Fund-Raising Efforts for Chile Off to a Slow Start as Needs Remain Unclear

Donations are starting to trickle in to aid survivors of the massive earthquake in Chile—but at significantly lower levels than after the January 12 earthquake in Haiti. The slow pace of donations is largely because the government of Chile is in a better position to deal with the destruction than the impoverished country of Haiti, said a spokeswoman from Oxfam America.

Full text article by Nicole Wallace is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 3/1/10.

Understanding How Donors Choose: a Key to Fund-Raising Success

Many fund raisers spend so much time collecting information and doing research on their wealthy donors that it almost seems like they are stalking potential supporters, say Bernard Ross and Clare Segal, two British nonprofit consultants. Not surprisingly, donors sometimes get “a little freaked out” by the amount of personal and financial information fund raisers uncover, Mr. Ross says.

Full text article by Holly Hall is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 2/21/10.

The New Guerrilla Philanthropy

On Saturday night at the Water Street Bar in the Dumbo neighborhood of Brooklyn, Marissa Shrum stood on a stage and described her first foray into the new world of "creative philanthropy." A few months earlier, a friend had given her $100 and a challenge: Distribute the money through a creative act of kindness, and then share your story. "At first I thought, 'Whoa. I have $100 and I can do anything with it,'" Shrum, 28, recalls. "But when I thought about the issues that excite me, it became a no-brainer." Shrum, who is a strategist at Mother New York, an ad agency, bought a video camera for students at the High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media, in Canarsie, Brooklyn.

Full text article by Helen Coster is available via Forbes, 2/9/10.

More Older Americans Volunteer Casually, Survey Finds

The share of older Americans who are volunteering has held steady since 2003, but they are giving fewer hours per month, and are increasingly likely to volunteer on their own rather than solely through an organization, according to a new survey by AARP, the national membership organization for Americans age 50 and older.

Full text article by Heather Joslyn is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 1/19/10.

Donations for Haiti pour in via text messages

In the first three days after an earthquake rendered a third-world country nearly unreachable, more than $10 million in donation pledges flooded in using a 21st-century method of philanthropy. At one point, 10,000 text message pledges of $5 or $10 were being sent per minute to charities aimed at getting help to Haiti in the wake of an earthquake that's left the country in ruins. This new philanthropic tool was ready thanks to the efforts of a young nonprofit in Bellevue, Washington.

Full text article by Erich Schwartzel is available via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/18/10.

Recession Leaves Its Mark on Hospital Fund Raising

In a sign of how the recession is changing giving patterns. hospitals say more donors are making long-term pledges and fewer are making outright cash gifts, according to a new survey of 58 hospitals conducted by the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy.

Full text article by Holly Hall is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 12/28/09.

Hint of optimism for giving sector

A third study, by the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy, says businesses and individuals hit hardest by the recession have shifted their giving to long-term pledges and gift commitments rather than not giving.

Full text article by Todd Cohen is available via Inside Philanthropy, 12/28/09.

Charities tweet on social media

Want to help the poor? There's an app for that. More charities are jumping on the digital bandwagon, seeking potential donors through social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Full text article by Catherine Jun is available via The Detroit News, 12/28/09.

The Nonprofit Market: A Look Back and a Look Ahead

Looking back on the year, 2009 can be characterized as a rollercoaster ride for nonprofits. Fearing the worst, the industry so far has seen an 11 percent decrease in donations, according to a September 2009 report by the Charities Aid Foundation and National Council for Voluntary Organisations. This has been especially hard on small organizations, with many of them getting squeezed out by their larger, more national counterparts. At the same time, many charities with similar missions have come together, creating partnerships or merging in order to survive the economic downturn — and ensure the proper support for their causes. Although this has been a difficult time for nonprofits, 2009 has made organizations aware of how they need to shape up.

Full text article by Robin Fisk is available via Fundraising Success, 12/29/09.

December 31 Is Big Day for Online Donations

Data from the online fund-raising company Convio confirm what many nonprofit groups have long suspected: Donors make more online gifts on December 31 than any other day of the year.

Full text article by Nicole Wallace is available via the Chronicle of Philanthropy, 12/18/09.

Volunteers Give 10 Times More Than Other Americans, Survey Finds

Americans are far more likely to donate big sums to charity if they volunteer. On average, people donate 10 times more money if they have volunteered in the past year, according to the study. Two-thirds of volunteers said they give money to the same groups to which they donate time.

Full text article by Caroline Preston is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 12/3/09.

Donor Motivations for Giving Vary With Income and Education, Report Finds

According to a recent study by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, regional trends and values have less of an impact on donor motivation than income and education. Based on a survey of more than ten thousand households and funded by the Community Counseling Service, the report found that 18 percent of respondents said the most important reason for giving to charity was to help meet basic needs for other people such as food, shelter, clothing, and heat, while 17 percent said the most important reason was to make the world a better place.

Full text of this article is available via the Philanthropy News Digest, 10/27/09.

Postal Museum Receives $8 Million Gift

A financial manager has donated $8-million to the National Postal Museum, the largest gift in the D.C. institution’s history, according to The Washington Post. The gift will pay for a 12,000-square-foot gallery named for the donor William H. Gross, founder of the global investment company Pimco. Mr. Gross has amassed one of the world’s most important stamp collections.

Full-text post by Jacqueline Trescott is available via The Washington Post, 9/23/09.

Recession’s impact felt less in campus coffers

Despite the down economy, area universities continue to bring in lots of donation dollars, as some donors express that the decision to give is “fairly simple.” In the fiscal year that ended June 30, four schools received cash, pledges and deferred gifts totaling more than $350 million. The University of Kansas even set a fundraising record.

Full-text post by Mara Rose Williams is available via The Kansas City Star, 9/20/09.

Survey Finds Wealthy People Maintain Giving in Bad Times

Most wealthy Americans and Britons have maintained their giving levels over the past 18 months, the British newspaper the Telegraph reports.

Full-text article by Rachel Cooper is available via The Telegraph, 7.13.09.

Recession Adds to Challenges for Suburban Arts

Orchestras, theaters, museums and other arts organizations in the nation's suburbs face the challenge to attract customers — and donors — from the same population going to the Chicago Symphony, the Smithsonian or Broadway plays.

Full-text article by Jim Fitzgerald is available via Yahoo!News, 7.5.09.

Despite Tough Times, Donors Keep Giving, Fidelity Finds

Some good news for the charitable-giving world: Most donors — 55% — planned to donate the same amount to charities in 2009 as they did last year, according to a recent survey conducted by the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, a charitable donor-advised-fund program established by Fidelity Investments of Boston.

Full-text article by Sue Asci is available via InvestmentNews, 6.10.09.

Donors Grow More Optimistic on the Economy

Battered by the recession, few donors plan to increase their giving anytime soon. But their confidence in the economy is now showing some signs of improvement — which could bode well for longer-term fund-raising efforts — according to a new survey cited by Prospecting, The Chronicle’s fund-raising column.

Full-text blog post by Holly Hall is available via Prospecting, 5.21.09.

Smart Giving in a Troubled Climate

Strategies include providing direct service to individuals who need it rather than cash donations, or allowing future financial pledges be become immediately available to troubled charities.

Full-text article by David Cay Johnston is available via The New York Times, 5.21.09.

Women Take Lead Role In Deciding Donations

Women are taking an increasingly prominent role in determining their household’s charitable giving, with high-income women in particular more likely to seek financial advice and use sophisticated methods when making donations, according to a new study sponsored by Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund.

Full-text article by Paula Wasley is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 5.19.09.

For Athletics, a Billion-Dollar Goal Line

The nation's biggest athletics departments are trying to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for sports endowments, increasing the competition for donors.

Full-text article by Brad Wolverton is available via the Chronicle of Higher Education, 1.19.09. [Subscription required.]

Hedge Fund Charities Pinched as Donors Ask Results Firms Miss

In the past decade, hedge funds and private equity firms have emerged as some of the biggest and most-visible donors to charities in Europe, the U.S. and around the world. The money they spend on U.K. and New York schools and to fight AIDS in Africa and India almost always comes with strings attached.

Full-text article by Stephanie Baker and Tom Cahill is available via Bloomberg.com, 1.12.08.

The New Way to Give: Be Your Own Charity

The seeds of a philanthropic revolution are sprouting. Smaller donors are using the Web to pick and choose — and evaluate and criticize — the charities that matter to them.

Granted, online philanthropy is still a drop in the bucket: Web donations made up just 3% of all charitable gifts in the U.S. last year. That still amounts to $10 billion, though, and a tenfold increase from 1999, says Ted Hart, an author and founder of consultancy ePhilanthropy. Going forward, the stakes are even higher: Baby boomers and their kids are set to inherit some $15 trillion by 2017. More than a third of that is expected to go to charities, according to Boston College’s Center on Wealth and Philanthropy.

Full-text article by Reshma Kapadia is available by SmartMoney, 12.24.08.

Donors Who Stop Giving to a Charity Feel Disconnected, Survey Finds

Wealthy Americans who stop giving to a nonprofit group tend to do so because they no longer feel connected to the organization or believe they are being asked for money too often, according to a survey to be released this week by Bank of America and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Initial findings from the 2008 Bank of America Study of High-Net Worth Philanthropy are available at http://www.philanthropy.iupui.edu. Complete findings will be available in early 2009.

Full-text article by Caroline Preston is available via the Chronicle of Philanthropy, 11.27.08. [Subscription required.]

New Way To Rate Charities Sought

An alliance of prominent philanthropists and entrepreneurs is developing a rating system that they hope will radically alter the way donors evaluate whether a charity is worth their money.

The Social Investing Rating Tool would assess not only how nonprofit groups spend their money but also whether their work is making a difference. The goal is to encourage donors to think more like investors -- to consider their charitable donations social investments, complete with risks and responsibilities.

Full-text article by Megan Greenwell is available via the Washington Post, 11.24.08.

The Path to a $300-Million Donation

A donor explains what motivated him to pledge a nine-digit gift to the University of Chicago business school.

Full-text article by Kathryn Masterson is available via the Chronicle of Higher Education, 11.24.08. [Subscription required.]

Ups and Downs of Insurance Gifts

John Keith, assistant vice president of gift planning at the Indiana University Foundation, highlights the pros and cons of using life insurance as a planned-giving tool.

Full-text article by John Keith is available via the Philanthropy Journal, 7.7.08.

Colleges Seek Ways to Raise Donations in Tight Economy

Institutions are still receiving the large pledges, but some said it's now taking more time and work to actually receive the funds. Smaller donations have decreased slightly, and state matching funds have been delayed for public universities.

Full-text article by Adam Aasen is available via the Florida Times Union, 6.2.08

Toxic Clean Up Philanthropy

SEATTLE, WA -- Communities that struggle with big, dirty industries also benefit from corporate philanthropy. The money usually comes from the industries themselves or companies that contract with the industry. Philanthropy experts say the motive for giving is more than generosity. An example would be Hanford contractor Battelle, which recently announced a $1 million gift to help pay for a new museum in the Tri-Cities. KPLU's Anna King reports on how corporate philanthropy is not unusual for this community, a community built around one of the largest superfund sites in the country.

Listen to Anna King's report via NPR.com, 2.19.08.

Eduventures Study Focuses On First-Time Major Gift Donors to Colleges and Universities

A new three-part report from Eduventures, Transitioning Donors to Higher Gift Levels, provides college and university development offices with answers to a number of key questions related to first-time major donors, among them: what are the characteristics of first-time major donors, what are their motivations, and what can development officers do to accelerate first-time major gifts?

The report analyzes data on nearly 1,300 donors who made their first major gift ($25,000 or more) to an institution in fiscal 2007. The data was collected in conjunction with The Reeher Group, consultants to the higher education market specializing in data mining and analytics, and includes demographic information, dates of contacts of various types by the institution, donation history, and proposal information. Eduventures also conducted Web surveys of both gift officers who cultivated first-time major donors and the donors themselves.

Key findings from the report include the following:

1. Donors follow two distinct patterns in transitioning to higher giving levels. More than one-quarter of donors made a gift of $25,000 or more within five years of making their first gift to the institution. In contrast, almost half of all donors made their first gift to the institution more than 20 years before making a commitment at the major gift level.

2. Overall, gift officers reported conducting an average of 3.6 face-to-face visits with donors within the two years leading up to the major gift commitment. They also indicated making an average of 14.5 other contacts - e.g., personalized letters, e-mails, and phone calls.

3. Among donors, there was a wide range of motivations for making a first-time major gift - e.g., grateful patients motivated by the desire to support the research efforts of those who helped them; alumni seeking to take advantage of financial and/or tax benefits; and parents motivated by their children's personal and academic growth.

Press release available via PRWeb, 2.11.08.

Facebook Generation: Is Philanthropy Ready for the Revolution?

The recent issue of Contribute considers the imapact of social networking on philanthropy (see links below).

Innovators
Virtual Communities
Q&A with virtual philanthropist, Anshe Chung
Viral Advocacy
Security

Contribute Magazine

Eli Broad Decides to Lend -- Not Give Away -- His Art

Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist and art collector, has decided not to donate his extensive collection of modern artwork to any one museum, but instead to form an independent foundation that will loan the work to many institutions, reports The New York Times.

Full-text article by Edward Wyatt is available via the New York Times, 1.8.08.

Direct Mail Appeals Suffer Setback

A recent survey by the Target Analysis Group reports that direct-mail appeals sent by charities are not producing as much money as they did in years past because the number of people who give through the mail is declining. Charities have increased the amount raised per solicitation, but not enough to make up for the failure to recruit new donors through the mail.

A complete summary of the survey is available via Target Analysis Group, 1.2008.

Philanthropy: Self-made want to be hands-on donors

A growing number of donors, as a generation of self-made wealthy individuals seeks to engage in philanthropic activities, would rather be involved than simply leave their money to a charity or to their family in a will according to the Financial Times.

Full text article by Sarah Murray is available via the Financial Times, 12.14.07.

Where are all the charitable bequests?

Charitable bequests are becoming rare with only eight percent of Americans naming a charity in their will. The article comments on donor motivations and tax issues as they relate to charitable bequests.

Full-text article by G. Jeffrey MacDonald is available via The Christian Science Monitor, 11.19.07.

Donors Gone, Trusts Veer From Their Wishes

Orphan trusts and foundations exist. At the request of The New York Times, the Foundation Center identified 3,935 foundations that reported a financial institution as their sole trustee, out of a total of more than 77,000 foundations in its database. Those foundations control $5.4 billion in assets, and gave away $256.1 million in 2005.

This article discusses what happens to donor intent and giving responsibilities when orphan trusts are managed by multinational financial institutions.

Full-text article by Stephanie Strom is available via The New York Times, 9.29.07.

New Philanthropy Capital

Another example of senior figures in the securities industry shifting their focus to the charitable sector. James Garvin, former co-head of equity capital markets at UBS is now a director at New Philanthropy Capital, a research firm that applies the discipline of equity research to advise wealthy individuals and foundations on making effective charitable donations.

Full-text article by William Wright available via Financial News, 9.28.07.

UMaine Gets $12M Gift

The University of Maine announced it has received the largest donation in its history, $12 million from 1937 graduate George L. Houston.

Houston, who died earlier this year at the age of 91, made the bequest to the University of Maine Foundation. The Bangor native played football for UMaine and later developed an engineering and surveying consulting business.

His gift will be used to establish a scholarship fund named for Houston that will benefit undergraduate and graduate students in the university's School of Forest Resources.

Full-text article available via Business Week, 9.25.07.

Cal Poly Receives a $60-Million Pledge

California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo announced today a $60-million gift to its architecture department, from an anonymous donor. The donation is believed to be the largest ever made to an institution in the California State University system.

Full-text article by Erin Strout available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 9.26.07. [Subscription required.]

Royal Shakespeare Gets $5 Million From U.S. Donor

Chris Abele, a Milwaukee businessman whose father was a founder of the biotechnology company Boston Scientific, oversees his family’s philanthropic work, the Argosy Foundation, as well as the Royal Shakespeare Company America.

The president of the American arm of the British Royal Shakespeare Company has given $5-million to help construct a new theater in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.

Full-text article by Campbell Robertson available via The New York Times, 9.24.07.