Dear
Friend,
Givers give and non-givers use a recession as an excuse not to give, but if
times were economically good non-givers would use another excuse. In the
five national recessions since 1973, giving has dropped only 1.3%. This
is primarily due to the fact that true givers tend to give more when times
are tough. If we are facing the next recession in the months ahead, I
encourage everyone in fundraising to pay more attention to current major gift
donors and less to small donors who often are forced to stop giving because
of financial reasons. The mantra for the months ahead should be to cultivate
and steward your major donors.
Two good resources to gain ideas on this subject of preparing for a possible
economic downturn are Michael Seltzer's Securing Your Organization's Future
and Bracing for Tough Times, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, February 7, 2008,
p. 6
Sincerely,
Douglas M. Lawson, Ph.D.
_____________________________________
Did you know?
PUBLIC-POLICY HEAD NAMED AT GATES FOUNDATION
Signaling the
foundation's increasing need to work more closely with governments
world-wide, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has named, the former
World Bank
official Geoff Lamb, as managing director of public policy. The
appointment underscores how closely the foundation intends to work
with governments to achieve its goals in such areas as public health,
agriculture
and finance.
Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2008, p. B6
A $750,000 PHILANTHROPIC CONTEST
The Case Foundation is sponsoring
an experimental online fundraising contest known as America's Giving
Challenge. The purpose of the contest is to demonstrate the power
of grass-roots fundraising by ordinary charities using the Internet. Rich
D'Amato states clearly that the contest's goal is "to inform and
educate as many people as we could about online giving tools". Some
of the charities competing for the $50,000 grand prize are Saving Georgia
Dogs; Amnesty International; and Love Without Boundaries. This
is a unique philanthropic idea and we wish the Case Foundation and
the competing
grass-roots charities the best.
New York Times, January 31, 2008,
p. A20
VIRTUAL VOLUNTEERING A NEW PHILANTHROPIC TREND
Today, volunteers
of all ages can stay home and, thanks to the Internet, help philanthropic
causes by working at their computers. Charities of all kinds dedicated
to animal protection, disaster relief, human rights, the ill and disabled,
and many other causes are using virtual volunteers. Some of the
many virtual volunteer chores include research, graphic design, writing
grant proposals and other materials. This is an important new
trend that we all should be using in our philanthropic work.
Bottom
Line Retirement, February, 2008, p. 9
BONO AND THE $7 MILLION CHARITY SALE
On February 14th, Sotheby's
in New York will auction as much as $28 million of art to raise money
for
rock star Bono's altruistic brand (Product) Red. The participating
artists are donating their works. This is a shift in strategy for
Red, which up until this auction has primarily received its revenues
from companies that license the Red logo on everyday products like sneakers
and t-shirts with 40-50% of the profits going to non-profits around the
world. We wish Bono the best in this new Red venture.
Wall
Street Journal, February 1, 2008, p. W4
IS TOBACCO COMPANY MONEY "TAINTED"?
Many higher education
institutions are answering "Yes". Included in this group
of campuses rejecting grants from tobacco companies are the University
of Texas Business School, the Medical School at Emory University, and
the Public Health Schools at Harvard, John Hopkins, Ohio State, Louisiana
State, the University of Arizona, University of Iowa, and the University
of North Carolina. George W. Gau, dean of the business school at
the University of Texas gives this explanation: "The leadership
of the school felt that in some sense it was tainted money, that it is
money gotten from a product that is significantly harming people".
New York Times, February 4, 2008, p. A13
FEWER AMERICANS ARE VOLUNTEERING
The Bureau of Labor Statistics
recently reported that the number of Americans 16 and up who volunteered
(a median
of 520 hours without pay) was down from 65.4 million in 2005 to 60.8
million in 2007. Why? No one is quite certain. Volunteers
tend to be more educated and wealthier than non-volunteers. Married
people with children volunteer more than singles or childless couples,
but why are fewer people volunteering? We need to find the answer.
Dallas Morning News, February 6, 2008, p. 2D
PUBLIC BROADCASTERS FIGHT FEDERAL BUDGET CUTS
The current federal
budget proposed by the President cuts in half the previously proposed
$400 million for Public Broadcasting as well as a reduction of the
appropriation to the National Endowment for the Arts from $144.7 million
to $128.4
million. Public broadcasters and other cultural groups are rallying
to fight these cuts. They have succeeded in the past seven budget
years. We will see where it goes in this election year.
New
York Times, February 6, 2008, p. B6
MUSEUM PHILANTHROPIST GIVES AND DOESN'T GIVE
At the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art, Eli Broad (a billionaire philanthropist who owns
over
2,000 works of art) surprised the Los Angeles County Museum by withdrawing
his pledge to donate his works of art to the museum after he had pledged
$50 million to build a new building for contemporary art, as a part
of the museum's expansion program. Instead he is donating his art to
his own private foundation. This leaves the museum a new 50,000
sq. ft. space with very little art.
New York Times, February 10,
2008, p. 1 (Arts and Leisure)
CHURCH COLLECTIONS GO ONLINE
After hundreds of years of collecting
contributions weekly in the collection basket or offering plate, more
and more churches are appealing to parishioners to give online. This
new approach is appealing to younger members and is a new way churches
all over America are keeping the revenue flowing. Some comments
by parishioners are particularly instructive: "It's the wave
of the future; and I think people are apt to spend more money this way". This
is a philanthropic trend that should be closely watched as it helps
churches to fulfill their missions.
New York Times, February 9,
2008, p. A15
GATES FOUNDATION HEAD STEPS DOWN
After seven years, Patty Stonesifer,
CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is leaving. She, along
with the Gates, have been with the foundation from the beginning. A
search for a successor is already underway, but it is doubtful that anyone
can be found who has her close relationship to both the Gates and Warren
Buffet. We wish the foundation the best in this important undertaking. No
foundation on this planet has so much money to give away.
New York
Times, February 7, 2008, p. A14
PRIVATE COLLEGES ARE TRYING TO COMPETE WITH HARVARD
Harvard, then
Yale and now numerous other Ivy League schools are offering parents
and students with middle class incomes and assets financial breaks
that they
have never been given before. Numerous smaller private colleges
are now following their lead. Colby College, a small private college
in Maine is now eliminating loans and replacing them with grants. California
Lutheran University is now offering tuition at the same price as California
State institutions of higher education. Another example is Blackburn
College (a small college in Illinois) which has reduced its tuition by
15%. This is a good trend that we all should follow closely in
the months and years ahead.
USA Today, February 5, 2008, p. 1B
CHARITIES THAT KEEP VOLUNTEERS GAIN BIG BENEFITS
The care and feeding
of volunteers is an art that some charities practice and others do
not. The
benefits of keeping good volunteers far outweigh the strengths of a constant
flow of new volunteers. Robert Grimm, a federal research expert
on volunteering, believes that keeping good volunteers requires a "talent
management" approach to dealing with volunteers. Find-out the
volunteer's passion and plug in their job at the charity to that passion. A
great and simple idea.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy, February
7, 2008, p. 39
MIDEAST PHILANTHROPY CREATES EDUCATION CITY
In Doha, Qatar five
American universities offer degrees at Education City, which is fully
funded by
the Qatar Foundation. The universities include the Cornell University
Medical School which has received an eleven year grant of $750 million. Other
universities include Texas A&M and Virginia Commonwealth University. This
is an important new development in the thrust to make philanthropy
a worldwide experience for all.
New York Times, February 11, 2008,
______________________________________________
Speaking From Experience
Show your Strength when the Economy Isn't
There's no doubt the economy is off to a rocky start in 2008 and unless
we've all got our heads in the sand, most of us involved with keeping
charities in the black are bracing for a tough year ahead. While
volunteers and boards have been busy making plans to solve social issues,
those holding the purse strings may be feeling nervous about their
own issues at home.
"In many respects American giving follows the economy. And while
at the upper echelons of our society the stock market value was very
good, leading to some very large gifts that were announced in 2006,
the average American saw rising prices in nearly all categories, leading
to difficult decisions on where to put discretionary income," wrote
Richard Jolly, president chairman of the Giving USA Foundation who
wrote in his statement accompanying the Giving USA 2007 report.
Charitable organizations should show their ability to help people and
communities in hard economic times. Givers may be feeling hard
pressed personally but most true givers will empathize with those less
fortunate and with those working to keep their communities strong so
that business can flourish.
Focus on those who care about you the most, your core group of supporters
and keep your important message in front of them. Demonstrate
your ability to steward and use their donated funds wisely. Do
this through personal communication such as visits and phone calls
not through expensive direct mail pieces and brochures. For your
donors with more modest means, demonstrate your work in the community
through a public relations campaign of compelling stories in which
we can all relate. Offer gift giving opportunities to this group
that are affordable and where possible can be paid over time. Allow
donors to give less without feeling they have. If you act as though
nothing has changed donors may be forced to abandon their giving altogether,
leaving you out when the economy turns around for the better.
Keep asking. If you believe in your mission and you know that
your work is critical, your supporters need to know you need them,
especially now.
The January/February issue of Advancing Philanthropy has several good
articles with strategies focusing on surviving in a whirlwind economy.
Sincerely,
Missy Gale, CFRE
Senior Associate
Lawson Associates, Inc.
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