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Charitable Giving Expected to Rise
By: Philanthropy Journal
Most Americans appear to be shaking off some of the post-recession gloom and say they will either give the same amount or more to charity this year as they did in 2011, a new survey says.
Sixty-eight percent of the 1,000 people who participated in a January phone survey say they will donate the same amount, while 18 percent plan to give more and 13 percent expect to give less, says the report from Dunham+Company.
That's better than this time two years ago, when 4 percent planned to increase their donations and 27 percent planned to cut contributions.
"Based on the survey, we believe individual charitable contributions should rise by between 4 and 5 percent in 2012," Rick Dunham, president and CEO of the company, says in a statement.
A 4 percent spike in contributions would equate for an additional $9 billion in donations from individuals in 2012, the report says.
People in all income groups, except for those making $50,000 to $75,000 a year plan to give more.
Among wealthy donors, those making $125,000 or more a year, about 21 percent say they will give more this year, compared to 19 percent who last year expected to increase their donations.
And about 27 percent of young adults, those ages 18 to 24, plan to give more this year than last, and 28 percent of people ages 45 to 54 say their donations will increase.
"Overall, the findings of this year's survey are very encouraging as they show a continued strengthening in donor confidence," says Dunham.
Read this article and more at www.philanthropyjournal.org...
What Donors Want - But Don't Often Get
By: Holly Hall,
The Chronicle of Philanthropy
Charities don’t do nearly enough to tell donors how their money will be used. That’s one of the striking preliminary findings from a new survey by the researcher Penelope Burk. This is the fourth year that Ms. Burke, president of Cygnus Applied Research, has conducted an online survey with thousands of donors. (See my article about last year’s findings.)
The survey asked donors “what could unleash your philanthropy at a whole new level?” Nearly half of the donors said that they had more money to give but held back. Many of them said that was largely because they had not received enough information about how past donations had been spent.
Ms. Burk is careful to say that the preliminary responses she released are not necessarily representative of the entire group of donors. Still, fundraisers may want to take note of the comments she shared. One donor wanted “the need for funds translated into personal stories. Two charities I support have done this and it is highly effective in inspiring me to give more generously.”
The donor mentioned a letter from a nonprofit camp that highlighted stories about how young people’s lives had been changed by the organization and another one from a children’s hospital that sent a photograph of needy parents selecting holiday presents paid for with donor contributions.
“It gave me a real sense of joy because I felt I had accomplished something,” the donor wrote. Another donor was interested in “knowing that my giving produces results.” The donor described giving more to a university “when someone from the development office took me out for coffee to tell me what they have been doing with donors’ contributions. She did not ask for money. I was impressed and became a larger, more regular donor.”
Share the most-effective ways you have helped donors see the results of their gifts.
Read this article and more at www.philanthropy.com...
Fujifilm Gives $300,000 to ASGE's New GI Training Center
By: EndoNurse
OAK BROOK, Ill.—The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) Foundation this week announced it has received a donation of $300,000 from FUJIFILM Medical Systems U.S.A., Inc.'s Endoscopy Division to ASGE’s IT & T Capital Campaign, a fundraising project to construct a new facility that will provide cutting-edge technology and training capabilities to significantly optimize current educational opportunities. The donation will be made over five years.
“We are grateful to Fujifilm Endoscopy for their generous financial support and for recognizing the importance of providing high quality physician education in an interactive environment using the latest technologies to improve physician performance and advance patient care," said Gregory G. Ginsberg, MD, FASGE, president, American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.
“The Endoscopy Division has been a dedicated partner of the ASGE and we look forward to working with them in the future as we open this new state-of-the-art facility that will foster the development, training and adoption of new techniques and technologies as they apply to gastroenterological endoscopic management of digestive and related disorders," Ginsberg continued.
ASGE has been providing learning opportunities at its current Institute for Training & Technology (IT & T) in Oak Brook, Ill. The new facility, on the other hand, will be situated on a 3.5-acre plot in Chicago’s Downers Grove suburb, close to both O’Hare and Midway airports, and will serve as the global home of endoscopy, offering a full range of medical training and continuing medical education (CME).
Read the entire press release here...
Fundraising Rebounds to Pre-Recession Level
By: Philanthropy Journal
Overall giving grew 3.4 percent in the first 11 months of 2011, marking the first time it had exceeded the level of giving in 2007, before the recession, Blackbaud says.
The company, which provides technology and services for nonprofits, also reported that overall charitable giving grew 1.4 percent for the three months ended November 2011, compared to the same period a year earlier, while online giving grew 12 percent.
Based on $2.5 billion in 12 months' revenue from 1,281 nonprofits, Blackbaud says overall revenue for the three-month period fell 2.5 percent compared to the same period a year earlier for nonprofits with less than $1 million in prior-year revenue, grew 8.2 percent for nonprofits with prior-year revenue of $1 million to $10 million, and fell 0.4 percent for nonprofits with prior-year revenue of over $10 million.
And based on $383 million in 12 months' online revenue from 1,769 nonprofits, Blackbaud says online revenue for the three-month period grew 15.4 percent for small nonprofits, 12.1 percent for medium-sized nonprofits, and 10.8 percent for large nonprofits.
The company also reported that overall charitable revenue for the "public, society-benefit" sector, including United Ways, Jewish federations and free-standing donor-advised funds, grew 5.4 percent for the three months ended November 2011, compared to the same period a year earlier, while online revenue grew 11.9 percent.
The trend in overall charitable revenue trend was based on $180 million in 12-month revenue from 95 nonprofits, while the trend in online revenue was based on $14 million in 12-month revenue from 105 nonprofits.
Read this article and more at www.philanthropyjournal.org
Facing Trauma
Facing Trauma is a series that follows the work of Dr. Andrew Jacono, a world-class facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon and member of the American Academy of Facial Plastic Surgeons, who has made it his mission to serve the victims of devastating acts of domestic violence and crime, as well as senseless accidents. In addition Facing Trauma features licensed clinical psychiatrist, Dr. Janet E. Taylor, a certified life coach who specializes in battling the emotional impact of mental illness.
Facing Trauma airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on the OWN network.
See the trailer and read more here...
More Big Foundations are Investing in For-Profits
By: The Chronicle of Philanthropy
Major foundations are increasingly relying on program-related investing to achieve their goals, putting money into for-profit firms whose work meshes with the donors’ causes, according to The New York Times.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has increased its pool for such investments, known as PRI’s, from $400-million to $1-billion since 2009, and earlier this year it bought a $10-million stake in Liquidia Technologies, a commercial firm working on vaccine delivery. The Omidyar Network, the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, and other funding entities have also stepped up PRI’s.
Money invested in PRI’s can go toward the federal requirement that foundations pay out 5 percent of their assets every year.
Grant makers “are increasingly agnostic about how they achieve their goals,” Independent Sector CEO Diana Aviv said. “If their purpose is, say, to eliminate food deserts, they may see supporting a grocery store chain as the best way of doing that rather than funding a nonprofit program.”
But, she said, the trend could have dire consequences for charities addressing the same issues, which are already experiencing a “slow erosion of nonprofit funding streams that threatens to undermine organizations that have been built over decades to meet high standards of public trust.”
Read this article and more at www.philanthropy.com...
Nonprofits Looking to Large-scale Fundraising Efforts Heading into 4th Quarter
By: Association Trends
Fewer than half of surveyed nonprofits reported fundraising increases during the first half of 2011 compared with the same period in 2010, indicating nonprofits still face a difficult fundraising climate heading into the fourth quarter, the biggest time of year for raising money.
According to the Nonprofit Research Collaborative, of 813 responding nonprofits surveyed in July:
- 44% reported increases in charitable contributions received through June, compared with the same period in 2010
- 25% reported giving remained level
- 30% reported a decline so far this year
- 1% did not know.
These numbers are about the same as what NRC reported in its 2010 year-end survey: 43% raised more money in 2010 than in 2009, 24% saw no change, and 33% raised less.
Contrasted to pre-recession findings, in 2007 65% of fundraisers raised more money than in 2006, 11% raised about the same, and 24% raised less, according to the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Washington.
By subsector, human services organizations fared best through the first half of 2011, but only 50% of those organizations reported increases in the first half of the year. At 20%, international charities had the smallest share of organizations reporting increases.
What are the hot campaign methods
Of the NRC respondents, 12% currently are involved in a campaign, while 34% are in the planning stages. Of organizations currently in fundraising campaigns, 62% report they raised more money in the first half of 2011 compared to the same time in 2010. Organizations with annual expenditures of less than $250,000 did not see any significant increases.
Fundraising methods most popular with nonprofits include:
- 90% sought to raise funds from corporations and foundations.
- 80% used asked board members for major gifts, as well as using special events and direct mail.
- 60% used Internet fundraising and email
- 45% used social media and planned giving.
When asked what they believe will be the most successful fundraising methods for the rest of the year, 67% reported they would focus on large-scale efforts through direct mail, special events, online campaigns and similar activities; 45% said they would focus on larger gifts; and 28% said they saw foundation and corporate support as their biggest potential growth area.
Many charities now use short-term special campaigns to reach more achievable goals, Giving USA Foundation's Nancy Raybin said. "By setting discrete fundraising goals for specific activities, nonprofits find they can break through the uncertainty about the economy and help donors connect their gifts to community needs", Raybin said.
Spending money to make money
- Two-thirds of charities that invested in events saw an increase in event revenue in the first six months of 2011.
- 60% of charities that increased their investment in e-mail and use of the Internet saw increased giving through those methods in early 2011. Only 30% had increased investment in those two methods during the first half of 2011.
- 54% that invest in direct mail or major gifts reported increased revenue from those methods between January and June 2011.
Read the entire article here...
Five Ways Foundations Can Strengthen Nonprofit Boards
By: Rick Moyers, The Chronicle of Philanthropy
...Assuming that many foundations want to do more to strengthen boards, how can we make sure their efforts don’t do more harm than good? Here are five suggestions, grounded in your comments and my own experience as a grant seeker, grant maker, and nonprofit-board nerd.
1. Raise the issue. Foundations can send a strong message that they believe boards are important by simply asking a few questions about the board during the application process or during face-to-face meetings. This may seem rudimentary, but many grant makers don’t do so or they ask only perfunctory questions.
2. Lose the checklist. Asking thoughtful questions about the board and governance does not mean whipping out a clipboard and running through a checklist about compliance with “best practices.”
While checklists have their place—and do demonstrate a level of due diligence—they generally fail to illuminate whether the board is actually doing a good job. Having a conflict-of-interest policy, term limits, or a governance committee doesn’t automatically produce a high-performing board.
A few probing questions tailored to the organization, its stage of development, and its most pressing challenges will yield better information than a one-size-fits-all checklist.
3. Communicate high expectations. Foundations need to do much more than talk about boards. We should have high expectations of the boards of grantees, and we could certainly do a better job of being clear about what those expectations are. If we expect 100-percent board giving, for example, we should say so. If a weak board was a factor in turning down a funding request, we should provide that feedback—and in specific rather than general terms, if possible.
4. Consider governance when making funding decisions.Talking with grantees about their boards helps elevate the importance of boards, and communicating high expectations helps grantees understand what the foundation is looking for.
However, if board issues go unaddressed after many conversations, or if the problems are too big, foundations may need to discontinue funding. This can be particularly difficult, since some grantees with weak boards do good work and have charismatic and persuasive staff leadership.
Foundations need to consider carefully the circumstances under which a weak board might lead to a grantee losing its funding. Foundations that profess to be committed to building strong boards while supporting organizations with weak boards that are making no effort to improve undermine their own credibility and risk creating the impression that they are only paying lip service to the need for stronger boards.
5. Strengthen our own boards. The medicine we so freely prescribe for grantees should also improve the health of foundation boards, which have the same basic responsibilities and face many of the same challenges. It’s unreasonable to ask our grantees to do things we’re not willing to do ourselves.
Read the entire article here...
Executive Directors Should Invest More Time on Their Boards
By: Rick Moyers, The Chronicle of Philanthropy
The more effort nonprofit leaders put into supporting their boards, the happier they are with the board’s performance—but few leaders spend enough hours working with trustees to make a difference.
...The online survey for Daring to Lead asked executives a series of questions about their boards. We asked about their relationships with their board chairs, how much time they spent working with and supporting their boards, and whether they were getting help from board members in key management areas.
To supplement this survey data, 70 executive directors participated in focus groups in San Francisco and Washington, DC. In all five focus groups, executives spent much of the time discussing their relationships with—and in many cases their frustration with—their boards.
In analyzing this information and putting together the brief, two things stood out.
First, many executive directors don’t spend all that much time working with their boards. More than half of survey respondents said they spent 10 hours or less per month supporting their boards. Ten hours may sound significant, but that is just 6 percent of a full-time executive director’s time. Maybe even less, since many executives work more than 40 hours a week.
Second, executives who spend more time on their boards are more satisfied with their boards’ performance. As an example, among executive directors who said they spent less than five hours a month supporting the board, just 13 percent said they were very satisfied with the board’s performance. Among those who spent five to 10 hours per month on the board, 34 percent were very satisfied.
Read the entire article here...
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