Elderhostel : Fundraising at Lifelong Learning Institutes

Original Query from Nancy Merz Nordstrom, EIN
The Committee of Network Representatives thought it would be helpful to have input from all the institutes regarding what kind of fundraising you do, on either a national and/or local level. For instance, have you applied for grants from local or national foundations or the government? Do you seek local sponsors for institute events? Does your institute have an annual campaign? Do you hold fundraisers within your membership? Have you sought funding for research projects? Etc. Etc. Any input you can send our way will be appreciated. Thank you.

From Emile Jansma, CALL, State College, PA
One small grant ($500) was received for CALL, the Community Academy for Lifelong Learning in State College, PA for our Oral History Project for equipment- a part of two classes. The Community Foundation has given us at least one grant of $2000 for computerization project. We are members with a fund there. The local branch of the AAUW gave us a grant, I believe $850 or so for our scholarship fund. Sarah Benton may answer you more fully on this.

From Noreen Frye, Institute for Retired Professionals, University of Miami, FL
Here at the University of Miami, we "fund raise" through field trips and excursions, also through small projects that benefit the members of the organization. In the past, there was a major effort to raise funds for a permanent home - the realization of which hasn't occurred yet. I am most interested in pursuing some grant monies for a few special projects.

From Bob Hartmann, Quest, City College of New York, NY
Quest has done fund raising in the past, but only among our own members. We have just finished a campaign which so far has generated over $10,000 from our members. This is an exceptional amount considering that our membership at the present time is only 115. However, as you may understand, half of that amount was given by one member. We are extremely interested in getting experience in fundraising from both government (very iffy, we assume, at the moment) and private sources outside our own membership, so we welcome any input regarding successes which our (sister/brother?) organizations may have had. We find that our current membership is so supportive of our efforts that they show generosity in this way. By the way, we also have many of our members who have kindly decided to list Quest in their wills. This is a rather sorrowful but still logical way of benefiting the work that the ILR's do for their members. Hope this helps.

From Sarah Benton, CALL, State College, PA
Our organization formed a funding committee in 1999. The first thing they did was to publicize the need for funds and ways our members could donate funds to our organization. Now all of our registration forms and annual membership renewal forms have a space for individuals to contribute in addition to their fees. This was a very successful beginning. In the past year we have begun exploring and applying for funding mostly to local funding sources (which also included our local Walmart and Target stores). We have received approximately $1,820 thus far ($820 to start a scholarship fund and two $500 awards for individual projects). We also had our very first fundraising event, which we called a Treasure Auction, whereby we sought antique and collectible donations from our membership and goods and services from the community. This was a huge success and we raised over $9,000. A lot of work was put into this first event, but a lot of groundwork is now already laid for the next Treasure Auction. The next step for our fundraising committee is to develop a "Capital Campaign" to raise funds to build or purchase a new building. To this end, we are striving to build "real" relationships with individuals and organizations in our community - friends of CALL. We're just starting to lay the groundwork for how to do this so I'm sorry I have nothing concrete to share about this idea. Finally, our organization has learned that fundraising efforts provide an incredible amount of "exposure" for our organization. In other words, we feel we not only benefit financially, but get a lot of public attention. I hope this helps.

From Marge Wyngaarden, Bergen Community College ILR, Paramus, NJ
From my experience as AARP's NJ State Coordinator of Tax-Aide, unless the tax laws have changed, donation of services is not tax deductible. However, mileage to deliver those services is -- at either 9 cents or 11 cents per mile and that is tax deductible. Call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 for verification.

From Ruthie Carlson, The Community Academy for Lifelong Learning (CALL), State College,PA
CALL has engaged in five types of fund raising. (1) We have applied for and received grants from local foundations; (2) we have requested and received funds from local charitable organizations; (3) we have conducted a fund-raising "Auction of Treasures," which included members' memorabilia and antiques, local merchants' products and services, and gifts from supportive community members; (4) members are invited to contribute toward an endowment fund or building fund as they register for courses; and (5) we have received gifts in honor or memory of members or their families. None of these processes have produced large amounts of money as yet, since we have had no compelling need for a major funding campaign. With very low fees - $40 for annual membership and $25 per term for unlimited classes, we have been able to meet most of our needs, even without a university sponsor. We have only 1 full time and 2 part-time employees, many volunteers and all of our instructors are unpaid. Our program is very successful, I think because we have a large group of very committed people willing to put a lot of themselves into this organization.

From Sarah Fletcher, Furman ILR, Furman University, SC
We have had the following fund raisers: 1) evening at a local theater for desserts, coffee, cash bar, lecture by local professor and the Shakespearean play. Tickets $20. Raised about $1,400 last year. Repeated again this year. Relatively easy to do. 2) musical concert on campus using local professors and FULIR members. Tickets were $15. Raised about $2,000. 3) Auction: had "silent auction" plus 5-6 large items with a "live auction" held in conjunction with our spring end-of-the-year luncheon. Lots of effort. Raised about $5,500. All monies were put into our FULIR Support Fund for program needs.

From Diana Marsilje, Hope Academy of Senior Professionals (HASP), Hope College, Holland, MI
We do NOT have fundraisers as such. HASP seeks to bring together people eager to learn and discuss. We keep our costs to the barest minimum and cover expenses through our dues and small course fees. The only campaign we have had was an attempt to raise funds for future facility needs. The interest earned on these funds supplement the tiny rent we pay the college for the use of our office, conference room and large classroom.

From Mary Quinn Burkhart, AUALL, Auburn University, AL
AUALL would like to do more fundraising (or raise more funds, actually). Currently, we: -ask our members if they would like to make a donation to our account at the Alumni Foundation each year when they pay annual dues -maintain an account at the Foundation for memorial gifts and Contributions. On the occasion of our 10th anniversary celebration, we requested (and received) financial support from the office of the Vice President for Outreach (our administrative home) and office of the Dean, College of Human Sciences, to pay the expenses for having a nationally recognized speaker. To date, that's it. I'll be interested in hearing what others are doing.

From Sarah Benton, CALL, State College, PA
Our LLI formed a funding committee in 1999. The first thing they did was to begin the process of soliciting our membership for donations. They did (and continue to do) this through constant promotion of this concept, while providing them with many opportunities to donate (every registration form has a space for donations and our annual renewal form also has a space for members to include a donation). In our publicity we also discuss memorial gifts and gifts in-kind; i.e., financial gifts from children in honor of their parents in lieu of Christmas gifts, etc. Next, they researched local grant sources - applied to three of them and received all three. Interestingly, one was our local Target store and the other was Walmart. Then they researched more national grant sources, but have not yet applied to any. They are waiting until they have a more definitive purpose for the grant. In researching national grant sources, we learned that it is important to demonstrate that we have been working hard to raise monies ourselves, so we had our First Annual Treasure Auction last September. Because most of our members are downsizing we asked them to donate antiques and collectibles or any other valuable item. We then solicited our business community for gifts to auction off as well. We were able to raise $9,000, which we applied to a new building fund. This first fundraising event had a tremendous outreach impact on our community - great PR. The thrust of our funding committee now is to begin an actual "campaign" to raise funds for a new building. The campaign will officially kick off in 2004, but we are already working on building relationships in our community to help us meet our goals (this is being done simultaneously with formulating building plans). One of the things we want to do is to communicate to the community why our organization is beneficial to the community as a whole. We're hoping this will help them see our value thereby increasing the likelihood of them wanting to help us. The bottom line is - get a good funding committee together with the right people (those who know the right people).

From Donna Bauer, WCTC LIR, Waukesha County Technical College, WI
No fund raising has been needed.

From Agnes Tai, Learning in Retirement, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
We raise some amount of funds through donations in honor of members' life events and by selling greeting cards made by the Camera Club. These funds go to a scholarship fund. Lately we have been talking about setting up an endowment to ensure our longevity as an organization. We dream of having out own building. We get a lot of support from University of Michigan Health System's Geriatrics Center but this may not last long if they need the space. In MI, 50% of one's $ donations are a tax write-off from the state taxes. We need a minimum of $50K.