Zionist group urges donors, students to forgo UC Irvine after tension with Muslim students

A pro-Israel advocacy organization is asking donors to stop contributing and would-be students to stop applying to the University of California, Irvine, amid growing tension between Jewish and Muslim students. In a statement Tuesday, the Zionist Organization of America, in New York, blasted Chancellor Michael Drake for not condemning what the group characterizes as anti-Semitic speech on campus and discriminatory actions by the school's Muslim Student Union.

Full text article by Gillian Flaccus is available via The Associated Press, 2/17/10.

Five Principles for Smart Giving to Support Haiti’s Recovery

The statistics and the images of suffering from Haiti speak for themselves: 200,000 people dead, 500,000 in need of water, 1.1 million in need of shelter, and 2 million in need of food, according to statistics released early this month from the United States Agency for International Development and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Donors have responded, providing more than $644-million to support the many immediate needs of Haiti’s people.

Full text article by Eric Kessler and Regine Webster is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2/12/10.

Russian Billionaire Potanin May Give Away His Fortune

Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin has announced plans to give most of his money to charity within 10 years. Mr. Potanin, who has mining, banking, and resort interests and a fortune estimated by Forbes at $2.1-billion, said he will transfer most of his assets to a charity fund and in the meantime will increase his annual giving from $10-million to $25-million. Olga Kryshtanovskaya, a sociologist at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said Mr. Potanin is the country's first billionaire to make such a pledge. "The mentality of Russian business is changing, and it's starting to resemble the Western elites more and more," she said.

Full text article by Maria Kolesnikova and Yuriy Humber is available via Bloomberg, 2/2/10.

Sharp rise in donations to community foundations

British community foundations more than doubled their donations take last year. The country’s 57 community funds reaped about $90.9-million in 2008-9, an increase of more than $55-million.

Full text article by John Plummer is available via the Third Sector, 1/21/10.

A New York Cancer Center Uses Technology to Predict Who Will Give

Almost every charity's pool of donors includes plenty of people who have both the means and the inclination to make a far bigger gift than they ever did in the past. The trick, of course, is to figure out just which people will make the leap. To that end, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, in New York, has become one of a small but growing number of institutions to embrace a technique known as predictive modeling to help it set priorities and decide which donors deserve the most attention. While the approach requires fairly sophisticated statistical software and a staff member or a consultant who knows how to use it, fund raisers say predictive modeling can be an option for even relatively small organizations in need of a way to sort through records of previous donors.

Full text article by Nicole Wallace is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 1/14/10.

Association of Donor Relations Professionals (ADRP) Sixth International Conference Draws Nearly 200 Attendees to Baltimore

The 2009 International Conference of the Association of Donor Relations Professionals (ADRP) drew nearly 200 attendees from throughout the United States and Canada to Baltimore, Maryland for a three-day conference on today’s most important issues in the field of donor relations and stewardship.

One of the largest meetings of donor relations and stewardship professionals in the world allowing participants to share best practices and discuss the latest trends in the field, the conference kicked off with a keynote session by Bruce W. Flessner of Bentz Whaley Flessner fundraising consulting firm. Flessner discussed the topic Preparing for 2010: Fundraising and Donor Relations in the New Economy and, as an expert on new wealth philanthropy, Flessner’s presentation focused on philanthropy in the current economy and what to expect in during the next year.

Bentz Whaley Flessner’s Janet Hedrick, CFRE, a senior associate at the firm, also presented Pleasure or Pain: What Makes a Donor Cry? The session focused on the ways that development professionals respond to donors and how powerful Donor TouchPoints can be in bringing donors closer to their charities. In addition to Hedrick’s second session, You've Come a Long a Long Way Baby: Past, Present, and Future of Donor Relations, a presentation discussing how the professional field of donor relations has emerged in the last two decades and continues to grow, Hedrick also offered a book signing session at the conference for her book “Effective Donor Relations.”

To learn more about these sessions or Hedrick’s book, contact Bentz Whaley Flessner at bwf@bwf.com.

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.

ACORN Losing Funding From Big Foundations

In the wake of a series of embarrassing allegations, political-organizing group ACORN has lost the support of major funders, including the Ford Foundation, the Annie E. Case Foundation and Bank of America. Videos of ACORN employees providing questionable advice surfaced recently, and the group is accused of financial mismanagement and fraud.

Full-text post by Susan Kinzie is available via The Washington Post, 10/3/09.

Give Options To Donors Waiting Until Next Year

A vice president of development explains that most donors are too spooked about the economy to even think about multi-year commitments, especially when donors are looking at significant decreases in their stock portfolios and real estate values. One way to approach the shy donor base is to start talking about planned giving, as donors are holding their money tightly while they are uncertain about the not-so-distant future.

Full-text post by Michele Donohue is available via The NonProfit Times, 9/21/09.

Gates charity funds go out as loans, too

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is increasingly making loans, loan guarantees, and equity investments as ways to stretch its philanthropic dollars, The Seattle Times reports. The so-called program-related investments include $20-million to a German company to expand banking services in Africa, an $8-million equity fund to invest in health-care ventures, and loan guarantees backing U.S. education.

Full-text post by Kristi Heim is available via The Seattle Times, 9/20/09.

Despite Technical Problems, Michigan Arts-Funding Drive Raises $3.75M

Organizers of a massive online donation race to raise money for arts groups in metro Detroit are facing mixed reactions about the outcome of their effort. The good news is that the drive succeeded in raising $3.75 million for local cultural groups; the bad news is that technical glitches may have impeded some potential donors and upset others.


Full-text article by MARK STRYKER is available via Detroit Free Press, 8.18.09.

Microsoft Veterans Aim to Make Philanthropy More Personal

Microsoft veterans are launching two separate Seattle nonprofits aimed at encouraging a new generation of philanthropists by using mobile phones, social networking and online connections between donors and people in need.

Full-text article by Kristi Heim is available via The Seattle Times, 6.29.09.

Changing Demographics Could Be More of a Challenge to Charities Than the Recession

Fund raisers might want to be more concerned about shifting demographics than economic swings, Judith E. Nichols, deputy director for external affairs at the Brooklyn Public Library, told fund raisers recently.

Full-text blog post is available via The Chronicle's Prospecting Blog, 6.14.09.

Thanks for Your Generosity. Now Can You Give Again?

As colleges grapple with declining endowments and increased financial needs, a growing number are asking their most generous supporters to dig even deeper.

Full-text article by Kathryn Masterson is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 6.5.09. [Subscription required.]

I'm Honored. No, Actually, I Can't Afford It.

With banks, brokerage houses, real estate firms, hedge funds and even law firms struggling for survival, benefit honorees are in short supply.

Full-text article by Judith H. Dobrzynski is available via The New York Times, 5.1.09.

Nonprofits Can Capitalize on Economic Downturn

Since the stock market began its downward spiral last fall, it has attempted to drag endowments, private donations, and government funding down with it. Now is the
time for nonprofits to view the economic slump as a golden opportunity to fortify themselves by building relationships with their donors.

Full-text article by Michelle Bononan and Naree Viner is available via The Pasadena Star-News, 5.2.09.

New Unrest on Campus as Donors Rebel

Financially strapped colleges are angering their benefactors by selling school radio stations, auctioning Georgia O'Keeffe paintings and dipping into endowments for purposes their donors may not have intended.

Full-text article by John Hechinger is available via The Wall Street Journal, 4.23.09.

Donor Recognition: Thinking Like a Donor

The value of recognizing your donors goes far beyond showing appreciation for a gift. Recognition can motivate donors to be strong and lasting supporters of your organization.

Janet Hedrick, CFRE, senior associate at Bentz Whaley Flessner, who is the author of a new book from the AFP Fund Development Series, Effective Donor Relations, believes an important function of recognition is that it motivates people to give in the first place, and then acts as an incentive to continue support year to year. But, she says, recognition that is not well thought out could actually act as a “ceiling” for a donor’s giving level.

Full-text article is available via the AFP eWire, 2.9.09.

Big Donations Bring Complexities

After receiving a major donation — as in the University of Chicago business school’s recent $300-million gift from the financier David Booth — institutions face challenges and opportunities.

Full-text article by Mary Ellen Podmolik and Greg Burns is available via the Chicago Tribune, 11.9.08.

Bank of America linking donors, nonprofits

Bank of America is launching a new section on its website that will let nonprofits search for grant opportunities among some of the foundations whose charitable assets the bank manages.

With 150 professionals, the bank's Philanthropic Management unit manages $35 billion in charitable assets, serving as sole trustee or co-trustee for 2,000 private foundations, and advising over 10,000 individual and institutional clients.

Full-text article via Philanthropy Journal, 5.1.08.

Donors Sue University Over $2-Million Pledge

Donors to St. Bonaventure University, in New York, have sued the institution, saying that they were not provided with information about how their $2-million pledge for an addition to the school’s library was being spent.

Full-text article by Caroline Preston is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 3.20.08. [Subscription required]

Here’s My Check; Spend It All at Once

Restricted gifts and donor stipulations have increased throughout the last decade. This trend has forced many charities to reconsider their donor relations policies and accountability practices.

Full-text article by Stephanie Strom is available via the New York Times, 1.20.08.

Why Donating Millions Is Hard To Keep Secret

As anonymous giving to charities increases, it's getting harder for donors to maintain the anonymous part.

Wealthy philanthropists last year made 37 gifts of $5 million or more without publicly revealing their names. That's up from 27 such gifts in 2006, and just 13 in 2004, according to an analysis by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Full-text article by Sally Beatty is available via the Wall Street Journal, 1.9.08.

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

Grandparents University

Grandparents University, a once-a-year academic program put on by several colleges as a way to attract more people to campuses and, perhaps, expand the institutions’ donor pools.

Full-text article by Elia Powers is available via Inside Higher Ed, 12.13.07.

How Charities Can Make Themselves More Open

This article suggests that charities and foundations should make their operations more transparent by providing the public with more detailed information -- everything from board members and their bios to an open discussion about problems they've encountered while trying to achieve their goals. Charities should also explain to donors how they measure their effectiveness and report their findings to the public.

The full-text article by Sally Beatty is available via The Wall Street Journal, 12.10.2007.

Article includes graphics and charts of U.S. charitable giving and a podcast discussing the self-assessments some big charities and foundations have begun issuing to report publicly on the effectiveness of their programs.

Wealthy-Donor Giving Trends

Entrepreneurs are among the most-generous donors, giving 25 percent more on average to charitable causes than other wealthy people, according to a report commissioned by Bank of America to determine how rich people approach philanthropy.

Conducted by researchers at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, the report was based on surveys of 1,400 households that had annual incomes of more than $200,000 or net assets of more than $1-million. It follows an initial study of the data that was released in the fall of 2006.


The full-report, Portraits of Donors, is available via the Bank of America Web site.

Donor Intent and the Future of Higher Education Philanthropy

The Center for Excellence in Higher Education, a nonprofit organization formed in September that helps donors to negotiate gifts and to hold recipients more accountable for how the money is used, sponsored the event, "Donor Intent and the Future of Higher Education Philanthropy."

Among the participants were William Robertson, the lead plaintiff for the Robertson Foundation in a case against Princeton University; Renee Seblatnigg, president of the Future of Newcomb College Inc., the organization supporting the heirs of donors in a case against Tulane University; and Anne Yastremski, executive director of Preserve Educational Choice, an organization that supports several lawsuits against Randolph College, in Virginia.

Full-text article by Erin Strout is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 12.7.07. [Subscription required]

Donor Relations at Akron Children's Hospital

Akron Children's Hospital once a year invites local leaders to accompany doctors on their rounds, an experience that turns many of the visitors into loyal supporters.

Full-text article by Caroline Preston available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy. [subscription required]

Judge Rules in the Case of Donor vs. Princeton

A New Jersey Superior Court judge released seven decisions in regards to the Robertson Foundation vs. Princeton University. The case will go to trial.

Full-text article by Erin Strout available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 10.26.07. [Subscription required].