July 6, 2010
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| In This Edition: • One Million Volunteer Hours For The Gulf
•Branding… •Finance … •Planned Giving...
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One Million Volunteer Hours for the GulfThe Points of Light Institute/HandsOn Network hopes to recruit and train 10,000 volunteer leaders and mobilize 50,000 volunteers to devote one million hours to support the Gulf Coast region’s environmental and economic recovery. There are already 13 HandsOn Action Centers serving the oil spill-impacted states of Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and Louisiana. According to Points of Light Institute/HandsOn Network CEO Michelle Nunn, who met last week with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, HandsOn will conduct a series of on-the-ground and virtual “boot camps” to train volunteer leaders to manage others and develop projects to meet community-specific needs, such as creating job re-training and job search clinics; restoring parks and open spaces; and assisting small businesses in operations, marketing and finance to recoup losses or improve business sustainability. Work in the region is not new for the organization. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, HandsOn established Action Centers in New Orleans and Mississippi, mobilized thousands of volunteers and delivered an estimated $13 million of recovering and rebuilding in one year. HandsOn New Orleans and HandsOn Gulf Coast continue to mobilize volunteers to support the recovery. To Read Complete Article Click Here... | |||
| Branding 7 factors to strengthen philanthropic brand The concept of doing more with less is a familiar one to nonprofit managers, even though during the past three years they have found themselves having to do more with a lot less. In her book “Nonprofit Finance for Hard Times,” Susan U. Raymond observes that doing more for nonprofits will mean more than just stretching each dollar. She offers four innovations in the use of philanthropic resources that provide opportunities for nonprofit finance. They share a common effort to link resources to markets in ways that leverage the capacity and impact of philanthropy itself. They are: • Mission-related investing (MRI). This is the process of using foundation assets to contribute to the success of organizations serving the societal mission to which the foundation is committed. It attempts to turn the corpus of foundation funds into a mission-directed tool. • Program-related investing (PRI). These deploy resources to both for-profit and nonprofit entities engaged in market activities. They are used to leverage philanthropic capital with other sources of capital, reduce nonprofit costs of capital for expansion, create nonprofit financing sustainability and enable large distribution of capital at a certain time.• Social Enterprise Support. Its central characteristics are market orientation, social aims and social ownership.• Harnessing investment to philanthropy. New strategies to flow resources to nonprofit needs are emerging and are deeply tied to financial management and investment strategies. | |||
6 steps to dealing with the fiscal crisis You might not have noticed, but there is a fiscal crisis in this country. It has been going on for a while now, and not too many people are wildly optimistic about its chances for ending soon. One word that keeps bobbing to the surface is “retrenchment” as organizations seek to find ways to continue operating even as financial sources dry up. Frederick S. Lane addresses the problem of making cuts in his chapter “Managing Fiscal Stress,” which appears in the book “Wise Decision-Making in Uncertain Times,” published by the Foundation Center in New York City. Drawing on the advice of many experts, Lane offers six steps to help deal with a crisis, some of which starts before a crisis occurs. • Know the nonprofit well, and be familiar with evaluation reports. Also know what things cost in its operation. • Leaders need to face and explain the reality affecting the organization. Rapid change requires new vehicles for participation. • If possible, seek a certain level of stability, at least for a limited amount of time, and determine the planning process that will be used in this situation. Also assess if outside assistance is needed. • With the appropriate information and analysis, decide what is necessary to cut and be prepared to explain these choices. • Maintain the organization’s image and rally key stakeholders to support the nonprofit. • Adapt to the new normalcy as quickly as possible and encourage creative thinking about the tasks that have to be done.
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Planned Giving...
In these days when everyone is the star of his/her own reality series (aka Life), it can be difficult for nonprofit fundraisers to send effective requests to donors. If everyone is an exotic island, won't every individual respond only to a personal pitch? Speaking at the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ international conference on fundraising, Larry Stelter of The Stelter Company shared the results of studies undertaken in 2008 and 2009 to gain insight into the donor universe. Stelter advised that it is never too soon to prospect donors for a place in their will, ironically because older prospects are often resistant to making such an inclusion and once an organization is in a will, it is seldom removed from it. Stelter also offered a closer look at the prospect segments that he has ascertained. They are: • The Secret Givers. They are less educated, less affluent and younger than the norm. • The Movers. They are young, affluent, educated and interested. • Age 30-39. They don't know the lingo, they haven’t been approached and they are open to giving. • Age 40-49. They are largely outside the conversation, and they are the generation most open to planned giving and to sharing their inheritance. • Age 50-59. They are the hardest hit by the recent economic downturn and they are lukewarm to planned giving. • Age 60-69. They are knowledgeable about planned giving, but that does not raise their interest. • Age 70+. They are least interested in planned giving and most interested in directing money toward family and friends.
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