April 25, 2011

Free White Paper: 11 Ways Data Will Drive Association Growth in 2011
By David Gammel, CAE – past chair of ASAE Technology Section Council.Part I of the Membership Software Success Kit – a 2011 update on key AMS capabilities

By Samuel J. Fanburg

Some 63 percent of nonprofits reported paying various types of fee and taxes to local and state governments during 2010. Of these types of assessments, 17 percent reported paying field-specific taxes, 36 percent paid "other payments," 9 percent paid PILOT (payments in lieu of taxes) and 42 percent of nonprofits paid user fees.

These are among the results of surveying by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Society Studies and published in a report, "Taxing the Tax-Exempt Sector -- A Growing Danger for Nonprofit Organizations," written by Lester M. Salamon, Stephanie L. Geller and S. Wojciech Sokolowski.

The study illustrated that although nonprofits have generally enjoyed the benefits of a tax-exempt organization, for the past five years a majority of nonprofits have been paying charges accrued to local and state governments.

Salamon, director of the Baltimore, Md., located Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Services, described this tactic as self-defeating. "What these governments are essentially doing is driving more need to the government side, by taxing these nonprofits, programs need to be eliminated. It's really cutting off its nose despite its face."

Nonprofits fear the day that state regulators come breathing down their neck, but during a recent session called "What to Do When State Regulators Are Looking At You," during the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) International Conference in Chicago, Shaun Peterson and Helen MacMurray, partners at the Columbus, Ohio, MacMurray, Peterson & Shuster LLP, discussed how to effectively counteract state regulators looking for impropriety.

* It is first important not to complain or "whine" that your organization is targeted by state regulators. Start by organizing your nonprofit to effectively deal with the situation. Communicate with your compliance officer and make sure you have a compliance handbook available that has written materials, process details and options scalable to each challenge you might encounter.

* When responding to inquiries made by state regulators, it is imperative to answer with prompt professional responses, identify and negotiate an appropriate timeframe and determine what triggered the investigation. Acting in a professional manner might not solve the problem, but could prove to be great help in ensuring a professional relationship.

* Don't be afraid to believe in yourself. Peterson and MacMurray said to believe in your processes and procedures, believe you can win, but don't be arrogant. Assist the regulators and don't resist the process, but recognize when a thorough investigation has had time to run its course.

Grants ...
6 questions to ask about your group

As everyone in philanthropy strives to make the sector operate better, there is a quest to find the right answers, as if maybe there is a silver bullet that provides the one solution to everyone's problems.

In their book "Give Smart: Philanthropy That Gets Results," Thomas J. Tierney and Joel L. Fleishman suggest that getting the best possible results from charitable giving comes not from having one answer but from using a process of rigorous inquiry around six separate but related questions.

The questions are:

* What are my values and beliefs? Because philanthropy is an intensely personal pursuit, values and beliefs matter intensely.

* What is "success" and how can it be achieved? This means getting clear, getting real and getting personal.

* What am I accountable for? Philanthropists demand accountability from their grantees, but they should expect it of themselves as well.

* What will it take to get the job done? This question marks a turning point in the journey from aspiration to impact. It is the point at which the emphasis shifts from designing to doing.

* How do I work with grantees? This is not as easy as it sounds. It requires common interest but also a willingness to work together.

* Am I getting better? The question focuses on results, but it also implies that there is room for improvement.

How does one turn the corner and find the way back to a successful path?

During the recent Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation conference in Washington D.C., Neoma Harris of the St. Joseph's Indian School spoke of ways to help increase donations to help get your organization back to growth. Harris first spoke of bonding with your donors.
* Send thank you packages. Some 3.77 percent of responses averaged a donation of $11.23.
* Second-gift mailings. The 3.47 percent response averaged a donation of $15.22.
* Sticking with a theme that originally grabbed a donor's attention. Some 15 percent of responses averaged a donation of $19.02

Harris next spoke about the benefits of adding and outsider's voice to mailings. The St. Joseph's Indian School added a "mock" newspaper article as an insert to their Matching Gift house appeal. Without the mock article the school had:

* The 3.97 percent response had an average purchase of $23.71 per gift.

When adding the mock article the school had:

* The 5.63 percent response had an average purchase of $33.35 per gift.

Harris found that adding the mock article resulted in a 40 percent greater response and an increase of $9.64 in the average gift purchased.

Finally Harris suggested that mail must be coordinated both online and offline. She found that with their Matching Gift mail:
* Mail only: 3.65 percent response with an average gift purchase of $20.12.
* Mail plus Email: 5.7 percent response with average gift purchase of $29.25.
* Plus $4,000 in gifts purchased directly from email.