By Andy Furman
NKyTribune reporter
Want money? Need money? Just call Scott – Scott Lubansky.
And before you start looking for his phone number, Lubansky is founder and President of Professional Fundraising Counsel.
“Actually, I started fundraising at 14 years of age,” he told a shocked Covington Rotary Club audience. “I learned early that if you have noble goals and communicate these objectives to individuals and businesses, money can be compelled to support you and your mission.”
To be fair, Lubansky, a Minnesota native, is a professional fundraiser. As a kid in Duluth, he developed a passion for ski jumping and a chance to perform in the Winter Olympics.
Scott Lubansky (Photo provided)
“My Olympic Dream,” he called it when he was 15. Back then, professional athletes were not allowed to participate in the Olympic Games – only amateur athletes. And amateur athletes were not allowed to receive any direct funding from sponsors or donors, but they could receive indirect donations from donors to cover or reimburse training expenses, he explained.
“The athlete,” he said, “Would raise funds for themselves and donors would send their donations to The United States Ski Educational Foundation. The Foundation would, in turn reimburse athletes for qualified training expenses.”
Lubansky noted that through this experience, he learned that local businesses and individuals were willing to invest in his Olympic dream.
“This,” he said, “Was my first exposure to fundraising and how my career as a professional fundraiser began.”
By 1996, after 20 years of fundraising experience, Lubansky founded Professional Fund-Raising Counsel (PFC) in Florence with his first official client – St. Henry District High School.
Since then, Lubansky has raised money for the following clients – Newport Central Catholic High School, Villa Madonna Academy, Holy Trinity School, St. Thomas Church, Divine Mercy Church, Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, St. Paul Church and The Point/Arc.
Lubansky says he’s raised over $70 million for those clients.
“We’ve never had a campaign that didn’t reached its goal,” he told the group. “I’ve learned people give to people – not causes.”
And speaking of causes, Lubansky reflected on his relationship with Rotary and the Rotary Polio Plus (1986-88) giving program.
“We raised $226 million; our goal was $120 million,” he said.
The Rotary International Polio Plus Program was created in 1985 – a program to immunize all the world’s children against polio.
To date, Rotary has contributed more than $800 million and countless volunteer hours to the protection of more than two billion children in 122 countries.
“After Polio Plus,” Lubansky said, “I then truly understood the meaning of Service About Self. I am thankful to Rotary International fort setting the example for me and helping me to work towards becoming the best version of myself through their leadership and example.”
Rotarians set the tone – Polio Plus started with every club member giving first to set that example – over $35 million from Rotarians alone (15% of the total raised), according to Lubansky.
“Again, by setting the example, there was additional impact,” he said. “International Lions witnessed what Rotary had accomplished, shortly after Polio Plus. Lions International launched a campaign to reduce blindness as 76% of blindness is curable at birth.”
In fact, Lubansky said in the past 10 years there has been just six reported cases of polio, worldwide.
“In my youth,” he continued, “I couldn’t comprehend the concept of why one would make a gift of, say, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000 until I was involved in the Polio Plus Campaign with Rotary International.”
Lubansky says he charges a flat-fee for his service to civic groups and non-profits. “It’s in the code of ethics in the industry,” he said.
Scott Lubansky has raised over $100 million in Northern Kentucky since 1996 – and that’s with smaller organizations he says.
He’s the money man.
