Fund-Raising Lessons: Conducting Research on Donors and the Global Changes in Philanthropy

Most nonprofit organizations don’t conduct research on their donors very
often, but there’s an easy and cost-effective way for charities to
gather useful data on them every year....

Full-text blog posting by Holly Hall is available via the Chronicle's Prospecting Blog, 8.8.08.

WSJ: Survey of CEO Compensation

JoAnn Lublin, of the Wall Street Journal, explores CEO compensation and benefits. Ms. Lublin argues that "directors are increasingly exercising more clout in setting CEO compensation. And in some cases, the boss is actually feeling a little pain."

Read this 4/14/08 Wall Street Journal article.

Free Searchable Database of US Corporate Donations

The NonProfit Times and NOZASearch have launched a new searchable database of more than 4,000 corporate donations of $1 million or more. This new service is called NPTGrantSearch.

Check it out!

NOZA-Private Foundation 990 searchable database launched

NOZA now provides free access to a database of 990-PF tax returns. According to the NOZA website (http://www.noza990pf.com), this project was started several years ago by Grantsmart and contains publically-available data received from the IRS. You can also search NOZA's companion database containing more than 1,000,000 foundation grant records (also free), by visiting http://www.nozasearch.com.

For more information, visit the NOZA website.

India Dominates Billionaires' List

The most surprising news in Forbes's latest Global Billionaire list isn't that Bill Gates has been toppled as the world's richest man ... the biggest surprise is the rise of the Indian rich - four of the top eight billionaires in the world are from India.

Read more on this in the the Wall Street Journal's 3/6/2008 Wealth Report.

Check it out

Check out the 3/24/08 issue of Forbes magazine. The issue has lots of articles and information on the topic "Billionaires: The Richest People in the World."

The Middle-Class Millionaire: The rise of the new rich and how they are changing America

Authors Russ Alan Prince and Lewis Schiff have authored a new book titled, The Middle-Class Millionaire: The rise of the new rich and how they are changing America. They write on the rise of middle-class millionaires and how they are becoming more influential and describe how this new group is importantly different from the mainstream middle class and from the traditional wealthy.

Read more about this book.

Foundation Center launches free Trend Tracker (Beta) tool

Trend Tracker, a free search tool now available at the Foundation Center's web site, offers immediate, interactive access to the Center's historical financial data on U.S. grantmakers.

From the Foundation Center press release: "Trend Tracker, our new online search tool, offers immediate, interactive access to the Center's historical financial data on U.S. grantmakers. For the first time, anyone can tap the Center's database to create statistical reports on the nation's top 20,000 foundations. Review an individual grantmaker's fiscal data or compare up to five foundations and create charts, line graphs, or tables displaying historical assets, gifts received, expenditures, or giving information."

Explore the Foundation Center's new Trend Tracker.

Upcoming Conference

CASE Annual Conference for Development Researchers
Researchers as Knowledge Managers
February 6-8, 2008, Jacksonville, FL

Join Bentz Whaley Flessner consultants Pamela Poland and Josh Birkholz at the CASE Annual Conference for Development Researchers.

On Friday, February 8, Josh Birkholz will present Why do Donors Give?. The most successful major gift fundraising organizations benefit from effective prospect management systems. Prospect identification typically focuses on "Can they give?" and "Will they give?" Perhaps a better question is, "Why do they give?" In this session, expect to discuss the many diverse motivations for modern philanthropy. By understanding what drives donors, you might tap into a whole new world of potential donors to your organization.

Conference details

Msnbc.com and Contribute Magazine to Share Content

Msnbc.com and Contribute magazine today announced a content agreement that will provide consumers with the latest news, information and ideas about philanthropy and the people making a difference in the world of giving.

In addition to including Contribute's specialty content, both sites will work together to host polls, offer surveys and showcase other interactive tools. The content will be featured in msnbc.com's Giving section.

Full-text press release is available via CNNMoney.com, 12.12.07.

The Greatest Givers

BusinessWeek has launched a special report on individual and corporate philanthropy in the U.S. The report includes articles on "The Most Elite Club in the World," "The 50 Most Generous Philanthropists," "The Greatest Givers," and "How Companies Dig Deep," among others.

Access the full report here.

Gates studies the Rich

From the Wall Street Journal 10.31.2007 blog.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced yesterday that it's funding a new survey of the rich, called "The Joys and Dilemmas of Wealth." The study, co-funded by Wachovia's Calibre division, will be conducted by Boston College's Center on Wealth and Philanthropy. It will poll people worth $25 million or more, with a "considerable portion" of respondents worth $100 million or more.

Click here to read more.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy: Philanthropy 400

The Chronicle's annual rankings of the charities that raise the most money can be found here (note: subscription required). This year's data shows that the nation's most-successful groups increased contributions by 4.3%. A great resource.

The World's 100 Most Powerful Women

Forbes released its special report on the world's 100 most powerful women.

Click here to read the 8.30.07 Forbes special report.

Open Market Philanthropy

MIT assistant professor, Ed Boyden, discusses the concept of open market philanthropy -- connecting dollars to ideas. Boyden suggests having a website that serves as a forum for announcing research projects. Individuals browse projects and donate as they see fit. The concept is similar to micro-lender, Kiva, but channels funds to researchers.

Full-text blog posting by Boyden available via Technology Review (published by MIT), 9.24.07.

Community Foundations

Community foundations saw an increase in grants, assets, and donations in 2006. Two studies report on community foundation trends: Columbus Foundation and Council on Foundations.

Full-text article (includes synopsis of surveys) by Sue Hoye is available via Chronicle of Philanthropy, 9.20.2007.

Good News For Researchers : NYT Now Offers Free Archives Back To 1987

The New York Times today released a statement stating that starting tomorrow, it will no longer offer it's "TimesSelect" service and will be offering it's archives of articles from 1987 forward free of charge.

This no doubt will help budget-strapped shops who want to look up news and information on their prospects, alumni, and friends.

A Letter to Readers About TimesSelect

Dear NYTimes.com Readers:

Effective Sept. 19, we are ending TimesSelect. All of our online readers will now be able to read Times columnists, access our archives back to 1987 and enjoy many other TimesSelect features that have been added over the last two years – free.

If you are a paying TimesSelect subscriber, you will receive a prorated refund. We will send you an e-mail on Wednesday, Sept. 19 with full details.

Read More

New online fundraising resource

Check out fResource, available at http://www.fresource.info/. fResource lets fundraisers and researchers around the globe share their knowledge about fundraising products, tools, and resources. According to Third Sector Daily, Mathew Ide, director of fResource.info, said that fResource.info is "the world's first prospect research community and it's the first time that fundraisers' prospect tools have been listed in one place. A lot of the information we have on the site is unknown to most fundraisers."

A journey into social networking

This report explores the social networking phenomenon.

This 68-page marketing report (PDF) on social networking, commissioned by Fox Interactive Media, is titled, "Never Ending Friending: A journey into social networking." Main sections include: The Insider's View of the Evolving World of Social Networking; The Momentum Effect: Creating Brand Value in the Social Networking Space; and Implications for Brands and Agencies.

Read more on Soul Soup 2.0