Evaluation of fundraising effectiveness of Winnipeg voluntary sector disability organizations

Abstract

For the past 20 years, with the emergence of neo-conservatism, governmental support for voluntary organizations has decreased, resulting in intensively increased competition among voluntary organizations all seeking the same philanthropic dollars. Due to this trend, voluntary organizations have to develop their own strategies and tactics, but knowledge of fundraising has been transmitted orally and identified by only some practitioners who made their own observations or researchers of the literature. This researcher analyzed the fundraising activities of three voluntary disability organizations in Winnipeg as a case study, based on qualitative data identified by self-report questionnaires, documents analysis and interviews with the purpose of improving their fundraising effectiveness. The result indicates that they defined fundraising as effective if they raised more than the goal amount set by their organization after costs. These organizations were also concerned with fulfilling other factors, such as improving donor relations, recruiting more volunteers and enhancing public relations based on the assumption that all funds are raised ethically. They also regarded government fundraising as the most effective because governments still provided the biggest portion among all sources of their revenues. Also, special events were one of the most effective fundraising methods because they used unique and creative methods to collect funds and increase the public awareness...