RUNNING ON EMPTY
Nonprofit organizations struggle to raise funds during the pandemic
UPPER MERION >> The challenge of raising funds during the pandemic was felt by just about every nonprofit in the area.
For some organizations, resistance came from some unexpected sources as well.
“Our fundraising was very much affected by the pandemic … and by the Post Office,” said Michele Moll, executive director of King of Prussia-based RSVP. “We had our annual appeal mailed out in November and it never got mailed. We brought it to the Post Office and it never got mailed. We’re finding out that a few people are starting to get it now. So between November and February we never even had our year-end appeal go out, so that was huge for us, not being able to get individual gifts. The Post Office said they’d been hit hard by COVID and that with it being a nonprofit rate they had no obligation to send it out in any timely fashion, it was just really disappointing.”
Important fundraising events had to be canceled as well.
“We couldn’t do our regular golf outing so we had to do a ‘golf ball drop’ and we didn’t get as much sponsorship as our golf outing would have.”
— Michele Moll, executive director of King of Prussia-based RSVP.
“We couldn’t do our regular golf outing so we had to do a ‘golf ball drop’ and we didn’t get as much sponsorship as our golf outing would have,” Moll added. “So our corporate sponsorships were down. With the golf ball drop, people would purchase golf balls that were then put in this drone, and they dropped the balls on the green and the one closest to the pin won first place grand prize and there were three prizes we gave out. One of our board members donated his house in Cape May for a week’s stay as one of the prizes, so we were really fortunate to have.”
For nearly 50 years, RSVP has been dispatching volunteers to help improve the lives of the most vulnerable groups in the area.
During the pandemic the longtime multi-service agency worked to share its base of 1,200 volunteers with other nonprofits who were in need of a helping hand.
Nonprofit organizations were asked to convey their immediate volunteer needs to RSVP by visiting www.rsvpmc.org, but that’s only one way groups could connect with the agency.
“We put the call out on social media and have partnered with Montgomery County Health and Human Services to coordinate all of the volunteer efforts during this crisis,” noted Moll. “On the www.montcopa.org/2783/ Health-and-Human-Services you just click on the ‘volunteers’ button and it brings you right to the RSVP site and you can sign up and see where the most pressing needs are right now. All volunteers that reach out to them are being sent to us to be registered, and then we can send them to any nonprofit that needs them the most.”
RSVP was fortunate to get funding through a COVID-19 grant from Montgomery County, which helped with expanding some programs, Moll said.
“Our programming has been extremely busy. Between March and the end of the year we had 700 new volunteers enroll so of course in a regular year we would have had about 200 in the whole year, so you can imagine how busy our staff was. Every volunteer that comes we have to interview them and do background checks on them. Instead of being slow with the pandemic we’ve actually been very busy.”
All programs that were normally done in person needed to be transitioned to a virtual platform, Moll said.
“Our reading programs were in demand because they were all virtual. We were partnering with United Way of Greater Philadelphia, and also a program called Vello that enables our volunteers to help students with their literacy skills but doing it virtually. So we have had such a huge influx of parents that want to enroll their kids in the program because their literacy skills are really suffering from the pandemic and being out of school. So we’ve had a huge need for volunteers in that area.”
Moll called the organization’s newest program is one of its most exciting.
“Our newest program helps seniors with their technology skills. Their lack of technology skills was really brought to light during the pandemic, not being able to order groceries online or access Telemed when they weren’t able to go into their doctor, and not being able to connect with their families because they didn’t know how to use Zoom. Even with the vaccine, seniors don’t have technology skills and they can’t even sign up to register, so we’re also working with the county to help seniors to register. The county created a hotline and we’re recruiting volunteers to help man the hotline so seniors can call in to register. If they don’t have an email there’s no other way for them to register right now. So we’re now training seniors on learning how to use the internet, how to volunteer virtually and really empowering them during this time that they have to remain at home. Our programs have been growing and our need for funding has been growing. We’re doing a lot of grant writing surrounding our new programming.”
A lot is riding on the success of the July 20 inperson golf event.
“We’re hoping that with our golf outing that’s going to be occurring on July 20 at Rivercrest in Phoenixville this year that we’ll get our sponsorships back from previous years. So that’s been a little bit of a struggle as well.”
The outing will be socially distanced, minus the usual banquet.
“We’re having a boxed lunch instead of a banquet. We just want to make sure everyone is safe. I know the golf club is doing events outside, but even outside we didn’t want to take a chance, because you still have eight people at a table. We think it will still be a fun event even without the sit down dinner.”
While the Senior Adult Activities Center at 536 George St., Norristown, remains closed during the pandemic, education and art programming has continued online, as has fundraising.
The Senior Adult Activities Center of Montgomery County went virtual for its 10th Annual Outrunning Senior Hunger 5K & Fun Mile last October.
The hugely successful event took place safely and virtually via an app, which gave participants mile mark announcements, virtual cheers and all the other amenities of a well-organized run, explained Melissa Buckminster, the center’s director of marketing.
“We’re obviously still doing Meals on Wheels and we did the 5K because we’re still in need of financial support even though our doors are not currently open to our seniors,” said Melissa Buckminster, director of marketing. “We (hosted the run) virtually to keep everybody safe during COVID. We were on the fence about it because we really do love our inperson event. It’s a great way to build camaraderie with our seniors, as well as those that support the center and our Meals on Wheels program, but we wanted to be safe about it and decided to hold off until 2021 for our next in-person event. It’s especially because a lot of the folks that do participate tend to be older themselves so we didn’t want to put anybody at risk. We’ve definitely had to adapt this year with in-person events simply out of the question, especially with the demographic that we serve. COVID safety is extremely important to us, so holding fundraisers virtually is a must for now. We have gotten grants throughout the year, but it still just isn’t the same as having in person events.”
During all of 2020 and the first half of 2021 every fundraiser has been virtual.
“This has provided its own set of challenges, but supporters have been pretty amenable to events in the virtual format. Montco SAAC’s largest fundraiser of the year, the Outrunning Senior Hunger 5K went virtual this year and we brought in over $25,000, which is slightly more than we’ve made in years past. Our next virtual event is Corks & Forks at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 13. We’ll be taking this normally inperson event virtual this year, partnering with local bartenders and chefs to provide guests with cooking and drink demonstrations, along with local musical guests. It’s a great way to help raise funds for all of our services while also promoting local restaurants who can definitely use the business. We’ll also have an online silent auction.
Tickets are available for purchase at https:// www.eventbrite.com/e/ corks-forks-a-virtual-fundraiser-for-montco-saactickets-141041247167
For Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board (VFTCB), the pandemic has affected business from several aspects.
“We are supported through the hotel tax,” said president Mike Bowman. “Anyone who stays at a hotel in Montgomery County pays a 4 percent tax, which is the lowest in the state. So our funding itself has been less because of COVID. And then we do fundraising for the county – the Revolutionary Run, the Montco Strong fund. But our main source of funding comes from the hotel tax, which has basically been cut by 50 percent, but we had a good plan so we’re in a good place.”
The agency found ways to cut costs, Bowman said.
“We protected marketing and we protected our sales team, and coming out of this it will be about occupancy. The stronger the occupancy of Montgomery County hotels is, the stronger the marketing for tourism. We promote the Revolutionary Run to support Valley Forge National Historical Park, but our job is to fill the hotels of Montgomery County and to drive economic impact to tourism, which can be golf, shopping, visitation to history, restaurants, breweries, jobs. We support 40,000 jobs.”
This year the “Rev Run” will be held virtually during National Park Week, April 17-25.
In 2019 VFTC’s economic impact was $1.6 billion, Bowman said.
“The county has over 9,000 hotel rooms, so our job is to do everything possible to fill those hotel rooms, and that could be for weddings, family reunions, corporate meetings, youth sports, international business. So yes, COVID has had its effect, but we’re optimistic. We did see an uptick last summer because of all the outdoor attractions that Montgomery County has. As those gathering numbers start to come back and the restrictions come off, we’re very optimistic. It will take time but the events will slowly come back, which will bring more people back to our hotels.”