Ho-ho-hoping at Christmas: change of direction helped to save some of the holiday revenue.

As clouds that began gathering over the economy during this past summer and appeared to darken toward the end of the year, nonprofit year-end fundraising drives produced mixed results, based on preliminary reports.

Some organizations managed to run up sizable gains, while others found themselves scrambling during late November and December to try to hit goals.

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"Overall, client programs were quite healthy this year-end," said Daniel S. Doyle, president and CEO of the fundraising consultant Mal Warwick Associates in Berkeley, Calif. Organizations met or beat their 2006 performance when tapping their existing donor bases, he added, but ran into "difficulty" trying to acquire new donors.

Last year, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., decided to hire six people to work on nothing but its Thanks & Giving campaign, after three years of having existing staff work on it in addition to other duties. The results: nine new corporate partners and an increase in donations that could run as high as 50 percent, said David L. McKee, the chief operating officer of ALSAC/St. Jude, the hospital's fundraising arm. The total, which he estimated would reach between $39 million and $41 million, was even greater than the 30-percent gain St.Jude projected.

Consumer spending was not a major concern to St.Jude because donations flow primarily from shoppers agreeing to contribute $1 on top of their purchases at the 50 retailers on the partner roster. "The critical factor is engaging the customer when they check out," said McKee. "As long as the number of customers coming in holds up, that's the important factor."

With various surveys showing that retail foot traffic had run steady, St. Jude saw no need to adjust its course. For the coming year, said McKee, the world famous children's hospital will look to boost yields by focusing on such factors as regions where participation rates lag others.

The campaign also benefited from the continued splash of media coverage, not only the standard article in Parade magazine but also 10 separate spots on the Today show during Thanksgiving week and celebrity endorsements.

After three strong years, during which money raised by the Salvation Army's signature Red Kettle campaign increased nearly 15 percent to an all-time high of $117 million in 2006, this past year was more of a struggle. "About mid-December, we heard some very concerning numbers from some of our local chapters," said Melissa Temme, the Alexandria, Va.-based national spokeswoman.

Traditionally, the week before Christmas brings in the most money, so actual results are not yet known. But the spot field reports showed a widening gap was opening between what was coming and the demand for Salvation Army social services.

Most of the campaign proceeds pay for food, gifts or clothing during the holiday season, with any money left over put into the general fund for use throughout the year.

One option, said Temme, is to extend the calendar and start ringing the bells either earlier than the traditional Thanksgiving start or past the Christmas end date. Because the campaigns are run at the local level, she did not have numbers on how many chapters extended the time for the collections.

In addition, sponsors Wal-Mart and Target both contacted the Salvation Army independent of each other during mid-December with offers of supplemental help after hearing both the Salvation Army's anecdotal reports for lagging contributions in some areas and media reports saying the same thing. "A lot of times, the local areas talk to the local media before they talk to us," Temme said.

This resulted in donations of $250,000 in Wal-Mart gift cards and $85,000 in cash from Target, to be distributed to people in eight cities designated by each company. Most of the cities were in the Midwest and areas of West Virginia, but also were as distant as San Diego, Anchorage, Alaska, and Portland, Maine.

The Internet continued to be a strong spot. Regular Web donations increased 13 percent compared to 2006, raising $7.5 million during November and December.

Included in the total was $585,000, a 21-percent gain, raised through the Online Red Kettle, a software program that allows individuals to set up their own donation pages on the Salvation Army's Web site, then link to it through email solicitations or social networking platforms such as Facebook.

The deteriorating economy played a role in the decision by America's Second Harvest to play the crisis card with an "urgent" call on the day before Thanksgiving for 15 million tons of food. Chicago-based Second Harvest had already seen a drop-off in donations from food producers and federal farm subsidy programs. Layered on top of that, said Second Harvest Spokesman Ross Fraser, were problems that had cropped up in recent weeks.

Second Harvest acts as a conduit of food to local food banks. "We heard from one food bank after another after another after another that they were running out of food and asking what we could do," he said. "Many said the demand was higher than they had ever seen it and we assume it's because of the economy"

This prompted Second Harvest to issue the special holiday appeal for the first time, with the preliminary indications showing that it worked, said Fraser.

Habitat for Humanity in Atlanta, which typically draws 30 to 40 percent of its individual donations during the fourth quarter, expects its numbers to be less than last year, according to Senior Director of Direct Marketing Tim Daugherty. The organization, which builds homes for low-income people, not only adds holiday messages to its direct mailings but also runs a special Gift From the Heart appeal.

Still, the possible drop-off was not a reason to change course. "From where I sit, in good times or bad, fundraising fundamentals don't change," Daugherty said.

However, he added, the tone of the appeals in the coming year might change. "We are looking at adding an urgency to the messaging, talking about how the economy is not what it might be," he said. NPT