The Salvation Army Ramps Up Red Kettle Campaign Amid Donation Drop

Its bell ringers and red buckets are a holiday staple. But as donations drop, the organization is also looking to accept contributions digitally

Originally published by Kyle Swenson via Washington Post 

Wrists snapping to a drum beat in his head, Stuart Goins stood outside a Giant supermarket in Alexandria’s Beacon Center, ringing a pair of bells.

Shoppers filed in and out of the supermarket on the day before Thanksgiving. Every few minutes, someone leaned forward to drop change or rolled up bills into the red kettle standing next to Goins. Although he is visually impaired, Goins had spent enough hours soliciting donations for the Salvation Army’s annual holiday season campaign to know when a shopper dropped money in. “Happy Thanksgiving!” Goins, 58, boomed at passersby.

This will be the 14th year Goins has spent the holiday season standing outside Alexandria-area shopping centers and strip malls, in everything from three feet of snow to below-freezing temperatures, soliciting contributions.

“I could do this all day. I was in the marching band and I just remember the drum rolls we did,” he said. “The man who tells you he don’t get tired doing this is lying to you. So I’ll take a little break when there’s a lull, get a bit of energy and then I’m back up. But if I sit down, these bells keep ringing.”

Goins is among thousands of volunteers and workers who will be popping up outside stores and busy streets nationwide for the Red Kettle Campaign. Although bell ringers have already begun soliciting donations in some areas, the 133rd campaign officially launched on Thanksgiving Day at a halftime event during the Dallas Cowboys game against the Washington Commanders. Country star Dolly Parton performed and announced a $1 million donation to the campaign.

Most nonprofits rely on holiday season donations for their funding. According to Neon One, a consulting firm that works with charitable organizations, more than one-fourth of annual nonprofit revenue comes from December giving.

But the Salvation Army, like many other nonprofit organizations, has struggled in recent years due to economic shifts and other trends. Some donors feel tapped out after giving during the pandemic. Others have less money to give due to rising inflation. Other potential donors simply don’t carry cash anymore.

“We have not yet seen throughout the nonprofit sector a return to the generosity and giving that we had seen before the pandemic,” said Commissioner Kenneth G. Hodder, the Salvation Army’s national commander. In 2019, the Red Kettle Campaign earned $126 million. Donations have steadily declined, with the campaign earning $102 million in 2022.

Last year’s money went to help 24 million people across the United States with services such as food assistance, transitional shelter stays and rent and utility assistance.

The organization has adapted its well-known campaign to make it easier for donors. Not only can people drop cash, coins and checks into a red kettle, but they can donate digitally with Apple Pay, PayPal, Venmo and Google Pay, as well as text donations to “KETTLES” or 51555. Cryptocurrency like ethereum and bitcoin are also accepted.

But Hodder said the key to this year’s campaign is the volunteers who will be staffing the more than 25,000 kettle sites nationwide. “Our goal is always to raise more than $100 million,” Hodder said. “We need folks who can come out to help us. Help us help your neighborhoods in need, and in so doing, help yourself.”

According to Hodder, donations from the Red Kettle Campaign always stay in the community where they were received; the volunteers can tie their hours by the red kettle to specific outcomes.

“For example, if you can give us two hours ringing a bell, that will feed a family of four for a week,” Hodder said. “If they can give us half a day, that’s nine nights for someone in a shelter. If you think of the relatively small commitment that ringing a bell represents, it’s a huge impact.”

One of those bell ringers, Goins, continued to jangle out his drum line outside the Giant in Alexandria on Wednesday to catch the attention of potential donors.

“How we doing today?” he shouted to a group of middle-aged women as they placed money in the kettle. “I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I got a little fan club out here!”

Goins, who is on disability due to his vision, started ringing bells for the Salvation Army as a paid volunteer for the campaign. (Some volunteers are paid by local Salvation Army branches. Goins declined to say how much he earns per hour for his bell ringing.)

But Goins said he keeps returning to his post beside the red kettle because it helps his community “I’m giving back,” he said.

At that moment, Wanda Smith tucked a few bills into Goins’s kettle. “I just think that there are many out here that just need a helping hand,” the Alexandra resident explained before heading into the Giant. “I can remember when I did, and so I just wanted to give back.”

Goins believes that this year, from what he’s experienced already at the red kettle, giving is up.

“We are seeing numbers already that we usually are only accustomed to getting after December 20th,” he said.