If it seems like you're being asked to dig deep for charity almost every day, you could well be right - dozens of charities are now competing for your cash. Anna Bowden investigates the crisis facing Western Bay charities.
A generous sprinkling of hearts shine above Lynette Davies' head as she schedules another Project Hope fundraising event.
The days on her wall-planner are filling fast with the novel markers, as more and more community groups rally around and host various fundraising events.
Auctions, dinners, roadshows, golf tournaments and half-marathons are all there. Her massive wall-planner takes pride of place on the Bay Health Foundation office wall, but with 64 other national fundraising appeal weeks to work around, there literally aren't enough weeks in the year and double-ups frequently occur.
This month alone there are appeals for Blind Week, Parkinsons NZ, World Asthma Day, Animal Welfare Week, Leukaemia and Blood Foundation, Meningitis Trust, Victim Support, Diabetes Awareness and Christian World Service.
You could be forgiven if you didn't know all these appeals were on and, aside from these national events, there are hundreds more community fundraisers held in the Western Bay each year.
Clubs, schools, local charities and churches all run their own collections for various projects and initiatives. It all makes for a never-ending fundraising battle and hundreds of organisations are having to fight for the charity dollar.
But Western Bay groups are now beginning to suffer from the consequences of the competitive trend that has developed.
The industry has grown so much that the position of "fundraiser" has become a serious full-time career.
In the past two months alone, Bay locals were asked to support fundraisers for St Peter's Anglican Church, the Children's Charity, Holy Trinity Church, Tauranga Multiple Birth Group, Katikati Sea Scouts, Plunket, the National Kidney Foundation, Project Hope, the Salvation Army, Breast Cancer Support Service Tauranga and Tauranga's Child Cancer Foundation (CCF).
While there is no doubt all are worthy and genuine causes, the donor's dollar simply does not stretch that far.
Charities are now being forced to "sell" their group in order to succeed in fundraising and a competitive streak has sprung up in the perpetually kind-hearted community of volunteers and advocates.
So how do they all manage to succeed? Well, they don't.
One of three cancer-related fundraising events planned in Tauranga last weekend bombed because there was not enough support. Just 25 registrations were received for the CCF fishing event, which organisers had hoped would attract at least 100 people.
CCF fundraising co-ordinator Sandy Broadhurst said the competitive trend emerging in the fundraising world was putting a strain on volunteers and leaving smaller organisations in trouble.
The organisation, which supports 35 families who have battled with cancer, works towards two big events each year, one of which was the fishing tournament.
Bigger events mean bigger money - and less strain on volunteers.
"If you ask someone to help, you can only ask a couple of times so you make it a good event," Mrs Broadhurst said.
She suggested a course on strategic planing should be held for fundraisers, because even with CCF's advertising on radio, posters and a story in the Bay of Plenty Times, the fishing event was still canned.
"What went wrong? We need more information on how to get Tauranga and Mount Maunganui people to support us."
The shift that has occurred in fundraising is clear from the advice offered on the Fundraising Institute of New Zealand website. Ideas include gaining corporate sponsorship, employing fundraising consultants and planning large-scale events rather than door-to-door collections.
The institute was set up in 1991 and aims to promote professional and ethical fundraising among its 400 members.
But for smaller organisations raising money, the business-like approach adopted by large fundraising projects can prove difficult to match.
The Bay Times reported this week that some charities are in fact losing their fight for cash. The Tauranga Community Foodbank is facing its toughest Christmas in 14 years and is appealing for help.
Foodbank chairman Don Brebner said the Dive Crescent centre was in desperate need of an extra $16,000 to help pay for meat and vegetables for hundreds of needy families over the summer period.
Mr Brebner said the foodbank was traditionally stretched at this time of year but this year was worse than ever before.
"With more charities seeking grants and donations from shrinking sources, foodbank's share has shrunk by 10 per cent for the past two years and for the items that we buy we have had to pay more," he said.
One huge fundraising cause launched this year - Project Hope - aims to raise $2 million for the construction of a cancer treatment centre in Tauranga.
Bay Health Foundation chief executive Lynette Davies, who is overseeing the project, confirmed that fundraising was "like running a business".
She has voiced her concerns over the "fragmented" nature of the fundraising community in New Zealand, which differs considerably from the Australian charity scene she previously worked in.
As a result, she has already approached a local breast cancer support group and Canteen with the suggestion that they combine their fundraising efforts.
"We could then promote and campaign together and it wouldn't be so difficult for everybody," she said.
Lynette Davies believes many Western Bay organisations have "missed the paradigm shift" to fundraise as a business.
"We are selling a product. Our product is Project Hope," she explained.
"People are looking to smarter ways of doing it. We have got to think bigger."
She said New Zealanders were "notorious" for fragmenting organisations. Fundraising Institute president Dianne Armstrong agreed the days of cake stalls and door-to-door collections were gone.
Fundraising had now in fact developed into a viable career option.
"I couldn't tell you how many jobs there are and there are many positions available now. There is huge growth and that is now a real career path for people."
Mrs Armstrong said it was important now for charities to be "transparent" in order to attract donations - people wanted to know what they are contributing to.
Branding symbols, including daffodils, bandannas, butterflies, yellow ribbons, red noses, red roses, poppies and pink ribbons, are all commonly associated with charitable causes - and Mrs Armstrong says that's an important technique to use.
Verve Media director Lynley Hancox said the change had come because "there is just not enough money, people are generous but are often unsure which charity to choose".
She is working with Project Hope through public relations events, including a big fundraiser, Fiesta of Hope, scheduled for February.
Ms Hancox said charities had to pick up where government bodies no longer provided services. They were set huge targets and she compared the latest fundraising strategies to the interactive retail experience that became popular in the 90s.
"People just expect more value for a dollar spent. Charities are competing just like any other business," she said.
She said branding, establishing corporate sponsorship, increasing awareness and providing interactive events, such as the Yellow Ribbon Fight for Life, were all important strategies to market charities.
According to smaller organisations contacted by the Bay Times, many are doing what they can to get on the professional band-wagon.
SPCA Tauranga chairman Tony Marshall said that while the local organisation could not employ a fundraiser, it was making a big effort to keep up with changes in the industry.
"I don't think it has ever been easy and it has always been very competitive. The competition is much more professional. We have got to raise our game if we are going to stay in the market place," Mr Marshall said.
SPCA had given up on door-to-door collections because of the strain on volunteers and opted for strategically placed table collections in supermarkets and shopping centres instead.
He said the strong volunteer base was one of the main reasons behind the success of the group.
Volunteer Bay of Plenty co-ordinator Beverley Rudd said there was a steady stream of volunteers contacting the centre and being put into work.
She said the centre was now involved in corporate volunteer placements.
The insurance industry was now following in the footsteps of the ANZ bank which let its employees do one day of community work a year.
Mrs Rudd has 497 registered volunteers and 313 active volunteers.
But money is not the only driver for organisations seeking support from the community.
For Tauranga's Breast Cancer Support Service, raising awareness is enough for it to keep up regular collections and events.
However, their two big events - a fun run and a sailing regatta - were a vital way of gathering funds.
Co-ordinator Julie Blake said: "It is certainly worthwhile if you can hold a successful event that has a reasonably high profile and gets a lot of support." In the wake of one of the big fundraisers for Red Cross - Red Rose Day - Western Bay events co-ordinator Heather Dabrowski agreed that events were getting bigger all the time.
And while the dates were filling fast, Lynette Davies offered a solution to the growing demand for donations.
"We need to be objective, not subjective."
She said smaller organsations should band together, creating fewer charities but more fundraising revenue.
"The way forward is for us to combine and pull together."
Charities feeling the fundraising strain
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.