Wednesday’s broadcast of the fund-raising show Idol Gives Back is expected to raise more than $100-million for charities such as Global Fund and Save the Children.

The episode prompted the anonymous fund raiser who writes Random Thoughts on Life and Work to question what motivates people to give.

“Is it the cause, the pitch, or the show that leads people to give? In development we often quote the phrase, ‘People give to people not to projects.’ But how does that play out in this case?” the blogger wrote. “Are people giving because of the images they see on TV or because of the celebrity pitch?”

Let us know what you think by clicking on the comment link below this post.

How much is your organization’s list of e-mail addresses worth?

Convio, the online fund-raising consulting company, has calculated the fund-raising value of e-mail addresses that nonprofit groups collect from donors and other supporters.

According to the Convio study, an e-mail address is worth $7.86 to charities that use e-mail appeals for fund raising. An address is most valuable for health organizations ($8.32 per address) and animal advocacy groups ($6.99). It is significantly less valuable for environmental ($2.59) and public-affairs ($2.60) organizations.

The results are discussed on the blog Frogloop. Frogloop is a blog by Care2, a popular social-networking Web site that connects charities connect with supporters and other charities. The blog discusses best practices among nonprofit professionals about online fund raising, advocacy and member acquisition

Nonprofit groups that rely on e-mail newsletters to raise money should pay attention to the results of a recent test conducted by the online game company Lumosity.

Lumosity tested a program in which it timed its e-mail sales pitches to customers to be sent to those customers on the same day of the week that those customers originally signed up for its e-mail list.

Instead of sending a blast to all of its subscribers at the same time, the company timed its appeal to each individual.

If a person signed up on a Tuesday, for example, he or she received messages only on Tuesdays. If the person signed up on Friday, that person was contacted on Fridays.

The company split its list and compared the results of that approach to the results of similar messages sent to customers on random days.

The result?

“Consumers who received e-mails on the same day of the week that they originally...

When do you know it’s time to discontinue a fund-raising event that is not raising much money?

Sandy Rees, a fund raiser for nonprofit groups in Knoxville, Tenn., offers some ideas on Get Fully Funded.

Ms. Rees says if revenue from an event is slipping, attendance is dipping, or interest from sponsors is waning, it might be time to pull it from your organization’s schedule and direct your resources elsewhere.

Has your organization had to discontinue a long-running special event? If so, how did you make the decision and what steps did you take to communicate with past supporters? Click on the comments link below this post to share your thoughts.

You can get more tips about planning successful special events by reading the transcript of the Chronicle’s recent live discussion with two fund-raising experts, Liz Klug and Harry A. Freedman.

Oprah Winfrey’s reality show The Big Give is getting a lot of attention from the news media and attracting millions of viewers.

But it isn’t really doing much to help charities raise more money, says Nancy E. Schwartz, a nonprofit marketing expert.

“I just don’t see evidence that it’s motivating a groundswell of giving and volunteering at the local level. Wish I did,” Ms. Schwartz writes on the blog Getting Attention.

“The show is just too fake,” she continues. “People aren’t biting, even though the mainstream attention the show has brought to causes and the nonprofit sector is all good.”

Can charities do more to take advantage of the attention they receive from TV shows such as The Big Give and Celebrity Apprentice?_ Click on the comments link below this post to share your thoughts.

If you attended the annual meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals in San Diego this week, we’d love to hear from you.

What did you learn? What sessions were most informative? If a colleague asked you what they missed, what would you say? What do you think should have been on the agenda — but was not a topic of discussion?

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

In the online world, younger is usually better. A Web site that appeals to a 25-year-old users is seen as cool and cutting edge.

But for fund raisers, that younger-is-better thinking is actually counterintuitive, says Tom Belford, a marketing expert.

Mr. Belford, a veteran fund raiser and an author of the popular fund-raising blog The Agitator, says nonprofit groups are making a major mistake if they attempt to create lively sites that appeal to younger visitors.

“For most nonprofits, I suspect the target demographic is 55-years-old or so, with no upper age limit and maybe down to 45,” he says. “If you’re one of those nonprofits, maybe you (or someone who is 55) should take another look at your Web site.”

Welcome to Prospecting, a new blog on fund raising produced by The Chronicle of Philanthropy and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Journalists from both publications will be contributing regularly to this blog to offer a wide array of perspectives about fund-raising trends and techniques that are working for nonprofit organizations in the United States and around the world. We’ll also examine what’s on the minds of the tens of thousands of people who raise money — as professionals, board members, and volunteers — for charitable causes of all kinds. And we’ll make sure you keep up to date with important fund-raising news.

We hope you will share your thoughts and experiences so we can build a community of nonprofit executives and volunteers who can help each other raise money more effectively for their organizations.

Please contribute your suggestions and questions in the comments...