Bloomerang, a company specializing in donor databases, hosted a webinar recently titled “Everything You Need to Know about Donor and Board Member Engagement.” We are cautious of programs that boast these superlatives—”Everything”, really? But we knew the hosts were authorities in their field and signed up to participate. While Jay Love, CEO of Bloomerang, and Bryan… Read more »
In our 24-year history, The Curtis Group has spent significant time advising on how nonprofit management can work most successfully with their boards. We hear it a lot: one of the biggest challenges nonprofit executives face is getting their volunteer leadership to help raise money and a common complaint from board members is they aren’t… Read more »
This week at the Association of Fundraising Professionals-Hampton Roads luncheon, Kurt Worrell, general manager, Fundraising Solutions Division at Harris Connect, presented on the topic of annual giving. Kurt began with the statement that running a successful annual giving program can be time intensive and costly. However, he continued, it’s an integral part of any fundraising… Read more »
On January 1, 2013, the House and Senate passed H.R. 8, The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, a bill to avert the “Fiscal Cliff.” The president subsequently signed the bill into law. Those age 70-1/2 and older can donate up to $100,000 from Roth or traditional IRAs to certain charitable organizations without including the… Read more »
“Are higher retention rates associated with higher totals in charitable giving?” This is the question that the Nonprofit Research Collaborative sought to answer in their most recent survey focused on donor retention rates. More than 770 organizations across every subsector participated in the study. Interestingly, the results are almost exactly the same as the NCR’s… Read more »
A recent article in Philanthropy Matters examined the current Obama administration’s proposal on changes in charitable deductions for taxpayers with adjusted gross income over $250,000 for couples and $200,000 for individuals. This proposal suggests reducing the value of itemized charitable deductions from 35% to 28%, and raising the marginal income tax from 35% to 39.6%… Read more »
The latest Nonprofit Research Collaborative (NRC) study on board member engagement in fundraising concludes, among other things, that board members serve two primary fundraising functions: helping the organization reach new prospective donors (access) and indicating the organization’s value to the community by their own association with the group (signaling). Here are some key findings: –… Read more »
A recent article in The Chronicle of Philanthropy by Maureen West titled “Charities Find Ways to Give Board Members Bigger Roles in Policy” caught our attention. So much of the work we have done with our clients for the past 23 years is meeting with the board members of nonprofits to discuss fundraising strategy and… Read more »
The Curtis Group has been a member of The Giving Institute for nearly five years. Established in 1935, The Giving Institute has been the thought leader membership organization for fundraising consultants and nonprofit services firms. One of the many resources they offer to nonprofit leaders is a list of the eight steps on how to… Read more »
As the economy slowly shows signs of improvement, we are seeing more nonprofits exploring the idea of conducting a capital campaign. A question we have fielded many times during our 23 years consulting to nonprofits is, “How do you really know when the time is right to begin a capital campaign?” We often use Giving USA, an… Read more »
