Loretto Link Co-Sponsors Fundraising Workshop

Aug. 18 temperatures outside would hit 100 degrees, but inside the YWCA of Tucson, Ariz., 65 people stayed cool as they learned the basics of grassroots fundraising to enable them to expand critical work on various immigration issues. Tucson is at the forefront of a lot of immigration work, but not at the forefront of a lot of resources for that work. The Loretto Community, through its border trips, is familiar to many of the workshop participants such as BorderLinks, No More Deaths and the Southside Presbyterian Church.

Eileen Harrington, Loretto Community’s mission activities coordinator and one of the creators of Loretto Link, worked with Alison Harrington (no relation), minister of Southside Presbyterian Church, to help meet a critical need of more than a dozen small organizations working for human rights, providing direct service, legal aid, sanctuary, community organizing and education for and about immigrants and refugees in Tucson. I am also a longtime member of Loretto and a creator of the newly formed Loretto Link, which provided the training. In a sign that the training was fun as well as useful, Alison Harrington introduced me as “the Beyoncé of the grassroots fundraising world.” A great help was that the Language Justice Collective translated the workshop into Spanish.

In addition to exploring very practical tips about asking for money and building relationships with donors, the participants explored how fundraising for social justice is similar to and different from fundraising for any other good cause. Differences include that fundraising for social justice focuses on building a movement, not an organization, and focuses on having a large number of people giving any amount of money they can. Seventy percent of adults living in America (whether born here or not) give away money. More people give away money than vote or volunteer or attend any house of worship. Social justice fundraising mobilizes that energy.

Loretto Link is the newly established nonprofit inside the broad umbrella of the Loretto Community working alongside the Congregation as we all continue to “work for justice and act for peace.” We hope to use the skills and talents of our members in ways like this as we continue to create this new entity. For more information about Loretto Link, please visit our website (www.LorettoLink.org) or write to [email protected].