Zealous Fervor Helps Charities Meet Fund-Raising Goals

The requests fill his mailbox and tie up his telephone. He is cornered at cocktail parties and besieged at breakfasts. And each year it gets worse.

It’s the price Jack Needleman pays for being generous. For each thousand dollars that he gives to charities--and he is known as a seven-figure giver--it seems another hundred new charity organizations line up to court him. They know, and he knows they know, that when it comes to a worthy cause, it’s tough for him to say no.

“It’s like an endless parade,” said Needleman, a major downtown Los Angeles real estate owner. “I get requests from every known source of communication. But no matter how tough it makes it for the giver, it’s always tougher for the receiver because there’s never enough money to go around for all the needy organizations.”

Most Exceed Goals

His story is typical among major benefactors, and such generosity meant good news for nonprofit groups and charity organizations in the Los Angeles area in 1988. Despite some minor fallout from last year’s stock market crash and unexpected competition for cash from a series of worldwide disasters, most of the area’s major charities reached or exceeded their fund-raising goals.

Fund-raising consultants say the groups were able to do so by setting modest goals, which helped to offset the annual crush for donor dollars, especially since many of the biggest philanthropists were hit early and often with direct-mail requests from political organizations during a heated election campaign.

For example, officials with the Salvation Army said donations were 14% below their $3-million fund-raising goal for this year due to the competition for mail-in money, even though contributions to their volunteer bell-ringers were up.

“So many people were approached through the mail by political organizations that they’re just tired of getting requests (for money),” said Russell Prince, the Salvation Army’s director of development in Los Angeles. “As a result, our mail appeal is really hurting.”

The other notable exceptions included Toys for Tots, where gifts trickled in at a snail’s pace during the holiday season. The nonprofit group reported last week that it had collected only about a quarter of the more than 400,000 gifts it received last year. Toys for Needy Children, sponsored by the Los Angeles Fire Department, said its donations also were down. Those agencies blame the drop on a diversion of corporate funds to other charities.

The fierce rush for donor dollars in recent years has led to a new trend that flourished in 1988. Bowing to pressure from large corporate donors and employee activists, officials at most major charities now tell contributors exactly where their money goes and how it will be spent.

“There just seems to be an increased demand for accountability by donors,” said Florence L. Green, a partner in the Los Angeles consulting firm of Green, Scribner and Co. “There’s so much pressure on them to give that there’s a greater need to know that their dollars are being well-spent.”

11% Increase

The Los Angeles branch of United Way benefited from that approach, reporting an 11% increase in donations from a year ago. Only halfway through its fund-raising campaign, the group has already raised $42 million of its $89-million goal. Nationally, donations to the United Way are up about 6%, which should put the organization easily over the $3-billion mark.

“We’ve done a lot of marketing for our donors about what we do now rather than just appeal for contributions to United Way,” said spokesman Clarence Brown. “We let employees know now that we’re involved in AIDS research, illiteracy and child care programs because our studies show that people want to know where their money is being spent. The organization is now more issues-oriented.”

Other nonprofit groups, expecting the worst from last year’s stock market collapse, instead found donations on the upswing. Karen Warren, chief operating officer for the City of Hope Medical Center, said the group raised nearly $154 million, far exceeding the $105 million raised last year. She said the majority of money was made up of small contributions, although the organization received one $3-million bequest.

Stiff Competition

“We’re always surprised when we do this well because it takes such a tremendous effort,” Warren said. “The competition is so fierce that we’ve tried to expand to the national level in order to widen our base of support.”

Another highly successful fund-raising effort was reported by the Jewish Federation Council, which took in nearly $48 million, a $2-million jump from 1987. Ron Rieder, a spokesman for the group, attributed the increase to a massive telephone solicitation drive in which more than 45,000 potential donors were called.

Pamela Brooks, executive director of the Brotherhood Crusade, a black-oriented community charity, reported a $300,000 increase from the previous year’s $2-million fund-raising effort. She said a glitzy, well-publicized dinner honoring Motown record company founder Berry Gordy this month took in more than $100,000.

The county’s Music Center is also expecting an increase in donations, up $1 million to $14 million, according to Esther Wachtell, the center’s president. She said the group will begin the major part of its fund-raising campaign next month to mark the center’s 25th anniversary.

Discarded merchandise donations also were up slightly in 1988. Robert Rothwell, Goodwill Industries’ vice president for development, said the group has received about $12 million in donations, a jump of more than $2 million from 1987.

Consultant Green said that changes in the tax laws have resulted in changes in the form of giving. More contributors now set up revolving trust funds to avoid probate taxes and donate stocks and real estate. Rothwell said that his company was given an expensive home in Alhambra this year by a donor who wanted to avoid a hefty tax.

Strong Economy Helped

Major corporate donors say that a strong economy helped contribute to continued growth in charitable contributions, which have risen only slightly in recent years following a boom in the early 1980s.

The Arco Foundation, a trust set up by petroleum giant Atlantic Richfield that had a charity budget of $36.8 million in 1983, allocated just $11.5 million in 1987. This year, however, the foundation’s funding rose to $17 million, said the trust’s president, Gene Wilson.

The number of requests the foundation receives each year highlights the fight for funds among charity and nonprofit groups. In the past year, the trust received 10,000 pleas for money and provided grants for about 800.

“But these groups are beginning to realize the economic realities of being tied to the price of a particular commodity,” Wilson said. “Our donations will rise and fall depending on the state of the industry.”

Similarly, officials at National Medical Enterprises, the nation’s second-largest hospital and health care company, reported a modest increase in its corporate contributions, which included a $2.5-million grant to the Victor Goodhil Hearing Center at UCLA Medical Center.

For donors like Needleman and Beverly Hills businessman Joseph Shane, the changing tax laws and the state of the economy have little effect on how much they give. No matter how much they are hounded, they contribute to hundreds of charities each year.

“The process of being pursued can be frustrating, but once you realize that there are so many charities that are deserving, you know that you shouldn’t be irritated and punish them by not giving,” Shane said. “Most people who give give much more than they can afford to because they believe in something. It’s just too bad that there aren’t more suckers like me around.”