Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Fundraising facts

Some interesting numbers came out of a meeting with the United Way of Northwest Louisiana yesterday. We met to talk about a survey of perceived needs in the community. They know what the actual needs are but they wanted to see what the people of the area were most concerned about. Part of this year's marketing strategy will be showing how those concerns are addressed by United Way agencies.

As we talked some interesting numbers came up:
* In 1987, the local United Way raised $3.4 million.
* Last year it raised just over $3 million.
* Both Monroe and Lake Charles United Ways expect to raise more than $4 million this year.
* Their best estimate is that 15,000 to 18,000 people in the 10-parish area contribute to the United Way.
* About 400 people give a total of more than $700,000.
* Caddo and Bossier Parishes have more than 300 social service nonprofits. Only about 30 receive money from the United Way.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

A popular political pundit once said, (paraphrased) "if a non-profit needs government funding to stay in business, they are probably not doing a very good job."

Diane Libro said...

Just to clarify, the United Way isn't asking for government funding - just more individiual, private donors.