The Philanthropic Problem with Hillary Clinton’s Huge Speaking Fees

The Philanthropic Problem with Hillary Clinton’s Huge Speaking Fees

‘Charity’ Donation Bins Proliferating on New York Sidewalks – Philanthropy Today - Blogs - The Chronicle of Philanthropy

‘Charity’ Donation Bins Proliferating on New York Sidewalks – Philanthropy Today - Blogs - The Chronicle of Philanthropy: A growing number of private companies are illegally placing putatively charitable used-clothing bins on sidewalks in New York City, mirroring a national trend that is raising concerns among nonprofits that legitimately collect secondhand items, according to The New York Times.

New York City bans such bins on public streets and sidewalks, although they are allowed on private property with the owner’s consent. In the fiscal year that ended June 30, the city tagged more than 2,000 illegally sited bins and confiscated 132, compared to 91 tags and 10 confiscations four years ago.

Wounded Warrior CEO Rips Rating Systems as ‘Ineffective and Misinformed’ - News - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas

Wounded Warrior CEO Rips Rating Systems as ‘Ineffective and Misinformed’ - News - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas: Working against the prevailing view that overhead is bad and spending money on fundraising signals inefficiency or fraud, the Wounded Warrior Project made significant investments in its fundraising operation, he said. It has grown revenue by about 65 percent each year since and is on track to bring in more than $300-million this year, he said.

Mr. Nardizzi made the comments Thursday at the Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference in Maryland.

Surge of Remainder Trusts Seen as Baby Boomers Age - News - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas

Surge of Remainder Trusts Seen as Baby Boomers Age - News - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas: The oldest of America’s 72 million baby boomers are turning 68 this year, the average age at which individuals create charitable remainder trusts. That’s likely to produce a surge in such gifts during the next 20 years, predicts Robert Sharpe, a planned-giving expert in Memphis.

Aside from the factor of demographics, more people will be interested in charitable trusts because of recent tax changes that increased the amount of capital-gains taxes they will owe after selling a business or other asset,

The Power of the Crowd | Imagine Canada

The Power of the Crowd | Imagine Canada: Crowdfunding is an increasingly hot topic for fundraisers. Millions of dollars are raised every year through online crowfunding platforms, of which there seems to be an ever increasing list.

Eleven characteristics of successful fundraisers revealed at IoF National Convention

Eleven characteristics of successful fundraisers revealed at IoF National Convention: Emotional intelligence and being able to read people and situations are among the top characteristics that make successful fundraisers, according to academic research revealed yesterday.

Beth Breeze, director of the Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Kent, presented early findings from her three-year project, The Formation of Fundraisers: the Role of Personal Skills in Asking for Money, at the Institute of Fundraising’s National Convention.

They included a list of 11 personal characteristics and traits that she has discovered so far in the kind of people who make a career out of asking for money.

Moore-What Do Oxytocin and Cortisol Have to Do With Fundraising? : FundRaising Success

Moore-What Do Oxytocin and Cortisol Have to Do With Fundraising? : FundRaising Success: Don't let the title of this blog post scare you off. And, watch the whole video to understand the lengths these researchers went through to understand what really happens to someone when that person hears a story and how "Empathy, Neurochemistry, and the Dramatic Arc" truly affect fundraising.

Here's the summary:

Overhead Ratios: How to answer your donors’ questions |

Overhead Ratios: How to answer your donors’ questions |: Well, in this week’s episode, Peter Drury from Splash shares a terrific tip on answering the question about your overhead ratio. And perhaps after you watch the video, you will actually WANT donors to ask you that question.

Peter, by the way, is also the creator of the “Beyond Cash Fundraising Management Dashboard”. This is a terrific resource that helps organizations prioritize and save their time. It makes fundraising a predictable process. If you want to know more about the dashboard, go here: nonprofitbestpractices.com

S.C. Watchdog Warns College on Moving Money to Foundations – Philanthropy Today - Blogs - The Chronicle of Philanthropy

S.C. Watchdog Warns College on Moving Money to Foundations – Philanthropy Today - Blogs - The Chronicle of Philanthropy: South Carolina’s inspector general is calling on South Carolina State University to cease diverting rebates from contractors to a pair of school-affiliated nonprofits, which have received $2.3-million in such payments in recent years, writes The State of Columbia, S.C.

The AFP Blog: An Increase in Giving, But Fair Warning Needed

The AFP Blog: An Increase in Giving, But Fair Warning Needed: An Increase in Giving, But Fair Warning Needed
Like many of you, I was pleasantly surprised to see the Giving USA numbers for 2013, with overall giving increasing by three percent, adjusted for inflation.

While previous versions of the study showed a steady uptick in giving over the past few years—as had other surveys, including the Nonprofit Research Collaborative’s 2013 Year-End Fundraising Survey—few expected such a strong increase for the past year.

If You Do Just One Thing Right—Accepting Gifts of Life Insurance |

Via PPP



If You Do Just One Thing Right—Accepting Gifts of Life Insurance |:If You Do Just One Thing Right—Accepting Gifts of Life Insurance
Posted on July 8, 2014

PPP members are invited to share their thoughts about best practices that help them raise more meaningful gifts. Feel free to enter your thoughts in the comment field below.

How big is your donor? � 101fundraising

How big is your donor? � 101fundraising: Along with the World Cup (depending on the team, of course), we celebrate fund raising achievements. We look at results and trends from last year and partly with a sigh of relief and hope for this year: in 2013 in US charitable giving was at the same level it was before the financial crisis and in UK there was an �800m increase in donations. So, why we shouldn’t do better this year? In reality we should also ask ourselves if this is the result of more people giving or if we are simply fishing in the same pond with a lower offer. Mark Astarita, the fundraising director of British Red Cross and outgoing chair of UK Institute of Fundraising, simply put it “Over 30 years of professional fundraising have we grown the pie, are more people giving? I’m not so sure.” And Ken Burnett argued that the actual costs of acquisition with typical low retention rates are not sustainable and charities would be stupid if they don’t take action to avoid eating their seed corn.

Participant Index Seeks to Determine Why One Film Spurs Activism, While Others Falter - NYTimes.com

Participant Index Seeks to Determine Why One Film Spurs Activism, While Others Falter - NYTimes.com: LOS ANGELES — You watched the wrenching documentary. You posted your outrage on Twitter. But are you good for more than a few easy keystrokes of hashtag activism?

Participant Media and some powerful partners need to know.

For the last year Participant, an activist entertainment company that delivers movies with a message, has been quietly working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Knight Foundation and the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism to answer a question vexing those who would use media to change the world.

Donor-Advised Funds: The Source Fundraisers Can't Afford to Ignore : Page 1 of 2 : FundRaising Success

Donor-Advised Funds: The Source Fundraisers Can't Afford to Ignore : Page 1 of 2 : FundRaising Success: No matter your take, DAFs are a funding source fundraisers of all sizes and missions cannot afford to ignore. According to both Fidelity Charitable’s 2014 Giving Report and the National Philanthropic Trust’s 2013 Donor-Advised Fund Report DAFs are on the rise, growing in popularity and dollars dispersed to the charitable sector.

Husock on Crony Corporate Philanthropy - NPQ - Nonprofit Quarterly

Husock on Crony Corporate Philanthropy - NPQ - Nonprofit Quarterly: What is interesting in this new article of Husock’s in Forbes, where he is a regular commentator, is his concern for “crony philanthropy,” which he defines as “corporate philanthropic donations made to funds or causes designated or directed by elected officials.” Nonprofit Quarterly has raised this concern for years, going back to the charities established and more or less run by elected officials, beginning with our investigative piece on political charities such as then Congressman Tom DeLay’s DeLay Foundation. Our big investigative piece, “One for the Money, Two for the Show: Nonprofits as Conduits for Political Influence,” became an op-ed in the Washington Post, “Giving That Is All About Getting.”

Retired Steelcase chairman, philanthropist Peter Wege dies at 94 | MLive.com

Retired Steelcase chairman, philanthropist Peter Wege dies at 94 | MLive.com: GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Peter Melvin Wege loved giving away his money.

And give it away he did — millions of dollars in grants large and small — a fortune he had amassed as the former chairman and largest stockholder of Steelcase, Inc., the office furniture company his father founded.

Ten Nonprofits Get Grants to Increase Their Effectiveness

massnonprofit.org ::: July 8, 2014 — The Boston Foundation yesterday announced that it has awarded $61,550 to 10 Greater Boston nonprofits as part of a program that awards grants for small-scaled projects that increase impact and effectiveness of nonprofits.

The grants, of up to $7,500, from the Vision Fund program of The Boston Foundation (TBF), are designed to support capacity building efforts, pilot or demonstration projects, program design, evaluation or research, as well as board assessment/development, explorations of mergers and restructuring or other components of a strategic planning effort.

Crowdfunding: What It Is — And What It’s Not | Idea Lab | PBS

Crowdfunding: What It Is — And What It’s Not | Idea Lab | PBS: The initiative was described to me as being similar to crowdfunding, likely because of its gamified flavor. Although the folks behind it weren't using the language of crowdfunding, several observers were. But it wasn't crowdfunding, and there are a number of important reasons why.

Before I get into that, let's be clear: I'm not making a point about the technical definition of the term crowdfunding. My critique is not that this initiative missed many opportunities to create a compelling campaign that crowdfunders and crowdfunding platforms make use of every day. The following criticisms are not specific to this case, either. They're common problems among inexperienced (and reluctant) online fundraisers, particularly in the non-profit space. That's why I'm not going to name the initiative here, instead I'm going to refer to it as Acme Non-Profit Initiative.
what isn’t crowdfunding

12 Reasons Why You Should Gracefully Resign from a Nonprofit Board | Nonprofit Law Blog

12 Reasons Why You Should Gracefully Resign from a Nonprofit Board | Nonprofit Law Blog: Are you a valuable and valued board member for a nonprofit? If not, a graceful resignation and reassignment may be good for you and the organization.


12 reasons why you should resign from a nonprofit board:

Consultant Tony Elischer says charities should focus fundraising on minority communities to reap rewards | Third Sector

Consultant Tony Elischer says charities should focus fundraising on minority communities to reap rewards | Third Sector: Managing director of Think Consulting Solutions tells the Institute of Fundraising national convention that fundraisers are missing out by ignoring multiculturalism

COMMENTARY: Red Cross mum on Sandy funds - The Monitor: Opinion

COMMENTARY: Red Cross mum on Sandy funds - The Monitor: Opinion: Americans are especially generous following natural disasters. They sent $312 million in donations to the American Red Cross after the storm. Unfortunately, the charity hasn’t been very forthcoming in how it spent that money. It seems to be stonewalling ProPublica, which has been writing about how post-Sandy money has been spent. It reports:

Just how badly does the American Red Cross want to keep secret how it raised and spent over $300 million after Hurricane Sandy? The charity has hired the expensive law firm of Gibson Dunn to fight a public request we filed with New York state, arguing that information about its Sandy activities is a “trade secret.” The Red Cross’ “trade secret” argument has persuaded the state to redact some material, though it’s unclear how much since the documents weren’t released.

How to get your charity in the news

How to get your charity in the news: So you want media coverage for your organisation? David Ainsworth shares his step-by-step guide to help you get your story in the news pages.

Opinion: Specific Sense of Connection Motivates Bigger Giving – Philanthropy Today - Blogs - The Chronicle of Philanthropy

Opinion: Specific Sense of Connection Motivates Bigger Giving – Philanthropy Today - Blogs - The Chronicle of Philanthropy: Research on behavioral economics indicates that people who feel a sense of agency and belonging when approached about giving donate in greater amounts, suggesting new ways for cause-driven groups to marshal support, a Yale

Index Aims to Measure When Entertainment Leads to Activism – Philanthropy Today - Blogs - The Chronicle of Philanthropy

Index Aims to Measure When Entertainment Leads to Activism – Philanthropy Today - Blogs - The Chronicle of Philanthropy: articipant Media, the company created by eBay co-founder Jeff Skoll to produce movies with a social message, is working on a tool to assess the impact of such activist entertainment in spurring viewers to action, according to The New York Times.

How to Manage your Nonprofit’s Bad Press | Third Sector Today

How to Manage your Nonprofit’s Bad Press | Third Sector Today: How do you manage bad press?

The first rule of public relations is to do something good and then talk about it. But what if something bad happens? PR is even more important.

It’s likely that your organization doesn’t have a dedicated Public Relations team and you might not have the budget to hire a firm. But it’s incredibly important for you to have a plan in place to deal with negative publicity.

Twitter's Biz Stone on Charitable Giving

Twitter's Biz Stone on Charitable Giving: witter co-founder Biz Stone recommends starting your philanthropy now to achieve what he calls "the compound interest of altruism." As with compound interest on a bank account, if you start giving charitably now at the level your capacity allows, the impact you create will be significantly greater than if you start later, when you might have a larger resource pool.

Welcome to the Social Velocity Blog | Accelerating Social Innovation

Welcome to the Social Velocity Blog | Accelerating Social Innovation: Robert Egger, founder of DC Central Kitchen and LA Kitchen, as well as the nonprofit sector advocacy group, CForward. He is a tireless advocate for the nonprofit sector, encouraging nonprofits to take their rightful seat at the table. He is always pushing us to think bigger and smarter about social change.

Here is Robert’s post:



For you old school Trekkies out there, you may remember the 1969 episode titled “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” that featured the great Frank Gorshin as Commissioner Bele.