About four years ago, my
daughter Val dragged me into an artist’s co-op. I know, I don’t consider myself
an artist, but the term was used pretty loosely. Like any other organization,
we needed to raise funds, but more importantly, we needed to find people who
wanted to be involved, warm bodies to volunteer their time and efforts, to
spread the word, to share their knowledge and talents. When we started planning
our first event, the organizers called it a friend-raiser.
I googled “friend-raiser”
and found a wide array of events. Many of these were another avenue to solicit
donations, substituting the word “friend” for “fund” to lull people into a
false sense of security for their wallets. I am sure that attendees quickly saw
through that guise, or hopefully realized this was the purpose before they even
arrived.
To my totally uneducated
mind in the realm of nonprofit organization, my definition of a friend-raiser
is simply what it says. During this one day out of the year, we don’t want your
money. Instead we want your brilliant mind, your strong back, your quick wit,
your technical savvy. We want whatever it is you can bring to the table to help
our nonprofit reach its goals. We also would love you to bring all your friends
who do have money, so we can get their contact information for when we do have
a fund-raiser.
And that, dear followers,
is what our nonprofit organization, Tumaini Volunteers, hopes to achieve on
Sunday June 1 when we host our first “friend-raiser”. Come learn about our
mission and vision, spend time getting to know us, enjoy some good food and
drink, see the Kenyan arts and crafts which have made the long journey to
central Wisconsin. And don’t forget to bring one or two of your own friends so
that they can become our friends.
See you at Sunnyvale Park
in Wausau, Wisconsin, on June 1 any time between noon and four.
