Friday, April 06, 2007

Give and Take: Tough Times Ahead for Fund Raisers?

Give and Take: Tough Times Ahead for Fund Raisers?: "Tough Times Ahead for Fund Raisers?

An analysis of fund raising during the last three months of 2006 has prompted The Agitator to warn charities that they could soon be facing some tough conditions.

Roger Carver and Tom Belford, two long-time charity fund-raising consultants, analyzed Target Analysis Group’s Quarterly Index of National Fundraising Performance and found that while many charities are raising more money than in the past, they are getting those dollars from an increasingly small number of people."

The Wealth Report - WSJ.com : The Wishes of the Dead

The Wealth Report - WSJ.com : The Wishes of the Dead: "The Wishes of the Dead

“Giving while living” is all the rage in philanthropy today. Rather than using their fortunes to set up perpetual foundations that will linger on after their deaths, the rich want to personally oversee the spending of their charitable dollars while they’re alive. The principle was best illustrated by Warren Buffett’s recent announcement that he wants his billions spent within 10 years of the closing of his estate.

Now, news from Princeton University helps to shed further light on why speed-givers like Mr. Buffett are so averse to perpetual foundations. The Ivy League school announced earlier this month that it’s returning $782,375 to a foundation created by the Robertson family, heirs to the A&P supermarket fortune. The payment came in the wake of charges by the Robertson descendants that the money is being misspent by the school."

VOA News - American Philanthropy Not Just for the Wealthy

VOA News - American Philanthropy Not Just for the Wealthy: "Each year, Business Week magazine publishes a list of the 50 Most Generous American Philanthropists based on charitable donations over the past five years. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett ranked first in 2006, followed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda. But the rich are not the only ones giving to charities. Wang Yiru, with Elaine Lu providing the voiceover on video, has more on philanthropy in the United Stat"

Howard County Times

Howard County Times: "The Horizon Foundation, a $92 million Columbia philanthropy, has formed a strategic partnership with an Elkridge-based association of Howard County nonprofit organizations in order to improve the services that local nonprofits provide."

Foundations Gave 11.7 Percent More in 2006, Study Says

Foundations Gave 11.7 Percent More in 2006, Study Says: "Foundation giving in the U.S. rose to $40.7 billion between 2005 and 2006, representing an 11.7-percent year-over-year increase, according to a new report from the Foundation Center."

KQED | Forum: Microfinance and Social Justice Philanthropy

KQED | Forum: Microfinance and Social Justice Philanthropy: "Fri, Apr 6, 2007 -- 10:00 AM
Microfinance and Social Justice Philanthropy
The show discusses a surge in direct-to-borrower lending over the Internet for social justice causes."

The Age of U-Turns | TIME

The Age of U-Turns | TIME: "There's Bill Gates, who these days is spending less time earning money than giving it away--and pulling other billionaires into the deep end of global philanthropy with him. There's historian Francis Fukuyama, leading a whole gang of disaffected fellow travelers away from neoconservatism. And in the back, humming Give Peace a Chance, the new Nicaraguan President, Daniel Ortega, former head of the Marxist Sandinistas. The comandante has come around on open economies and free trade and is courting foreign investment as the way out for his nation's poor."

SaukValley.com - Serving Dixon, Sterling & Rock Falls

SaukValley.com - Serving Dixon, Sterling & Rock Falls: "Published on: Thursday, April 05, 2007
Putting the pressure on nonprofits
Blagojevich's latest PR move squeezes agencies for support

BY BERNARD SCHOENBURG
THE SPRINGFIELD STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration is proving once again that state government is to be used as a public relations machine, even if it puts inappropriate pressure on nonprofit agencies."

Texas Legislature Debates Legalization Of Poker | Poker News

Texas Legislature Debates Legalization Of Poker | Poker News: "On Tuesday, the House Committee on Licensing and Administrative Procedures held public hearings on House Bill 3186, which was written and submitted by Rep. Jose Menendez from San Antonio. The bill (which was put together with another bill regarding charitable poker games)"

Burlington Free Press.com |

Burlington Free Press.com |: "Program honors Vermont's centennial nonprofits

Published: Friday, April 6, 2007
Vermont Secretary of State Deb Markowitz put out a call today for applications for the Vermont Centennial Nonprofit Awards program, which honors nonprofits that have operated in the state for at least 100 years."

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Christian Today – Christian News > US Christian Foundation Tops $2 Billion Mark in Donations

Christian Today – Christian News > US Christian Foundation Tops $2 Billion Mark in Donations: "US-based charity The National Christian Foundation (NCF) announced that it has reached two major milestones during the first quarter of 2007.

Continuing a multi-year trend of 'extraordinary growth' in nearly every measurable category, the Atlanta-based NCF, combined with its 29 local affiliate foundations across the US, topped the $2bn mark in contributions since NCF’s 1982 inception."

NPT Instant Fundraising

NPT Instant Fundraising: "Holding Consultants Accountable Saves Donor's Money

Nonprofits often hire consultants to help create an image and those spin masters are skilled in specific ways. But, there also is an old joke that bad consultants borrow your watch, tell you the time and then charge you for the information. So, how does an organization spend wisely on the good consultants?"

Telluride Daily Planet - News-Nonprofits fret over a VF fallout

Telluride Daily Planet - News: "Around town, fundraisers and nonprofits call it the Valley Floor effect. It’s what happens when a small town pumps millions and millions of dollars into one massive cause — the smaller ones are left hurting or dry up altogether.
*

By its nature, fundraising is a zero-sum game, with Telluride’s 60 nonprofits competing for a large but finite pool of money"

dBusinessNews :: Daily Business News Delivered to Your Desktop

dBusinessNews :: Daily Business News Delivered to Your Desktop: "Grants focus on college scholarships, youth philanthropy, mentoring, homelessness, domestic violence and basic health care"

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Give and Take: New Attention Focused on the Mix of Business and Philanthropy

Social good and Philanthropy via Give and Take Blog
Give and Take: New Attention Focused on the Mix of Business and Philanthropy: "New Attention Focused on the Mix of Business and Philanthropy

Is increased coverage of the collision of business and “social good” by business magazines such as Forbes, The Economist, and Fast Company good for philanthropy?

Susan Herr, the author of Philanthromedia, says the answer to that question is a definitive yes."

Ventura County Star: County News

Ventura County Star: County News: "Red Cross, others turn to new tools

Nonprofit groups a growing county industry, raising more than $1.5 billion

By Kathleen Wilson, kwilson@VenturaCountyStar.com
April 4, 2007

Nonprofit organizations have surged in Ventura County since 2000, fueled by startups and a large transfer of wealth to the baby boomer generation.

The number has nearly tripled when only those with revenues exceeding $25,000 are counted, up from 457 to 1,200. When all registered nonprofits are tallied, the figure has grown by 20 percent in six years, data drawn from the National Center for Charitable Statistics shows."

Buyout won't mean end of firm's link to foundation | Chicago Tribune

Buyout won't mean end of firm's link to foundation | Chicago Tribune: "Buyout won't mean end of firm's link to foundation

By Charles Storch
Tribune staff reporter
Published April 4, 2007

The deal to take Tribune Co. private would end the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation's long standing as a major shareholder of the company, but other ties between the Chicago-based media concern and the Chicago-based philanthropy are expected to continue, according to Tribune Co.'s chairman."

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Foundation Giving Continued Double-Digit Growth in 2006

Untitled Document: "; Establishment of New Foundations, Pharmaceutical Foundations Contributed to Higher Level of Giving

NEW YORK, April 3 (AScribe Newswire) -- Giving by the nation's 71,000 grantmaking foundations rose to $40.7 billion in 2006, according to 'Foundation Growth and Giving Estimates: Current Outlook' (2007 Edition), released today by the Foundation Center. This estimated 11.7 percent gain followed a 14.3 percent increase in 2005. U.S. foundations last reported consecutive years of double-digit growth in giving during the period 1996 to 2001. Looking ahead, grantmakers appeared optimistic about continued funding increases in 2007."

San Jose Mercury News - 'Dog bones' signed by celebs for charity

San Jose Mercury News - 'Dog bones' signed by celebs for charity: "'Dog bones' signed by celebs for charity
By KATHY HANRAHAN Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 04/03/2007 07:38:23 AM PDT

JACKSON, Miss.- More than 40 celebrities, including Reese Witherspoon and Orlando Bloom, have signed wooden 'dog bones' for an online auction to benefit the Mississippi Animal Rescue League.

The auction is being held on the Charity Folks Web site through April 12. More signed bones will be added for a two-week period as they are returned by celebs, the organization said."

Preparing for life after cash out - Yahoo! News

Preparing for life after cash out - Yahoo! News: "With the sale of a business or a large concentrated asset holding, there is the creation of liquid wealth. I've seen it work out exceptionally well and not so well,' he says. 'The difference is the level of planning and how the proceeds are invested at the point of liquidity and beyond. It's a good problem, but it's still a problem and you need to optimise the solutions.'

There are several pre-liquidity strategies that can help lower federal transfer taxes, which include the gift tax, the estate tax and the generation-skipping transfer (or 'GST') tax. They range from basic steps such as taking advantage of the annual gift tax exclusion - you can make annual gifts of up to $12,000 tax-free to any number of people, with a lifetime exclusion of $1m per donor - to setting up a Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT) and making an instalment sale to a Grantor Trust."

Harvard to offer two joint degrees in public and business administration - The Boston Globe

Harvard to offer two joint degrees in public and business administration - The Boston Globe: "By Robert Weisman, Globe Staff | April 3, 2007

Reaching across the business-government divide, Harvard Business School will offer a new joint-degree program with Harvard's Kennedy School of Government to prepare students for leadership roles in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors."

Monday, April 02, 2007

Site Promotes Direct Giving Over Groups - washingtonpost.com

Site Promotes Direct Giving Over Groups - washingtonpost.com: "Site Promotes Direct Giving Over Groups

By ANICK JESDANUN
The Associated Press
Monday, April 2, 2007; 3:30 PM

NEW YORK -- Ken and Kristie Sigler have sold cookbooks and football tickets to raise $16,000 for an adoption. For the final $8,700, they are appealing directly to strangers _ through a new online clearinghouse that bypasses traditional charities.

Reality Charity LLC's Web site, to be unveiled Tuesday, promises to be an eBay for fundraising. Those in need post appeals to pay off student loans, recover from a natural disaster or avoid a foreclosure. Those wishing to give respond to them directly."

The NonProfitTimes - eNewsletter-"Young Donors And Their Instant Gratification

The NonProfitTimes - eNewsletter: "Young Donors And Their Instant Gratification

By Marla E. Nobles
Today's young people are accustomed to having options and choices unlike any previous generation. They're used to calling the shots. So rather than spending time and money testing ways to write your organization's story, why not let your younger donors write it for you?

'We're all acquiring that knowledge, but they were almost built on it,' said Pete Rose, partner at marketing firm Yankelovich, regarding younger donors raised in today's consumer-created world. 'They live in a world where you can create the next color of M&M and where you can vote people off the island. Think about the latest Super Bowl ads, some of them were consumer-created.'"

National News-Jewish Charities Not Worried

National News: "Jewish Charities Not Worried

Jacob Berkman
JTA Wire Service

APRIL 01, 2007
New York

The Jewish philanthropic world is not worried that a downturn in U.S. stock markets so far ttis year will hurt investment in Jewish causes.

The economy generally has been booming since the early 1990s. And despite a market crash when the high-tech bubble burst in 2000 and after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a bull market that resumed in 2003 pushed indexes such as the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrials Average back to record highs earlier this year.

The boom has led to an infusion of cash into the Jewish world."

News onPhilanthropy: What Social Entrepreneurs Think (Hint: More Capital Needed)

Tom Watson comments on Skoll Forum.

News onPhilanthropy: What Social Entrepreneurs Think (Hint: More Capital Needed): "What Social Entrepreneurs Think (Hint: More Capital Needed)

One of the highlights of the 4th annual Skoll Forum for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford was the release of an in-depth survey marking the current attitudes of people working in the sector. Growing Opportunity: Entrepreneurial Solutions to Insoluble Problems, by SustainAbility, Ltd., gave a clear-eyed snapshot of social entrepreneurship and its conclusions identified several clear challenges to the movement."

This blog is unofficially over three years old

I am amazed to note that this blog had it's beginnings in March of 2004 and began more as an internal communications tool. Which makes it over three years old.
Looking back here is our first post
on this particular blog.
It is great to see how this project has evolved.
Back in the day we did not do any tagging and we also certainly didn't provide the subscription and rss feeds that we do today.
We welcome your comments as we continue on this journey.
Reed

Financial Mail - Passion and profit

Financial Mail - Passion and profit: "Venture philanthropists, boards of directors, non profit organisations, donor agencies, consultants and academics are becoming increasingly interested in the field of social entrepreneurship.

The establishment of the Skoll centre for social entrepreneurship at Oxford University, created by former eBay president Jeff Skoll, and more recently Warren Buffett's US$30,7bn donation to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, indicate that venture philanthropy means a significant change in how people think about transferring wealth."

Church contributions under IRS scrutiny in Pa. - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Church contributions under IRS scrutiny in Pa. - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "The days of dropping dollars into the collection basket at your church and then writing it off as a tax donation are over.

While some of the faithful believe the amount of money they give is between them and God, the government wants proof that the house of worship got all the donations taxpayers claim as a deduction on their returns. Personal checkbook registers or diaries are no longer good enough for the Internal Revenue Service."

Columbian.com - Serving Clark County, Washington-Gifts to Seattle Art Museum valued at around $1B

Columbian.com - Serving Clark County, Washington: "SEATTLE (AP) -- Major collectors have donated about 1,000 artworks to the Seattle Art Museum, a gift worth an estimated $1 billion.

Museum officials say 200 of the works, including pieces by Georgia O'Keeffe and Mark Rothko, will be displayed when the expanded museum reopens in early May."

Rutgers catches the second red wave | Inquirer | 04/01/2007

Rutgers catches the second red wave | Inquirer | 04/01/2007: "The visibility of the institution has been raised tremendously, and it has paid off in many ways,' university spokesman Greg Trevor said.

In the fall, when the football team still had three more regular-season games to play, Rutgers was seeing a 9 percent spike in donor pledges, soaring sales of Rutgers merchandise, and a surge in interest from admissions applicants.

By the end of January, the latest period for which statistics were available, overall donations to the university were 35 percent higher than the year before. Athletic contributions were at $2.7 million, up from $1.9 million."

PTA dis•parity: In New Hanover, Pender, large gaps exist in levels of parental involvement, funds | StarNewsOnline.com | Star-News | Wilmington, NC

PTA dis•parity: In New Hanover, Pender, large gaps exist in levels of parental involvement, funds | StarNewsOnline.com | Star-News | Wilmington, NC: "It's important to have music in schools. It engages a different part of our brain than just standard math and English,' Smith said, adding that funding support from the school's PTA is significant in students' growth. 'Their contribution means that they care about keeping music programs in school.'

Smith and her school are among the fortunate who benefit from active, prosperous parent organizations.

At Bolivia Elementary in Brunswick County, the PTA raises only enough money to pay for necessities like books and dictionaries and hopes it can put new pencil sharpeners and markers into classrooms by May.

The contrast between Hoggard and Bolivia exists among schools throughout North Carolina and the nation."

Bay County professor gathers shoes to donate to Africans | DailyComet.com | Daily Comet | Thibodaux, LA

Bay County professor gathers shoes to donate to Africans | DailyComet.com | Daily Comet | Thibodaux, LA: "Doing good for the people in Darfur turned out to be much more complicated than Tami Hotard expected.

All she wanted to do was collect some shoes from Bay County donors and send them to refugees affected by the civil war in the African region."

SouthCoastToday.com: Philanthropy agency accredited

SouthCoastToday.com: Philanthropy agency accredited: "Philanthropy agency accredited
Text Size: A | A | A
January 19, 2007 6:00 AM

NEW BEDFORD — The Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts has been accredited as meeting the nation's highest philanthropic standards for operational quality, integrity and accountability by the Council on Foundations, a national professional association based in Washington, D.C.

'This is similar to the Good Housekeeping Seal for community foundations,' said Steve Gunderson, Council on Foundations president and chief executive officer."

Redlands Daily Facts - Redlands' tradition of giving

Redlands Daily Facts - Redlands' tradition of giving: "Redlands' tradition of giving
RICHARD A. HANKS
Article Launched: 03/31/2007 11:16:56 PM PDT

Redlands has a tradition of giving. I hear that a lot from people in the community - the giving tradition of Redlands. It started me thinking, how does such a tradition begin and sustain itself?

Webster defines tradition as 'the handing down of information, beliefs and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction.' Put another way, tradition is the honoring of those who came before by emulating their actions. In this particular case it means the philanthropic act of giving back to the community."