Hispanics in Philanthropy--'Thinking Big' Leads to Success

Hundreds of charitable organizations confront the disturbing fact that about 1.2 percent of the donations from national foundations go to Hispanic nonprofits.

One organization, however, that has bucked this trend is the highly successful San Francisco-based Hispanics in Philanthropy. Called HIP by its members, the 25-yearold nonprofit consists of an international network of 480 grant-makers. It serves as a self-described "bridge" between Hispanic-focused nonprofits and funders.

Full-text article by Steven Van Yoder is available via HispanicBusiness.com, 5.1.08.

Public Radio Seeks to Broaden Reach

Although public radio drew its largest audience last year, it is aggressively seeking to broaden the programs it offers in the hopes of drawing a larger and more diverse number of listeners.

Full-text article by Elizabeth Jensen is available via The New York Times, 4.27.08.

Naming Gifts Attract Business-School Alumni

In the past several years, a number of alumni have made major donations to U.S. business schools — often with naming conditions.

Full-text article by Sarah Murray is available via The Financial Times, 3.28.08. [Free registration is required to view this article.]

Corporate Foundation Giving Reaches an Estimated $4.4 Billion

Giving by corporate foundations increased 6.6 percent in 2007 to an estimated $4.4 billion, according to Key Facts on Corporate Foundations, a new summary report released by the Foundation Center. Looking ahead, slightly more than half of corporate foundations surveyed (54 percent) expect their giving to increase in 2008.

The full-text report is available via the Foundation Center, 4.2008.

Minnesota fundraising report finds nonprofits seeking $1.5 billion

For the first time since 1997, the Minnesota Council on Foundations has published a report on capital and endowment fundraising campaigns among the state's nonprofits.

The total for current campaigns: a hefty $1.5 billion, but more than half of the amount comes from two college campaigns.

Full-text report "Capital and Endowment Campaigns in Minnesota: 2007 - 2008" is available via The Minnesota Council of Foundations.

Minnesota Adopts Model Charitable Endowment and Investment Law

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty signed the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (UPMIFA) into law on April 10, allowing more flexibility in endowment spending policies for charitable organizations. The law will take effect on August 1 and replaces Minnesota's Uniform Management of Institutional Funds Act that has been in place since 1973.

Full-text article available via Faegre & Benson, LLP., 4.2008.

Charities, donors, advisers turn to planned giving

Today, with the economy stumbling, competition for charitable dollars growing, and unprecedented wealth being created and starting to flow between generations, planned giving has emerged as an increasingly popular philanthropic strategy.

Full-text article by Todd Cohen is available via The Philanthropy Journal, 4.21.08.

British Philanthropists Giving More

The very rich in Great Britain are giving more and more to causes in developing countries.

Full-text article by Maurice Chittenden is available via The Sunday Times, 4.20.08.

Some Nonprofit Hospitals Demand Payments Before Treating Patients

In an effort to reduce debt and costs associated with treating uninsured or poor people, some nonprofit hospitals are asking patients to make payments before they receive treatment.

Full-text article by Barbara Martinez is available via The Wall Street Journal, 4.28.08. [Subscription required.]

What It Takes to Be a Good Fund Raiser

Demand for fund raisers continues to be intense as the number of charities in the United States keeps growing, the ambitions of organizations expand, and the economy’s ups and downs lead organizations to look at ways to raise private money to replace government aid.

Dozens of people who want to fill those jobs — or upgrade their skills — gathered at New York University on Saturday to participate in a day-long conference run by the George Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising.

Full-text blog post by Stacy Palmer is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy's Prospecting Blog, 4.27.08. [Subscription required.]

Back to Basics

More charities are seeking — and getting — operating support. Article includes a table outlining grant makers that provide the most money in operating support grants.

Full-text article by Elizabeth Schwinn is available via The Chronicle of Philantropy, 5.1.08. [Subscription required.]

Rockefeller Donates $100 million to Harvard University

Harvard University received $100 million from David Rockefeller, the largest gift from an alumnus in the school’s history. The money will be used to increase international learning opportunities for Harvard undergraduates and build three new study centers at Fogg Art Museum, where students will come face-to-face with original works of art.

Full-text article by Boston Globe Staff is available via The Boston Globe, 4.25.08.

Family Foundation Giving Up Sharply

The Foundation Center recently released its Key Facts on Family Foundations, a report that found giving by U.S. family foundations to have jumped by twenty one percent in one year, reaching $17 billion in 2006.

Study findings are available via Foundation Center, 4.2008.

Fund-Raising Appeals

Lawmakers who want to discourage charities from spending too much money on fund raising are considering introducing legislation to require nonprofit groups to post information for donors to a Postal Service Web site, including the ratio of their fund-raising costs to program spending.

Full-text article by Elizabeth Schwinn is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 4.25.08. [Subscription required.]

Colleges Create Facebook-Style Social Networks to Reach Alumni

Trying to emulate the popularity of Web sites like Facebook and MySpace, hundreds of college alumni associations have begun to offer their own online social networks, seeking to stake a claim on the computer screens of current and former students, especially young alumni.

Full-text article by JJ Hermes is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 4.25.08. [Subscription required.]

Arts Groups Feel Economic Woes

Museums, symphony halls, dance companies, and other arts groups are feeling the impact of spiking interest rates on municipal bonds and low returns on investments. Plus many groups fear that the sagging economy will lead to a drop in ticket sales and donations.

Full-text article by Karen Matthews is available via Philly.com, 4.21.08.

New Faith-Raising Training Seeks to Rescue Fundraising for Christian Ministries

Saint Wall Street, a provider of training and coaching on donor, grants and earned-income, recently published "Peter's Principles for Extreme Fundraising" for Christian church and para-church ministries.

According to new research from the Barna Group, just five percent of Americans tithed in 2007. The percentage of believers who gave dropped to its lowest level this decade (76%). Church-giving today, as a percentage of income (2.6%), remains lower than it was during the Great Depression (3.3%). One estimate places the loss to the church at nearly $200 billion.

Religious givers provided the bulk of the $97 billion donated to America's religious programs in 2006 and, according to Generous Giving, provide two-thirds of all charitable dollars donated each year in the US.

Secular nonprofits, now spending up to $9 billion/yr. on marketing, as reported by Philanthromedia, stand to increase support from religious givers who Independent Sector reports are also responsible for three out of every four dollars their programs currently receive.

Full-text press release is available via PRWeb, 4.18.08.

Philanthropy on the commons

The future of philanthropy lies in joining the wave of open source peer-production that is enriching public assets, says Mark Surman.

Full-text article by Mark Surman is available via openDemocracy, 4.18.08

Web Sites Allow People to Donate Without Giving Money

Web sites that allow people to support charities by looking at advertising are becoming increasingly popular and effective.

Full-text article by Aleksandra Todorova via The Wall Street Journal, 4.21.08. [Subscription required.]

Anita Roddick's will reveals she donated entire £51m ($101 million) fortune to charity

Dame Anita Roddick, the founder of The Body Shop who died last year, left nothing to friends and relatives in her will as she had already given it all to charities.

Full-text article by Matthew Moore is available via The Daily Telegraph, 4.21.08.

Big Spender: Endowments at Colleges and Universities

Congress is pressing the nation's colleges and universities to spend more of their endowment. Article is specifically focused on Princeton University's endowment. Corresponding data graphic outlines the richest institutions serving undergraduates - those with the largest endowment assets per student as per NACUBO.

Full-text article by Karen W. Arenson is available via The New York Times, 4.20.08.

Couple Gives $25M To Children's National Medical Center

Diana and Stephen Goldberg have made a generous donation to advance pediatric health care in the region, giving $25 million to fund diabetes and obesity research and a host of other initiatives at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C..

Full text article by Philip Rucker is available via The Washington Post, 4.17.08.

Measuring the Results of Spending on Fund Raising

A new study by the Association of Healthcare Philanthropy shows that spending more on fund raising produces a significant increase in revenue. And trying a diversity of fund-raising approaches works better than sticking to just one or two fund-raising techniques, researchers say.

Study findings indicate that for every $1 a hospital spends to raise money, it receives a median $4.45 in return — meaning that half do better and half do worse.

The return on investment for each organization studied ranged from $1.63 per dollar spent to $23.80 per dollar spent, according to William McGinly, the association’s chief executive.

Full-text blog post by Elizabeth Schwinn is available via the Chronicle of Philanthropy's Prospecting Blog, 4.16.08.

Couple Donates 50 Artworks Each to Institution in Every State

Dorothy and Herbert Vogel, New York art collectors, have created a “Fifty Works for Fifty States” collection and will donate a total of 2,500 artworks to 50 arts institutions across the United States.

The Vogels began amassing their collection of contemporary art in the late 1960s; they lived on Mr. Vogel’s salary as a U.S. Postal Service employee and bought artworks with Ms. Vogel’s salary as a reference librarian at the Brooklyn Public Library.

Full-text article by Suzanne Muchnic is available via The Los Angeles Times, 4.11.08.

Video A Key Element In Healthcare Fundraising

Hospitals nationwide have been increasing their activity in technology-driven development and spending on fundraising in general, according to Julie Lane, managing director of the Philanthropy Leadership Council of The Advisory Board Company (ABC), a membership association of 2,600 hospitals, health systems and universities.

Full-text article by Tom Pope is available via The NonProfit Times, 4.15.08.

Even rich think they might be too rich

The rich are not like you and me, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in The Great Gatsby.

For one thing, they're getting ahead at a quicker pace, according to a new study. Two-thirds surveyed on middle-class attitudes believe that "the rich are getting richer." The authors of Inside the Middle Class: Bad Times Hit the Good Life say their hunch is right.

Full-text article by Andrew Herrmann is available via The Chicago Sun-Times, 4.13.08.

Blogging from the Luxury Summit: Robert Frank Keynote Speech

Blog report from the Luxury Summit at the Four Seasons in Westlake Village, California.

Robert Frank, author of Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and Lives of the New Rich, delivered the keynote address. For the wealthy, Frank says,right now it's not about the money it's about the mood.

Full-text blog post by Deidre Woollard is available via Luxist.com, 4.14.08.

As Wall Street Falters, Charities Seek Donors Elsewhere

Charities that traditionally find financial support from Wall Street investors, corporations, and law firms in New York are adopting a cautious attitude in response to the economic downturn.

Full-text article by Geraldine Fabrikant is available via The New York Times, 4.12.08.

Fewer Options Open to Pay for Costs of College

Parents will have to navigate unfamiliar and difficult terrain when it comes time to pay for college this year, with student loan companies in turmoil and banks tightening their standards and raising rates on other types of borrowing.

Full-text article by Jonathan D. Glater is available via The New York Times, 4.12.08.

When Strings Are Attached, Quirky Gifts Can Limit Universities

As the nation’s wealthiest colleges and universities report on their finances to Congress, seeking to head off federal requirements that they spend at least 5 percent of their ever-growing endowment income, new attention is being paid to how endowments are structured, and on the restrictions imposed by donors.

Full-text article by Karen W. Arenson is available via The New York Times, 4.13.08.

Few Charity Supporters Read Nonprofit Blogs

Only a small percentage of charity supporters — 6 percent — read blogs, social-networking sites, or RSS feeds to keep up with the organizations they care about, according to a new survey.

But 43 percent of the people surveyed said that they were interested in receiving such information through social-media tools.

The survey of 2,275 adults who reported that they had donated, volunteered, or advocated on behalf of a nonprofit organization within the past 12 months was conducted by Harris Interactive, in collaboration with Virilion, a Washington consulting company formerly known as Mindshare Interactive Campaigns.

For more information: Go to http://www.virilion.com.

Full-text blog posting (above) by Nicole Wallace via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 4.17.08. [Subscription required.]

2007 Windfall Report: America’s 50 Richest Paydays

You won’t find Oprah Winfrey on the list. Nor will you find the legion of hedge-fund managers who routinely collect hundreds of millions in any given year. That’s because they’re all just getting paid to do their day jobs. This is a list of people who enjoyed windfalls thanks to large transactions: stock cash-outs, I.P.O.’s, sales of companies, real-estate deals—even inheritances. Peter Newcomb's list of the 50 players (and one lucky canine) whose bottom lines got the biggest boost last year is available via Vanity Fair, 3.2008.

Seattle University Seeking $160 Million in Gifts

Seattle University announced Thursday that the university will seek to bring in $160 million in private gifts by June of next year, another sign that universities are relying increasingly on donors to build up their endowments.

Full-text blog post by Amy Rolph is available via the seattlepi.com, 4.10.08.

Palestinian Billionaire Sinks Riches into Philanthropy

Munib al Masri, dubbed the "Palestinian Rothschild," has turned his focus from the oil industry to philanthropy and promoting political dialogue.

Full-text article by Ivan Watson is available via National Public Radio, 4.9.08.

Putting Value on E-Mail Addresses

Convio, the online fund-raising consulting company, has calculated the fund-raising value of e-mail addresses that nonprofit groups collect from donors and other supporters.

According to the Convio study, an e-mail address is worth $7.86 to charities that use e-mail appeals for fund raising. An address is most valuable for health organizations ($8.32 per address) and animal advocacy groups ($6.99). It is significantly less valuable for environmental ($2.59) and public-affairs ($2.60) organizations.

The results are discussed on the blog Frogloop. Frogloop is a blog by Care2, a popular social-networking Web site that connects charities with supporters and other charities. The blog discusses best practices among nonprofit professionals about online fund raising, advocacy and member acquisition.

Full-text blog posting (above) by Peter Panepento via The Chronicle of Philanthropy's Prospecting Blog, 4.7.08.

Grady Memorial Hospital Gets a $200 Million Gift

Grady Memorial Hospital, one of the country’s largest charity hospitals, will receive $200 million from the Woodruff Foundation. The gift is the largest on record to a single public hospital, according to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Full-text article by Shaila Dewan is available via The New York Times, 4.8.08.

Association for Healthcare Philanthropy's Benchmarking Study

A landmark new series of studies on philanthropic practices has found that today's most effective fundraisers use a variety of well-rounded programs and activities to raise money, shattering the myth that big ticket galas, golf tourneys and telethons are the only way to attract donors. The most successful fundraising programs have a sustained emphasis on building relationships and cultivating and maintaining major gift donors.

These are findings from The Association for Healthcare Philanthropy's (AHP) initial series of studies based on initial results of its Performance Benchmarking Service, which for the first time allows participating nonprofit hospitals and health care systems to systematically compare and contrast their fundraising efforts. Data were gathered from 31 U.S. and Canadian organizations.

For a copy of the AHP Performance Benchmarking Service studies, a list of participating members, or to learn more about the program, visit the AHP Web site.



Full-text press release is available via PR Newswire, 4.7.08.

What Will the Future Bring for Alumni Associations?

Andy Shaindlin, executive director of the Caltech Alumni Association, is trying to predict what alumni associations will look like in the next ten years, on the Alumni Futures blog.

At One Major University, Chief Fund Raiser Will Now Oversee Athletics

Fund raising and college sports have become close cousins in recent years, as athletics programs have grown rapidly on the backs of private donors.

But here’s a new one: Bob Krause, vice president for institutional advancement at Kansas State University, was named today as the permanent athletic director at the Big 12 institution.

Full-text article (above) by Brad Wolverton is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 4.4.08.

China's top philanthropists donate $1.8b in 5 years

China's top 100 philanthropists have given away 12.9 billion ($1.8 billion) since 2003, with education, social welfare and poverty reduction attracting the most donors, the Hurun Philanthropy List reports.

Full-text article by Wang Ying is available via China Daily, 4.3.08.

Leaders of Small Colleges Are Increasingly Dissatisfied With Trustees, Report Finds

A new report sheds light on a growing concern for many small colleges: trustees falling down on the job.

With tight budgets and slim endowments, many small and midsize institutions rely heavily on their boards of directors to donate money and assist in fund-raising efforts.

But according to a report by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, college presidents are increasingly dissatisfied with their board members' fund-raising abilities.

The report, "Advancing Small Colleges: A Benchmarking Survey Update," is available for purchase on CASE's Web site.


Full-text article by Brad Wolverton is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 4.2.08. [Subscription required.]

Fort Worth Gets New Hospital

With the opening of a four-story women's hospital, Baylor All Saints Medical Center at Fort Worth expects to become the favored site for expectant moms to deliver their newborns.

The $95 million Paul and Judy Andrews Women's Hospital features dozens of labor-and-delivery rooms, state-of-the-art operating rooms and a neonatal intensive care unit for the sickest preemies.

Full-text article by Maria M. Perotin is available via The Star-Telegram, 3.31.08.