Tyler area businesses, individuals support charities

Published 9:28 pm Thursday, March 27, 2014

The recent article in the Tyler Paper by Terry Miller entitled “Buy local and see your money trickle down to charities” struck a responsive chord with me. As a 30 plus year professional fundraiser, I have witnessed several transitions in Tyler fundraising as they relate to “local” fund raising by major corporations.

In 1987, after relocating to Tyler from Lubbock, where I served as executive director of development for Texas Tech University (1982-1987), I was introduced to the Tyler “giving community” as the director of development for The University of Texas Health Center at Tyler. I served in that capacity until 1998. At that time I began consulting with local charities on a fee and pro-bono basis and continue to do so to this day.

Having worked with over 30 charities in Tyler over the past 27 years has afforded me a unique opportunity to trace trends in local philanthropy. In 1987 the majority of charitable giving was based on two factors: what did Mr. Jones give and what did a locally owned business give. Those gifts, and the influence they brought to the charities that they supported, could make or break a fundraising drive. The key to Tyler fundraising at that time was centered on local giving and who gave how much.

In the 1990’s this trend changed dramatically with the sale of banks, car dealerships, industrial corporations, restaurants, and many other locally owned businesses to out-of-town, or out-of-state buyers. The banks, that had used a “clearinghouse” approach to local giving, ceased using this policy and the individual banks made their own decisions on their charitable giving. This resulted in a significant reduction of total giving as the out-of-town owners decreased their broad based charitable giving.

Many implemented new guidelines that required requests to be funded through the home office. Unfortunately, the home office often had little or no idea of Tyler’s needs, which resulted in fewer dollars being available for worthy causes. To their credit, the locally owned banks picked up some of the slack. Thankfully, today we are seeing a resurgence of locally owned banks that are much more benevolent.

This change was also evident as Tyler’s growth began to attract “big box” businesses, for groceries, electronics, sporting goods, office supplies, clothing, and so on — the majority of which are not locally owned, and as such their giving is controlled by out-of-town or state “disassociated” corporate executives.

Mr. Miller states in regard to out-of-the-area people; “They didn’t understand East Texas and they always compared us to other markets…” He is really on target with his comment; “By buying local you support so many things in our community from the actual business to charities that these business give to…”

This is so true. One of the great things for a fundraising professional is how charities love to list their donors by level of giving.

A review of these listings is all the proof one needs to validate Mr. Miller’s comment. At best, the “big box” businesses give token amounts or provide minor compensation through “in-kind” giving, not cash money.

With all that said, it is encouraging to note that on a per-capita basis, Tyler donors have picked up the dropped baton and in the last ten years overall giving is up across the board. Recent articles in The Tyler Paper validate this as evidenced by the gifts from individuals, Brookshire’s Grocery, Tyler Junior League, locally owned banks and automobile dealerships and local charitable foundations.

Philanthropy in Tyler is phenomenal. The next time you are driving around Tyler, take a look at the names on the buildings, plaques in a park or in the lobbies and entrances to a local charity. I rest my case.

John A. Anderson is a Tyler-based consultant on philanthropy.