Each time Thomas Keown has asked people in recent weeks to donate to his charity, he’s had a camera rolling. The nonprofit group Mr. Keown established last year, One Home Many Hopes, is one of two charities participating in a documentary film project to show how small nonprofit groups can successfully raise money.

The filmmaking effort was started by Kristy Hall, a nonprofit consultant in Charlottesville, Va., who wanted to demonstrate how some of the fund-raising ideas she had developed could help small organizations. After recruiting a film company to help, Ms. Hall selected two charities, Mr. Keown’s Boston group, a volunteer-run effort that benefits orphaned girls in Kenya, and Student Movement for Real Change, a Washington organization with three employees.

Ms. Hall challenged the charities to raise $20,000 in 30 days—a small sum by many fund raisers’ standards, but one that ...

A new report by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy may help fund raisers search for corporate donors that are less hard hit than others by the financial crisis.

While the report examines giving in 2007 — well before the current financial meltdown — it does identify several types of industries, such as businesses that sell and produce consumer products and information-technology companies, as increasing their philanthropy that year.

Over all, total giving, including product contributions, by the 155 companies the committee surveyed increased from 2006 to 2007. The median sum contributed grew from $26.47-million in 2006 to $26.05-million last year, meaning half the corporations gave more than that amount and half gave less.

It says that 66 percent of corporations increased their giving, while 34 percent decreased it.

The report does not make predictions about...

Small businesses give generously to charity, with three-quarters of small-business owners in a recent survey saying they donate a percentage of their profits to nonprofit organizations.

On average, small companies contribute 6 percent of their profits to charity, according to the study, which was conducted by American Express.

The survey was based on interviews in August with more than 750 people who lead companies that have fewer than 100 employees.

Companies with the highest revenues were the least generous, with just 69 percent of companies that earn more than $1-million contributing a percentage of their profits to charity.

By contrast, 80 percent of businesses that earned between $250,000 and $1-million gave a share of profits to nonprofit groups, and 77 percent of companies that earned less than $250,000 gave to charity.

Female business owners tend to give more than ...

Kat Rice, a Web designer in Dallas who recently founded the social media Web site Give Cheerfully, is planning a fund-raising event for the new organization.

The event, which features a wine tasting and silent auction, takes place Saturday.

And Ms. Rice is looking for advice on how to get potential participants to commit to attending.

She recently posted a short item to the Chronicle‘s Twitter page seeking advice.

“Having trouble getting people to make a firm commitment to attend my event,” she wrote. “Any suggestions?”

What tips can you offer to help Ms. Rice get more people to participate in her event?

Click on the comments link below this post to share your ideas.

Roger Carr, the founder of the Web site Everyday Giving, recently created his top 10 list of favorite fund-raising blogs for the site Blogs.com.

Mr. Carr listed his favorites in this order:

• A Small Change

• AFP Blog

• Behind the Button

• Beth’s Blog

• Donor Power Blog

• Fundraising for Nonprofits

• Katya’s Non-profit Marketing Blog

• Prospecting

• Step by Step Fundraising

• The Fundraising Coach

The Chronicle‘s blog Give & Take also offers a comprehensive list of blogs about fund raising and other topics related to philanthropy.

What are your favorite blogs on fund raising? What topics do you wish fund-raising blogs covered more frequently?

Click on the comments link below this post to share your thoughts.

Many, if not most, charities want their boards to be more engaged in fund raising.

To persuade her trustees to take the idea seriously, Alexi Miller, development director of Acterra, an environmental group in Palo Alto, Calif., asked them to sign a contract stating that they agreed to be active fund raisers. Ms. Miller recently discussed her charity’s contract for trustees on a listserv maintained by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Ms. Miller said that her group recently started using this annual fund-raising contract with board members, which she borrowed from CompassPoint, a San Francisco management consulting organization.

The contract asks board members to specify contributions they would make in four areas: making a personal financial donation; arranging meetings, hosting parties, and other donor “cultivation” activities; helping to secure big gifts from others;...

Amid the gloomy news about hiring freezes and shrinking job opportunities, John Burkhardt offers a hopeful note on the Future Leaders in Philanthropy blog.

Mr. Burkhardt, a professor of higher education at the University of Michigan, which has just started a new concentration for graduate students in college fund raising, says that jobs raising money for universities are “one of the fastest growing and most satisfying career opportunities in the nonprofit sector.”

While college fund raisers once worked mostly for elite, private institutions, now most public and community colleges are “getting into the game,” and overall the field is becoming more sophisticated, says Mr. Burkhardt.

Among the reasons why he thinks fund-raising jobs at colleges are so appealing:

• College towns are attractive places to live, and they are largely immune from economic downturns.

Amid widespread concerns about the economy, Americans are planning to cut their holiday spending but not their charitable giving, according to a new study. In fact, some Americans may actually increase their year-end giving, as they make donations on behalf of friends and family members in lieu of purchasing presents.

Seventy-one percent of Americans are trimming back on their holiday spending, according to a study conducted for World Vision by the polling company Harris Interactive.

But nearly half (49 percent) said they are are more likely to give a “charitable gift,” such as a child sponsorship, a tent, or a cow to help someone in need as a holiday present.

Eight-four percent of people in the study said they would prefer to receive a gift that would benefit someone else rather than a traditional present, such as clothing or electronics.

The study showed that Americans...

To help charities survive in the tough economy, the National Council of Nonprofits has created a new online Economic Vitality Center.

The online resource seeks to help charities — as well as grant makers, policy makers, journalists, and the general public — understand the financial meltdown and how it is affecting different types of nonprofit organizations across the country. To that end, it contains examples of ideas that charities are trying to cope with hard times, from holding brainstorming meetings of local nonprofit groups to sharing back-office functions to save money.

Officials at the National Council of Nonprofits, a Washington umbrella organization for state and regional associations that represent charitable organizations, said that they plan to continually update their new online resource.

In addition to examples, the site contains statistics on the economy and the...

Jed Margolis, executive director of Maccabi USA/Sports for Israel in Philadelphia, is looking for advice from readers on a draft of a direct-mail letter his organization is planning to send to potential donors in the coming weeks.

Below is a draft of his letter. Readers are encouraged to offer their ideas for improvements by posting a comment. As always, we ask that your ideas be constructive.

Dear Maccabi Supporter,

If you have flown anywhere recently (and, I suppose, even if you haven’t), you know what’s happening to air fares.

Fuel surcharges … security and baggage fees … airline pricing schemes. Today’s inflated air fares are having a tremendous impact on our getting Team USA to Israel this summer.

I’m writing to ask for your help.

Here’s the bottom line:

Roundtrip air fare to Israel for the 2005 Maccabiah Games was $1,400....