This year’s Empty Bowls event at Manchester Community College was held on Saturday, October 29, and may be one more victim of the early winter storm, which started that day.
It was a great event, with lots of beautiful handmade bowls and vats of yummy hot soup, and the total raised to date is $9,534. This is a great effort by a dedicated group of volunteers, but unfortunately, it has followed the pattern of many other fundraising activities this year, in that the event raised less than last year.
With the need for food assistance is greater than ever - 30% more people seeking help - this has been the most challenging year for fundraising Foodshare has ever experienced. Although our Walk Against Hunger, back in May, met its goal, we have not met our fundraising projections any other month this year.
We don’t completely understand the reasons for this, but possible reasons include:
o People who were formerly donors and are now on the receiving side instead…we hear stories like this all the time.
o Timing – perhaps more people and organizations are holding their donations until the holiday season this year.
o Donor fatigue – one organization recently told us they were not going to promote Foodshare any more because our cause was well enough supported already.
Foodshare has still been here providing needed food assistance every month of the year – we certainly hope our upcoming Turkey and a Twenty campaign will help us make up the difference! Meeting our goals will be critical to Foodshare being able to continue to serve people in need in the coming year.
No comments:
Post a Comment