I hope that you are enjoying your holidays and able to spend time with family and friends. At the moment I’m back in Orlando, Florida with family and looking forward to weather in the 70’s by the end of the week. It’s a great opportunity to relax, reflect on 2009 and prepare for 2010.
2009 was certainly a year of challenges for those of us serving in the nonprofit world. Corporations have reduced their giving budgets, foundations have less investment income to give away and individuals are struggling with layoffs, furloughs and a very tight job market. But, I am still finding stories that inspire me and that suggest that people are still giving and supporting organizations that they feel passionate about. In 2010, I am committing to finding and sharing more of those stories with you.
As a reminder, this is my last issue for 2009. I look forward to greeting you again in the new year. As always, please feel free to forward this to anyone you feel may also be helped by this information. Thanks again for reading!
Glædelig Jul og Godt Nytår! (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!)
And Happy Holidays
FUNDRAISING
Reasons to Be Charitable in a Tough Season of Giving (Fast Company) Here's a compelling list of reasons why you should do good, especially in challenging economic times. http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/lydia-dishman/all-your-business/top-reasons-be-charitable-tough-season-giving
More wise words from ‘The Dean of Direct Mail’ (SOFII) This time, Jerry explains magic words, the keys to communication that help you get inside your reader’s mind. Please Note, this article is in the members only section, so you may need to set up a (free) account to access it. http://www.sofii.org/active%20site/Members%20area/JerryH17.html
Why Spend Time Chasing Younger Donors with Fewer Dollars? (Social Citizen’s Blog) Fundraisers often ask, “Why should I spend time working with young donors?” In response, this author challenges them to perform a simple test: analyzing the age of their current donor base. If they‘re like many organizations, they’ll find a significant number of donors age 40 and over. Some of you might be thinking, “That’s where the money is; that’s the most efficient base. If I can meet my goals focusing on that base, why spend time chasing younger donors with fewer dollars?” HINT: it’s about building long-term relationships). http://www.socialcitizens.org/blog/why-spend-time-chasing-younger-donors-fewer-dollars
IRS Offers Tips for Year-End Donations (Planned Giving Design Center) "Individuals and businesses making contributions to charity should keep in mind several important tax law provisions that have taken effect in recent years. Some of these changes include the following..." End of year reminders are also included in this article. http://www.pgdc.com/pgdc/irs-offers-tips-year-end-donations?gid=431
TECHNOLOGY
Despite Economy More Consumers Plan to Give Online in ‘09 than ‘08 (AFP Blog) Convio Inc. estimates that U.S. online giving to nonprofit organization will be more than $4 billion during the holiday season of 2009 as increasing numbers of people donate to charities via the web. http://www.afpnet.org/Audiences/ReportsResearchDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=4281
The Rise of Mobile Giving (FundRaising Success) “As you read this article, consider that the world’s population will be approximately 6.8 billion people by the end of 2009. We believe that in that population, just more than 25 percent are Internet users or, in other words, 1.7 billion Internet users. Internet usage is highest in North America where we…” http://www.fundraisingsuccessmag.com/article/the-rise-mobile-giving-415120_1.html
Innovative E-newsletter E-mails (FundRaising Success) Over the past couple of months, this writer has signed up for numerous organizations’ e-newsletters seeking innovators and strategic thinkers who look at an e-newsletter as more than a condensed version of their home pages. Here are some of her favorites and the reasons she chose them." http://www.fundraisingsuccessmag.com/article/innovative-e-newsletter-e-mails-415118_1.html
Study Reveals: 13 Best Practices Of Social Media Implemented By The Top 200 US Charities (Jeff Bullas’ Blog) This blog reflects on a study by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research on the usage of social media by United States charities that my anecdotal suspicions were supported by empirical evidence. http://jeffbullas.com/2009/11/23/study-reveals-13-best-practices-of-social-media-implemented-by-the-top-200-us-charities/
Free, Easy Ways to Add a Calendar to Your Website (TechSoup) If you want to keep friends of your organization up-to-date on events, meetings, and deadlines, adding a calendar to your website is a must. But who has time to design and build a calendar by hand? Fortunately, there's no need to do that, since numerous online tools make it easy to build, update, and publish a professional calendar on your nonprofit's website. http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/webbuilding/page6690.cfm?cg=btc&sg=dec3
OTHER ARTICLES
Federal Agency Issues Preliminary Plans for Social Innovation Fund (The Chronicle of Philanthropy) The Corporation for National and Community Service today released a long-awaited draft notice spelling out how it will award grants under the $50-million Social Innovation Fund. The “Notice of Funds Available” — says the corporation plans to award approximately five to seven grants of $5-million to $10-million during the 2010 fiscal year, which ends September 30. http://philanthropy.com/news/government/10463/federal-agency-issues-preliminary-plans-for-social-innovation-fund
Get Ready For A Sea Change In Nonprofit Assessment Metrics (Idealware): Last week, GuideStar, Charity Navigator, and three other nonprofit assessment and reporting organizations made a huge announcement: the metrics that they track are about to change. Instead of scoring organizations on an 'overhead bad!' scale, they will scrap the traditional metrics and replace them with ones that measure an… http://www.idealware.org/blog/2009/12/get-ready-for-sea-change-in-nonprofit.html
New nonprofit model for a down economy (Philadelphia Daily News) "Recognizing that a recovery is still some way off, leaders from several of Philadelphia's most venerable nonprofits have come together to create a solution and chart a new course for building support and raising the dollars necessary to fund long-valued programs. This new coalition is called Give. They are partnering on programs and operations by sharing resources, ideas and best practices, as well as a coordinated marketing and development campaign. http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/79288047.html
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