By Catherine Cuellar, KERA 90.1 reporter
Dallas, TX – Catherine Cuellar, KERA 90.1 reporter: The non-profit group Charity Navigator recently ranked the non-profit sector in Dallas last among the 25 largest U.S. cities, despite Dallas' standing as the country's ninth-largest city. While local non-profits hope the news will compel those who are able to do more, Gary Godsey of the United Way, which includes 99 organizations in Dallas, Collin, Denton and Rockwall Counties, takes the news in stride.
Gary Godsey, President, United Way of Metropolitan Dallas: Data has to be observed and looked at, deciphered. It's a good site as a first point of reference, but I would encourage donors to look at other information as well.
Cuellar: The study focused on individual donations as the barometer of a nonprofit's success. 39 Dallas non-profits make the group's top 3,000 nationwide, but Charity Navigator's Trent Stamp says the survey revealed some weaknesses.
Trent Stamp, Executive Director, Charity Navigator: We found that Dallas charities were smaller. We found that they were having trouble growing their revenues compared to other cities. This means they're not growing their programs along with that. And as a result they're not able to save much for a rainy day.
Cuellar: Godsey points out that the past four years have been challenging.
Godsey: When times are worse, that's when nonprofits are needed the most, and it's when people pull their funding back. Our unemployment rate approached 9%. People are out of work. They have less expendable income. And for an organization like the United Way, we still raise 70% in the workplace, so when people are displaced from their jobs with fewer expendable resources, giving will go down somewhat.
Cuellar: Godsey also says local competition for donations is high, with more than 13,000 non-profits. That doesn't include churches, which still receive the lion's share of personal gifts. Hedy Helsell of the Center for Nonprofit Management says religious giving is an important part of Dallas' profile.
Hedy Helsell, President, Center for Nonprofit Management: If philanthropy goes into the church rather than into the nonprofit sector, that's going to be, in a sense, competition with the work nonprofit organizations are doing in terms of raising money.
Cuellar: She says fundraising efforts in Dallas are also more costly than in other cities.
Helsell: Dallas does a lot more special events, whether it's a ball, a luncheon, a dinner or a golf tournament. It's sort of philanthropy by entertainment if you will, and that's a historical pattern in this community, and it's a way to do more than just raise money. It also helps educate people involved with the event on what the organization does. It helps increase the organization's visibility in the media and with potential funders, and it helps build volunteer connections to the organization. All are benefits not financial.
Cuellar: But she adds there are more efficient ways to raise money, like direct mail.
Another challenge, according to Gary Godsey, is to engage the next generation of philanthropists.
Godsey: Generally the 30- or 35-and-under donors like volunteer experiences to go along with their financial contributions, but their volunteer experiences generally speaking are quick experiences, things where they can get in to it, do it and get out of it and move to the next thing.
Cuellar: Both Godsey and Helsell say there's still untapped corporate and personal wealth in the city. To keep it in town, non-profits will have to be creative, while remaining sensitive to Dallas ways. For KERA 90.1, I'm Catherine Cuellar.
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