The irony is not lost on humanitarian relief charities — the more suffering there is, and the more aid that is needed, the better the bottom line can look for them. Across the spectrum of small, medium and large organizations, both secular and religious, all have similar stories. In the face of pandemic, war, disaster — the list goes on — compassionate people, community-minded corporations and far-seeing foundations the world over have stepped up to help. We recently spoke to four charities to learn how they inspired their donors to choose them from among the throng.
Three well-established NGOs — and one newer face
Many major religious faiths have long, distinguished histories of humanitarian philanthropy. Within the relatively more recent evangelical Christian tradition sits World Vision, founded in 1950 by missionary Robert Pierce. World Vision says it’s the largest Christian international non-governmental organization. In fiscal year 2021, it raised $1.3 billion.
Most people of a certain age probably know the venerable 77-year-old CARE. It was founded in the aftermath of World War II, and brought 22 charities together as a “Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe” to deliver packages of essentials to the war-torn continent. In fiscal year 2021, CARE saw a 19% increase in revenue over the previous year. The organization had its largest year ever, raising $732 million. CARE anticipates another big jump for fiscal year 2022, which ends in June.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is even older. It started in 1933 at the behest of Albert Einstein, himself a refugee, to aid Germans suffering under Hitler. In fiscal year 2021, IRC raised $980 million.
Finally, Team Rubicon was created in 2010 by military veterans who wanted to use their recent overseas experiences to help people affected by disasters. The organization had its largest year yet in 2021, generating $41 million.
The pandemic changes the playing field
For these organizations, the pandemic catapulted relief needs into the headlines and that attention translated into more donors and more dollars. World Vision’s chief financial officer, Doug Treff, said the pandemic increased donors’ empathy for the challenges facing the world’s most vulnerable. The shared struggle, he said, caused the organization’s donors to want to look out for others and help where they could, which led many to give much larger gifts than in previous years. For the last two years, World Vision has held virtual events to help churches learn about child sponsorship opportunities—a key component of World Vision’s mission. Treff added, “As restrictions ease, we anticipate a return to events in churches and with other key partners.”
Sarah Taylor Peace, chief revenue officer at CARE, also said that when the issue you’re fundraising for is in the news, it’s easier. Since the pandemic, CARE is expanding and delivering programs on the domestic front for the first time. “We are taking our learnings from the world and applying them to the U.S.,” she said.
Ourania Dionysiou, vice president of international philanthropy and partnerships at IRC, also found that the pandemic inspired the private sector to step up quickly. “Adapting to the emergency, which was difficult for all, gave us solidarity as an organization both as an institution and a group of humans,” she said.
Pre-pandemic, IRC regularly brought major donors into the field. “Now, we bring the programs to the donors by doing digital adaptations of everything,” Dionysiou said. “We conduct virtual field trips, send program voices to donors, and have virtual events. While there were a few tech hiccups at the beginning, now it is second nature. All are successful.”
Early in the pandemic, IRC also leaned into expanding its digital marketing efforts, netting a 21% increase in online giving in 2020. While it may seem counterintuitive to solicit when people are losing their jobs and feeling uncertain, they were also stuck at home and looking for ways to support others less fortunate during the crisis, Dionysiou said.
Team Rubicon tweaked its communications tactics, too, increasing email outreach, launching a bi-weekly livestream with leadership, as well as a monthly e-newsletter, and bringing donors “into the field” — virtually — by having volunteers on the ground record video updates targeted to the project’s donors.
Team Rubicon looks forward to outlasting its major fundraising challenge, which is gaining traction in a field full of older, more well-established names. For example, during a disaster in the U.S.,Team Rubicon knows that everyone has knowledge of or experience with organizations like the Red Cross. “We’re not going to compete with them,” CEO Art delaCruz said. “As a matter of fact, we work complementary to them and recently announced a partnership with them.”
The most common pandemic challenge for these charities was one experienced by fundraisers across all fields — cultivating new, high-end donors, which traditionally requires in-person contact and relationship-building, which was definitely more difficult. For these particular organizations, though, even if their goals weren’t met when it comes to bringing in new donors, the amount raised by donors already in the fold more than made up the difference. An ongoing challenge, though, is converting new pandemic/emergency donors into loyal, long-term donors.
Donors, tactics and adaptations
While World Vision does receive large grants in the multimillion-dollar range, its most visible efforts are dedicated to bringing in modest, individual gifts. Its keystone is child-sponsorship programs, which begin at $39 a month. World Vision’s gift catalog, through which donors can fund goats, chickens, ducks, etc., for a child in another country, has a big footprint on its website and in promotional materials, but Treff said that “catalog and other mail donations make up less than 15% of revenue. Slightly more than half of our revenue from individuals comes from the monthly sponsorships.” In terms of World Vision’s whole revenue pie, 40% comes from individuals, about 30% from government and multinationals, and about 25% as in-kind corporate donations. Most recently, Treff added, the mix is shifting slightly, with corporate donations decreasing a tad as major donations grow.
At CARE, Peace credits the organization’s 21% growth in donors over the last two years to a quick and strategic retooling of its planned 75th anniversary campaign into a Crisis Response Campaign. She also credits her team’s agility in changing tactics to meet donors where they are: For most, they substituted in-person meetings with one-on-one video calls and thank-you messages. They also delivered impact updates to donors by video instead of taking them to the field.
In its last fiscal year, CARE’s revenue sources were roughly equally divided among U.S. government and bilateral institutional funders, major and family foundations, and private donations, with the latter category increasing 50% compared to fiscal year 2021. Peace said that what happens more often than you would expect is that during their lifetimes, people give modest amounts and then leave a sizable estate gift.
At Team Rubicon, monthly donors are called the “support squad.” They often engage through the organization’s blog and social media, which feature testimonials from both the disaster victims who were helped and the volunteers who helped them. At the beginning of the pandemic, Team Rubicon’s donor count declined. But by the end of 2021, it had 10% more donors than in 2019, with revenue from corporate and foundation donors growing by more than 30%. Forty percent of its current revenue comes from individuals while 60% comes from corporations and foundations.
Until recently, Team Rubicon conducted individual fundraising campaigns for each disaster or relief event. Now in its 12th year, it has moved to general fundraising to support the organization and its readiness. delaCruz said, “We know there will always be another storm or earthquake. We’re asking people to make investments in training the ‘standing army’ of veteran volunteers… to provide effective relief when the time comes.” For example, it might take $200 and five sessions to learn how to use a chainsaw properly for debris removal, he said. “That’s our appeal—help prepare this volunteer to help people on the worst day of their life.”
Hybrid galas for the foreseeable future
For these charities, the switch to online galas at the start of COVID has evolved into a hybrid strategy combining online and in-person events.
For example, Team Rubicon runs a major social media and email-driven fundraising campaign for Veterans Day, combined with nationwide corporate speaking engagements for employees who are veterans. It also holds a Salute to Service gala in New York City, where it has a strong donor base that generates 10% of its annual revenue. While the gala was virtual in 2020, it was held as a hybrid function, in person as well as online, on November 11, 2021. delaCruz says New York’s clear COVID protocols made the city an ideal location.
IRC evolved its New York City-based annual gala into a virtual, and now hybrid, event. “We leaned into historical partners, such as the Ford Foundation and Africa Center, to host smaller, in-person dinners simultaneously, adapting the experience and keeping supporters connected,” Dionysiou said, with a proprietary cloud-based organizational management system (more on that below) playing an important role in this success.
CARE also will continue to hold its Impact Awards dinner gala as a hybrid event. Peace says the team was delightfully surprised when the two digital-only versions of the dinner, in 2020 and 2021, both surpassed fundraising targets while attracting new audiences who were able to watch online. In 2022, while resuming an in-person event in November, CARE will also keep digital elements, and, the team hopes, its newer and more widely dispersed audiences.
Points of distinction
While Giving Tuesday has become a matter of obligation for many organizations, for World Vision, it continues to be a critical fundraising initiative. In 2021, World Vision leveraged a $1 million cash match to drive $2.4 million in revenue, primarily from existing donors and primarily through social media.
For Team Rubicon, volunteers are seen as the organization’s biggest asset. The fact that those volunteers are veterans (as well as EMTs, firefighters and other first responders) is a hallmark of Team Rubicon’s brand. By volunteering with Team Rubicon, veterans get community, connections, identity, purpose and a clear-cut mission of helping people on their worst day, delaCruz said. “We are the first North American nonprofit to receive the WHO EMT Type 1 classification, which gives us enormous credibility with ministries who need aid. It tells them we can do the job.”
One of the biggest pandemic challenges for many organizations was transitioning core functions to remote online management. IRC had a tremendous advantage thanks to the proprietary cloud-based system it developed in collaboration with Microsoft, which launched in 2019. The system not only handles all communications and messaging functions, but also deals with the processing of incoming donations, as well as IRC’s actual delivery of financial assistance to its partners. The system was up and running in 33 countries in 2020 before the pandemic took hold.
Ukraine
Team Rubicon’s delaCruz notes that a crisis is a moment to either innovate or wither, saying, “In the fall of 2020, it was vaccines; in August 2021, it was Afghanistan; and now, it’s Ukraine, so we continue to evolve as communities’ needs change.”
CARE’s Peace pointed to another moment of national crisis. She said, “We were on the ground helping after the earthquake in Haiti in 20 minutes. We have been in these countries and stay through thick and thin and have deep roots in the communities. In turbulent times, if you can meet the moment and have resources that are relevant, then donors across the board are generous. We are seeing that right now with our Ukraine appeal.”
Treff at World Vision described Ukraine as a “wild card,” saying the organization remains optimistic that its donors will continue to respond to crises no matter where in the world they occur.
Finally, Dionysiou also said her team doesn’t really know where the Ukraine situation will take IRC, and that it makes her personally sad. She added, “In terms of fundraising dollars, yet again, we will exceed our goals. It is bittersweet.”