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What do you think about this fundraiser? Tell me I'm wrong.
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amother
Denim


 

Post Mon, Jun 20 2016, 9:54 pm
A school in lakewood did this yesterday and they raised all of the money within the first12 hours. I think it was a very good way to get very much needed money for the school.
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m in Israel




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jun 20 2016, 10:03 pm
OP, like others have said, it is 1.6 AFTER the match, and the match is already lined up. Charidy is a well known and reputable site, and it IS true that they only process the donations if they reach the goal.

Schools that run campaigns like this plan them out very well, and generally make sure to set a reasonable goal so that they don't run the risk of not meeting it. Knowing the school you are talking about, I'm sure they did so.

I really don't see anything dishonest or disingenuous here. True, it's a gimmick, like much of fundraising today. But everything they are telling you is true -- everyone knows that 3/4 of the money is committed beforehand ("the match"), and how the deadline works. The sense of urgency is part of the psychological reason that these campaigns work -- but I really don't see why that bothers you. Do you want the school to say "we're having this campaign but you don't need to worry about if we'll be successful because we made sure to set ourselves a realistic goal"? Obviously the goal is based on people donating!

In any case, your kids are in a school with a great reputation -- I hope they have much hatzlacha there!
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m in Israel




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jun 20 2016, 10:25 pm
And by the way, as far as your concern that they will just "announce" they reached the goal even if they didn't, the website lists each donation as it comes in, so you can follow the campaign as it goes along to see what they are actually getting. Of course people can donate as "anonymous" so I guess technically the school can be donating to itself to reach its goal -- but I think it is more likely that if they see they are not reaching their goal they will simply call a few of their established donors at that point and ask them to make up the difference so the goal is reached. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they have these potential donors lined up already. But that sounds perfectly legitimate to me -- it is exactly the point of a campaign like this -- to motivate people to give.
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Iymnok




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jun 20 2016, 10:42 pm
A school I know of had the present students calling alumni with a promise of a great breakfast if they achieve it by shachris. They did. They added a bonus after.
This is planned in advance and people like to give since there is a feeling of making a difference and the donors often up their pledge to help ensure success.
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amother
Periwinkle


 

Post Tue, Jun 21 2016, 5:31 am
m in Israel wrote:
And by the way, as far as your concern that they will just "announce" they reached the goal even if they didn't, the website lists each donation as it comes in, so you can follow the campaign as it goes along to see what they are actually getting. Of course people can donate as "anonymous" so I guess technically the school can be donating to itself to reach its goal -- but I think it is more likely that if they see they are not reaching their goal they will simply call a few of their established donors at that point and ask them to make up the difference so the goal is reached. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they have these potential donors lined up already. But that sounds perfectly legitimate to me -- it is exactly the point of a campaign like this -- to motivate people to give.


It sure does motivate people to give. It seems to me that part of the motivation though, as you pointed out, is on a misleading premise. Namely, that if the goal isn't reached they will end up with nothing. This is not really a possibility.
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Notsobusy




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jun 21 2016, 5:44 am
amother wrote:
It sure does motivate people to give. It seems to me that part of the motivation though, as you pointed out, is on a misleading premise. Namely, that if the goal isn't reached they will end up with nothing. This is not really a possibility.


Even if you're right that they have donors lined up just in case, they still need the majority of the donations. If those donors were looking to give the full 1.6 million, they wouldn't need to do the campaign at all. They need everyone else to give as much as they can, and then those donors will fill in whatever's missing.
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tryinghard




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jun 21 2016, 5:45 am
amother wrote:
It sure does motivate people to give. It seems to me that part of the motivation though, as you pointed out, is on a misleading premise. Namely, that if the goal isn't reached they will end up with nothing. This is not really a possibility.


Only because they have backup donors. But it's not in the school's best interest to call in these donors if they don't have to... so you really are helping them avoid a loss in the end.
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amother
Slategray


 

Post Tue, Jun 21 2016, 6:14 am
I thought Charidy claimed a 100% success rate because of their requirements and how they vet the program.
I don't see any failed campaigns on their website
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amother
Cobalt


 

Post Tue, Jun 21 2016, 6:20 am
Yes it's a gimmick. Like Chinese auctions and the like. No, there is nothing shady going on. Not everyone likes the gimmicky feel, but that doesn't make it problematic. I don't get it. Everyone complains about fundraising gimmicks, but guess what, they work. If they didn't work, charities wouldn't use them. And if it was so easy to fundraise without them, they wouldn't need to to do it. Everyone thinks they're above this kind of thing, but clearly most people aren't.
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ROFL




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jun 21 2016, 7:02 am
Does anyone know how much charidy gets of the 1.6 million dollars?
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m in Israel




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jun 21 2016, 7:19 am
ROFL wrote:
Does anyone know how much charidy gets of the 1.6 million dollars?


Their website says they get a 2.9% fee of funds collected plus the tzedaka has to pay any credit card processing fees.
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m in Israel




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jun 21 2016, 7:23 am
amother wrote:
It sure does motivate people to give. It seems to me that part of the motivation though, as you pointed out, is on a misleading premise. Namely, that if the goal isn't reached they will end up with nothing. This is not really a possibility.


Nothing misleading. As others have said, it's only not a possibility because the donors are giving. Your logic here is circular. It IS true that if the goal isn't reached they will end up with nothing. The only reason it is not really a possibility is because they assume they make sure to reach their goal by setting a realistic number and doing the appropriate planning/work. IOW arranging back up donors to cover the difference if they don't reach it is part of the fundraising -- those donors also are motivated by the idea of "all or nothing" and are giving so the institution won't lose all the donations.
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amother
Cobalt


 

Post Tue, Jun 21 2016, 7:43 am
m in Israel wrote:
Nothing misleading. As others have said, it's only not a possibility because the donors are giving. Your logic here is circular. It IS true that if the goal isn't reached they will end up with nothing. The only reason it is not really a possibility is because they assume they make sure to reach their goal by setting a realistic number and doing the appropriate planning/work. IOW arranging back up donors to cover the difference if they don't reach it is part of the fundraising -- those donors also are motivated by the idea of "all or nothing" and are giving so the institution won't lose all the donations.

This. And another thing that makes donors happy is seeing that the institution can gather the hordes and they can bring in funds aside from the bigwigs. And while the big donors may be on standby to fill in for this sort of campaign, they're still hoping to have to fill in as little as possible. Not because they're greedy (since they're obviously willing to kick in to make it happen) but because again, it shows the health of place being able to br8ng that money in from other sources.
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amother
Orchid


 

Post Tue, Jun 21 2016, 7:47 am
I know for a fact that they have TONS of volunteers sitting on the phones all day calling their entire list in order to try to reach their goal.
Reaching their goal is a lot of hard work and not a guarantee at all.

Also, the matching donors would probably not have given their donations without this whole campaign. The reason they are giving is because they are hoping that people will match them.

This is a very worthy cause and their staff truly deserves it. I think it is brilliant to make a campaign just to help their teachers and faculty make simchos. Every school should do it.
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ROFL




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jun 21 2016, 7:54 am
I just looked at the charidy page. They are raising money to help the teachers pay for their family simchas so they can concentrate on being wonderful rebbe in and teachers without worry I have heard lovely things about the school Do they not pay their staff well enough that they gave to worry about this?
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amother
Periwinkle


 

Post Tue, Jun 21 2016, 7:57 am
amother wrote:
I know for a fact that they have TONS of volunteers sitting on the phones all day calling their entire list in order to try to reach their goal.
Reaching their goal is a lot of hard work and not a guarantee at all.


Also, the matching donors would probably not have given their donations without this whole campaign. The reason they are giving is because they are hoping that people will match them.

This is a very worthy cause and their staff truly deserves it. I think it is brilliant to make a campaign just to help their teachers and faculty make simchos. Every school should do it.
[b]


Sure they are putting in alot of work and have people working the phones. What do you mean reaching the goal is not a guarantee? Do you really believe that if the last hour comes along and they are still 100k short that the yeshiva doesn't have a plan in place to cover it? Of course they do. In the emails they are sending out it says "all or nothing". Do you believe there is a 1% chance they won't reach their goal?
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allthingsblue




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jun 21 2016, 7:58 am
One benefit of such a campaign is that you're getting people to donate right here, right now.
How many times have I seen an appeal for tzedoka but I make a mental note to take care of it "later," which may or may not happen?
This way, they get the donations today, not "some time soon."
I don't see it as any different than a Chinese auction or dinner ($500 per couple for some chicken... Or $100 for a tiny one line ad in journal...)
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m in Israel




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jun 21 2016, 8:17 am
amother wrote:
[b]


Sure they are putting in alot of work and have people working the phones. What do you mean reaching the goal is not a guarantee? Do you really believe that if the last hour comes along and they are still 100k short that the yeshiva doesn't have a plan in place to cover it? Of course they do. In the emails they are sending out it says "all or nothing". Do you believe there is a 1% chance they won't reach their goal?


I'm not sure what you don't understand. It IS "all or nothing". If they are 100K short and they don't find people to fill in the difference they won't reach their goal. Is what bothers you that the "emergency" back up donations are lined up in advance? Whichever supporters are filling in the gap are also making donations to the campaign. Honestly a lot of the donations are probably solicited in advance. Why is that a problem?

Someone earlier posted that they heard of an institution that "donated" to themselves when they saw they were falling short of their goal. That would definitely feel dishonest to me, and I would understand being upset about something like that. But I can't imagine a person like Rabbi Bender endorsing such a thing in a million years! As long as it is real donors filling in that gap, I really don't understand why it bothers you if they work on setting up these donors in advance so as to ensure the success of the campaign.
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amother
Periwinkle


 

Post Tue, Jun 21 2016, 8:34 am
[quote="m in Israel"]I'm not sure what you don't understand. It IS "all or nothing". If they are 100K short and they don't find people to fill in the difference they won't reach their goal. Is what bothers you that the "emergency" back up donations are lined up in advance? Whichever supporters are filling in the gap are also making donations to the campaign. Honestly a lot of the donations are probably solicited in advance. Why is that a problem?


Part of the sales pitch here is that they urgently need your money now because if they don't reach their goal they will end up with nothing. Since the donors are lined up already, it's not true. Darchei is a wonderful yeshiva. But the idea that they might lose this entire campaign is not true because they undoubtedly have a backup plan in place. And again, that is a big part of their pitch.
[u]
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amother
Orchid


 

Post Tue, Jun 21 2016, 8:43 am
First of all, you are assuming they have backup donors. You don't know that as a fact.

But even if they do, I'm sure they do not have backup donors for the full $400,000 they need to raise.

So yes, if they do not raise $400,000 in 24 hours, (or at least $380,000 or something like that) they do not get anything.

I find it strange that this is bothering you so much.
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