According to the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) 2009 State of Fundraising Survey, only “43 percent of charities raised more money in 2009 than in 2008, marking it the worst year for charitable fundraising in a decade.”

The survey states that declines were consistent regardless of cause. However, several of the food banks that I have talked to actually did well last year.

In 2009 food banks across the country had to step up to fill increased needs cause by the recession. Thankfully, many of them had a strong donor base in place that recognized the need and were willing maintain funding.

Canned food drives continue to be successful

Canned food drives are an ongoing effort for food banks and pantries. They provide a way for supporters to give something tangible and they can feel good knowing that they literally provided food to help those in need.

Deborah Talbot, Development Coordinator at Bread of the Mighty Food Bank in Gainesville, Florida said that food donations in 2009 were way ahead of the previous year. In a special drive the week before Thanksgiving they took in over 8,000 pounds in 2 days. “The Gainesville community historically has been very good about responding to publicity about the needs of their neighbors, and we’ve had exceptional local media coverage this year, too.”

The food bank proactively solicited groups to help. “At the beginning of October we sent out a letter to all groups/individuals who conducted food drives for us during the past year (including through the 2008 holidays) asking them to consider doing so again over the holidays.”

Direct mail is a strategy that Bread of the Mighty uses wisely.  In fact, one of their thank you letters is even included as a sample in the book 7 Essential Steps to Raising Money by Mail.

Talbot continues, “We’ve had a 28% response with repeat food drivers. From October to December we had 164 food drives, with 88 repeats from the past year. From the 200 letters we sent out October 1, we had a 44% response. I was amazed and thrilled. We had a 15% increase by weight in the amount of food received through food drives.”

Direct mail appeals prior to holiday season

Sandy Rees, with whom I co-authored the above mentioned book, has worked with food banks for several years. “The holiday season is prime fundraising time for food banks, particularly Thanksgiving. Most TV and radio stations will help promote fundraising or foodraising campaigns, especially if you get them on board early enough.”

Rees notes that the most important thing is to tie the amount you’re asking for to a meal. For example “your gift of $5.00 will provide a Thanksgiving basket for a family in need.”  Food banks can raise money with a Thanksgiving theme from early October to late November.  Just be sure to word the appeal appropriately, whether the donation will go to a restricted fund just for holiday meals or goes toward a general fund.

Year-long follow up with supporters

Talbot sees direct mail as an ongoing project. “The other things we’ve done more diligently is to follow up with donors (financial & food) throughout the year. This is my third holiday season with the food bank and the consistency with me coordinating food drives & acting as a food drive point of contact has improved partnership relationships with the various offices and groups.”

This year Bread of the Mighty prepared an annual report for the first time.  They included information about how holiday giving went and the impact it had. “This went out with our 2009 tax receipt letters, which we sent to everyone who gave us finances (no matter how little or how much) during the year. It will also go out with every thank you letter and other reasonably appropriate piece of correspondence until the next one is prepared for April. Time will tell on the effectiveness.”

Capital campaigns fund long term goals

The Wichita Falls Area Food Bank in Wichita Falls, Texas was successful with a capital campaign in 2009. Executive Director Mary Stengel emphasized that the dedication of board members and volunteers early on made a big difference.

“We had a capital campaign chairperson and co-chairs. Each co-chair had 5 captains and each of them had 5 volunteers.  We went to our database and identified donors who gave at least $500 in the last 3 years.  Then each of these teams got a list of people they would call on.”

In addition to one-on-one personal asks, the board and staff looked to foundations for grants. By the time the public phase of the campaign kicked off in October, they already had $660,000 pledged toward the goal of nearly 1 million.

When asked about how they were able to be so successful Stengel replied, “People knew how bad the economy was and the impact the food bank has on the community and the hungry people we serve. People recognize the needs growing from agencies in the 12 counties that we reach. We would never be able to grow or meet the increased need without increased warehouse space.”

Optimism for the future

Working through partner agencies and the national Feeding America network, food banks continue to do great work to serve those in need during economic tough times.  Continuing to build relationships with supporters and demonstrating effectiveness on mission will continue to help them, and other nonprofits, stay funded for years to come.

There’s a variety of software programs that many nonprofits, just like commercial businesses, need in order to be successful.  For charitable groups managing donor information, communicating with supporters online and accepting internet based donations are of particular concern.

eTapestry offers a whole suite of tools to simplify this process for you. There’s a web-based donor management system, an online giving system, specialized email tools and even event registration just to name a few. Since everything is connected you save time by not having to enter duplicate information or use multiple systems.

Here’s a great case study…

Gleaners Food Bank in central Indiana uses eTapestry’s tools to make their donor data management less time consuming. They are able to track donation information effectively so they can continue to follow up with supporters and solicit additional funds.

eTapestry was instrumental in helping them recover from a major disaster – vandals who damaged the refrigeration system over a weekend left $170,000 worth of food destroyed.

The community response was overwhelming. They went to the food bank website and donated instantly, using the online donation system enabled by eTapestry. Imagine how much longer it would have taken to get the needed donations in without online giving already enabled.

Watch the Video for the full story

The software is user friendly and you’ll get top notch training and support. It can be made available to your entire team so that information related to your fundraising efforts that they need to succeed are right there (from anywhere since it’s a web based system).

Plus the eTapestry team manages all of the techie stuff – all upgrades, maintenance, backups, and data security are managed and monitored for you. A big plus for so many organizations that don’t have a technology department (or even one tech guy or gal)!

The bottom line is that using software like eTapestry helps you focus more on your mission, build better relationships with supporters and makes fundraising easier.

Here’s a great overview of eTapestry that you can print out or just go to eTapestry.com for more information.

New Hampshire’s Community Action Program has seen the pantry use rise dramatically, up 50% compared to the numbers of people who typically use the pantries. This is a story that’s being played out all over the country.

Food banks, other nonprofits, corporations and communities are stepping up to fill the need.  Here are some stories of some groups that are fundraising, collecting food donations and publicizing the cause.  If you work with a food bank or are interested in helping maybe some of these stories will give you some ideas of what you can do in your community.

Feeding America Serves Nationwide

Currently Feeding America (formerly known as America’s Second Harvest) is benefiting from multiple fundraising and awareness programs.

This season I’ve been addicted to the reality show The Biggest Loser and this week was its big finale.  The reality show teamed with Subway and General Mills all season long for the Pound For Pound Challenge.  The public was invited to register and for every pound lost, General Mills donates 14¢ to Feeding America.  You can still participate up til May 31st.

Bloomberg reports that Kellogg Boosts Cereal Donation as Food Bank Demand Jumps 30%:

Kellogg Co., the world’s largest cereal maker, will donate $10 million worth of Rice Krispies, Frosted Mini-Wheats and other products to U.S. food banks to help meet a 30 percent jump in demand. The 3.5 million pounds of cereal is in addition to the 25 million pounds of food and $500,000 in cash Kellogg gives annually to Feeding America

In an upcoming campaign Beyoncé and Hamburger Helper partner with the goal of helping Feeding America deliver more than 3.5 million meals to local food banks.  On May 26th the My Hometown Helper campaign will announce more information about concert promotions and a box top based donation system.

Another corporate campaign comes from KRAFT.  It asks for the participation of website visitors in order to determine how many boxes of Macaroni and Cheese will be donated.  The site is called Share a Little Comfort and all you have to do is click the “donate a free box” button.  Coupons for KRAFT Macaroni and Cheese products are there, ready to print out too.

Communities Rally to Help Local Food Banks

Michelle Obama and Jill Biden recently visited the Capital Area Food Bank in DC. In this video provided Mrs. Obama and representatives from Feeding America address the crowd of volunteers.

The Stamp Out Hunger nationwide drive from the National Association of Letter Carriers was held on Saturday May 9th. In Oklahoma mail carriers collected more than 630,000 pounds of food to benefit the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. This was up from 480,000 pounds collected in 2008.

At the sixth annual Dish: Cuisine for Change in Minneapolis, Minnesota Second Harvest Heartland raised $366,900 to fight hunger in the 59 counties served by the organization.  The first-ever Hunger Heroes Director’s Award was presented to David Nasby, former vice president of the General Mills Foundation and founder of the nation’s first food bank network.

The Houston Food Bank recently benefited from a crawfish boil. (Crawfish boils are popular events in south Texas and Louisiana.  I’m not much on the critters.  I think I’ll stick with Catfish or Shrimp myself!)

Food banks in Utah are benefiting from the state’s new grocery rescue program.  Stores such as Albertson’s locations statewide donate food that is still good but close to sell by date.

In a story titled Filling the Void, Fundraising Success magazine profiles the Food Bank For New York City‘s stepped up efforts to provide wholesome food to struggling New Yorkers.  This article profiles how they raised the funds needed to fuel their mission.

Last summer the food bank in my area planned a creative way in involve those who benefited from their services and got some great publicity at the same time.  Over 150 children who get nutritious meals at local Kids Cafes wrote an essay about how the program helped them and their family in the Kids Cafe Essay Writing Contest.

Another way that the Wichita Falls Area Food Bank connects with the community is through small groups of volunteers.  The food bank periodically delivers cases of food supplies to area community centers and churches.  Then volunteers prepare the sacks of food that will be given to at-risk children to take home over the weekend.

When I’ve participated it’s been a fun, social time for those involved. Inevitable the conversation naturally turns to the children in need of the food and how much of a help the PowerPack program is.  In around 30 minutes we have all the packs done and a sense of accomplishment that we helped in some way.

Through a role playing simulation residents of Ames, IA got a better understanding of what it would be like to live in poverty. The program was planned with the help of Bethesda Community Food Pantry and Iowa State University Extension.  The simulation gave participants an identity to assume for the night, either as a child living in poverty, someone newly unemployed, a disabled person or a senior citizen.

Do you know of any great fundraising, food drive or publicity efforts on behalf of food banks?  Post a link in the comments below.

In honor of Blog Action Day (October 15th) and World Food Day (yesterday, October 16) this roundup focuses on fundraising strategies for organizations that help fight hunger.

For Bag a Lunch Day supporters are asked to donate one day’s lunch money toward feeding the hungry. Nancy E. Schwartz describes this simple, yet powerful, way to raise funds.

The Wichita Falls Area Food Bank held a one day event called the The Big Scoop Food Drive. 54,448 pounds of food were collected in one day.

Central Dallas Ministries has designated October 27th Community Hunger Day with fundraising efforts primarily done online. The goal is for at least 2,000 people to reach out to 10 friends and ask for a $50 commitment.  This campaign could potentially raise $1,000,000 in the fight against hunger.

At the 18th annual Empty Bowls event in Phoenix participants are asked to donate a minimum of $12 to purchase handcrafted ceramic bowls which will later be filled with pasta for lunch.  Proceeds benefit Waste Not, which has raised more than $500,000 in the past 17 years through this event.

High School and college students in Indiana are supporting Community Harvest Food Bank through similar collaborate art projects.

Youngstown, Ohio residents raised $630,000 at Second Harvest Food Bank of Mahoning Valley’s 17th annual Taste of the Valley.

Entrance tickets at a fall corn maze in South Brunswick will help feed New Jersey’s hungry.

Alanna Kellogg discusses how difficult it is to eat on just $3 a day and some actions people can take to help those in need.

Church World Service plans its Crop Walks all across the US to raise funds to help the hungry.

Beth Kanter offers Some Ways To Take Action to help the hungry such as a weight loss challenge, using Twitter and blog comments to raise funds.