible with
ours by forming relationships that benefit both LLLI and the company.
The support to LLLI can come
from donations, sponsorships (such as prizes for the World Walk), advertising
in LLL publications, royalties from the use of the LLLI name/logo, and
other possibilities. Several Leaders have suggested to the Board that
LLLI focus on health and/or life insurance companies-an obvious tie-in
with the increased health benefits of breastfeeding.
What helps the LLLI budget
also helps other parts of the organization, and vice versa. We can all
learn from each other! Some examples of how parts of LLL help the LLLI
budget:
- Groups ordering products
from LLLI and paying their bills to LLLI promptly.
- LLL Areas, Affiliates,
Divisions, Chapters, and Groups finding creative ways to assist Leaders
in their work and continuing education, and at the same time, helping
support LLLI; for example, LLL of Northern California/Hawaii offered
one-day registration scholarships to the 2003 LLLI Conference in San
Francisco to 24 Area Leaders.
- The Mathieu Chazelle fund,
established by the International Division, collected donations to
help pay the expenses of 30 Leaders from around the world to attend
the 2003 LLLI Conference.
- The Breastfeeding Resource
Marketplace is creating a way for people who wish to do projects that
will make La Leche League philosophy real in the world to communicate
with potential donors. The Marketplace accepts donations and business
plans for potential projects. For more information, visit the new
Breastfeeding Resource Marketplace Web site at www.brmgroup.org.
- Lucy Shares, a project
of the Breastfeeding Resource Marketplace, had its debut at the LLLI
Conference. Leaders were thrilled to create wish lists of publications
for their local Groups and/or make donations of funds or books to
Groups in need around the world. For more information about this project,
see the Breastfeeding Resource Marketplace Web site (above).
Following the March 2003
LLLI Board of Directors meeting, the Board reported to the LLLI community
about the current financial status of LLLI, and asked for suggestions
for increasing our income. Many Leaders wrote to us with creative ideas-thank
you! The suggestions included ideas for increasing financial effectiveness
of current revenue-generating activities as well as ideas for new enterprises
and ways of increasing contributions. Some of the ideas may be implemented
by the office in Schaumburg, and some may be implemented by other parts
of LLLI-Areas, Groups, and special projects.
Here are some of the fundraising
ideas we received:
- Donate through Internet
purchases (see sidebar on the iGive.com shopping mall on page 133)
- Provide more information
about and encourage the opportunity for donors to make bequests to LLL
- More active pursuit of matching
grants through employers or other companies
- Royalty income from bank
checks and mailing labels printed with the LLLI logo
- Provide (for a fee) online
education services through which Leaders (and perhaps lactation consultants
and other health professionals) can earn continuing education credits
- A car donation program where
funds from the sale of donated automobiles are donated to LLLI (for
more information see www.v-dac.com/org/?id=362514518)
- LLLI link to the Breastfeeding
Awareness Campaign in the US (see article on page 51 of June-July 2003
Leaven), perhaps with a symbol that could become synonymous with breastfeeding,
such as selling a pin of a golden double bow
- Increase awareness of the
Combined Federal Campaign in the US, which enables federal employees
to ask that a donation to the charity of their choice be deducted from
their paycheck
- Provide (for a fee) diaper
services at Conferences and other events
What is the role of the LLLI
Board in fundraising? It is our responsibility to see that LLLI has
the resources it needs to pursue our mission. All members of the Board
make at least yearly donations to LLLI. The Board ensures that our resources
are used most efficiently and effectively in the office in Schaumburg,
Illinois, USA. A Board committee, Resource Development, advises the
Board on matters pertaining to the generation of funds from earned and
donated income. Nan Jolly chairs this committee. Please share your ideas
for fundraising opportunities with her at NJolly at llli.org (email). The
Board keeps in touch with our donors and supporters-all of you! We brainstorm
ideas for fundraisers. At the 2003 LLLI Conference, we launched a special
"Gift for the Founders" fundraiser (see page 140).
All of us in LLL have an
impact on the income of LLLI. We are members; we buy books; we encourage
people in our communities to participate by becoming members, purchasing
books, or making donations; we pass on names of potential donors to
the LLLI Funding Development Department; and we spread the word about
the great work that La Leche League does. Thank you for your work in
supporting La Leche League!
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:31:52 UTC 2007.
