American Association of the Deaf-Blind

• January 2012

Submitted by: Jill Gaus

As I mentioned in the report last month, there will be some changes to the Fundraising Committee and there will be two new co-chairs.

I am in touch with two deaf-blind people to see if one of them would like to co-chair.

I met with CM Hall (one of the existing co-chairs) while she was in Michigan visiting family on Dec 23rd, 2011. She has agreed to co-chair the FRC because of her passion for AADB and her willingness to help get AADB “up and running” again.

CM Hall, Ed.M., NIC Advanced; EIPA Ed K:12; is project coordinator of the Western Region Interpreter Education Center at Western Oregon University (WOU). She has worked in K-12 and various post-secondary environments as a staff interpreter and has considerable experience with platform and deaf-blind interpreting.

In addition to her background as an interpreter and interpreter educator, CM has had a successful career as fundraiser and political strategist for nonprofit organizations, as well as having worked on several national and statewide Democratic and initiative political campaigns.

Projects for FR:
a.. Offering lifetime membership (we have had 2 inquiries of wanting to
join as lifetime members)

b.. I am doing research with the National Philanthropic Trust Special Project Assistance and we are making plans for AADB to join their project and help give valuable decision-making information to foundations and other high-level philanthropic donors and will drive funding. Details will come next month after I meet with them.

Sub Committee of FRC:
Fortune 500 Committee Report
By: Mark Gasaway, Chair

In the fall of 2011 a Fortune 500 committee was set up as a sub-committee under the fundraising committee. A decision was made to wait until the New Year to start working within this committee. A few committee members are needed to help write letters to Fortune 500 companies. Thus, we can build relationships with the companies to help AADB with fundraising sources.

If anyone is interested in serving on this committee or have any questions, please contact me and let me know. My address is mark.gasaway@comcast.net.

 

• February 2012

Submitted by: Jill Gaus

I have been working with CM Hall trying to find a co-chair for the FRC, so if anyone is interested please contact me. But after CM and I met in December, I sent the 5 Year Strategic Plan to CM and next week she and I will be working on a fundraising plan with the guidance of the 5 Year Strategic Plan. Our goal is to work on a one year plan.

We have 2 major Fundraising Raising projects happening right now. One is a challenge to the board to raise $2000 each toward the SSP funds for the past Symposium in the year 2012. The second one is the board has been invited to work with the Giving Library (National Philanthropic Trust) to do a filming and I will be flying to New York on March 1st to be the spokesperson for AADB. This is very exciting because the foundation has chosen very few nonprofit organizations.
Forever Yours,
Jill

 

• March 2012

Submitted by: Jill Gaus

I traveled to New York to give an interview about AADB to the Giving Library, an organization that lists charities who can receive donation. AADB will be part of the Giving Library’s website, and this will enable donors to find out about AADB’s efforts. She will find out soon when information about AADB will be complete and up on the Giving Library website. The Giving Library asked 10 questions about the organizations and Elizabeth and Debby worked on the script.

Each board member has been challenged to bring in $2000. Funds are starting to come in with this challenge.

I am still working with Carol the landlord to sublet the AADB office and we have had some people who expressed interest in subleasing with us.

I plan to meet with CM Hall in the next couple of weeks on VP to discuss the 5 Year Strategic Plan and how we can bring in funds for AADB.

 

• April 2012

~No report submitted.~

• May 2012

Submitted by: Jill Gaus

We are still looking for another Co-chair for the Fundraising committee, if you are interested please contact Jill Gaus.

 

I, Jill will be in touch with CM Hall in the next couple of weeks to discuss other fundraising ideas. I have been contacted by another website called HealthLine; they would like to interview me in regards to see what they can do to help AADB. I will be doing more research on this and will take this before the board for approval.

I traveled to New York to give an interview about AADB.

• September 2011

Submitted by: Co-Chair Darran Zenger

 

With FRC reports submitted, nonprofit organizations are recognized for their accomplishments most desired by members and donors. These accomplishments are yet to be seen and time will demonstrate the success of the FRC’s current and future activities. It is essential for the FRC to cultivate new partnerships with other communities and recognize important donors.

The FRC has decided to focus on four topics of fundraising for the short and medium terms. Those are FCC, SSP, Information Clearinghouse, and Technology.

The following fundraising strategies were discussed and considered:

1. FRC needs to know what type of database with all names of donors AADB currently has. A letter will be drafted and sent along with AADB’s newsletter to each donor close to the time of holidays.

2. FRC is researching on a system for donors to send money to AADB by texting. If a donor is impressed enough about the existence of AADB, he or she can text to a number where 10 dollars will be charged the bill. The collecting company will send a check consisting of all monies donated thus far to AADB on a monthly basis.

3. A poster will be developed and the FRC will ask anyone willing to help with putting up a copy of the poster in his/her community in hopes of attracting potential donors.

 

These are the first three fundraising projects to push forward in hopes of raising funds to keep AADB operating. The FRC needs to make sure to connect all potential donors to AADB’s mission and its purpose for serving consumers who are deaf-blind. The projected timeframe for raising sufficient funds for AADB’s short-term survival is 3 to 6 months. Results from each fundraising project will be presented in future FRC reports.

In addition, Darran Zenger is currently working with his city for a biker ride fundraiser during the city’s Pony Express Days to be held in Spring of 2012.

Another fundraiser going on is Darran’s $1,000 Challenge for SSPs. This is still going thru October 31st. He welcomes everyone to join in the $1,000 Challenge to get money for our SSPs for the symposium and future conferences.

• October 2011

Submitted by: Co-Chair Darran Zenger

 

Since Bapin is out of the country and will not be back in time to contribute to for this report I am going to go ahead and write up a report and would like to seek input from everyone here to ensure we cover everything. I'm mostly going to bullet items of what has been going on this past month:

Delta Gamma national fraternity (sorority) has a philanthropic giving program that focuses upon blindness. We will investigate further on their efforts and see if they would broaden to include deaf-blind.
We have provided feedback for Development on the Direct Mail letter. The letter should be mailed out no later than the end of October, or first week of November.

Darran has awarded a $25 Visa Gift Card to René Pellerin who was the first to bring in $1,000 for the Challenge. Darran has extended that Challenge until December 31st, and the Member that brings in the most money will receive a $100 Visa Gift Card.

Darran has secured funds for prizes for next year’s Challenge to the Members with a reward of $250 Visa Gift Card for the first person to reach the goal and a $500 Visa Gift Card for the individual who brings in the most money. This challenge is separate from any organized fundraising efforts by the FRC or AADB.

• November 2011

Chair: Anindya Bhattacharyya (Bapin)

~No Report submitted by the chair~

From Jill, President:
A Donor Letter was typed up by Elizabeth Spiers and Mark Gasaway, it was turned over to the FRC and changes were made to the donor letter. It is now within the board for final approval and Kacie Weldy who is working with the database will be launching a campaign via email and snail mail to get the donor letter out.

• December 2011

Chair: Anindya Bhattacharyya (Bapin)

~No Report submitted by the chair~

 

From Jill Gaus: Anindya Bhattacharyya (Bapin) is Chair but I am in the process of talking to someone to assist in co-chairing this committee because of the importance of getting funds in. I will be meeting with this potential co-chair here in Michigan because this person is traveling here for the holidays.

 

On this committee is CM Hall, Karen Bailey and Jill Gaus. Also, we have been informed that there have been inquires on the AADB-Info where to send donations.

 

Donations can be sent to:

AADB Office

8630 Fenton Street, Suite 121

Silver Spring, MD 20910-3803

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