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Cedarburg Company Helps Small Groups Give to Relief Funds
Milwaukee, Wis., September 21, 2001 - The massive outpouring of giving to relief funds created in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington D.C., has leaders of Milwaukee-area charities wondering if their annual appeals will be affected by the disaster aid push.
"It would be naïve to say we are not concerned," said Julie Tolan, president of the United Performing Arts Fund, Inc., Milwaukee. "Now is the time to keep our heads up and demonstrate the value of our organizations."
The United Way of Greater Milwaukee’s September 11 Fund had collected $814,000 as of September 19. United Way officials expect to attract almost $1 million in less than 10 days of making appeals.
The Milwaukee United Way September 11 Fund has raised more money during the first eight days of fundraising than any other in the country. All United Way agencies in the nation have set up September 11 Funds.
The United Way had unveiled its annual workplace fundraising drive just a few days before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The United Way is coming off its most successful campaign ever in 2000, raising $30.1 million. The group’s goals for the current campaign is $32 million, said a United Way spokeswoman.
"My sense is (the September 11 Fund) is a dramatic demonstration of how United Way handles a crisis," said Sue Dragisic, president of Milwaukee United Way. "We hope it heightens peoples’ awareness of how valuable these services are."
Since United Way relies on small workplace donations and smaller individual donations, Dragisic is confident the United Way goal for 2001 is still within reach.
Organizers of Milwaukee’s AChoice fundraising agency are less optimistic about meeting goals in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, AChoice, which supports many central city and environmental causes, expects its fundraising efforts to fall off in 2001, said an agency spokesman.
Even before the terrorist attacks, a sagging economy and rising unemployment rate were putting pressure on Milwaukee area nonprofit groups, the AChoice, spokesman said.
"Right now, terrorist-attack victim funds are the primary topic, and all other charities are taking second billing," said Lauralee Raddatz, Vice President of Marketing for Fundraising.Com Inc., Cedarburg, a nationwide distributor of fundraising products to schools, religious organizations, scouts and charities.
There is no question that smaller non-profits raising money for the September 11 Fund will have to work much harder to fill their own coffers, said Raddatz.
Many groups who have given to specific groups in the past may be reevaluating their priorities, said UPAF’s Tolan.
UPAF will begin its next appeal in February 2002. Last year, the arts funding group collected $10.1 million and is the largest private fundraising group of its kind in the country.
"We must remember that the most important contribution many of us in the non-profit sector can make is to continue to fulfill the regular missions of our organizations," said George Ruotolo, a spokesman for the American Association of Fundraising Counsel, Indianapolis.
-- Pete Millard
This story appeared in The Business Journal, Milwaukee, WI - September 21, 2001.
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