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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Donations Increasing in Value

New charitable organizations are cropping up at breakneck speeds, overwhelming donors with questions about which nonprofit is worthy of a contribution. In such an age are charitable organizations in the Valley finding that giving is up or down, compared to previous periods? Patricia E. Modrzejewski, who has been president of Providence Health System Foundations since 1999, believes that charitable giving is on the rise. However, she does acknowledge that the pool of organizations to which donors can contribute is rapidly expanding, providing competition for her foundation and others. “In the year 2006, health care philanthropy rose by 11.5 percent, and I think, even during the last five recessions, it hasn’t affected philanthropy,” she said. “I think people in the Valley are very generous.” But Modrzejewski added that “competition is increasing. I just read a statistic that, across the nation, 100 new charities are formed every day. The number of nonprofits in the last 20 years has tripled.” So how does her foundation stand out in the ever expanding pool of nonprofits? “I think organizations that have strong structures, strong board-driven foundations are doing the best and will continue to do the best,” she said. “I think Providence St. Joseph and Providence Holy Cross have very compelling missions. The fact that we serve everyone, the fact that we provide excellent healthcare,I think people are beginning to understand that, without philanthropy, we won’t be able to provide cutting edge technology, and I think, given the fact that healthcare is in crisis, people want hospitals to have the best physicians and the best technology.” Since 2000, the foundation has raised more than $80 million. Many projects at the hospitals, such as the cancer center at Providence St. Joseph and the expansion of Holy Cross were funded by philanthropic efforts, according to Modrzejewski. Providence St. Joseph also has plans to raise money to build a new neuroscience institute. Despite the success her foundation has had in fundraising, Modrzejewski said that the number of donors has dwindled. “Now, I would also say the size of the bequests from individuals are significantly larger,” she explained. “There’s a higher reliance on individuals who have more wealth. There was a figure that 3 percent of households provided 67 percent of all charity in 2006. What’s happening are there are fewer donors but larger average gifts. We don’t have any data to show it affects philanthropic giving. The total amount of giving has not decreased.” Raul Castillo, executive director of the Los Angeles Valley College Foundation, said that he’s finding the foundation isn’t garnering as many contributions from fundraising events as it once had. “The general consensus from what I’ve been hearing about giving is that it’s down. There’s a correlation with the way the economy is going,” he said. At the foundation’s recent President’s Gala, the foundation found themselves thousands of dollars short for meeting its $104,000 goal. “It was a little bit off from last year.” Despite this setback, Castillo, said that, overall, the foundation is making strides in the fundraising realm. “We’re actually performing 38 percent better at this time than we did at this time last year,” he said. “We’ve had growth in fundraising activity.” Castillo called the foundation’s overall improved performance an anomaly, considering that giving at fundraising events is down. He attributes the strides the foundation has made in fundraising to maintaining relationships with Valley College alumni, former school staffers and local businesses. “We try to court local businesses because we are, after all, in their backyard. We provide a workforce pipeline to many of the industries out there. It’s in their interest to be involved with us,” he explained. At Meet Each Need with Dignity (MEND), a Pacoima-based organization that serves those in poverty, contending with big-name nonprofits with a similar focus is a routine struggle. “The challenge for us as a poverty agency,it’s interesting in a couple of different respects,” said Executive Director Marianne Haver Hill. “We don’t have the name recognition that the Red Cross or Salvation Army has. We’ve had to work very hard to make our name known. There’s a lot of people who don’t know we’re competing against the big organizations.” While it competes with long-established charitable groups, Haver Hill said that MEND has been in growth mode this year. “We’ve had to be much more proactive in fundraising ever since we opened a second facility in April,” she said. “Last year we raised more money than we ever did for operations because we were also running a capital campaign.” Haver Hill said that Valley residents don’t tend to give as much as, say, those who live on the Westside but could not pinpoint exactly why she believes this is the case. She also said that, in the summertime, giving typically goes down. “People go on vacation and forget to give,” she said. To maintain the flow of contributions year round, Haver Hill said that MEND is planning to send out more direct mail and change its Web site to allow for online contributions. The year 2007 was a rebuilding one for the Boys & Girls Club of the West Valley, according to Jan Sobel, president and CEO. “We have been able to expand our reach to potential donors, and, in so doing, we’ve been successful in enlarging our donor base,” Sobel said. The club has already met its $800,000 budgetary goal. “Our community is very generous in the sense that they understand such a high percentage of the money they give goes back to our program,” Sobel said. “Eighty-seven percent goes back to our programs and our kids.” While foundations employ numerous tactics to keep the charitable funds coming, Providence Health System Foundations head Modrzejewski believes that there is one surefire way for local nonprofits to ensure that they won’t get the donations they need. “The biggest mistake is not asking,” she said.

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