Division Engagement Director Christine Tipton announced the pilot program for divisions to solicit charitable donations in May 2018, saying, “The past few years we’ve heard a concern from divisions about the growing number of life status members and the need for additional funding to better sustain some of the division’s activities. In previous years, APA and divisions have not been able to actively solicit charitable donations due to registration requirements in each state and state-specific reporting requirements on solicitation activities.” Since that time eligible divisions have begun to solicit charitable donations by submitting campaign requests for approval. The experiences of two divisions follow:
APA's Division 46 (Society for Media Psychology and Technology)
Division 46 wanted to raise funds quickly for its social hour at APA 2019. Kathryn Stamoulis, PhD, said, “We have a small budget but wanted a successful social hour. We didn’t have a goal, and I felt like anything would be appreciated. We spread word to our membership through our Listserv.”
Division 46 has about 500 memberships and raised about $500 while suggesting a donation amount of $10-$15. Stamoulis said, “A requirement of the program is that you cannot restrict funds or tell donors that the funds will be used for a specific purpose. This ended up working in our favor, as donors didn’t debate with us on how their funds should be used.”
Stamoulis said that the program worked great. “It was easy to apply, we got a quick response, using the link was simple, there was no additional work for the treasurer, and it was very easy for the presidential trio to create a short paragraph of explanation.”
APA's Division 16 (School Psychology)
Division 16 initiated a long-term project in 2019, a campaign called “100% at $100.” They have set a goal of 100% of their members donating $100 by the division’s 75th anniversary in 2020. The division had about 1,500 memberships and raised about $6,000 through 2023. (A new request needs to submitted each calendar year.)
After getting the program set up, the division started promoting it at its social hour at APA 2019, in their newsletter and in their emails to members. As Div. 16 Legacy Committee Liaison Tammy Hughes, PhD, said, “It’s a challenge to get started because you don’t know what you don’t know. You can easily make missteps because it is technically messy. APA worked out the state-by-state issues, which is great. Be sure to read the material that APA staff will provide when you express interest. It was helpful to me to get everything I could in writing. There are so many intricacies it is good to have written documents to refer to.”
Hughes notes that others you work with will want to “get rid of or find it hard to resist the urge to edit” the fine print that APA requires be shared, but there is no room to do that.
Hughes said, “There was an unexpected challenge of onboarding everyone involved because there are so many people in the division and at APA who are involved in one way or another. I had to come up with an onboarding process and it has helped to create a document that outlines the program so I can share it with anyone I work with. It is important to stress that there’s not much wiggle room because of the constraints that are required around charitable donations.”
Pilot program continues
The program continues in its pilot status. Tipton explains, “Due to the administrative work it takes to trial this program, we have limited initial division participation to those divisions that utilize APA to maintain their finances and membership records. Our goal is to use this group to test the potential success and sustainability of such a program. We will be evaluating the response and benefit this provides as balanced with the administrative effort the program takes.”
Some key points to know:
- Eligible divisions must request the ability to participate in the pilot overall and must seek approval for each individual campaign before proceeding.
- Donations must be collected through the APA-sponsored form so that APA can collect the proper data and report back to states. Checks mailed to an APA-provided address.
- Divisions must track each effort to solicit funds, including descriptions of each activity, the audience targeted, the method of outreach and any other relevant information. Retain copies of any letters, emails, webpages, etc.
If you have questions or require assistance, please contact your Division Engagement liaison.