Condo Media - January 2013 - 35

limit their enthusiasm and the level of their support. An earlier experience had also illustrated the importance of a personal connection to a charitable cause. When Gopin decided in the early ‘90s to participate in a bike-a-thon to raise money for AIDS research, he found, “the hardest part wasn’t the training, it was the fundraising,” because the friends and family members he was approaching didn’t know anyone suffering from the disease. “It’s hard to personalize something if people aren’t affected by it.” With that lesson in mind, Gopin says, he decided a few years ago to make cancer research the focal point of the company’s charitable giving program. “Everyone is affected by cancer,” he notes, “so everyone has some reason to give.” When he announced his decision at a staff meeting to begin planning the company’s golf tournament, a discussion that usually took one hour stretched into four as one employee after another recounted how the disease had affected them, directly or indirectly. In terms of the ability to engage employees and appeal to sponsors and donors, Gopin says, selecting Dana Farber as the corporate charity “was the greatest thing we ever did.”

Guard officer, owned a unit in a small condominium in which the trustees were abusing their authority. “There was no affordability component” for the community or the owner seeking assistance, Marcus says, “but the military service aspect attracted us.” The “hands on” assistance the foundation provides also appeals greatly to

“You have to ask for help; you can’t try to do everything alone,” Benway emphasizes. Setting reasonable goals is also important, she says, to keep volunteers motivated and engaged. Most charitable initiatives face similar problems — attracting support in a weak economy, for example — but some of the challenges are unique. Marcus says his major challenge for his

With many worthy causes competing for limited charity dollars, reaching goals requires hard work, careful planning and the ability to inspire volunteers.
Marcus and his partners. To help a struggling community or owner directly and see the results of those efforts “is somehow more rewarding,” Marcus says, than simply writing a check. “Homes for Our Troops,” the charity CAI-NE has supported for the past several years, has proven to have “enormous appeal” for the same reason, notes Paula Solemina, director of marketing at Pro-Care, Inc., who cochairs the chapter’s Golf Committee and oversees the silent auction that raises funds for the cause. The charity, which builds homes for severely injured veterans in the area, has become “near and dear” to committee members, Solemina says, both because they like its mission and because “they can see what their donations are doing. They like the idea that their efforts are helping people close to home. It’s one of the things that piqued my interest and got me involved,” Solemina says. firm’s fledgling foundation thus far has been identifying projects to support. “People don’t know we exist,” he notes. “We have to do more to get that word out.” For CAI-NE’s Golf Committee, selecting items for the silent auction that will appeal to a diverse audience is a constant challenge, Solemina says (both dumpsters and Coach Bags have been popular) because popularity is something of a moving target and because economic conditions affect both the nature and number of items donated and how much bidders are willing to pay for them. Some items — Red Sox tickets, for example — that were hot one year have little appeal the next. Last year (a bad one for the home team), Solemina says, “we got so many Sox tickets we didn’t know what to do with them.” Some items, on the other hand, have proven to be too hot to handle. A minimum starting bid of $500 put a football autographed by Patriots quarterback Tom Brady outside the comfort range for the CAI-NE auction, so the committee donated it to another charity auction. “We never say no to a donation,” Solemina says. “We always find a way to make it work.” CM Nena Groskind is president of eContentplus, providing editorial content for websites, print and electronic newsletters and magazines.

“The Right Feel”
At Marcus, Errico, Emmer & Brooks, the selection of projects the firm’s foundation will support is also largely personal. “A couple of us in the office review the requests,” Marcus says, looking for projects that “seem to have the right feel,” and are consistent with the foundation’s mission — helping small condominiums or condominium owners who can’t afford the assistance they need. The foundation’s first project — a “dysfunctional” three-unit condominium built under an affordable housing program — clearly met the “economic need” criteria, but a subsequent project fell a bit outside the guidelines. The applicant, a Coast

Strategies for Success
Selecting an appealing charity is important, but it won’t ensure fundraising success. With many worthy causes competing for limited charity dollars, reaching charitable giving goals requires hard work, careful planning, and the ability to inspire volunteers as well as donors.

CONDO MEDIA • JANUARY 2013

Condo Media - January 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Condo Media - January 2013