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Chandra Gates decided the Humane Society of Jefferson County was a worthy enough cause for the 39-year-old to bare it all — well, some of it — for a nude-calendar fundraiser.
“I’m shy about the picture but definitely proud of the cause,” said Gates, an animal caregiver at the society’s shelter. “I was big on the fact that the cat was tame and wouldn’t be running off.”
The Humane Society in the city of Jefferson, about 50 miles west of Milwaukee, is one of countless nonprofits from Australia to Wisconsin selling tastefully nude 2007 calendars — although one philanthropy expert says the practice is, er, overexposed.
A group of women in their mid-50s to early 70s in Yorkshire, England, led the way in 2000 when they sold a calendar of discreet nude photographs of themselves to raise money for cancer research. The women, whose story inspired the 2003 movie “Calendar Girls,” raised $2.55 million through sales of 800,000 calendars as well as book and film royalties.
The women have released a 2007 calendar, their third, that has a photo of them — clothed — with Prince Charles.
Gates’ black-and-white photo in the Humane Society calendar shows her from the waist up, holding a cat against her bare chest as she stands in a snowy yard.
Humane Society executive director Lisa Patefield said the calendar’s other pictures are equally artistic and inspired by the “Calendar Girls.” Her group expects to raise $30,000 through the sale of 1,500 calendars.
“For nonprofits, it’s getting tough to raise money,” Patefield said. “In order to be competitive in fundraising, you have to come up with something new, something exciting.”
But one philanthropy expert suggested calendars are only a short-term solution for charities looking to maintain long-term viability.
“From a fundraising point of view, it’s probably more appropriate to look for people who care about the (charity’s) mission — people who can help financially or with time, with talent,” said Peter Rea, a business professor at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio.
Some customers admit they buy nude calendars to support a cause even though the calendar will sit in a drawer.
Bill Collar, the president of the Muehl library board in Seymour, Wis., bought a calendar last year featuring six local librarians au naturel but strategically covered by oversized books.
“We put it away as a keepsake. I’m not really comfortable with putting it up in the living room,” said Collar, 63. “We purchased it for the purpose of supporting the library.”
Rea said such an example shows that charities might be better off selling products their customers would actually want and use.
Beverly Caparco plans to use hers, a calendar of tastefully nude males from the Plaistow, N.H., Lions Club. The 57-year-old office manager already has a spot reserved for it on the kitchen wall.
“It was for a good cause and I knew it would put a little spark in the life of whoever looked up the date, me included,” said Caparco, of Denmark, Maine.
But do people still use paper calendars to look up dates? Rea said the number is declining.
To visit the Humane Society of Jefferson County Web site, click here.
Plaistow New Hampshire Lions Club calendar, click here.
Leukaemia Research calendar, click here.
