Reimagining generosity in the COVID era on Giving Tuesday

Count the United Way of Southeast Missouri among those fundraising organizations putting more priority this year on Giving Tuesday, a philanthropic effort following the Thanksgiving holiday.

The pandemic has forced the change in emphasis, local United Way executive director Elizabeth Shelton said.

“Absolutely (COVID) has hurt us and the nonprofits we support quite a lot,” she said, adding more people are using platforms such as Facebook to help guide their benevolent impulses.

“Everything is an event now, (as) it has become common practice to scroll social media to find good work to take part in — which is why we have Giving Tuesday,” Shelton added.

Giving Tuesday, according to its website, www.givingtuesday.org, began as a global effort in 2012 to encourage generosity “in all its forms” by the giving of “voice, time, money, goods and advocacy to support communities and causes.”

In addition to United Way, several local not-for-profit institutions have been active online in asking for gifts on Giving Tuesday.

Among them:

• Humane Society of Southeast Missouri, which seeks help in the ongoing construction of a new 12,000-square-foot facility, a humane education and adoption center, on its Boutin Drive property in Cape Girardeau.
• Community Partnership (CP) of Southeast Missouri, which is renovating the old Cape Girardeau police headquarters at 40 S. Sprigg St. Community Partnership is offering a brick engraved with the name of the donor in a patio at its new home for a minimum $100 gift.
• Southeast Missouri State University, which said it will use gifts for an emergency fund to assist students with COVID-19 relief, so “financial hardship does not cause a disruption in any student’s ability to pursue education.”

The local United Way is offering Giving Tuesday contributors an incentive, offering a virtual cooking class to donors who give at least $25.

United Way of Southeast Missouri, like all United Way agencies, helps local charitable concerns in pooling their efforts in fundraising and other types of support, including nonmonetary outreach.

Impact on giving to UW-SEMO

Shelton said the pandemic has caused several unfortunate cancellations for United Way of Southeast Missouri, which impacted the agency’s bottom line.

“We couldn’t hold our year-end celebration in April nor our annual kickoff in August,” she said, “and we had to cancel our 2020 ‘Over the Edge’ event, which brought in $45,000 in 2019.”

One event was salvaged despite COVID, a socially distanced golf tournament in October, raising $23,000.

Adverse times require innovation

Shelton is a member of the Southeast Council on Philanthropy (SECOP), a local group of institutional advancement directors in various area charities.

“We’ve been discussing how (COVID) is impacting us individually,” said Shelton, who has led United Way of Southeast Missouri since 2015, adding the health emergency is requiring a reimagination about how to fund their individual missions.

“We have to reconsider our traditional model (for fundraising),” Shelton said.

“We need to be creative and find other ways to reach (donors),” she said.

“I grew up seeing my parents tithe, and a lot of people from my generation saw and internalized that giving model,” Shelton said, “but we haven’t done such a good job passing that idea to those who’ve come after us.”

More people today, Shelton suggested, prefer to volunteer or to work on a project they might notice in a Facebook news feed, which, she opined, is why being on social media is vital.

“We appreciate this spontaneous response but it’s hard to budget,” she explained.

Shelton points to new software that includes a “roundup option” for online giving.

“We’re also customizing videos for workplaces, and we’re applying for grants in a way we haven’t done before (and) we’re doing everything we can to engage donors directly,” she added.