What if we stopped chasing money and started chasing the mission?
I recently had the chance to hear Robert Egger speak at an event hosted by South Sound Partners for Philanthropy, and I walked out feeling like someone had finally put my thoughts into words. For years, I have been standing in front of community groups asking a version of the same question. Egger asked it better than I ever have, and I want to share what stuck with me.
Who is Robert Egger, and why does he get to ask?
Egger founded DC Central Kitchen in 1989 when he was a young nightclub manager frustrated by traditional charitable responses to hunger and homelessness. His idea was to take wasted food, turn it into meals, and use that process to train jobless adults in the
culinary arts. People told him each piece of that plan was unwise, unsustainable, or impossible. He did it anyway.
He later served as interim director of the United Way National Capital Area after a scandal, and he wrote Begging for Change, which calls for reform of what he describes as an $800 billion industry from the inside out. That is a lot of experience from a lot of different seats at the table.
The core question: are we chasing money or mission?
Egger's central argument, as I heard it, is that too many nonprofits spend their energy chasing dollars when they should be pushing for real change. He urges us to ask "how" and "why" instead of "who" and "what." Who is getting served and what are we handing out are comfortable questions. How did this problem get here, and why are we still managing it instead of solving it? Those are harder questions, and they are the ones that matter.
He has said we need to move beyond a 19th-century concept of charity. When charity becomes the end goal, we can feed more and more people without ever getting closer to ending hunger. Egger discovered early that winning the war on hunger was not just about feeding more people. It was tied to job training, housing, health care, and education. A hand up, not just a hand out.
I find that idea both challenging and hopeful. What would our organizations look like if we measured ourselves by how much need we eliminated rather than how much we raised?
Where this meets my own soapbox
Here is the part that made me want to jump out of my chair. I speak regularly with service clubs like Rotary, Kiwanis, and Lions, and I ask them to consider something that can feel a little uncomfortable. How does your club raise its money, and who else is asking the same people for the same dollars?
Many clubs hold their own fundraisers, and then decide which local nonprofits are "worthy" of what they raised. The sponsors are the same. The donors are the same. And the nonprofits they hope to support are often chasing that very same pool of generosity.
This is not a criticism of anyone's heart. Service clubs do remarkable work, and Rotary members alone have contributed more than $800 million and countless volunteer hours to global service efforts since 1985. But it is worth asking whether our well-intended fundraising structures are working against the very causes we love.
What does the research say about donor competition?
Economists have been studying this for a while. One study of ten donor-funded nonprofit sectors found that donor markets reach competitive levels once four or more nonprofits have entered, and that the competition looks remarkably like what we see among for-profit firms. Other research suggests that nonprofits may collectively spend an inefficiently high share of revenue on fundraising when they compete instead of coordinate.
If nonprofits are already competing with each other, what happens when the groups that exist to support them join the same race?
My invitation: show up
So here is what I propose. Instead of competing with local nonprofits for sponsors and donors, what if service clubs simply showed up for them?
Reserve a table at the nonprofit's event, with your club's name on it.
Wear your club's logo gear and be seen supporting your community.
Give directly, and let the nonprofit decide how best to use the funds.
Bring your members, their friends, and their business connections into the room.
Service clubs are already frequently eager to buy tickets, sponsor events, and fill tables for nonprofit galas, according to fundraising consultant Mike Paquet. I am simply suggesting we make that the main event rather than the side dish.
There is already good precedent for this kind of teamwork. The Rotary and Kiwanis clubs of Napa have a friendly annual rivalry that has raised more than $130,000 over six years for the Salvation Army's Red Kettle campaign. Their competition is with each other, and the winner is the cause. Kiwanis, Lions, Optimist, and Rotary International even run a joint Celebrate Community week, where members see how teamwork, not competition, makes the world better.
Why this matters right here at home
South Sound Partners for Philanthropy is a coalition of more than 40 nonprofits across Thurston, Mason, Lewis, Grays Harbor, and Pacific Counties, and they report that more than two-thirds of Thurston County residents contribute financially to charities. This is a generous community. Imagine what happens when that generosity flows toward the mission instead of getting split into a dozen competing asks.
Egger reminded us that real change requires us to ask harder questions of ourselves. So I will leave you with a few of mine. Does our fundraising help the causes we care about, or does it compete with them? Who could we be showing up for this season? And what might change if the people with the resources stood shoulder to shoulder with the people doing the work?
I would love to hear your thoughts. You can find me on social media @YourMissionMaven
References
South Sound Partners for Philanthropy. About us.
DC Central Kitchen. Mission and history.
Ink-andescent. DC Central Kitchen founder Robert Egger is "Begging for Change".
Ink-andescent Publishing. Begging for Change.
Harrison, T. and Thornton, J. (2022). Further evidence on competition in nonprofit donor markets. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.
Do charities spend more on their social programs when they cooperate than when they compete? European Journal of Operational Research.
People First Fundraising Solutions. Service clubs: a misunderstood and under-appreciated community partner.
Napa Valley Register. Rotary vs. Kiwanis: friendly holiday rivalry raises thousands for Napa's Salvation Army.
Kiwanis International. Working with others to do more good.
Luce, J. Lions, Rotary, Kiwanis: are American service clubs too old to matter? LinkedIn.
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