Every year around this time, fundraisers are set up to help support organizations like Saint Vincent de Paul and the Salvation Army to support the services they provide. PG has always been, and continues to be, a generous community, supporting each and every group it can; and each year another couple pop up around town.
“Fundraising is up overall in the last 25 years because government support for non-core things is down. You need to raise more money to provide these services,” said UNBC lecturer and local businessman Charles Scott, who this week donated his time to help the Salvation Army’s Kettle Campaign.
“There is a core of people with energy and capacity to raise money, as well as the appetite of the general public. Simply put, as you run further into tapping the same well for more and more water, you eventually don’t get the same amount of water you need to make the well work.”
The issue of ‘how much is too much?’ emerged this year when a new fundraiser started, which supported SVPD and other similar organizations in the community. This, along with possible fatigue from back to back years of record-breaking wildfires, could be the start of donor fatigue. This raises the concern of more fundraisers competing for less, especially with the pressures of the holidays and the season of giving.
“At the same time, you will find things like, specifically, the wildfires generate a more broad response. There are the usual suspects that frequently can be counted on to volunteer but so did many others that previously had not been as active.”
One fundraiser that may be feeling the pinch of a congested market of available fundraisers is the Kettle Campaign by the Salvation Army. As of Friday, it was over $80,000 short of its $250,000 goal with only three days left to reach it.
Kettles were also close to one million dollars shy of its overall goal for all of BC. Despite this, PG Salvation Army donor relations and fundraising coordinator Bill Glasgow does not believe this is due to residents putting their charitable donations to other causes.
“I think there are a lot of factors you have to look at. I think in Prince George, a lot of the demographic has gone to online donating and we haven’t quite gotten there yet,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s a donor fatigue issue. I don’t think that’s a fair statement.”
PG historically has shown the ability to come up big in the last minute, with Glasgow stating a big push towards the end of the Kettle Campaign is common. As for the pressure the general public faces, this can be handled differently from person to person.
“People respond to that in a number of ways. One of which they learn to say no. Donors do reach the point where they simply say no more, and volunteers reach the point where they say sorry, I’m already full,” Scott explained.
Scott said this could cause fatigue for donors and exhaustion for volunteers, which presents a practical limitation.
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