As most nonprofits are wrapping up the final week of their annual giving campaign and gearing up for the New Year, we wanted to share some valuable information from the latest edition of the 2011 Giving USA Spotlight series. The third and final issue of the year, entitled, “Relationship Cultivation Using Social Media” offers good… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Donors
What Motivates Us To Give?
Last night, as part of its philanthropy series, American Public Media’s “Marketplace” aired a story that examined how people think about giving. Host Kai Ryssdal interviewed Yale economist Dean Karlan on what motivates us to give. Dean provided an optimistic take on the recession and how it motivates donors to focus on the analytical side of supporting… Read more »
Donor Awareness of Telemarketing
Because promoting philanthropy is our life’s work, we felt the need to comment on a series of articles, as well as an editorial that ran in our local newspaper, The Virginian-Pilot, over the past several days on “professional fundraising companies” (i.e., telemarketing firms and professional solicitors, who differ greatly from professional fundraising counsel like The Curtis Group)…. Read more »
What You Should Know About Millennial Donors
Earlier this week we participated in a Giving Institute-sponsored webinar, entitled “Engaging Millennials Now For the Future Prosperity of Your Development Program.” The webinar cited a lot of interesting research from a recently published survey of millennial donors. We thought we’d share some of the highlights: Giving/Motivations for Giving: 93% of Millennials surveyed gave to nonprofit… Read more »
What Makes Your Nonprofit Effective?
The Curtis Group enjoyed being a sponsor of and participating in VOLUNTEER Hampton Roads’ 2011 Funders Forum. The morning began with a panel of five, local foundation representatives responding to and sharing conversation over various questions. I enjoyed hearing the responses to this question: How do you determine what makes a nonprofit effective? The first panelist… Read more »
Are You Receiving Gifts From Donor-Advised Funds?
While in Chicago, I attended a presentation on the role of community foundations in today’s giving environment. Jason Baxendale, director of gift planning for The Chicago Community Trust, and Terry Shavone, The Columbus Foundation’s vice president for donor services and development (both of which are ranked in the top 10 largest community foundations in the… Read more »
Wealthy Donors Are Giving Big
The headline says it all: “Year-End Giving Season Is Bountiful for Charities That Rely on the Wealthy.” Not only is this encouraging news for nonprofits, it’s validating for us. Over our 22-year history, we’ve stressed the incomparable value of high-net-worth donors, and we’ve hit that message even harder during the economic downturn because we know they’re… Read more »
Engaging the Millennial Generation
In our latest enewsletter sent out Tuesday, Wendy wrote about differences in giving by generation. Great minds think alike—this week Giving USA issued a Spotlight report on “Charitable Giving and the Millennial Generation.” It’s packed full of data on the philanthropic differences among generations, along with recommendations on how to engage and cultivate millennials. Comprising… Read more »
Cultivating High-Net-Worth Donors
After a recent meeting with a client and a high-net-worth donor, I was reflecting on the recent data from the 2010 Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy. The study results showed that these donors typically make their giving decisions with their spouse and like to involve their children and families wherever possible. These donors are… Read more »
High-Net-Worth Philanthropy Study Published
Yesterday, the 2010 Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy was released. Produced by Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, this is the third edition of the study, which was also issued in 2008 and 2006. High-net-worth households are defined as those with annual incomes of $200,000 or more,… Read more »
