In This Edition:

• Foundations Giving Up, But Probably Down
  
  
• Online ...
  Big, Bad Blogs
  
  
• Planned Giving ...
  Growing your garden with EFT programs
  
  
• Regulation ...
  Watchdogs can help your marketing effort
  

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Foundations Giving Up, But Probably Down

In the midst of a deepening economic crisis, the more than 75,000 U.S. grantmaking foundations nevertheless increased their giving 2.8 percent during 2008 to an estimated $45.6 billion, according to “Foundation Growth and Giving Estimates: Current Outlook” (2009 Edition), released by the Foundation Center.

Although foundation giving grew modestly in 2008, it did not grow as much as had been expected due to the extreme nature of the current economic downturn.

To read the complete article click here...

Online ...
Big, Bad Blogs

It seems as if the Web 2.0 era has a whole other language – like Digg, Blogger, Facebook and Twitter. But, these technologies are shaped by a fundraising cornerstone – personal relationships.

Organizations are “far more likely to build trust if you are connecting to your donors as people,” said James Collier, from Paprika Studios in Fresno, Calif., at the recent Association of Fundraising Professionals international fundraising conference in New Orleans. Here’s what you need to remember to become fluent in Web 2.0:

• Know the technologies. Organizations can post larger stories with blogs that allow readers to comment. Microblogging, like Twitter, send out shorter messages in 140 characters or less to followers. There are thousands of different ways to connect to your followers. Figure out what would work best for you.
• Don’t always leave it up to the young’uns. Just because your college intern or young staff member is a digital native doesn’t mean they completely understand cultivating donor relationships.
• It’s about relationships. You wouldn’t talk at your friends – you create a dialogue. Online relationships are the same. People want to interact with you and your organization.
• Let go a little. Allow for followers to comment on your site or wherever you have an online presence. Don’t expect everything will be positive. Collier recommended creating a conversation about those negative comments and remedying the situation in the public, online space for everyone to read. Moderate but don’t police.
• It’s all about people. Organizations are usually large and cumbersome – social networking is about people. Try to have a person represent your organization – such as a CEO blog or program manager on Twitter. That’s far more personal than sending messages from your organization.
  

Planned Giving ...
Growing your garden with EFT programs

Monthly giving programs are like sprinkler systems. Your lawn might look fine if you roll out your hose a few times a week. But to really thrive and not just survive, an irrigation system needs to be just that – systematic.

Like a sprinkler system, a monthly giving program systematically feeds your nonprofit’s mission, said Greg Gorman of St. Mary’s Catholic Center at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Gorman presented a session at the recent 46th annual Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) international fundraising conference in New Orleans.

Monthly giving plans are about establishing trust with donors. The organization is “put in a real position of power with your donors,” said Gorman, gaining access to personal finance information with an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) deducting donations each month directly from a checking or savings account. “This is all about trust; it won’t work without it,” he said.

St. Mary’s Center started its monthly giving program, called Living Faith, in 1999 with about 80 donors. “That first year was the low-hanging fruit,” Gorman said. The program has welcomed 575 new EFT donors since 2000 with more than 400 donors currently giving. St. Mary’s has had nearly 70 donors giving for at least the past seven years.

People give automatically for a number of reasons:

• Safer than checks;
• Convenient;
• Easier and less expensive than traditional envelope and letter writing giving;
• Easier budgeting for personal finances;
• Allows more money for mission, less on overheard; and,
• Because they’re asked.

Peter de Keratry of Austin, Texas-based Petrus Development, who presented with Gordon, said even the best church donors give in 46 out of the 52 weeks a year. In a monthly giving program, that 88 percent rate would be 100 percent. “Turning really, really good donors to EFT will boost cash flow,” de Keratry said.

The “sweet spot” for EFT programs are the “evergreens,” de Keratry said, those monthly donors without a specific end date.

Regulation ...
Watchdogs can help your marketing effort

One way by which nonprofits can deflect a bad image caused by fundraising scandals is the use of watchdogs, organizations that study the operations of nonprofits and report on their findings.

Watchdogs issue ratings based on their findings. These ratings can provide useful information to the public and also help organizations see where they have problems before federal regulators come charging in. A good rating can increase financial support.

There are risks, however. A poor rating can hurt morale in the organization, erode the confidence of stakeholders and divert energy and resources as the organization tries to fix problems or appeal the rating.

Speaking at the AICPA Not-For-Profit Executives Forum in Anaheim, Frank L. Kurre, national managing partner of the Not-for-Profit Industry Practice of Grant Thornton, and Bob Mims, controller and director of investments at Ducks Unlimited Inc., offered advice on what organizations can do to minimize or avoid the risk of a bad rating from a watchdog organization. Those ideas include:

• Establish a “watchdog” relations function similar to a public company’s investor relations function.
• Monitor analyst reports and respond to those reports when appropriate.
• Enhance both internal and external reporting to incorporate key ratios and analysis used by the watchdogs.
• Prepare a “management discussion and analysis” that uses plain language.
  Kurre and Mims also cautioned that sound financial management is crucial to the vitality of every nonprofit organization.
  
  

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