The NonProfit Times - August 15, 2008 - (Page 8)

THE WORLD’S BEST FUNDRAISERS LIVING LEGEND LARRY JONES DRTV, Mail Feed Kids Around The World If they made a movie about Larry Jones’life,it might be a little like the film Forrest Gump.That’s not to say Jones is dim-witted or spends his time at bus stops holding a box of chocolates. But like Gump, Jones has found himself at interesting locations in history. He was in Oklahoma City in 1995 when the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was bombed and in New York City the day the World Trade Center towers fell. His organization, Feed The Children (FTC), responded to both tragedies,as well as numerous disasters over the years, from the Asian tsunami to Hurricane Katrina. He gets his message out through every possible means. Just try to flip around the television without seeing a FTC infomercial. Jones started FTC in 1979, after meeting a boy in Haiti who asked him for a nickel at about 9 p.m.so he could buy a roll, his only meal that day. He then asked for three pennies, so he could get the roll buttered. Jones said he also gave him another 12 cents for a soda.“This is tragic,” he thought, as he knew there was tons of wheat just sitting in silos back in Oklahoma. When he returned home, Jones presented his case on the air (when Larry Jones Ministries was only on about a dozen stations). Donating the surplus wheat would help those in Haiti, but also the farmers who were stuck with it, and the federal government, which was subsidizing farmers to grow it. Within two months, Jones had 50 farmers giving him two million pounds of wheat.“I was just going to do that and that was the extent of it,” Jones said. But then he received another 16 tons of black-eyed peas from another farmer.“We had a product in hand.We just had to raise the money to ship it.” Jones hasn’t stopped since, as FTC marks its 29th anniversary this month. In its infancy, FTC raised less than $2 million its first year.Today, it’s a $650million-a-year operation based in Oklahoma City, Okla., with a fleet of 55 semi-tractor-trailers ready to transport food where it’s needed. FTC shipped nearly 130 million pounds of food and essentials last year within the U.S. and to 43 nations, in addition to supplementing 730,000 meals a day around the world. Since its inception, FTC has served children and families in 118 countries worldwide. FTC is perhaps best known for its child sponsorship efforts and pioneering Direct Response Television (DRTV). During its first 10 years, the child sponsorship program had 30,000 children. “I really didn’t plan to start something,” Jones said.“There were no focus groups, none of that, just farmers that said that’d be a great idea. Nobody’s more shocked about what’s taken place than my wife and I. It’s nothing that we planned out,or thought about.” Last year, Jones published his biography, “Keep Walking,” that describes his lifelong efforts to feed children. “You keep walking simply because there are hungry children around the next bend, or the next mile.You can’t let anyone or anything stop you. The need is so great.” Today, Larry Jones Ministries is on 75 television stations. FTC has used television, direct mail and magazine advertising to reach out to the public.“If we can get the word out to people -- Americans are a very compassionate people -- we can move the product,” he said. Jones and his wife, Frances, recently adopted a boy from Kenya who was abandoned and near death. “We FTC raised less than $2 million its first year. Today, it’s a $650-million-a-year operation based in Oklahoma City, Okla., with a fleet of 55 semi-tractor-trailers have a constant reminder in my home of who we are and what our purpose in life is,” he said. “The potential is out there for children; all they want is a chance.To see these kids come and be able to feed these kids, I would do this even if you didn’t pay me,” Jones said.“The world could be a better place if everybody could do something, even a little.” – MARK HRYWNA HOLIDAY JEER Continued from page 1 Diana Estremera, senior vice president of Greenwich,Conn.-based May Development Services, a division of Direct Media, Inc. “Even though the expense is there with the flat, you just have to look at the results of that mailing with a different metric than you did before the postal hike,” said Estremera, who for some clients is trying to use gift bag packages that mail as flats. Large envelopes and bold colors are working in most test groups, according to Alan Hall, vice president of client services at Pasadena, Calif.-based Russ Reid. Estremera said that relevant, eye-catching designs depend on the organization and constituency (bright colors for the Christian market, muted tones for health charities and animal organizations), and urged experimenting in test mailings with colors and embellishments, such as embossing and foil. Estremera also said premiums might help snag Boomer donors. “What motivates them is not just the act of doing something good, but also the act of getting something for themselves,” said Estremera. Premiums didn’t reflect poorly on the Boomers, she said, but are motivating factors that direct mailers should keep in mind.“When we do our premiums, we use as nice and high a quality as we can get within the confines of a reasonable budget to make the back-end net work.” Estremera said that premiums require longer lead times, some taking three months. But the more time an organization dedicates to developing the idea and dealing with and the quality has to be there.You certainly wouldn’t want to sacrifice the result in any way.” And premiums might be the way to reach donors who are feeling the economic pinch this holiday. ChemArt, a Lincoln, Rhode Island-based manufacturing Premiums, like these ChemArt ornaments, can push some donors to make a gift. tweaking prototypes, the better the quality of the final product. “You need to be careful of what you produce,” she said, explaining that premiums can range from notepads to blankets to trivets – which are hotplate holders. “You don’t want to just throw something in the mail because these are the nonprofit’s dollars you are company, designs photo-chemically etched decorative ornaments and collectible premiums for nonprofits ranging from the White House Historical Association to a guide dog organization, according to Lee Rush at ChemArt. “Any successful campaign needs a visionary when you are dealing long term with passion about their organization,” said Rush, who said donors are enticed to keep collecting the pieces, building lifetime donors and brands. Brand recognition is what helps keep the ALA’s Christmas Seals program strong after more than 100 years.“Their brand is well known by everybody. But just as importantly, their brand for their Christmas campaign is just as well known,” said Jeffrey Habib, senior vice president and partner for THD.“A lot of people give to their organization because of their Christmas Seals and their collectors.” Brand recognition has branched out to include multi-channel solicitations that make it easier for the donor to give the way in which they are comfortable. “Clients are looking at that as a more important element in integration,” said Hall at Russ Reid. He added that some clients are trying cross-market tactics that can include media and mail inserts, and that agencies should look at ideas they scrapped in the past. “What we’re really challenged with is to go back, review that changing audience or change in target audience and look with a different lens,” said Hall.“Fall is the Holiday Jeer, page 10 8 AUGUST 15, 2008 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.nptimes.com http://www.nptimes.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The NonProfit Times - August 15, 2008

The NonProfit Times - August 15, 2008 The World’s Best Fundraisers Holiday Jeer Contents ‘Donate Now’ Atlanta Luring Major Charities Expenses Continue To Put Stress On Nonprofit Budgets Fuel Costs Eating Up Food Banks Get An Email Address, Generate Income Unique Items Drive Fundraising Auctions Nonprofit Styles Aren’t Out Of Fashion Limited ‘Face’ Time NPT Jobs Resource Directory

The NonProfit Times - August 15, 2008

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