The Today and Tomorrow of Fundraising
Last week saw the Big Apple host the 2008 version of the New York Nonprofit Conference.
Here, from Fundraising Success Magazine, is a keynote snapshot:
Every fundraiser’s task for the next few years is to navigate a path between traditional and emerging fundraising strategies.
So says Frank O’Brien, president of the Washington, D.C.-based consultancy OMP, who gave the keynote presentation, “The Six Dynamics Shaping the Future of Fundraising“.
- Building lists isn’t just about finding donors — it’s about making yourself “findable.”
- The charitable experience is shifting from a tight circle of donors to a looser circle of engagement.
- People move fluidly back and forth across channels and up and down in their level of engagement.
- There is a generational and technological shift from obligation to excitement.
- What happens today in commercial direct marketing will happen tomorrow in nonprofit fundraising.
- There’s an urgent need to have an easily expressed, emotionally powerful identity.
Read the complete article here.
An Updated Go-to Resource for Corporate Giving
Are you looking for consultants, IT solutions, publications, academic centers, associations, governmental agencies, venture organizations – all connected with philanthropy in the public, private and independent sectors? The Corporate Philanthropy Resource Guide is a good starting point for strategic giving and can help facilitate effective partnerships.
The guide has been published by The Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, the only international forum of business CEOs and Chairpersons pursuing a mission focused exclusively on corporate philanthropy.
Don’t mind the image or file title; the guide has been updated for Spring 2008.
Giving by Wealthy to Stay Flat
Giving by wealthy donors in the United States is likely to remain strong but flat through the rest of the year, reports the Financial Times.
Charity buoyed by resilience of wealthy donors (registration required)
The economic slump is already causing financially stretched middle-income Americans to curtail their charitable donations, but philanthropic giving by the wealthy is likely to remain strong – if not quite as generous – throughout the rest of the year.
The timing of big gifts could be affected, too, as most large donations tend to be driven by events such as the selling of a piece of appreciated real estate, or liquidating a family business – occasions that could be delayed by volatility in the stock market.
A Salesforce for Good
A follow-up to an earlier post, Philanthropy on the Front End:
Marc Benioff’s technology company volunteers to reshape philanthropy model
When Salesforce.com emerged on the technology scene in 1999 with the novel concept of offering software as an online service, the accompanying PR catchphrase was “the end of software.” Perhaps less known was the parallel mantra, coined for the newly formed Salesforce.com Foundation: “the end of philanthropy.”
“While this phrase shocked some, what we meant was an end to corporations just giving away money” and that they should “get more involved with the organizations they support,” says Salesforce.com CEO and Chairman Marc Benioff.
Benioff, under whose leadership CRM leader Salesforce.com has evolved in a decade from a disruptive idea into a public company that projects more than $1 billion in revenue in 2009, is the chief evangelizer—through books, conferences and the media—for Salesforce.com’s 1/1/1 Corporate Responsibility model.
These numbers correspond to the three ways in which the Salesforce.com Foundation contributes to the community, providing 1 percent of employee hours, 1 percent of company equity and 1 percent of its product.
“This is what we do, you can’t take it out,” says Benioff of Salesforce.com’s philanthropy model. “It’s like trying to take the blood out of the body. This is what we do every day.”
You can read more about the Salesforce.com Foundation and how they assist qualified non-profit organizations here.
All The News That’s Fit to Print
Two stories of interest from the New York Times:
Making a Child’s Life Better in Every Corner
from an interview with Caryl M. Stern, who after eighteen years with the ADL, joined UNICEF in 2006 and now is President and CEO of their United States Fund.
Q. After crises, there is such urgency about contributing money quickly and online. Why?
A. It’s not enough to get America to write that check. We’ve got to get that check in the system, we’ve got to be able to bank it, we’ve got to clear it and get it to where it’s got to go. If you make a donation on your credit card online, it transfers so much faster. Within 24 hours, that money can be actionable on the ground. Supplies like sheeting, water purification tablets and medical supplies can’t be ordered if there is no money.
Can the New Rich Buy Respect? One Ukrainian Oligarch Is Trying
There comes a time in the life of an oligarch when spending money becomes more important than making it. And for Victor Pinchuk, the controversial oligarch and Ukraine’s second-richest man after Rinat Akhmetov, that time is now.
eJP note: I can’t help but notice the absence of Jewish philanthropy on a Google search for Victor Pinchuk. Maybe Zeevik should invite him to the November board meetings. After all, JAFI’s current budget shortfall effects their work in the FSU.
and this, from The Wall Street Journal:
Charity Sites That Let Donors Call the Shots
A new breed of charities allows donors to browse descriptions of specific projects online before funding them.
Alumni Support
Despite the economic climate, two major Universities (Brandeis and YU) have announced record levels of contributions for the past year. It is interesting that both recognize the value of gifts from their alumni and cultivating their graduates. The value is immense with an estimated 60% plus of gifts at many major universities coming from their alumni community.
But, alumni giving is much more than the dollar gifts. From Tactical Philanthropy:
“Schools that have a large percentage of donating alumni, especially among younger alums, are encouraging a mindset that spans beyond money. A donation from a younger alumnus is a powerful statement that his or her experience really meant something to them. In addition to foreshadowing future giving (likely at a more substantial amount), the same alumni who donate money are the ones helping promote evangelize the school brand, network and help students with jobs and volunteer for development efforts.”
Geez, I wish our Jewish communal organizations would recognize this. There are tens, and more likely hundreds, of thousands of alumni from various domestic youth and Israel long-term programs who having moved onward and upward in the world, maintain a fondness for these programs. Prime material not only for giving but generally supporting and promoting the ‘brand’.
As a community we have been anything but stellar in this regard. Some organizations, particularly the URJ’s camp network, have recently started to successfully move forward and correct this long-time oversight. Others like Hadassah’s Young Judaea, assuming the message they send to WUJS Arad alumni matches their other Israel programs, is quite honestly, a disgrace. Read more
Coming Soon: Worldwide Competition for Donors
American charities will soon be competing with a world of nonprofit organizations for online donations, an international fund-raising expert told participants at a conference in Washington last week, according to Prospecting, The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s fund-raising column.
Jon Duschinsky, founder of Bethechange Consulting, predicts that within five years, and probably sooner, those sites will allow donors to make global, not just domestic, choices about which charities to support.
“International giving could blow the socks off of the charity world, and blow a lot of organizations out of the water,” he says.
Read more here.
Philanthropy on the Front End
Several months back, I was privileged to be part of a small host group of Israeli bloggers invited to meet with the American Internet gurus visiting here for the Innovation Israel blogging expedition. One of those visiting was Sarah Lacy. Here’s an interview she just did for Yahoo tech ticker:
Not everyone is a fan of the sometimes-mischievous Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff but it’s hard to fault his emphasis on philanthropy. Benioff has authored two books on philanthropy and become a proponent of the idea that you don’t wait until you’ve made your fortune to start giving it away — you do it as you go. Here’s Benioff speaking of his other mission: Turning “Stingy Valley” into a land of plenty. (it may take a minute or so for the video to load)
Ok, You’re a Billionaire. What Now?
Big Money’s Influence
We bring you these three articles, two of which are from the mainstream international media, as they all pose questions that need to be asked in our world of Jewish philanthropy, regardless of who sits in the Prime Minister’s office. This is neither a discussion of politics or the law. Both of which are topics we will stay away from on this blog.
from the New York Jewish Week:
Financial Questions for Olmert’s Charity
New Jerusalem Foundation never spent a significant amount of funds raised in American South for Israeli terror victims in 2002.
from Reuters:
EXCLUSIVE-How Israeli PM wooed, and lost, Christian dollars
An Israeli investigation into fraud and corruption has turned a spotlight on how Ehud Olmert, when mayor of Jerusalem, raised funds from rich American Jews.
Less in view have been fruitful financial ties Olmert enjoyed with evangelical Christians in the United States, a relationship that became strained after the prime minister launched talks with Palestinians that could return parts of Jerusalem to Arab rule.
from the Associated Press:
Olmert’s woes raise questions of ties to US Jews
While Israel has had close ties with the U.S. Jewish community throughout its history, some wealthy American donors have extended their influence to Israel’s halls of power, crossing what many Israelis see as a red line.
Leverage is Critical to Effective Philanthropy
Writing in Saturday’s Financial Times, Charles Bronfman and Jeffrey Solomon urge big donors to become more involved with the charities they support financially. They say that the amount a donor gives to charity is often less important than the leverage that donor brings to an organization.
“At a New York charity auction in May, the Robin Hood Foundation raised $56.5m for its mission of eradicating poverty in the city. This is an extraordinary amount to raise on a single evening. Last year, however, the total was a record $71m.
Some see the fall as further evidence of a slowing economy. Few pundits commented when the foundation raised $71m or $56.5m. From a philanthropic perspective, the total is less the issue than the ability of the organisation to leverage the money and achieve maximum impact – a strategy that the Robin Hood Foundation has pioneered. At this time of economic downturn, this skill will be more important than ever before.”
Read more here.
