Limited Ability to Work Together

Much can be accomplished when not-for-profits band together to advance an important message, yet they only seem able to do so effectively in crisis situations, particularly when threatened by increased regulation or taxation or when their own financial welfare is at stake. Cases in point: Nationally, not-for-profits have been successful in derailing the Istook Amendment, which proposed to forbid all policy advocacy by any organization receiving federal funds. Locally, these groups were successful in defeating a state Department of Revenue initiative in 1996 that proposed extending the business and occupation tax to philanthropic grants.

Efforts to inspire Puget Sound-area not-for-profits to transform their crisis-oriented efforts into more proactive ones have had mixed results. Among the most successful was that of Washington Gives, an organization that was founded by large not-for-profit organizations and corporate funders. Washington Gives mounted a three-year public-awareness campaign to promote individual volunteering and donating (1989-91). The campaign encouraged individuals to "Give Five" — five hours of volunteer time weekly and 5 percent of one's income annually — to the causes of one's choice.

The "Give Five" campaign made its message known primarily through public service announcements in mainstream media: newspapers, magazines, television, radio, transit and billboards. More than $1.2 million in advertising was donated by 88 media outlets during the three-year campaign. (This was before the wave of media buyouts by out-of-town interests.) Another $800,000 in cash and in-kind gifts was contributed by corporations and foundations to support the campaign. The campaign committee encouraged not-for-profits to integrate the "Give Five" message into their own communications by featuring it in newsletters, fund appeals, speakers' bureau presentations, special events, etc.

Washington Gives was regarded locally and nationally as an outstanding campaign. Over the three-year period, research found that the number of volunteer hours contributed increased by two-thirds in the Puget Sound region and doubled statewide. The sum of individual contributions increased 23 percent in the Puget Sound region and 14 percent statewide. As importantly, positive attitudes about giving increased. Significantly more people at the end of the campaign agreed that giving is a way to act on one's beliefs, that everyone should volunteer and that people have a responsibility to give. At the same time, fewer people felt that their contributions of time or money "wouldn't make a difference."

Despite its success, Washington Gives found it challenging to persuade not-for-profits to integrate the "Give Five" message into their own communications. Rita Ryder, executive director of the YWCA of Seattle-King County (www.ywcaworks.org), served on the Washington Gives board and worked specifically to encourage not-for-profits to promote the "Give Five" theme. She believes the struggle for resources is a major reason why large numbers of not-for-profits failed to get behind the campaign. "Not-for-profits are scrambling all the time," she said. "They rely on third parties for all of their resources. They're so focused on raising money that they often can't focus on particular initiatives, even if those initiatives are in their best interest."

Just as the "Give Five" campaign was ending in 1991 as it was designed to do, The Evergreen State Society (TESS) (www.tess.org) began its operations. TESS was founded on a mission to increase public support for not-for-profit charitable, educational, cultural, civic and recreational organizations. It did this, in part, by recruiting as members the executive directors of such organizations so they could address common problems. This included communicating how the quality of life in our communities depends critically on participation by hundreds of thousands of volunteers, supporters and donors who commit themselves to a variety of public-interest causes. "Each not-for-profit organization does something specific," said Putnam Barber, founder and executive director of TESS. "It also does something general. It contributes to the general character of our communities. Collectively, these organizations cannot inform the public's vision of the good life if they can't get that message to the broadest public, and media is the best way to do that. Knowing that they live in a good place is one of the motivations citizens have for keeping it a good place."

Despite the more than 30,000 nonprofits in this state — a promising number of potential members — TESS was never able to convince more than 100 executive directors of the wisdom of banding together on their own behalf. "The big weakness of the idea I am convinced now, after years of trying, is that the organizations themselves don't see themselves as fitting into a category," said Barber. "The director of an arts organization does not see himself or herself as having anything in common with the director of an organization that cleans up beaches. They just couldn't understand why The Evergreen State Society would think that leaders of these organizations shared any sort of common problems or could gain from working in collaboration and alliance. It has proven impossible for the Society to educate them."

As a result, TESS has retooled its mission. It now focuses on providing tools and encouragement for building community to people and organizations.

Northwest NonProfit Resources (NNR), a not-for-profit based in Spokane, is a coalition of not-for-profit organizations in Washington, Idaho and Montana. NNR's goal is to promote and foster a healthy Northwest community sector. It accomplishes this task by recruiting not-for-profits as members to share resources and ideas, advocate collectively for their needs, and build professionalism and accountability. Among the resources NNR offers members is access to publications on communications strategies and opportunities to "link" with peers face-to-face, by phone and electronically.

Sandy Gill, NNR project director, says the organization gives its members a "voice for the things they by themselves may not be effectively able to convey." Even so, recruiting NNR members has been no small task, says Gill. "Survival is nonprofits' biggest challenge. Unless they see an immediate tangible benefit, they're unlikely to become involved. It's difficult to get them to look outside their small boxes, beyond turf and mistrust, in part because of changing funding patterns and increased demand for flat or diminishing resources."

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