More Than Just A Network
Years ago, after falling victim to the unethical practices of a Not-For-Profit business, what first looked to be a great organization, one that I thought was helping children and parents with their activities, turned out to be an unethical way to make money for them and their family/friends. I had put a lot of time/effort into sharing my website and marketing expertise to assist them but quickly withdrew any support once I learned the true nature of their efforts. It was a real eye-opener and made me pay more attention to the activities I became involved with. I learned a lot through the experience, how many businesses and politicians not only knew about the activities but truly turned a blind eye to what was going on.
As time progressed I was involved with a couple of grassroots efforts to assist those most in need within my community. Needless to say, fundraising was always an ongoing effort, working with many different groups/organizations I learned that they all faced the neverending efforts associated with fundraising.
Legitimate organizations seeking fundraising options are finding it more and more difficult to generate funds for their efforts. People have become suspicious, and untrusting of many fundraises efforts. Sadly their thoughts are justified by the ever-changing landscape of fundraising and those scamming people of their hard-earned money. Over the years I heard many examples of scams, it was always frustrating hearing the stories especially when we are always struggling to fund our efforts to assist those most in need.
A decade or two ago many fell victim to the door-to-door sales or set-ups at local malls of chocolate bars, unethical organizations would sell overpriced chocolate bars to raise funds but over time people would learn about the truth of the funds raised. These unethical groups would create marketing materials that sounded like it was a fantastic opportunity to help make a difference in their community. The truth was, that 90% or more of any funds raised would go to high-paid managers and board members. Usually, these managers and board members would be family/friends. We all remember a scandal from not so long ago, the company would say that the donations of used goods were going to a good cause but in the end, only 3% of profits would go to the cause.
Over time we would see companies that would increase the cost of the products, and then offer organizations that need fundraising package deals and make it all sound good. The material focused on helping raise funds for their favorite charity avoiding any talk about pricing. In most cases, the price people paid was greatly overpriced and they could purchase the products from the local store for as much as 50% less than what they paid through the fundraising effort. Word spread about the overpriced product and how little the funds raised, more and more stopped participating and these companies faded away.
Today we see many groups/organizations buying products in bulk to get a discount and then selling products/services at retail prices and the difference in the process is their funds for their efforts. Most found that it was a large outlay of funds to get started and that in some cases, they did not do their research and ended up with products that did not sell.
Sadly today we see more and more sophisticated efforts to scam the organizations trying to fundraise and people being scammed of their money, it is making it more and more difficult for legitimate groups/organizations to fundraise. We have fake people/businesses throughout social media, creating more and more fake profiles and changing wording and tactics for their unethical practices.
We have some great opportunities to help make a difference for those groups/organizations needing options for their efforts. We are seeing more and more online businesses with well-established brands allowing codes that established groups/organizations can use for the generated funds for their efforts. With the success of these efforts, we are seeing more and more running to these options, so a downside is coming that now you will start to see competition between different groups. Companies love this, more sales but larger and better-funded groups can overshadow smaller groups' efforts.
We have also seen how government-funded charities use the funding to pay for marketing and advertising, these high-paying advertising and marketing efforts dominate and push out smaller groups/organizations, they just can not compete and are forced out of various fundraising efforts. This is very commonplace with foundations and large charities willing to lose as much as 30% of each dollar raised to marketing companies. On top of paying marketing companies, they pay large amounts for advertising through social networks and banner ads.
Times are changing faster than ever before, and raising funds continues to be a difficult and time-consuming effort. Products for fundraising efforts have added challenges with the economic changes in the last few years and will continue for some time to come.
We are seeing some with creative and out-of-the-box thinking, or some making efforts to support and make things easier for the smaller groups/organizations. We need to start making changes in support of the little guy or the big foundations/organizations will continue to make fundraising efforts so difficult for the small guys that some have given up unable to maintain their group efforts and no longer creating the benefits within our communities. In today's times, we need all the support for those in need we can get, we might someday soon be in need or someone you know in need of the resources these small groups are creating in our community.
I have spent a lot of thought on these issues, and problems, and I understand the complex issues between funding, donations and the relationship of how marketing and advertising play a big role in the success that is pushing out the grassroots and smaller efforts to assist those most in need.
I have a plan, started many years ago to work towards some solutions to these issues and others. I am working towards a way to put options in the hands of those who need assistance, and ways to work together to achieve these and other goals. I have a natural desire to assist others, I firmly believe that love is for everyone, that love is about acceptance and that we should celebrate our differences. Working together with local small businesses we can create a growing option to help support the benefits of our grassroots and small organizations. While bringing more and more benefits to our communities we can also bring a greater awareness of the small businesses, the true backbone of our communities.
LIFE - Love Is For Everyone
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