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Some interesting comments from local non-profit leaders on my April piece in Los Angeles magazine on why it's so hard to raise money for the needy. And what can be done. It's part of the magazine's City Thinkers feature. A few snippets:
As an institution whose mission is to serve L.A., the California Community Foundation in 2009 granted nearly $46 million, or roughly a quarter of total grants, to nonprofits serving disadvantaged communities in L.A. County. This may sound like a lot, but it's a drop in the bucket compared with the skyrocketing demand for services for those who need it most. Demand at food pantries, for instance, rose 34 percent in December 2009 over the previous year. -- Antonia Hernández President and CEO, California Community Foundation
I believe the challenge lies in creating a communal culture of giving that is driven by the wealthiest and predicated on peer pressure. Los Angeles remains an individualistic, entrepreneurial place. It lacks a consensus on critical needs. This is reflected in highly individual approaches to giving. We need a core group of the major philanthropists to be able and willing to leverage a portion of their personal generosity with their peers in support of service programs that are below the radar but work to ensure social justice in our multicultural and fragmented city. --John Fishel, former president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles
We need to get people to see what lies outside of their own small communities. We need to get people downtown. Let's take students AND their parents to the missions and the schools. I know this sounds like I am creating a Disney ride through poverty--but I know firsthand that if we don't get people off the 10 and across the 405, people with money will continue to have no idea. -- Adlai Wertman, USC Professor of Clinical Management and Organization and the former President and CEO of Chrysalis
Major givers like to give to well-endowed causes that they are familiar with and that their friends approve of. Charities should give better visibility to the high school graduations and productive citizenship of the poor we serve. They should better highlight the achievements of the poor that very often prevent tragedy and crime in the community. -- Ken Martinet, President and CEO, Catholic Big Brothers
Mark Lacter created the LA Biz Observed blog in 2006. He posted
until the day before his death on Nov. 13, 2013.