The Best and Worst Charities (According to Consumer Reports) - NonProfit PRO

The Best and Worst Charities (According to Consumer Reports) - NonProfit PRO: "On Monday, Consumer Reports released its “Best and Worst Charities for Your Donations” list. By no means as comprehensive as the magazine’s robust coverage and hands-on reviews of cars, appliances and electronics, the list is intended as a snapshot for would-be donors, offering a CliffsNotes on this year’s biggest charity scam, an overview of the three big charity watchdogs and tips on how to avoid charity scams. It’s entry-level stuff, but sound information nonetheless—an accessible starting point for first-time donors."



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A Sensible Makeover for the Ford Foundation - The New York Times

A Sensible Makeover for the Ford Foundation - The New York Times:



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Why Zuckerberg’s Critics Are Wrong - The New Yorker

Why Zuckerberg’s Critics Are Wrong - The New Yorker: "The backlash is no surprise. The sheer size of Zuckerberg’s grant, currently valued at forty-five billion dollars, shows just how concentrated wealth has become, and the earnest rhetoric of his mission statement, couched as a public letter to his baby daughter, reinforced a sense of Silicon Valley’s overweening confidence in its ability to fix the world. Hostility toward philanthropy is nothing new; when John D. Rockefeller established his eponymous foundation, he was attacked for reasserting “the old reign of aristocracy under the new names of philanthropy and science.” And Zuckerberg’s move comes at a time of anxiety about the rise of so-called philanthrocapitalism."



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Attendee Experience Mapping - ASAE Technology Conference & Expo

Attendee Experience Mapping - ASAE Technology Conference & Expo: "What is a Customer Journey Map?
Often used by Fortune 500 Companies, customer journey maps allow you to walk in the shoes of your customer by traveling with them as they interact with your company. They provide an accurate outside-in view, focusing on desired outcomes from the customer’s perspective. (Michael Hinshaw, 2012). They help illustrate individual customer’s needs, interactions that are necessary to fulfill those needs, and the resulting emotional states a customer experiences throughout the process. (Joel Flom, 2011)

How can we take this concept and turn it into a model that would helpful for associations & meeting planners to assess their own meetings and plan more successful ones in the future? The M&E Council is using Customer Journey Maps as a guide to create our own model for associations & meeting planners; we are calling it “ExperienceGuru”."



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Turmoil on Senior Staff Gives Funders Pause: Two Cases in the Arts | Nonprofit Quarterly

Turmoil on Senior Staff Gives Funders Pause: Two Cases in the Arts | Nonprofit Quarterly: "The boards of two nonprofit arts groups—one in Irvine, California, the other in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—are facing difficult questions from philanthropic supporters in the wake of recent changes in senior staff leadership. While the underlying stories are somewhat different, in both instances board and staff leaders seem to have fallen out of step with one another, and funders are reacting to leadership transitions that have, at the least, been poorly explained, if not poorly executed."



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The Limitations of Nonprofit Audits: A Cautionary Case | Nonprofit Quarterly

The Limitations of Nonprofit Audits: A Cautionary Case | Nonprofit Quarterly: "NPQ has repeatedly suggested to readers that they need to be cautious about depending on an audit to provide the board with a sense of security about its financial systems. This story is perhaps a more dramatic case in point than most.

NPQ has reported on the tragedy and allegations surrounding the federal GEAR UP grant award to the state of South Dakota that first came to national attention with the murder-suicide of a family of six in the small town of Platte, South Dakota in September 2015. Mid-Central Educational Cooperative (MCEC), the agency which administered GEAR UP on behalf of the SD Education Department, commissioned its own forensic audit of its handling of GEAR UP funds. The audit results were made public last week, and MCEC’s board were briefed publicly yesterday."



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Are We There Yet? A Conversation on Performance Measures in the Third Sector | Nonprofit Quarterly

Are We There Yet? A Conversation on Performance Measures in the Third Sector | Nonprofit Quarterly:



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New Online Site to Function as a ‘Yelp’ for Grant Makers - The Chronicle of Philanthropy

New Online Site to Function as a ‘Yelp’ for Grant Makers - The Chronicle of Philanthropy: "People review charities on GreatNonprofits, restaurants on Yelp, companies on Glassdoor, hotels on TripAdvisor, home-repair companies on Angie’s List — and just about every other entity somewhere. Foundations have so far mostly escaped such public scrutiny, but now their time has come.

Meet GrantAdvisors.org, an embryonic online review site that asks grant seekers, grantees, foundation employees, and others to describe their experiences working with foundations: Were their guidelines helpful, their staff members receptive, their reporting requirements reasonable? And, in the end, would you recommend working with them?"



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10 Great Charitable Deductions For The 2015 Holiday Season -- The Motley Fool

Interesting list via the Motley Fool

10 Great Charitable Deductions For The 2015 Holiday Season -- The Motley Fool: "We at the Fool are big supporters of charitable giving, as you can see from our annual Foolanthropy campaign (check out this year's details here). In addition to the Fistula Foundation, our 2015 Foolanthropy partner, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of other charities that support wonderful causes."



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The Ice Bucket Challenge Was Not Peer-to-Peer Fundraising - NonProfit PRO

The Ice Bucket Challenge Was Not Peer-to-Peer Fundraising - NonProfit PRO: "The beloved (Otis Fulton, my husband and Turnkey’s psychologist) leapt from his chair with a shocked expression on his face and social science book-of-the-day in hand. He said, “The Ice Bucket Challenge was not peer-to-peer fundraising!”
Like a cow, I chewed the bland cud of my oatmeal and blankly stared back at him.
“Don’t you see?” he said. “Peer-to-peer is a closed loop. The Ice Bucket Challenge was an open loop.”"



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Harrison’s Fund hoping for a bah humbug Christmas » Charity Digital News

Harrison’s Fund hoping for a bah humbug Christmas » Charity Digital News: "So next time you’re nursing a hangover after the office party, or you’re up to your eyeballs in wrapping paper and getting annoyed, spare a thought for Harrison and the boys like him, have a good old moan, then pop a pound (or two) into the Bah Humbug Box. You can get your grumpy friends and cranky colleagues involved too.”"



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Reporting Net Assets In Correct Columns - The NonProfit TimesThe NonProfit Times

Reporting Net Assets In Correct Columns - The NonProfit TimesThe NonProfit Times: "Financial statements of nonprofits display net assets (equity) in three classes: unrestricted, temporarily restricted and permanently restricted. These categories are based on the existence or absence of donor-imposed restrictions and are defined in the accounting standards under FASB ASC 958-210-20."



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#GivingTuesday Headed Toward $70 Million - The NonProfit TimesThe NonProfit Times

#GivingTuesday Headed Toward $70 Million - The NonProfit TimesThe NonProfit Times:



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Case statement helps organizational efficiency - The NonProfit TimesThe NonProfit Times

Case statement helps organizational efficiency - The NonProfit TimesThe NonProfit Times: "Nonprofit managers and fundraisers are aware of the need for a good case statement to rally support of one kind or another. What many of them overlook is the benefit case statements can have beyond fundraising."



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Amid the Buying, a Tuesday Devoted to Giving - The New York Times

Amid the Buying, a Tuesday Devoted to Giving - The New York Times: "“Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world,” wrote the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. That field has been pretty narrow lately, with so much of the news focused on murderous violence — from Paris to Colorado Springs. So let’s take note: today is #GivingTuesday, the fourth anniversary of a day that offers a glimpse of the world beyond the pathological extremes: a view of the commonplace generosity and social concerns of millions of people."



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Nonprofits, Aiming for Relevance, Try On New Names - The New York Times

Nonprofits, Aiming for Relevance, Try On New Names - The New York Times: "ive-On NY is among dozens of nonprofit groups in the city and surrounding area that are shedding longstanding — and sometimes long-winded — names and embarking on efforts to rebrand themselves."



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This Giving Season, Make Sure You Stand Out - PhilanTopic | PND | Foundation Center

This Giving Season, Make Sure You Stand Out - PhilanTopic | PND | Foundation Center: "Whenever someone offers marketing advice like this, my first impulse is to ask: "Do you have a study you can point me to that offers evidence in support of that claim?" As you might imagine, the conversation usually turns pretty quickly to other subjects.

So what does it really take for your organization's brand to resonate and be remembered by donors at this time of year?

Here are five things that will help:"



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Does #GivingTuesday Really Work Or Is It Just Hype? : Goats and Soda : NPR

Does #GivingTuesday Really Work Or Is It Just Hype? : Goats and Soda : NPR: "#GivingTuesday was born four years ago to encourage people to open their wallets for a good cause. Not everyone is a fan. Some critics think #GivingTuesday clutters people's inboxes with empty fundraising appeals that provide no compelling reason to give. And they ask why the day is in December, a time when most charities see a bump in donations anyway as folks remember how nice it is to be generous (and to get a tax deduction for the current year).

On the other hand, it's hard to argue with the results. Last year alone, #GivingTuesday pulled in a whopping $46 million in charitable donations – a 63 percent increase from 2013."



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Giving Tuesday: Your Opinions, Please | Nonprofit Quarterly

Giving Tuesday: Your Opinions, Please | Nonprofit Quarterly: "At NPQ, we feel that we often are consciously waiting out heavily promoted or evangelized fads. Is this nonprofit/philanthropic sector more rife with them than others? Probably not, but over time we have noted that although some advances are real, leading to new practice, some new ideas just cycle through, eventually losing steam because their results have not lived up to their loudly heralded promises. In the worst cases, inadequate or even regressive concepts stick around for years—well marketed but underperforming—because no one wants to challenge them."



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Grassroots giving goes mainstream: Popular giving circles are sweeping across the country

Grassroots giving goes mainstream: Popular giving circles are sweeping across the country: "There’s a new form of grassroots giving that is taking Canada’s charitable sector by storm.

Here’s how it works: Gather 100 people four times a year, with every person committing $100 per meeting. Each meeting lasts no longer than one hour, during which time members listen to pitches from three local charities, then vote on which charity will get the pot of pooled money. Charities issue tax receipts to donors and repo"



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Why communities of color are getting frustrated with Collective Impact / Nonprofit With Balls

Why communities of color are getting frustrated with Collective Impact / Nonprofit With Balls: "Talking to other nonprofit leaders, I’ve started noticing some patterns. There is definitely a sense of frustration of how CI has been manifesting in Seattle, and among leaders of color, that sense of frustration is even more palpable. We need to have an open discussion about how Collective Impact has been affecting diverse communities, and work toward some concrete actions that would make it more effective."



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#GivingTuesday Set To Usher-in Holidays - The NonProfit TimesThe NonProfit Times

#GivingTuesday Set To Usher-in Holidays - The NonProfit TimesThe NonProfit Times: "The fourth iteration of #GivingTuesday kicks off at midnight Tuesday, with thousands of nonprofits preparing to officially kick off their busiest time of the year with visions of donors dancing in their heads."



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Mental-Health Groups Miss Opportunities to Build Support - The Chronicle of Philanthropy

Mental-Health Groups Miss Opportunities to Build Support - The Chronicle of Philanthropy: "In the aftermath of tragic events perpetrated by people who are mentally ill, such as mass shootings, 88 percent of charities focused on mental-health issues did not alter their fundraising efforts, according to a new study.

And 72 percent of such nonprofits, the survey reported, saw no change in the amount of money they raised after such events.

This failure to plea more aggressively for support at a time when their cause is on the minds of the public represents a missed opportunity, says Benjamin Waxman, executive director of the Mental Health and Addiction Network, known as MHANe."



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Museums Test New Ways to Captivate Patrons—With and Without Technology | Nonprofit Quarterly

Museums Test New Ways to Captivate Patrons—With and Without Technology | Nonprofit Quarterly:



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7 Canadians Who Know What Fundraising Is All Aboot | changefundraising

7 Canadians Who Know What Fundraising Is All Aboot | changefundraising:



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The importance of screening volunteers / L’importance du filtrage des bénévoles | Volunteer Canada

The importance of screening volunteers / L’importance du filtrage des bénévoles | Volunteer Canada: "Organizations have moral, legal and ethical responsibilities to the people they reach.

This includes members, clients, employees and volunteers. Screening is especially important for organizations that work with vulnerable people. Vulnerable people may include children, people with disabilities and senior adults.

The benefits of screening are:

People’s skills and experience are better matched to the needs and opportunities of organizations
The quality and safety of volunteer programs in communities are improved
The risks and liability for people and organizations are reduced"



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New IRS Gift Substantiation Guidelines Opposed by National Council of Nonprofits | Nonprofit Quarterly

New IRS Gift Substantiation Guidelines Opposed by National Council of Nonprofits | Nonprofit Quarterly: "A new voluntary gift substantiation regime proposed by the IRS is being opposed by the National Council of Nonprofits as well as a number of individual state associations of nonprofits.

The system would provide an alternative to the “contemporaneous written acknowledgements” now in use by providing 501(c)(3) nonprofits with the option to report gifts over $250 to the IRS by the donor’s social security number. Though it is not intended to be mandatory, it is seen as being confusing, unnecessary, and potentially injurious to giving. NCN’s statement reads:"



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Stakeholders Squabble over Future of San Francisco Arts Center | Nonprofit Quarterly

Stakeholders Squabble over Future of San Francisco Arts Center | Nonprofit Quarterly: "Behind closed doors, many nonprofit arts organizations struggle these days to make payroll and to find new ways to fulfill their missions and serve their communities. But when the stakeholders of an arts group start pointing fingers and questioning leadership decisions—publicly—it’s hard to keep those doors closed. In San Francisco, a call last week for the dismissal of the executive director of the African American Art and Culture Complex has created a firestorm, adding a public relations challenge to already-existing tensions around mission and finances."



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3 Tips To Control Your Nonprofit’s Google Search Results

3 Tips To Control Your Nonprofit’s Google Search Results: "3 Tips To Control Your Nonprofit’s Google Search Results"



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Stop Ignoring This Amazing Source of Contributions | Michael Rosen Says...

Stop Ignoring This Amazing Source of Contributions | Michael Rosen Says...: "Stop Ignoring This Amazing Source of Contributions
There is a funding source that donated $12.5 billion to charities last year. Sadly, most nonprofit organizations ignore this massive opportunity for support with only 23 percent saying they are “very familiar” with how this funding source works, according to a report from Vanguard Charitable.

I’m speaking of Donor Advised Funds."



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