Creativity important when fundraising in Manitoba

WINNIPEG — For many non-profit organizations, fund raising is one of the toughest parts of their job.

With so many agencies well deserving, it’s a tough decision for many to decide where to direct their money and even tougher for the non-profits to gather those dollars.

Long gone are the days of charity telethons.

A time where local TV stations dedicated hours and hours of programming to raise money for worthy causes.

The art of fundraising has indeed changed.

“We have to be really creative.” said Jerry Maslowsky, CEO of Variety, the Children’s Charity. “Everybody has a dinner, everybody has a golf tournament we know there’s social media out there how do we connect? How do we connect with people, how do we tell them our story and what the cause is.”

And it’s definitely a challenge to be different – and stand out.

“We do it with what I say is passion, that’s the way we do it.” said Larry McIntosh, President and CEO of Peak of the Market. “We have a family fun day here and we invite people to come out for a free day and make a donation to Variety. We just want to be different in what we do but it’s all about giving back to the community.”

Raising money and deciding on where it should end up is also tough.

Recently, the fundraising group La Lupa Di Roma celebrated 25 years and made Variety their charity of choice.

“A lot of us are affiliated with many of these organizations and that’s why sometimes it’s very hard to decide.” said Julieta Petrelli, President of La Lupa Di Roma. “We want to be fair and that’s why every year we try to choose a different variety of organizations, sometimes we give to more than one.”

Variety does have a history in the community but as Maslowsky points out, that’s not good enough.

“We have to be more proactive as well to search out where these opportunities are. If you don’t ask, you’re not going to get and be top of mind.”