Leadership Jacksonville seeks future Northeast Florida leaders | jacksonville.com

Leadership Jacksonville seeks future Northeast Florida leaders | jacksonville.com: A Jacksonville community organization is casting its net for Northeast Florida’s future leaders — home-grown ones.

The program, called Collegiate Leadership Experience, gives Northeast Florida college students an opportunity to network with community leaders and professionals and to explore complex issues facing the community.

How'd the Boys & Girls Club of Trenton turn itself around? Ask the big kid in the black suit. | NJ.com

How'd the Boys & Girls Club of Trenton turn itself around? Ask the big kid in the black suit. | NJ.com: When Breidinger arrived on the board in the mid-1990s, the club’s leadership was holding weekly meetings just to figure out how to pay its bills. The power company was threatening to shut off its electricity. Membership was dwindling, with only a few hundred kids. The building needed an upgrade. There were no funds to recruit children or add new programs. And this was happening during an economic boom.

Breidinger, then newly installed as the head of Comcast Cable’s operations in Mercer County and a member of the Rotary Club, was part of a group of Rotarians looking for something in the city to throw its efforts behind.

Five Fundraising Lessons from the Muppet Movie - Fundraising Detective

Five Fundraising Lessons from the Muppet Movie - Fundraising Detective: Five Fundraising Lessons from the Muppet Movie

I recently went to see the new Muppets Movie and absolutely loved it.

The basic premise is that Walter (the Muppets' biggest fan) wants to try and get the Muppets back together to save their original studio from being taken over by an evil oil tycoon.

How’s Your Association Attitude? - Reid | Avectra

How’s Your Association Attitude? - Reid | Avectra: How’s Your Association Attitude?
Thursday, March 8, 2012 by Deirdre Reid

Quiz time:

How often do you try a new recipe? A different gas station or restaurant? An unfamiliar magazine or radio station?
When’s the last time you talked with someone about an idea or project that flopped, or asked for constructive criticism?
When did you last seek ideas from someone with a different perspective? Or collaborate with a colleague from another department?
Who lights up your office with their energy, passion and creativity? Is it you?
Whose reactions concern you the most: your boss, the CEO, leadership or the average member?

A Realistic Look at Annual Fundraising Campaigns : Page 1 of 2 : FundRaising Success

A Realistic Look at Annual Fundraising Campaigns : Page 1 of 2 : FundRaising Success: Part One: A Brief History Annual Giving
Participation, always a sensitive issue with trustees, is in decline at many institutions — not for lack of trying but for difficulties in simply making contact. The CDCOpens in a new window in Atlanta recently suggested that 20 percent of households no longer have landlinesOpens in a new window — and the erosion in landlines is picking up speed.

Writing a one-page news release | Philanthropy Journal

Writing a one-page news release | Philanthropy Journal: Nonprofit organizations can use a news release to announce their events or newsworthy information.

But keeping a news release to one page, with the most relevant, timely information is an important step is seeing the release published.

Forging unique paths to philanthropy | The Daily Texan

Forging unique paths to philanthropy | The Daily Texan: e University breeds students to follow a specific path to make a difference. This path may be through medicine or the arts or even law. However, students do not seem to consider ways they can change the world other than these well-trodden paths.

But what can the University do to promote a nontraditional way of thinking when it comes to philanthropy? One thing it can do is to connect students with stories such as Boyette’s to promote a other ways of thinking. Professors need to share stories of inspiration in their lectures to encourage this style of thinking.

Chang School Fundraising Management Student Brings New Skills Back To Work: Last fall, when the inn came under threat of closure due to proposed budget cuts, Jamie decided to learn more about fundraising so she could try to create a fundraising strategy and save the historic site: she enrolled in the Certificate in Fundraising Management program at Ryerson University’s G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education.

Form 990 – Threshold Requirements Reminder

Form 990 – Threshold Requirements Reminder: As the time for calendar year nonprofits to file their annual tax return approaches, many nonprofits will need to remember which Form 990 their organization is required to file. As a refresher, the Form 990, Form 990 E-Z, and Form 990-N filing thresholds depend on the exempt-organization’s revenue and assets as follows:

Donations to colleges vary widely | The Clarion-Ledger | clarionledger.com

Donations to colleges vary widely | The Clarion-Ledger | clarionledger.com: Universities across the country enjoyed an increase in fundraising dollars last year, but donations to Mississippi's public institutions varied widely.

When nonprofits become fundraising behemoths | Minnesota Public Radio News

When nonprofits become fundraising behemoths | Minnesota Public Radio News: When nonprofits become money-raising behemoths, do the organizations stray from the original good intentions? As breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure recovers from their Planned Parenthood controversy, we wanted to take a look at big fundraisers and where their money goes.

From Komen to Limbaugh, what can companies do when affiliations misfire? : BusinessJournalism.org Reynolds Center for Business Journalism

From Komen to Limbaugh, what can companies do when affiliations misfire? : BusinessJournalism.org Reynolds Center for Business Journalism: These case studies are quite interesting from the marketing, advertising, consumer relations, corporate governance and other points of view. And of course, the impact of social media on corporate image and crisis management is quite riveting; McDonald’s just had to issue this Facebook apology after a joking reference to pit bulls in a Chicken McBites ad, for example. That probably wouldn’t have happened pre-Twitter.

Board Fellows Programs Give M.B.A.'s Taste of Nonprofits - US News and World Report

Board Fellows Programs Give M.B.A.'s Taste of Nonprofits - US News and World Report: When he arrived at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University in 2010, Estrada-Reyes decided he wanted to serve the community by volunteering with a nonprofit organization. Through Cornell's Johnson Board Fellowship Program, he joined the board of directors of the Kitchen Theatre Company in Ithaca, N.Y., and has spent the past year developing a comparative analysis of comparably sized community theaters.

ExCollege course gives students the opportunity to be young philanthropists - Tufts Daily - Tufts University

ExCollege course gives students the opportunity to be young philanthropists - Tufts Daily - Tufts University: Promoting active citizenship is often cited as one of the major assets of a Tufts education. But few courses provide students with the immediate knowledge and the financial resources to be active citizens in the surrounding communities. The Experimental College course "Experimenting with Philanthropy" breaks that mold and gets students involved immediately.

I Live Here, I Give Here(R) Announces $1 Million to be Raised in 24 Hours for Austin Nonprofits - MarketWatch

Press Release

I Live Here, I Give Here(R) Announces $1 Million to be Raised in 24 Hours for Austin Nonprofits - MarketWatch: AUSTIN, Texas, Mar 05, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- I Live Here, I Give Here(R) announces a new program, AMPLIFY AUSTIN, an initiative to increase philanthropy in Central Texas through online giving with a goal of raising $1 million in a 24-hour period for hundreds of Central Texas nonprofits.

Nonprofit network, a Muncie original | The Star Press | thestarpress.com

Nonprofit network, a Muncie original | The Star Press | thestarpress.com: The Indiana Nonprofit Resource Network, or INRN, was created in an office within the United Way of Delaware County's spaces to provide social service employees a chance to have the professional development opportunities so important during the end of the last century.

Nearly 20 years later, INRN continues its work, not only in Muncie, but across Indiana.

Students in nonprofit careers find inspiration in public service - The Brown Daily Herald - Serving the community daily since 1891

Students in nonprofit careers find inspiration in public service - The Brown Daily Herald - Serving the community daily since 1891: 48 percent of graduates in the Class of 2010, the latest year of complete available data, decided to work in nonprofit or government sectors. Amspacher, who worked for nonprofit initiatives for 20 years before coming to the CareerLAB, said the percentage of each senior class headed to careers in the common good — like social entrepreneurship ventures, government agencies and public health programs — has remained constant over the years.

Ikea’s Kamprad Is Europe’s Richest in Billionaire Index - Bloomberg

Ikea’s Kamprad Is Europe’s Richest in Billionaire Index - Bloomberg: n 2009, Kamprad went to court to change Stichting’s Ingka IKEA’s philanthropic goal to one that provides opportunities for youth in the developing world. According to Heggenes, between 2009 and 2011, the IKEA Foundation made donations worth about $235 million to support disaster relief and provide philanthropic aid in Kenya, Somalia, Haiti and China. Last year it announced the goal of reaching an annual donation level of $135 million. A separate foundation, the Kamprad Family Foundation, supports research and education, mainly in the Sm�land region of Sweden.

Eric Lanke: Leadership is a System Capacity

Eric Lanke: Leadership is a System Capacity: That's the other big lesson I got out of the "How to Be Open" chapter in Humanize by Jamie Notter and Maddie Grant. Here's the key passage, pulling directly on the work of Peter Senge, and again, the emphasis is mine:

Post-Recession Charitable Pledges to Hospitals Slow, Jeopardizing Future Fundraising Efforts

Post-Recession Charitable Pledges to Hospitals Slow, Jeopardizing Future Fundraising Efforts: WASHINGTON, D.C., (March 6, 2012) – As the United States and Canada emerged from the Great Recession, charitable pledges to nonprofit health care organizations slowed in fiscal year 2010, jeopardizing the ability of health care systems in both countries to generate philanthropic funding necessary to meet their long-term, construction, equipment and patient needs. These and other findings were contained in two reports published by the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP) based on its detailed Performance Benchmarking Service survey of fundraising activities in both countries - which for the first time examined a full year’s post-recession fundraising by U.S. and Canadian health care organizations.

SOI Tax Stats - SOI Bulletin: Winter 2012

SOI Tax Stats - SOI Bulletin: Winter 2012: Statistics of Income (SOI) Bulletin - Winter 2012
(entire publication in PDF)

Vikram Akula, Founder of SKS Microfinance, Says Publicly His Biggest Critic, Grameen Bank Founder Muhummad Yunus, Was Right - NYTimes.com

Vikram Akula, Founder of SKS Microfinance, Says Publicly His Biggest Critic, Grameen Bank Founder Muhummad Yunus, Was Right - NYTimes.com: Vikram Akula, the founder of SKS Microfinance, the for-profit company that is accused of aggressive collection tactics, made an unexpected observation Sunday night at the Social Enterprise Conference at Harvard University.

“Professor Yunus was right,” Mr. Akula said, referring to Muhammad Yunus, the Grameen Bank founder, economist and a frequent critic of Mr. Akula and others who tried to turn microfinance into a for-profit industry. “Bringing private capital into social enterprise was much harder

First Tuesday events will feature businesses and nonprofits � Recent Local News � News and Tribune

First Tuesday events will feature businesses and nonprofits � Recent Local News � News and Tribune: Beginning with its March event, Develop New Albany’s First Tuesday meetings will pair businesses with nonprofits as a way to showcase commerce and culture.

“The purpose of the events will be, outside of social networking and business networking, to raise awareness,” said Courtney Lewis, who is heading the Develop New Albany First Tuesday committee.

Giving Days vs. Giving Daze: Looking for Engagement - Forbes: Giving contests have been a trend in philanthropy for years now, so much so that a kind of fatigue has settled over the idea of nonprofits competing for prizes – aka, large donations. The nonprofits must activate their followers within the guidelines of the effort, often in conjunction with a company that sees the added value of marketing stapled to its philanthropy. It takes time, and serious commitment. And sometimes the “engagement” comes in the form of the lowest common digital denominator – a “vote” in the form of a click or two. Not for nothing did Networked Nonprofit co-author Beth Kanter ask in 2010: “Should We Just Blow Up Nonprofit “Vote for Me” Social Good Contests?”

Three Fundraising Habits of Supremely Successful Boards

Three Fundraising Habits of Supremely Successful Boards: Three Fundraising Habits of Supremely Successful Boards

March 2012

Excerpted from The Fundraising Habits of Supremely Successful Boards, rev. ed.

In my work with nearly two thousand organizations, I've found that board members will stand on tiptoes to reach high standards if they know what's expected of them. They'll perform extraordinary feats, give unlimited time, combine all their talents for a common and great cause.

But if trustees don't understand their role, this enormous potential is reduced to a trickle, forced through a narrow institutional funnel.

In Environment, Biggest Groups Get... - National Committee For Responsive Philanthropy

In Environment, Biggest Groups Get... - National Committee For Responsive Philanthropy: Report: In Environment, Biggest Groups Get Biggest Bucks
By Chris Thomas
Public News Service Washington
February 27, 2012

The biggest national environmental groups get the most charitable dollars, while important conservation projects taken on by smaller groups often are overlooked. This finding is one of several in a new report from the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP).

NCoC: Community Attachment, Engagement, and Economic Prosperity

NCoC: Community Attachment, Engagement, and Economic Prosperity: NCoC is honored to work with Knight Foundation to explore the connections between community attachment, civic engagement, and economic prosperity. This partnership will expand existing research initiatives conducted by the two organizations. Knight Foundation, in partnership with Gallup, produced the Soul of the Community Project which explored what drives an individual’s “attachment” to their community.

Many Managers of Nonprofit Finances Suffer Knowledge Gaps, Study Finds - News - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas

Many Managers of Nonprofit Finances Suffer Knowledge Gaps, Study Finds - News - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas: Many Managers of Nonprofit Finances Suffer Knowledge Gaps, Study Finds

By Eric Frazier

Top officials at midsize nonprofits lack basic financial knowledge, according to a study released today.

The study, conducted by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, also found that midsize organizations are lifting their focus from just breaking even to long-term planning.

JUF News : Alternative Student Breaks: Traveling with purpose

JUF News : Alternative Student Breaks: Traveling with purpose: As college students look forward to the end of a semester or a Spring break escape from classes, Hillel students are trading Cancun getaways for something more meaningful: Alternative Student Breaks.

Communities of Color Find More Prominent Role within Philanthropy Sector - W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Communities of Color Find More Prominent Role within Philanthropy Sector - W.K. Kellogg Foundation: Communities of color find more prominent role within philanthropy sector

Jan 9, 2012

As the U.S. population shifts, with ethnic and racial groups growing faster than the overall American population, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation has found the face of philanthropy is rapidly changing to become as diverse as the country’s population. The new report, “Cultures of Giving: Energizing and Expanding Philanthropy by and for Communities of Color” commissioned by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, with major funding by the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, shows how philanthropy is evolving, with some of the most significant growth stemming from identity-based philanthropy — a growing movement to spark philanthropic giving from a community on behalf of a community, where “community” is defined by race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.