Are you effectively thanking and engaging your donors? I often encounter well-intentioned nonprofits that are hurting their acknowledgment efforts through common mistakes: 1. Slow response. You risk losing donors—and donations—by waiting too long to send thanks. Some say that 48 hours is the ideal turnaround time, but if that’s not realistic for your organization, aim… Read more »
Giving USA Discussion at the Hudson Institute
I was honored to be invited again and to participate in The Hudson Institute’s Giving USA Release 2014 panel. My colleagues on the panel represented The Chronicle of Philanthropy, The Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, The Urban Institute, and the Nonprofit Quarterly. Once the numbers were delivered, my comments were focused on how… Read more »
Wealth advisors on your board? Help them help you.
After two recent conversations with wealth advisors, who were also nonprofit board members and were wrestling with whether they should discuss their own philanthropic priorities with their clients, I began to give this topic some thought. These individuals understood that, as board members, they were expected to be connectors, but they were trying to balance… Read more »
National Estate Planning Awareness Week: Focus on Planned Giving
The Association for Fundraising Professionals and their strategic partners adopted the third week in October as National Estate Planning Awareness Week. Through this initiative, AFP and the Financial Awareness Foundation hope to educate, highlight and celebrate estate planning and the important role nonprofits play in this field. According to the 2012 Bank of America Study of… Read more »
Study Finds Baby Boomers Give the Most, Among Other Generational Trends
Although Baby Boomers make up only 34 percent of the donor pool, they are the generation responsible for giving the lion’s share of donations to charities. In an online survey conducted by a division of Blackbaud, results showed that Boomers gave 43 percent of all money contributed by individuals. And when factoring in giving by… Read more »
“Donor-Centered Fundraising” Defined
AFP of Hampton Roads recently hosted a seminar featuring industry expert Penelope Burke on “Donor-Centered Fundraising,” which is also the title of a study published by her research firm Cyngus Applied Research, Inc. Burke opened her presentation with three attributes donors define as most important when making a gift to a nonprofit. 1. Receiving prompt, meaningful acknowledgment… Read more »
What Makes you Stay? Preventing the Revolving Door in Nonprofits
For years, the state of the economy was one of the only things on which nonprofits and donors could focus. As nonprofits begin to feel more confident with the future of philanthropy, they are addressing issues that were pushed to the backburner during the economic downturn. Nonprofits are being forced to take a hard look at… Read more »
Board Service: How Many Is Too Many?
Last week I led a class for the Board Development Academy hosted by the Center for Nonprofit Excellence in Charlottesville, VA. The Board Development Academy is for engaged community leaders, people either early on in their board careers or those who have never been on a board, who want to learn how to effectively serve… Read more »
Study Finds Next Gen Donors Driven by Personal Values & Desire for Social Impact
Rick Moyers, vice president of programs and communications at the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, recently wrote in The Chronicle about a new report, “Next Gen Donors: Respecting Legacy, Revolutionizing Philanthropy.” The results included some interesting data from 300 high-capacity donors in their 20s and 30s. They are all individuals poised to become very influential… Read more »
Will Donors Give Less if Taxed 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 »
