Does Your Uncle Work for a Fortune 500 Company?
I’m going to ask a question in this column that has perhaps been asked before, but not so directly. (Uh-oh, here she goes…)
Can you come up with a wad of cash, bucks, lettuce, Hamiltons, etc? Oh, not from you, yourself, unless you just won Powerball (and if you did, my hand is out…).
Do you have a contact with a big corporation or a smallish but progressive corporation or business that is committed to diversity and willing to donate corporate/charity gifts? Take a minute and think.
Time is not up. Keep thinking! Uncle Louie with the lake house? Your professor turned entrepreneur? An in-law that might come in handy?
Lots of corporations have money set aside for non-profits and the most famous non-profits or the squeaky wheels get the WD-40 (know anyone in their corporate headquarters?).
And diversity and LGBT giving is a big topic for corporate giving these days. There’s money in the pot earmarked for diversity, LGBT or other social causes. Let’s see if we can tap into it. Let’s see if YOU can tap into it for us.
While this request comes as a result of a Women’s FEST Committee discussion (actually we were daydreaming about the kind of top entertainers or big sports names we could bring in if we had more moola) but it also comes from CAMP Rehoboth as a whole. Dedicated people are out looking for donations but sometimes we haven’t got the right corporate lead. And the board and volunteers are only so many people.
What if our entire Letters readership thought about this?
Seriously, maybe you’ve never been on a CAMP committee or volunteered or even come to an event. Maybe you just read this column in the “library” at home because it’s a short, quick read, then a flush.
Well, I’m talking to you. Can you be an accidental hero?
We could use one or two or more big boosts from some formerly big, faceless, corporate entity. Can you help?
In the wake of the Orlando Massacre, everyone’s talking about Pulse having been a safe place. CAMP Rehoboth is that safe place in Sussex County, maybe for all of Delmarva.
In addition to making LGBT lives better for many, providing a sense of community for many more, and being a terrific unifying and positive force for all, people are physically still alive because CAMP gave them more reasons to live than not to live. That’s powerful good work.
With more money, we can do more. From life-saving programs to advocacy for our rights to great big Prideful events, block parties, crazy fun, and more.
We love to celebrate and believe me, we will celebrate you if you lead us to a new donation, grant, or big old pot of gold.
Have you thought of anybody yet? An uncle at a Fortune 500 company? A sister-in law on a corporate board? Are you affiliated with a business that might give but you really never thought to ask? I’m asking you to ask!
CAMP Rehoboth’s current sponsors know the value of getting their business names out there—it’s been successful for them and we cannot thank these individuals and businesses enough. But in addition we are looking for a big check, maybe several big checks.
Promise me you will think about it. If only a few of our thousands of readers realize they can provide a lead for us, make a request to a relative, or apply to their own employers, what a huge difference that would make.
Got an idea but don’t know what to say or how to frame the ask? I’ll help. Contact me. I’ll get whatever info you need and even write a letter of introduction or fill out a form.
Thank you for indulging my plea. I will return to my regularly scheduled column next issue.
Fay Jacobs is the author of As I Lay Frying—a Rehoboth Beach Memoir; Fried & True—Tales from Rehoboth Beach, For Frying Out Loud—Rehoboth Beach Diaries, and Time Fries—Aging Gracelessly in Rehoboth Beach.