More to say about fundraisers

Re “Charities find gifts aren’t a given,” July 6

This article only concerns commercial fundraisers. These are consultants who focus on direct mail or events, collect money themselves and give their nonprofit clients a percentage of the receipts. Most fundraisers are not commercial fundraisers and do not work on a percentage basis. They are paid on an hourly or project basis, and they provide counsel to clients on how to run campaigns. The client organizations receive philanthropic gifts directly.

Although campaigns run by commercial fundraisers invite the kinds of chicanery described in your article, ethical commercial fundraisers’ primary value to nonprofits is to unearth new donors. Such acquisition campaigns may lead to larger contributions if new donors are cultivated properly.

This article does the nonprofit world a disservice by encouraging donors to give only to programmatic work. When nonprofits spend too little on management and administration, it can become impossible for them to hire talented, dedicated professionals.

Ann Lehman and

Bob Zimmerman

San Francisco

The writers are fundraising consultants for nonprofit organizations.

Your incomplete reporting on charitable fundraising risks leaving your readers -- and our supporters -- with misguided conclusions. A charity should be judged by its efficiency, by the size and eagerness of its base of supporters and by its results for the public good. By these measures, the Humane Society of the United States is without peer.

You included us in an abbreviated reference to the effectiveness of telemarketing, among other types of campaigns. Omitted was the crucial fact that this relatively minor fundraising program was designed for long-term gain in membership and support, not instantaneous fundraising payback.

Michael Markarian

Washington

The writer is executive vice president of the Humane Society of the United States.