MaLisa Johnson Umstead
Founder & Executive Director
Anyone who has ever started a for-profit business, foundation, or nonprofit knows that in order to succeed, stay in operation, and remain relevant one has to be familiar with the economics of making a dollar. In my organization, although there is no profit motive, there is still the need to fundraise in order to keep our doors open. This is an issue that all nonprofits struggle with because we are asking donors to share in the concern for our cause enough to financially support our mission. In the nonprofit world, we also have to be very careful about the fine line between creating awareness and re-victimizing the vulnerable community members our programs are serving.
So how do you do it? How do you walk the financial tightrope of keeping the lights on when it could mean causing more trauma to the people we are trying to protect?
A Safe Place combats sex trafficking. I know you are reading this and thinking I’m being dramatic; that sex trafficking couldn’t possibly take place in Wilmington, this beautiful destination city at the beach. Well, that’s part of the problem. It does happen here, every day!
Sex trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act, in which the commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under the age of 18 years old (TVPA 2000). In 2020, A Safe Place identified and/or provided support services to 294 local victims of sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation.
Every year A Safe Place hosts its biggest fundraiser of the year, the “A Day in the Life” Luncheon. In the duration of an hour, we seat, feed, educate, and pull at the heart strings of over 550 people with the end goal of raising money.
But this is the fine line.
Why aren’t awareness, education, statistics, and facts enough? Why do we all feel the need to know the gory details, events, and trauma sustained by another in order to feel compelled to give money? Why does A Safe Place feel compelled to put a human face or story on display in order to receive financial support?
I know…Marketing 101: Be relatable! We’ve found that having an anonymous person based on real events, doesn’t seem to trigger an emotional response that leads to a donation. Donors and other organizations want to put a face to the issue and it’s hard to blame them. After all, people naturally like to see an example of who they’re helping. That is why commercials asking you for money for starving children show you the starving children!
By the time a woman enters our program, she is no longer a child, making her an “unattractive victim”. And I’m not talking about physically attractive, but normally she has an extensive criminal background and trauma induced drug addiction. Most people don’t personally know someone who has been a victim of sex trafficking or commercial sexual exploitation. There is a huge shame component involved and victims are often not out communicating their struggle to the world. Sex trafficking is not like breast cancer or another similar health condition that most of us have been touched by personally. Again, how do we compel strangers to donate money to an organization serving “the oldest, easiest profession”? How do we educate donors that the 43-year-old member in our program didn’t choose to be a prostitute without detailing the horrific childhood abuse she endured, followed by the years of traumatic, violent exploitation?
“Only our members know when they are ready to share their story. And they share their story, not to fundraise, but as part of the healing process for themselves.”
Exploitation is defined as the act of selfishly taking advantage of someone or a group of people in order to profit from them or otherwise benefit oneself (Dictionary.com). As a nonprofit how do we fundraise and not re-exploit the members in our program through our marketing materials, social media posts, newsletters, luncheon panels, or promotional videos?
At A Safe Place, we work through a victim-survivor-leader model. Members in our program start to identify themselves as a victim, start to heal from the trauma they endured, and then transition to a leader of those who have experienced similar trauma. For most of our members, this is a lengthy process—comprised of months and years of stability, therapy, and on-going support services. Only our members know when they are ready to share their story. And they share their story, not to fundraise, but as part of the healing process for themselves.
This is the fine line, and this is where so many other organizations get it wrong. Capitalizing on the traumatic stories of others for their own financial benefit and notoriety. Trauma informed programs understand that encouraging someone to share their story when they are not ready causes more damage. Members at A Safe Place share their story for themselves.
The sustainability of A Safe Place teeters on the real-life connection to the extreme need and prevalence of sex trafficking without further exploiting the members participating in our programs. There is no easy solution to this balance, but I truly believe it starts with changing public perception. The women at A Safe Place are victims—victims who deserve our compassion, understanding, support and resources.