LAMB FOUNDATION OF NORTH CAROLINA INC

Our organizations continuing goal is to support programs that assist those with intellectual disabilities, as we have done for the past 41 years.

As an all-volunteer organization we are fairly unique in that a large percentage of the funds we raise, 93% presently, go directly to program support.

We have 130 chapters (councils) across the State of North Carolina, and each chapter identifies related groups in their area that would benefit the most from our assistance. At a statewide level our organization also supports regional entities that assist those with intellectual disabilities.

The area of intellectual disabilities unfortunately is usually “at the end of the line" when it comes to public grants so the funds we provide are desperately needed.

We therefore have two goals, one to continually increase our fundraising as well as continuing to build our endowment to provide additional sustainability.

Increasing revenue – aside from maintaining our level of traditional street solicitation (handing out of tootsie rolls) we have embarked on a number of other fundraising activities.

These include; charity auctions, donate by text, utilizing GoodSearch and GoodShop, ever increasing corporate level solicitation, donation boxes at retail locations, direct mail campaigns, golf tournaments and numerous others.

We have also increased (and are continuing to do so) the overall public awareness of our Foundation which has been helping on the donation front dramatically.

As to our endowment, our chapters are encouraged to donate a portion of the funds they raise into the endowment and we also solicit private contributions as well.

Long term, we will continue to innovate with new ways to fund raise and continue to fine tune our program by sharing “best practices" with all of our chapters.

With almost 16,000 members in North Carolina we draw upon that committed group for the talent we need in particular areas.

Recently, in addition to the President, Treasurer and State Director of the Foundation who are the most involved in the day to day activities of the foundation, two regional coordinators have been appointed, one for eastern North Carolina and another for the western part of the state.

Their primary role is to work with the local chapters in their area to make sure the strategies outlined above are being implemented to their fullest.

Our external strengths also continue to grow, as the message of our works continues to be spread by our emphasis on increase publicity.

Through a centralized database we are also able to better communicate “new ideas that work" to all of the chapters across our entire footprint

For the most part we have managed to increase our fundraising on a year to year basis.

The public awareness of our activities has also definitely increased in the past couple of years.

With the past recession we were setback slightly for the first time since our inception; however this year seems to be the year to get back on track particularly aided by thinking outside of our “customary box".