The PEGG

July 2001

Education Foundation
Opts for Direct Appeal

This is the second installment of a regular column for The PEGG on the APEGGA Education Foundation. General information can be found on APEGGA's website, www.apegga.org, under the Education Foundation tab. Look us up.

BY D.G. BROOKS, P.ENG., P.GEOPH.
APEGGA Education Foundation President

It seems that scarcely a dinner hour goes by without it being interrupted by a phone call from someone soliciting donations. It usually starts out with, "How are you this evening, Mr./Ms._____?" Often the appeal is for a real need, but few touch us personally. Even then, we are rarely persuaded to make a donation by phone.

Too often, the call is from a call-centre and the caller is not very familiar with the charitable appeal and even less familiar with our connection to it. These shotgun appeals are generally managed by professional fundraisers who get a percentage off the top, which makes it a process with a higher administrative cost than many organizations wish to bear -- ours included.

During the May meeting of our board, directors of the APEGGA Education Foundation approved a policy to solicit donations within the communities of our professions. This allows us a more substantial direct appeal. And our contacts and lines of communication will allow us to solicit donations at a lower cost. This means that more of the funds raised go to our goal of issuing scholarships and awards.

Appeal Details

The appeal to have people donate may be as follows:

* Industries employing our members benefit when means exist to encourage a good supply of graduates with strong academic and leadership skills

* Practicing members benefit when a new stream of well qualified graduates follows to support them, and stimulate their own development

* Life members often wish to give something back to the profession they have spent a career in

* Our professions benefit by actions that enhance the image of our professions

* Communities benefit when good professionals return to give of their technical skills and leadership.

We have given special attention to the category of life members. They are well positioned to support our goals and often motivated to do so.

However, this segment does not receive an annual invoice so we miss this annual opportunity to remind them. We will consider contacting them regularly through The PEGG, and inviting them to use the *APEGGA website or to make their donation directly.

First Target: $2

Our appeal within the community of our professions will, hopefully, allow us to reach our short-term goal of an average $2 donation per member or about $50,000 per year. The next phase of the strategy will be to move to a higher average, say, $5 or even $10, which would give an additional $150,000 to $300,000 per year to the foundation.

* contained in the last screen of the Online Renewal Form.