Author: Peter Cantelon, Executive Director
Well – we’ve done it – we’ve made to the end of another amazing year of growth in opportunity and awareness?
As a non-profit there are times when the end of the year feels like it starts sometime in August because there is so much to prepare for an consider with the year coming.
You must manage the autumn rush as everybody gears up with different events and leaves summer like a rocket leaving a launchpad. Everything seems to need to happen at twice the normal pace. There are seasonal obligations that arise and budgets to prepare and the list goes on.
Of course, with those budgets comes a reminder of the ever present need to sustain and grow necessary programming and operational funding which leads to the year-end appeal.
No matter how worthy the cause, no matter how great the need and no matter how passionate the individual, it can be challenging to reach out and ask. We know this. Deep down we understand and, in some ways, it helps us empathize with those who ask simply out of a need for survival. Those people Jubilee Fund and other like-minded organizations are working to help so that future generations no longer have to ask.
As someone at the receiving end of these appeals we understand that it can be a little wearying and serve to needlessly remind you of what you already know so well – there is need and you are being asked to help meet it.
Of course, it would be better if we all could coordinate our efforts and spread them throughout the year however structural and organizational realities often conspire to cram all of our appeals into the end of the year.
It is also important for organizations like Jubilee Fund to understand that the 80/20 rule often applies here. Twenty percent of people are often giving 80 percent of funds necessary to make the difference. This kind of weight can lead to donor fatigue and sometimes cause non-profits to subconsciously lean into that 20 percent and away from the other 80 percent.
All that to say we seek as an organization to understand that we are not the only ones bearing a burden to fulfill our service requirements. You stand there right alongside us bearing the same burden and hoping that we will act as your proxy in places and for people that may be out of your reach.
With this we also thank you. You have given us a great responsibility and we take it seriously. We hope you find we have been good stewards of the resources you have entrusted in us and we hope you understand as we approach year end our desire to continue to do so. This is why we appeal for donations and investments – so that we can continue to have the privilege of reaching into the lives of so many who are under the burden of so great a need.
Thanks for listening, and thanks for helping us do our part to lift the weight of poverty and hopefully work to prevent it as well.
