Saving Lives, One Rent Check at a Time - Forbes.com

Saving Lives, One Rent Check at a Time - Forbes.com: "Keith Taylor turned his check-writing hobby into an online charity targeting the working poor and watched his donor rolls snowball

Keith Taylor used to be a $350-a-month philanthropist. As an English teacher at Middle Tennessee State University, Taylor put up a little Web site offering to help people out with small portions of his $33,000 salary. He'd wade through his e-mail inbox and send small checks to people with one-time needs. There was the woman who asked him to help pay for her son's glasses and the man who needed $65 to cover his monthly auto insurance. It was direct and personal, charity scaled down to the basics."

Nonprofits walk fine line on political activity - Giving- msnbc.com

From MSNBC -Contribute
Nonprofits walk fine line on political activity - Giving- msnbc.com: "Nonprofits could be one of the 'sleeping giants' of this fall’s presidential election, having as much to do with turning red states blue — or vice versa — as will Iraq, Barack or soaring gas prices.

No way, you say? Nonprofits can’t get involved in politics, right?

Truth is, there’s a fine line between what they can and cannot do legally when it comes to politics."

Columbus Local News: > Archives > Region > News > Volleyball players get messy in the name of charity

Columbus Local News: > Archives > Region > News > Volleyball players get messy in the name of charity: "More than 2,000 players will take the field this weekend during the 23rd annual mud volleyball tournament benefiting the Epilepsy Foundation of Central Ohio.

Workers excavated mountains of dirt over four days and will use a total of 750,000 gallons of water over the five days prior to the event Saturday, July 26, organizers said."

Casper Star-Tribune Online - Editorial

Casper Star-Tribune Online - Editorial: "The University of Wyoming raised $146 million in private donations during its 'Campaign for Distinction' in 2001-05. The major fundraising effort was hailed as a tremendous success, generating between $20 million and $30 million in private dollars each of the five years for UW facilities and programs.

The ante has now been raised."

PM - Bra charity giving Fiji women a lift

PM - Bra charity giving Fiji women a lift: "MARK COLVIN: A bright idea for a charity project has become bigger than anyone imagined, by putting old bras to good use.

Rotary International's Uplift Fiji program has collected more than 12,000 second-hand bras in the last three months from South Australia.

They're all going to women in Fiji.

Low paid Indigenous women there couldn't afford bras and that was causing some of them causing health problems as well."

Community Times

Community Times: "Gigi Wirtz, foundation spokeswoman, said the organization distributed more than $30 million through 500 charitable funds last year.

The Fresh Air Society is funded through an endowment and is less influenced by economic downturns.

“Our distribution stays more even because we’re not subject to immediate ups and downs in the market,” she said. “This is the beauty and the power of endowment – that it can grow over time and provide consistent support.”"

Advertising - Direct Mail Tries to Go Green. No, Really. - NYTimes.com

Advertising - Direct Mail Tries to Go Green. No, Really. - NYTimes.com: "So a group of direct-marketing companies, along with a handful of their corporate clients, are banding together to make an inherently unsustainable practice at least a little bit greener.

The group calls itself the Green Marketing Coalition,"

Online Auctions Raise Big Bucks for Charity

Online Auctions Raise Big Bucks for Charity: "The Web has wrought a sea change in the way nonprofits raise funds through auctions. Charities have long hawked donated items through live auctions, where bidders try to outbid each other publicly, often with the help of a fast-talking auctioneer, or through so-called silent auctions that let potential donors browse through items, then submit bids in writing."

Tulsa World: St. John gala sees record crowd

Tulsa World: St. John gala sees record crowd: "'A record attendance of St. John friends, as well as many of Tulsa's finest restaurants and caters, helped to make the 2008 Street Party the biggest and best in our 18-year event history,' said Richard Boone, St. John Foundation president. 'As we celebrate the 125th birthday of our founders, the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, we are grateful to our many patrons who helped us raise more than $300,000 for the new St. John Neuroscience Institute. We are truly fortunate to enjoy the generosity of our many supporters in the Tulsa community.'"

Professional Fundraising | Online rising, but direct mail still reigns

Professional Fundraising | Online rising, but direct mail still reigns: "A study conducted by the AB Data Group and Mellman Group for the Association of Fundraising Professionals discovered that there has been little change in the rate of response to direct mail campaigns between 1995 and 2008, despite concerns over the rising importance of the internet and the saturation of the direct mail market."

"Award-Winning Conference Targets Booming Fundraising and Direct Marketing Professions" - MarketWatch

"Award-Winning Conference Targets Booming Fundraising and Direct Marketing Professions" - MarketWatch: "More than 1,600 direct marketing professionals and nonprofit fund raisers will explore the latest tools, trends and great ideas at the 2008 Bridge to Integrated Marketing & Fundraising Conference, July 23-25, 2008, at the Hilton Washington in Washington, D.C.
-- The Bridge Conference is a collaboration of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Washington DC-Metro Area Chapter and the Direct Marketing Association of Washington."

Local News | Gates Foundation breaks ground on new headquarters | Seattle Times Newspaper

Local News | Gates Foundation breaks ground on new headquarters | Seattle Times Newspaper: "The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation broke ground Tuesday on its new $500 million headquarters, which the world's largest charitable foundation hopes to occupy in late 2010.

The foundation's campus is a crosswalk away from the Seattle Center, and the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, Allen's collection of rock memorabilia and space-age literature and artifacts. Both are monuments to the astonishing wealth garnered by Gates and Allen, the co-founders of Microsoft Corp."

Some coverage from the Wash Post

Fredericksburg.com - A time to give

Fredericksburg.com - A time to give: "Nonprofit and charitable organizations know that when the economy slows, need increases and donations dwindle. But there are ways to continue helping the less fortunate when times are tough, and here are some of them:

Focus your giving on necessities like food, shelter, and clothing."

Missoulian: Group: Montana near bottom of widening philanthropic gap

Missoulian: Group: Montana near bottom of widening philanthropic gap: "HELENA - The philanthropic gap has widened even further between the 10 states with the most private foundation assets and the 10 states with the least, including Montana, a Helena group said Monday.

In 1988, the average total foundation assets in each of the top 10 states was $9.26 billion, compared with an average of $63 million in Montana and the nine other states with the least foundation assets, according to the Big Sky Institute for the Advancement of Nonprofits of Helena.

That amounts to a gap of $9.2 billion."

Golf event raises record total for autism - Sports: Mid-Columbia sports news | Tri-City Herald : Mid-Columbia news

Golf event raises record total for autism - Sports: Mid-Columbia sports news | Tri-City Herald : Mid-Columbia news: "he seventh edition of the event, which ended Monday, raised a record $170,000, of which $47,000 was cash donations. The top auction item was a Mexican cruise that went for $12,000. Since the tournament began, it has raised more than $750,000 for the Carson Kolzig Foundation.

The event also had a call for scholarships and raised $8,000. The money will provide 80 families with the $100 tuition for next week's Southeastern Washington Autism Conference at Three Rivers Convention Center."

In a shift, Carilion to seek donors - Roanoke.com

In a shift, Carilion to seek donors - Roanoke.com: "'The vast majority of hospital foundations are established for the purpose of raising money for the institution,' Hillman said. 'It is more common for a hospital foundation to serve like the development office of a college.'

Wade said many hospitals were founded with money raised by local communities.

The demands on the philanthropic community have also grown as more charitable organizations have been established, said Michael Nilsen, spokesman with the Association of Fundraising Professionals"

With Dow Down, Hamptons’ Charity Galas Suffer Through a Sluggish Summer - NYTimes.com

With Dow Down, Hamptons’ Charity Galas Suffer Through a Sluggish Summer - NYTimes.com: "BRIDGEHAMPTON, N.Y. — Trustees of the Children’s Museum of the East End rejected a dinner dance at a rented farm in favor of a cocktail party on the museum grounds here, replaced a five-piece rock ‘n’ roll cover band with a teenage jazz combo and slashed ticket prices to $150 from $450, but still only drew about 150 guests, half the number that turned out for the benefit last year."

Op-Ed Columnist - Geezers Doing Good - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist - Geezers Doing Good - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com: "ome 78 million American baby boomers are now beginning to retire, and one survey this year by a research institute found that half of boomers are interested in starting such new careers with a positive social impact. If we boomers decide to use our retirement to change the world, rather than our golf game, our dodderdom will have consequences for society every bit as profound as our youth did."

Nonprofits: Clark County’s $1 billion resource- Columbian.com, Clark County, Washington, Vancouver, Breaking News, U.S., World, Entertainment, Video, Weather, Sports

Nonprofits: Clark County’s $1 billion resource- Columbian.com, Clark County, Washington, Vancouver, Breaking News, U.S., World, Entertainment, Video, Weather, Sports: "But a Columbian analysis of Clark County nonprofits, using database GuideStar and information provided by the Nancy Bell Evans Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, reveals that the real realm of local nonprofits is much more complex.

More than 1,000 of these organizations are incorporated across the county. They range from all-volunteer 4-H Clubs with no reported revenue to the Southwest Washington Medical Center, which employs 2,539 people and is supported by a number of interrelated nonprofit groups."

Gas prices don't slow volunteers at nonprofits | Kansas.com

Gas prices don't slow volunteers at nonprofits | Kansas.com: "igher gas costs are affecting volunteers, but most agencies say that their helpers are dedicated enough not to quit because of it.

This month, a bill introduced in Congress called the Fair Deal for Volunteers Act would allow the IRS to increase the amount of money volunteers can deduct for using their own cars -- and gasoline -- to help others."

The Columbus Dispatch : 7-foot Brutus statues moving slowly in this town? Believe it

The Columbus Dispatch : 7-foot Brutus statues moving slowly in this town? Believe it: "The goal had been to raise as much as $1 million for the $109 million renovation of the school's main library and to endow a scholarship for future Buckeyes cheerleaders.

Organizers are now expecting to net closer to $100,000 for the library and hope to have some money left over for a scholarship.

'It's obviously not a great time right now' to approach donors, said Michael Nilsen, spokesman for the Association of Fundraising Professionals in Arlington, Va."

Nonprofits create foundations for success

Nonprofits create foundations for success: "For a benchmark in cooperation, how about the $100 million New Economy Initiative, which includes 10 different foundations jointly tackling three different critical areas key to our growth? Especially significant here is that the Ford Foundation is back in Detroit in a strong way with its $25 million pledge to the initiative.

Want to see tough-minded business basics in action? Watch Hudson-Webber go through your grant proposal, line by line, and try to answer their questions about your impact, effectiveness and efficiency."

TheStar.com | Opinion | Hands-on corporate philanthropy

TheStar.com | Opinion | Hands-on corporate philanthropy: "Corporate philanthropy is a well-established tradition in Canada. Thousands of companies donate money, goods and professional services to non-profit agencies.

Face-to-face giving is still rare. Only a few businesses open their doors to the people they're trying to help."

Web star famed for silly dance eyes new gig: charity | Industries | Technology, Media & Telecommunications | Reuters

Web star famed for silly dance eyes new gig: charity | Industries | Technology, Media & Telecommunications | Reuters: "NEW YORK (Reuters) - Matt Harding has won cult celebrity status by filming himself dancing badly around the world to the amusement of millions of Internet viewers but now he wants to get serious -- raising money for laptops for the poor."

The NonProfit Times - Web Triggers Direct Mail Response

The NonProfit Times - The Leading Business Publication For Nonprofit Management: "Web Triggers Direct Mail Response
Benchmarking data show huge increases from three years ago

By Mark Hrywna
Across virtually every demographic -- age, gender, race, income, education and household size -- more people are heading for the Internet before they make a charitable donation. And if you still think seniors are channel surfing for repeats of 'Murder, She Wrote' instead of surfing the Web, you'd be wrong."