Remember when I said this blog was started as part of a public relations class? This is another one of those posts. Its okay. My intention remains… work these PR lessons in to fundraising. And, since my teacher reads this, another assignment with additional self-inflicted expectations. Let’s do this!
Picture yourself in the early 20th century. Newspapers report on men that are building business empires, men like, Vanderbilt, J.P. Morgan, and Rockerfeller. Their businesses are booming, they’re making hand-over-fist amounts of money. But – they are giving very few, if any, “mucks” about the American public.
Enter the “muckrakers”. The muckrakers (a group of journalists) had heard the displeasure of the public and decided that Vanderbilt’s declaration that “The public be damned” had gone too far. They assumed the responsibility of outing these prolific industries and individuals through publicizing their hidden secrets, true or not. For instance, Upton Sinclair wrote a book regarding the meatpacking industry and a book by Ida Tarbelll about the petroleum industry. Accusations founded or not, they were affective. Muckrakers and their works became so effective that it created a distrust between businesses and consumers, businesses and employees, and businesses and the government. This distrust with the government ended up getting involved in these industries and creating laws regarding what were allowed and not allowed to do and help new labor unions to form.
Remember, fundraising is an ethical career. What the muckrakers taught businesses can be applied to our organizations. Be honest. Because? Someday some “muckraker” may bring up the salary of your organization’s CEO or they will slam your marketing budget. And you can honestly and ethically reply “We may never find a cure for all cancers. We may never end homeless, poverty, or whatever or organization’s mission is but… when we are honest with our donors, our board members, our staff and the public about what we can do…we will feed the hungry, cure some cancers, house the homeless, empower the impoverished, and all of the amazing things that our organizations do.”
Fundraising with Jenn 