A couple of days ago I wrote the post below. A day after that I was (gently) reminded that I hadn't told the whole story.
Yeah, funds are needed, but it's not the real reason we ask for your support and ask you to share your information.
The real reason we ask these things is so that we can serve you better.
By knowing more about you, our members, and your needs we're better able to provide programs that will help you. In order to create programs that benefit the full diversity of our community, which is of course what we want to do, we need to demonstrate to funders that we serve a diverse community. One of the ways we can do that is by collecting demographic data.
I guess I got caught in a bit of tunnel vision. Please forgive me.
With warm aloha,
Corinna
A few weeks back we changed the registration form for TuDiabetes to include some more demographic information. Specifically, we added a question about race/ethnicity. Understandably, this raised some questions.
"Why do we ask these things?" In a word: fundraising.
The Diabetes Hands Foundation, the nonprofit organization that runs TuDiabetes, has to raise funds to keep our programs going. Salaries, web hosting, electricity, office rent, etc. That all costs money. And some grant and sponsorship applications require that we include demographic information. Not having demographic info, like age or gender or race/ethnicity, means that we are not eligible for some kinds of funding.
Being mindful that not everyone is comfortable sharing this demographic information we include the option to answer "decline to state." If this is the option you are most comfortable with we respect and accept that. But we have to ask the question so that we can pursue funding for the programs you love and depend on.
We are always grateful for the support of our community members in all the different forms it takes.
If anyone has questions or concerns about fundraising, or maybe a great fundraising idea, for TuDiabetes and DHF feel free to contact me via email to corinna@diabeteshf.org or with a post in this thread.
With warm aloha,
Corinna Cornejo
Development Manager, Diabetes Hands Foundation