PRINCEVILLE — Raising money is no easy feat these days, KKCR General Manager Jerry Brocklehurst said. The North Shore community radio station did manage to collect almost 90 percent of its original goal of $60,000 shortly after the organization’s Fall
PRINCEVILLE — Raising money is no easy feat these days, KKCR General Manager Jerry Brocklehurst said.
The North Shore community radio station did manage to collect almost 90 percent of its original goal of $60,000 shortly after the organization’s Fall 2009 Membership Drive was completed Nov. 15. However, there have been noticeable monetary differences in the nonprofit’s fundraisers over the last two to three years, Brocklehurst said.
“I think they don’t have as much cash as they used to,” KKCR Development Director Lyn McNutt said. “But, they’re still giving.”
The number of donations — or pledges — is about the same, she said. It is the amount that members are contributing that has declined.
“All the nonprofits are suffering a bit, having to do more and more fundraisers than they did before,” Brocklehurst said. “We’re all vying for the same support.”
The approximately 125 nonprofits that are “active in the community” are reducing staff hours and are generally experiencing lower revenue, said Kaua‘i Planning & Action Alliance President and CEO Diane Zachary.
“It’s taking a lot longer to raise funds for needed programs than it used to,” she said.
The KKCR membership drive added at least 130 new members and even picked up supporters from other areas of the island, including the South Shore and Westside. Some 15 to 20 percent of their financial support even comes from as far the Mainland where online listeners abound, McNutt said.
With government funding not nearly as abundant as it once was, organizations are having to rely on the continued endorsement of private donors who have previously supported them, Zachary said.
With a persistent reduction and elimination of programs, nonprofits are really encouraged to “collaborate, partner and merge” together during these times, she said.
“They can explore how they can reduce expenses to extend services and maximize them to the highest degree possible,” Zachary said.
It is a “tremendous advantage” to partner with other nonprofits, said Brocklehurst, whose organization has teamed with others such as the Garden Island Arts Council.
This is “one of the positive things to this crazy economy,” Zachary said regarding not-for-profits opting to work with one another to provide more potential bang for their buck.
To learn more about the ways island nonprofits are working together, a free workshop sponsored by KPAA called “Strategic Nonprofits Collaborate” is being offered from 9 a.m. to noon, Dec. 18, at the Kaua‘i Humane Society. To register, call 632-2005.
• Coco Zickos, business and environmental writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or czickos@kauaipubco.com.
