A Push for Big Gifts Helps Lift a Civil-Liberties Organization
By Michael Anft
DESPITE backing some con- troversial positions dur- ing an era of heightened
political bickering, the American Civil Liberties Union saw
donations grow by 31 percent
in the 2010 fiscal year, earning
it a spot on the Philanthropy
400, The Chronicle’s ranking of
the U.S. charities that raise the
most from private sources.
Although the ACLU (No. 159
on the list) has long courted donors who give small sums, both
through a successful direct-mail
campaign and through telephone appeals, it attributes this
year’s increase to multiple large
planned gifts and one especially
bountiful matching gift.
“We used to rely on our membership program to be our star,
but now it’s planned gifts and
major gifts,” says Donna McKay, the organization’s director
of institutional advancement
and special projects.
The New York organization,
a well-known nonpartisan defender of free-speech rights,
concluded a five-year campaign
in September that wildly surpassed its expectations because
of the large gifts it received, Ms.
McKay adds. The group garnered $407-million, well above
its goal of $250-million—a major factor in its positive figures
for 2010.
The charity raised nearly
$122-million in the fiscal year
ended in March, a nearly 32-
percent increase over 2009’s
haul.
Politics vs. the Economy
The success of the five-year
drive, which was timed to end
during the organization’s 90th
anniversary, temporarily quieted worries within the ACLU
that some of its stances on issues, such as its controversial
backing of a January Supreme
Court decision to nix restrictions on dollar amounts that
corporations and labor unions
can give to political campaigns,
might scare off some of its most
loyal supporters and act as a
drag on donations.
“We were wondering whether
we’d be affected more by politics
donor, the hedge-fund manager
David Gelbaum, blamed a stock-market downturn for his decision to suspend a gift of more
than $20-million last year. And
donations in the 2011 fiscal year
haven’t kept pace with 2010.
“We worried about both poli-
tics and the economy, and it was
the economic downturn that has
hurt us,” Ms. McKay says.
Young Supporters
The American Civil Liberties Union, now in its 90th year,
has won support by emphasizing its past successes.
or the economy when it comes to
fund raising,” says Ms. McKay.
“We’ve found that our donors
are motivated by civil liberties
and by the fact that we’re not
partisan.”
Observers say the ACLU
made a strong pitch to its mem-
bers by tying the funds raised
during the campaign to expand-
ing the organization. Money
from the drive will be used to
expand its mission from coast-
al power centers inward toward
the nation’s midsection and
South, where many free-speech
and civil-liberties issues, such
as legalizing gay marriage and
protecting immigrants’ rights,
are being debated locally.
dren” in two counties in Flori-
da’s panhandle, Ms. McKaye
says, as well as an ACLU inves-
tigation that led to the closing of
an immigration detention center
in Taylor, Tex., last year. “There
are parts of Florida where there
are more members of the Ku
Klux Klan than the ACLU,” she
says. “That need resonates with
people. But we felt we had to
show strong examples of what
we’d done.”
But the five-year campaign
showed some promising signs.
Even though the organization’s
typical donor of $10,000 or more
is 63 years old, nearly 40 per-
cent of all donations that big
were made by people under 50.
Ever since the 2001 terrorist
attacks and the civil-liberties
challenges that erupted in their
wake, Ms. McKay says, the
group has worked to get younger
people involved in the ACLU. It
has put more money into reach-
ing young people through door-
to-door campaigns and street
canvassing.
Those examples were used
to lure supporters who would
make planned gifts that would
help ACLU bankroll increases in manpower and outreach
well into the future, Ms. McKay
says.
“We’re finding that we’re retaining these folks, often by
getting them into our monthly
giving program,” Ms. McKay
says. Those donors could ensure ACLU’s long-term outlook,
she adds.
“The goal of increasing its
presence in underserved areas
spoke directly to the ACLU’s
mission to achieve equality and
justice for every American,”
says Ruthellen S. Rubin, a con-
sultant who also teaches fund
raising and philanthropy at
New York University. “Donors
today are investing in success,
and the ones I’ve talked with
during the past two years are
giving with more thought and
pooling their resources for more
meaningful donations to the or-
ganizations they see getting the
job done. Hence, the success of
the ACLU campaign.”
Unfortunately, the group has
had trouble maintaining do-
nations with which to run its
headquarters. Twice—in 2008
and again in January—it laid
off staff members during re-
structuring efforts made neces-
sary by cutbacks in donations
that could be used immediately,
unlike many planned gifts.
But others say that while the
ACLU tries to stay above the
political fray and repeatedly
points out its nonpartisan status, it ultimately will be the politics of the times that determine
how well it fares.
Also, several major donors lost
investments they had entrust-
ed to Bernard Madoff, the now-
jailed securities trader. Another
“Advocacy groups, as much as
they hate to say it, raise mon-
ey whenever there’s bad news,”
says Mark Rovner, principal of
Sea Change Strategies, a fund-
raising consulting group in
Washington. “And in the realm
of civil liberties, it looks like
we’re headed for a dark period,
I expect the ACLU and groups
like them to do quite well.”
Mixed Results
The organization’s members
have applauded the move to expand its work, both in person
and via their pocketbooks, adds
Ms. McKay. While making its
pitch in mailings, in ads, and
in person, the organization focused on legal battles where it
had already made a difference
but shied away from pointing
to an unmet need for more protection of rights in areas other
than coastal centers.
Location: New York
Philanthropy 400 rank: No. 159
Private support in 2010: $121,500,208
Percentage change from 2009: + 32 percent
“We highlighted things like
winning cases involving the
right of gay people to adopt chil-
Secret of its success: A new focus on big donations and
planned gifts, spurred by a high-profile matching gift
