Alaska nonprofits brainstorm for funds: adding technology and innovation to hard work.

AuthorHollander, Zaz
PositionSPECIAL SECTION: Philanthrophy in Alaska

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An uncertain economy has Alaska's charitable organizations brainstorming new ways to ensure fundraising keeps pace with the community's skyrocketing need for help.

A handful of local nonprofits say any recipe for fundraising success these days includes ingenuity, technological savvy--and a major dose of hard work.

Take Beans Cafe for example: The Anchorage nonprofit provides meals for adults and children through two separate programs, Beans Care and the Children's Lunchbox. Last year, Beans Care saw a 30 percent increase in people and meals served, according to development director Ken Miller. The Children's Lunchbox provided 150,000 meals to school-aged kids last year and expects to serve more than 200,000 this year, according to program director Lynette Ortolano.

Did fundraising keep up? Yes, Miller says, but only through a combination of the generosity of individual donors and "working his butt off" at keeping Beans on the cutting edge, communication-wise. Fundraising generates about 70 percent of the annual $2 million budget at Beans Care Inc.

Beans is the leading beneficiary of the state's Pick. Click. Give program, Miller says. The nonprofit received more than $100,000 from the program that allows Alaskans to give some of their Permanent Fund Dividend money to the organization of their choice.

Beans also relies on the popular Empty Bowl Project fundraiser at the Egan Center every March, where participants pay $20 for an artist-crafted ceramic bowl filled with soup donated by Beans. That event is part of a community spirit of giving that provides significant revenue, he says.

"The key thing is that individuals assisted Beans Cafe and the Children's Lunchbox by giving everything from $5 to $25,000," Miller says. "We had over 4000 individuals giving to us last year."

Beans also made a priority of engaging with younger donors through social media and new marketing.

"We are probably the number one nonprofit in terms of social media and technology," he says.

Tech-Savvy Targeting

Miller ticks off a list of technology-inspired fundraising techniques he says Beans pioneered: Text donating through the state of Alaska, mobile giving, a Groupon grassroots campaign and a Google ad words campaign. Beans also hired a marketing firm to do Facebook marketing programs.

"We've been real fortunate," Miller says. "We have the resources. We can ask 2,500 people on our Facebook page, 5,000 people on my email marketing list. So it's...

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