Partner-Donor-Catalyst: A Winning Combination
by Associate Sharon Scully

“Where your treasure is,
there also will your heart be.”
(Matthew 6:21)

For most donors, their “treasure” follows their “heart.” Before these individuals make a financial commitment, they usually have a personal understanding of the organization.

• They might have been beneficiaries of the services or volunteers for the organization.
• They may know someone who has dedicated her life to the mission of the group.

This close involvement gives them an insider's knowledge of the importance of the ministry. Then, wanting to help in all possible ways, they become donors.

Charitable organizations exist to solve problems. Solutions usually require inputs of expertise, workers and non-personnel resources. We may label those offering expertise as professionals, those who offer time and skill as volunteers, and those offering financial resources as d onors.

The more accurate title for all of them, however, is “ problem solvers.” Each group separately can impact the results of the project, but, working as partners they have the power to solve the problem! The challenge is to find a catalyst who will bring the partners together.

Donors are Catalysts

Donors are in a particularly advantageous position to serve as catalysts. They already know the organization and its ministries. They've also made their own financial commitment which gives them credibility with others. And, donors associate with other caring people.

Sometimes opportunities arise without effort. For example, while working with the Girl Scouts in central New York, I met Helen Barben, one of the Council's major donors. We became good friends. She was 82, legally blind and hearing impaired. Doctors had told Helen that the loss of hearing came with old age and nothing could be done to improve her situation.

My good friend and Clarke College classmate, Dr. Donna Shpikula Wayner, was the Executive Director of the Hearing Rehabilitation Center at Albany Medical Center, 100 miles away.

I asked her if there were new hearing aids that might help Helen. Donna brought her testing equipment and ear-mold to Helen's house while passing through the area on her way to a conference. (Some doctors still make house calls!) A few weeks later in Albany, Donna fitted Helen with new hearing aids.

Helen and I returned to the Hearing Rehabilitation Center a year later for a check up. (I was now working at Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa in the development office and vacationing in New York.) Donna joined Helen and me for dinner. During our conversation, Helen told us how grateful she was to be able to hear the preacher at her church.

That remark reminded me that some older visitors to Clarke had difficulty hearing in the chapel. Donna told us about an assistive sound system that could be installed easily in the chapel for about $1,000.

Helen listened attentively. Shortly after I returned to Dubuque, I received a check from Helen for $1,000 so that others might hear as well as she could with her new hearing aids.

In this case, Donna was the expert; Helen the donor; and I was the catalyst who brought the need to their attention. Together, we provided the solution that enabled others to enjoy fully the beauty of the chapel at Clarke.

Helen never visited Clarke. She never received a solicitation letter from Clarke. Helen did, however, respect two Clarke alumnae, and showed her appreciation for their assistance by helping others in the Clarke College family.

Direct Action

Another more recent example required some direct action on my part. This year I became aware that my parish, St Joseph 's Church in Marion, Iowa, awarded several grants to other organizations, including to a parish in Mexico.

I knew of some of the needs of the Centre for Renewal in Ghana (partially staffed by BVMs for over 20 years) so I asked BVMs Therese Jacobs (Therese Carmelle) and Mary Ann Hoope, both working in Ghana, to send me current information about the retreat center.

BVM Kathleen Mullin (Robert Mary), who had recently returned from Ghana, and I then met with the Social Concerns Committee and suggested that the parish consider awarding a grant to the Centre. The Committee encouraged us to submit a formal proposal.

In July, the Centre for Renewal in Kumasi, Ghana, received a grant of $971 to be used for mattresses, screens, painting of rooms for the workers and other capital projects.

In this case, the BVMs are the experts; St. Joseph parishioners are the donors; and I am the catalyst.

As a retired professional fundraiser, I have often heard, “I could never do your job!” What these people are referring to, of course, is asking for money.

They have yet to experience the pleasures that I've known serving as a catalyst. Bringing ideas, experts and donors together to solve problems is a matter of matchmaking, not begging.

Few of us have the financial resources to be a major donor. Many of us lack the good health or time to be active volunteers. But, each of us can be a good partner for change. To paraphrase Charlie Brown: A catalyst can be a great Philanthropist with other people's money! Try it. You might like it!

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©2008 Sisters of Charity, BVM