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March 30, 2009
		Gardner Spells 'Happyness' His Own Way By Michele Donohue “I did everything legal I could and still pursue this dream to be on Wall Street,” said Christopher Gardner last night during the opening plenary session of the Association of Fundraising Professionals international fundraising conference.   In front of a few thousand fundraising professionals, Gardner told his inspirational story of how he went from living on the streets to climbing the financial sector ladder during the 1980s. With his unwavering perseverance, he pulled himself out of poverty to work for one of the leading financial firms at the time. Gardner faced poverty while growing up in a single-parent home in Milwaukee and decided to join the Navy after graduating high school. Gardner chose to go into finance after the birth of his son in 1981. Without a degree, Gardner fought to join a finance training program while taking jobs like mowing and painting to pay the bills. When he finally joined the training program, Gardner struggled to support himself and his son on the paltry $1,000 a month (gross) salary. He soon faced what he called “white-collar homelessness” – employed with no place to call home, a position nearly 12 percent of homeless find themselves in, according to Gardner. Gardner trained for a year while sleeping in train station bathrooms and wearing the same two suits for a year – all while caring for his toddler son. Click here for more
		Survey: Mergers, Sales Not On The Table Despite yet another doom and gloom outlook for nonprofits in 2009, very few organizations are even considering mergers or selling assets, according to a new survey. Instead, nonprofits are more likely to develop worst-case scenario contingency budgets and engage more closely with their board, according to responses from nearly 1,000 nonprofits to the Nonprofit Finance Fund. Nearly half of respondents (48 percent) said they would freeze all hires and current salaries or have funder conversations to explain the situation and/or use of currently restricted grants to “keep their doors open in difficult times.” Only 4 percent called it “business as usual” and plan no change. Click here for more
			AFP Honors Top National Donors and Volunteers   Maryland businessman John Erickson, AT&T, the Greater New Orleans Foundation and youth philanthropists from Connecticut and Tennessee are some of the recipients of the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ (AFP) annual international Awards for Philanthropy.   The awards honor individuals and organizations that through their tireless work and dedication to philanthropy have dramatically improved the quality of life for people in their communities and around the world. The honors are to be presented Tuesday night at the AFP Awards for Philanthropy Banquet the New Orleans Marriott, during the 46th AFP International Conference on Fundraising. Click here for more