Thomas Mrva gets about three calls a day from charities seeking donations. The Lighthouse Computer Services CEO tallied up his contributions recently, and he found he’d given more than $300,000 to 48 different groups last year.
Now, Mrva said, he wants more control over how his donations are spent. “There are better ways to help with people in need,” he said. “The people in need aren’t getting it.”
Mrva’s concern is a common one, said Hank Sennott, vice president of communications at United Way of Rhode Island.
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“What we are hearing from the business community is that they are getting overwhelmed with requests,” Sennott said. “It’s becoming more and more difficult for businesses, big and small, to figure out what to do.”
“It’s mind-boggling,” Sennott added. “People are donating money to this nonprofit, that nonprofit, and another nonprofit, and everybody is chipping away at their little part of the problem and never making any headway.”
Leaders in the philanthropy world are trying to change that.
The United Way tries to steer donors to its Community Impact Fund, which awards grants through a competitive process to nonprofits focused on specific goals: supporting children and families, assisting people in crisis, and helping the poor to become economically independent.
The idea is that by contributing to this fund, which is managed by the Rhode Island Foundation, donors can rest assured that their money will make an impact.
But some donors want more control over their contributions. For them, the path is trickier.
“If you just want to send off a check, that’s easy,” said Rick Schwartz, vice president of communications for the Rhode Island Foundation. Making a larger, targeted contribution, however, is “hard work.”
For those who know precisely which cause they’d like to help, both the United Way and the Rhode Island Foundation offer specialized services. The United Way has “philanthropy accounts,” with a minimum contribution of $1,000, to benefit specific nonprofits. With a minimum of $10,000, the R.I. Foundation can set up an endowment – the best choice, Schwartz said, “if you want to try to make a difference, and you want to make sure your money is going to the best possible place.”
The foundation manages more than 950 separate endowments totaling $460 million, Schwartz said, and last year they provided $20.6 million to causes in and out of the state. The foundation gets an annual fee of 1 percent of managed funds. Yet the fee saves a business the expense of paying a staff member to manage awards from an endowment.
For donors who really want to roll up their sleeves, the foundation has created Social Venture Partners of Rhode Island, which connects philanthropists with nonprofits committed to working closely with them for at least three years.
For example, Social Venture Partners helped Amos House in Providence develop a small business within the agency, a catering service that makes lunches for two local charter schools. The program allows Amos House clients – people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness – to develop the skills they need to get jobs in the restaurant industry, and also provides revenue for the agency.
Philanthropists who want to strike out on their own, on the other hand, won’t find a lot of resources in Rhode Island.
Shawn Buckless, a vice president at Fund Consultants in Lincoln, said some local businesses rely on their accountants or lawyers for advice on allocating donations.
However, unlike larger markets, Providence has few, if any, expert consultants to help donors.
Buckless’ business serves the other end of the market: nonprofits raising money. He’d happily give advice to companies seeking guidance on how to maximize the impact of their charitable donations, Buckless said, but he doesn’t see a demand for that service.
In fact, Buckless said, some donors, especially people with new wealth, contribute anonymously to nonprofits to prevent a future flood of solicitations. They want to avoid writing checks by the dozen.
Mrva, at Lighthouse, has come up with his own solution to that problem. Late last month, the CEO decided to create a company foundation to support causes dear to him: research to prevent Crohn’s disease and colitis; education; the environment; and his customers’ charities.
Mrva said he will designate someone on his staff to manage the program, which is still in the planning stages.
“I’m fortunate to be in the position to give to charities,” Mrva said, “but there is a lot of pressure on me to give, and they’re going to have to do it my way.”
