I’ve long envied the semi-captive audience that public radio stations have for their pledge drives. But apparently even that’s no guarantee of the fundraising results they’re looking for. Just today – it’s pledge-drive time here in the Bay Area – one host lamented that “only 10%” of listeners give, while the rest just keep getting it for free.

We’ve got an even more acute problem in the LGBT movement. Not only do we lack a radio station to which people are hopelessly addicted; we’re looking at a baseline of about five per cent of LGBT people making a financial contribution to any LGBT organization. That’s right, any. 10 per cent? That’s starting to look pretty good.

If we expect to win full equality and keep it, we have to get very serious about what could be called our “five percent problem.” We all know that money alone isn’t enough; we need leadership, volunteer power, and much more. But money is absolutely necessary. Organizing costs money. Visibility and social marketing cost money. Getting and keeping great people in key movement positions cost money. Campaigns cost money. Providing LGBT people with essential services costs money.

There’s only one place that money’s ultimately going to come from: us. Yes, government, foundation, and corporate support are critical, but they’ll never be enough. Public funding is crashing everywhere; mainstream foundations are trying to address a world of issues – with sharply reduced endowments. At most, we’re just one issue among many.

So the challenge comes back to us. How do we, as a movement, generate more individual giving? How do we persuade LGBT people to include the community in their estates? It’s obvious that, as a community, we haven’t figured these out. Horizons Foundation and others have done some extensive research to help begin answering these questions. (Horizons’ report can be found at http://www.horizonsfoundation.org/pdf/2008LGBTPhilanthropyReportFull.pdf.)

We need to solve our five percent problem. We’re a long way from that right now. But even five per cent represents tens of thousands of donors, likely far more than 10 or 20 years ago. This movement has done amazing things. There’s no reason we can’t do something amazing with our giving, too.

Roger Doughty

Executive Director

Horizons Foundation

http://www.horizonsfoundation.org