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Charlotte Speech & Hearing is one of the city's smaller charities, but that didn't stop it from launching an elaborate raffle project in August to benefit a handful of struggling charities.
It's a concept that also won widespread support at a recent community forum for Mission Possible, a media initiative launched to find solutions for the city's struggling charities.
But four months after unveiling the idea, Charlotte Speech & Hearing is still not sure when its Heart of Charlotte Raffle will actually happen.
Progress is slow, because sponsors are reluctant to give and many charities don't have enough manpower to help with organization, said Shannon Tucker of Charlotte Speech & Hearing.
"I'm frustrated and disappointed. I truly thought Charlotte's business community would respond better," said Tucker. "But they couldn't seem to get outside their box. They kept wanting to know what agency the raffle would benefit, and they didn't get that it might be 10 agencies."
Like most charities in the community, Charlotte Speech & Hearing is scrambling for a backup financial plan. It's among the United Way charities that lost tens of thousands of dollars this year, due to a $14million shortfall in the 2008 United Way campaign.
A coalition of media partners including the Observer started Mission Possible not long after, as a means of inviting the public to find new ways to fill the budget gap. More than 350 ideas were submitted through a database, and 25 volunteers winnowed the list to a handful in September.
Among the popular choices was creation of a communitywide raffle that would benefit a variety of charities through tickets sold for donated prizes.
The concept seems simple enough, but national experts on charity fundraising say Charlotte would be breaking new ground. It's common for a single charity to hold a raffle, but rarely do confederations of charities join for such a cause, said Michael Nilsen of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
There may be good reason, too, he concludes: While a community raffle could educate thousands about Charlotte's charities, it might also be seen as a replacement for giving and volunteering. That could hurt in the long run, he says.
"Fundraising at its basic level is about developing relationships between the charity and the donor," says Nilsen. "When you buy a raffle ticket, there's no real way to get close to an organization. You don't know who is getting the money. It takes out the personal side of giving."
Granted, he agrees such a raffle could be a tool for raising money, "but it's more a stopgap than a long-term solution."
A tough sell
Tucker has learned the challenges are many, starting with recruiting charities to sell tickets. She found 10 willing to participate in the Heart of Charlotte Raffle, but a half-dozen others passed on the idea, claiming "it wasn't worth the time and trouble."
Even more challenging, she says, has been finding donors. A standardized sponsorship form was sent out to 50 local corporations and small businesses. To date, she has had less than five positive responses.
Tucker has no doubt a community raffle could succeed, based on her past experience with a similar project that was sponsored by US Airways from 2006 to 2008. It offered vacation packages to 10 raffle winners. An additional $5,000 was given to charities that sold winning tickets. Her Heart of Charlotte Raffle is loosely based on that effort, and intends to have 10 grand prizes of at least $5,000 each, with the money split between the winners and the charity that sold the $10 ticket.
United Way has agreed to help by dispersing the dollars to the participating agencies. However, United Way does not plan deeper involvement in any communitywide raffle project.
The key reason, says Executive Director Jane McIntyre, is that recent budget cuts and a loss of 40 staff members have left the agency incapable of organizing, conducting or auditing such a massive undertaking.
"I say try it, but it needs to be a volunteer-led effort," says McIntyre.
She suggests an alternative might be an online raffle, which Michael Nilsen also touts as less expensive and less time-consuming.
"Some charities are moving to these online events and having fun with it," he says. "They send you an invitation to a 'nonparty,' including a chat area to talk and bid on items in an online auction. They play up the idea that nobody is actually there, so you don't have to get dressed up."
A survey of recent charity raffles around the nation revealed nothing similar to the Heart of Charlotte Raffle. However, the slow real estate market has led to an uptick in houses being raffled to benefit a single charity. Tickets typically range from $100 to $150. A few in California have recently been postponed due to "lack of funding brought on by the economy." Legal problems have also been an issue there in cases where strict state guidelines weren't followed.
North Carolina only recently changed its laws to allow charities to raffle houses, but value is limited to $500,000 or less. State law permits raffles only by charities recognized as tax-exempt. Raffles are limited to two per nonprofit per year, and rules specify that 90 percent of the net proceeds must go to programs related to the charity's mission.
Shannon Tucker believes a communitywide raffle could fit easily within the guidelines, and she intends to keep pushing the effort for at least a few more weeks. Just last week, she says, Duke Energy donated $1,000. She believes things might happen faster if community leaders were to join in.
"Let's say a couple of people on the City Council, Chamber of Commerce or Rotary got on board and started using their contacts," she says. "They know a lot of powerful people and they would get a lot better response than if it's me calling for help. I'm trying to fight my way through the phone lines and forms on the Internet. People with peer-to-peer relationships would make a bigger difference."
