by Joel L. Fleishman For the past three years, I have been chronicling the ongoing process of spend-down at AVI CHAI, a foundation located in Jerusalem and New York with programs in Israel, North America, and the former Soviet Union. The third annual report, titled Shifting the Spend-Down into High Gear: A Foundation Begins Implementing Its Strategy, is now available. The previous two reports (First Annual Report to the AVI CHAI Foundation and Gearing Up to Spend Down) described a general atmosphere of confidence and pride about the prospect of wrapping up what would eventually be more than a quarter-century of philanthropy. But the two respective periods, 2008-09 and 2009-10, were also years of soul-searching, painful choices, and some uncertainty among staff, Trustees, and grantees. To begin … Continue Reading
Diminishing Dollars for Social Justice Philanthropy
2008 Financial Crisis Likely to Affect Assets and Grantmaking Through 2015 New York, NY - November 17, 2011. According to a new report from the Foundation Center, a small but important subset of grantmakers - those who work on issues ranging from human rights to environmental justice - has been disproportionately impacted by the global financial crisis and their recovery remains in jeopardy. Diminishing Dollars: The Impact of the 2008 Financial Crisis on the Field of Social Justice Philanthropy examines historical trends in foundation assets, spending and giving levels; describes strategies used by foundations to cope with depleted assets immediately following the crisis; and presents projections through 2015 for asset and grantmaking levels. Key findings of the study indicate: Unless the … Continue Reading
New Report Released on Growing Philanthropy in the United States
Blackbaud, Inc. has announced the release of Growing Philanthropy in the United States, a report featuring recommendations defined to increase charitable giving to nonprofit organizations. Co-authored by Adrian Sargeant and Jen Shang of Indiana University the report is based on research from the Growing Philanthropy Summit. The report contains 32 recommendations focused on enhancing the quality of donor relationships; developing public trust and confidence in nonprofits; identifying audiences, channels and forms of giving with a strong potential for growth; and enhancing the quality of fundraising training and development. Key recommendations include: Shifting the focus in fundraising practice away from technique toward the encouragement of individual philanthropy; Redesigning the … Continue Reading
Fidelity Charitable Expects Strongest Level of Giving in 20-Year History
Fidelity Charitable Expects Strongest Level of Giving in 20-Year History Continuing the strong pace it has experienced thus far in 2011, Fidelity Charitable reported yesterday that it expects to see its strongest year ever in outgoing grants to charities and incoming contributions. For the first nine months of 2011, Fidelity Charitable donors recommended $832 million in grants to nonprofits nationwide, a 12% increase over the first nine months of 2010. Incoming contributions to Fidelity Charitable were up 23 percent compared with the same period in 2010, resulting in $748 million in new charitable dollars. Donations of appreciated securities as well as privately held stock, or complex assets, have been an increasing trend this year. Donations in the form of appreciated securities were 56 percent … Continue Reading
New, Free Online Service For Verifying 501(c)3 Status
Foundation Source, a provider of outsourced support services for private foundations, has announced the launch of GrantSafe™, a free online service that lets private foundations quickly and easily confirm the IRS status of any public charity before making a grant. Previously reserved for Foundation Source clients, GrantSafe’s new public availability furthers the company’s mission to encourage informed and responsible philanthropy among the nation’s private foundations. GrantSafe™ is available as a free service for those who register. Note: IRS regulations require that private foundations verify the exempt status of any 501(c)(3) public charity before making a grant, to ensure it is in good standing with the IRS. The most accurate and comprehensive source for this information is the … Continue Reading
New Million Dollar List Helps Target Strategic Giving
A new, one-of-a-kind searchable database will help high net worth individuals and their financial advisors decide where, when and why to give philanthropic gifts of $1 million or more. The Million Dollar List is the largest free record of publicly reported gifts of this size made since 2000. The data, covering more than 60,000 gifts of $1 million and up from individuals, foundations and corporations, was compiled by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. Advisors can aid donors by searching for information on gifts by geography, dollar amount, type of charity, individual donor, organization name or other customizable criteria. Searches can also reveal trends and help donors find like-minded individuals for potential collaborations to leverage their giving for greater … Continue Reading
U.S. Fundraising Results See No Change in First Half of 2011
As the fourth quarter of 2011 begins - typically the most important time of year for fundraising - fewer than half of surveyed nonprofits reported fundraising increases during the first half of 2011 compared with the same period in 2010. According to a just released report from the Nonprofit Research Collaborative (NRC), of 813 responding nonprofits surveyed in July: Forty-four percent reported increases in charitable contributions received through June, compared with the same period in 2010; Twenty-five percent reported giving remained level; Thirty percent reported charitable contributions have declined so far this year; and One percent did not know. These numbers are barely changed from the NRC 2010 year-end survey, when 43 percent of respondents indicated they raised more … Continue Reading
The Case for Multi-Generational Philanthropy
by Tamar Snyder What are the most effective ways to transmit your philanthropic values to your children and grandchildren while also ensuring that your charitable legacy within the Jewish community continues to endure? That’s one of the key questions on our minds here at Jewish Communal Fund, the donor-advised fund of the Jewish community of greater New York, which distributes an average of $250 million in grants to thousands of charities annually. A growing percentage of our fund holders are third generation members of charitable Jewish families, and we’ve been hard at work exploring the best ways to engage the NextGen in open and honest conversations around their values and how those values connect to their charitable giving. We established the Center for Next Generation Philanthropy last … Continue Reading
23 Jewish Nonprofits Lose 4 Star Rating
American Committee for Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jewish National Fund and Yeshiva University all lose cherished Charity Navigator 4 star rating Just as we begin the crucial year-end fundraising push, Charity Navigator - America's largest independent charity evaluator - has launched a new, two-dimensional rating system that measures each charity's Financial Health and Accountability & Transparency. Charity Navigator's focus in this new element is on how the charity reports publicly - both on the IRS 990 and on its website. They consider whether the charity is making easily available information regarding its governance practices, ethical practices, financial information, effectiveness and results. As a result of the new scoring system: Half of the nearly 5,500 charities rated by … Continue Reading
Don’t Limit Charitable Incentives When We Most Need Them
by William Daroff It seems straightforward as a way to reduce the federal budget deficit: cut tax deductions by $1, and you will increase revenues by $1. But to paraphrase George Orwell: while all tax deductions reduce tax revenues equally, some do more than just reduce government revenue. Some tax deductions put food in the mouths of the hungry, provide shelter to the homeless, and care for vulnerable older Americans. The charitable contribution deduction has been an integral part of the Federal income tax code for nearly 100 years, and it is vital that lawmakers continue to use tax policy to encourage charitable giving, especially during these perilous economic times. The Obama Administration recently proposed to limit the charitable contribution deduction for “wealthy” Americans, as a … Continue Reading
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