Some 45,000 people will take part in the Chicago Marathon this October, among them thousands of runners signed up with the more than 100 charities using the 26-mile foot race to raise money.

Last year’s Chicago Marathon brought in more than $9-million for nonprofit causes, and charity teams are an increasing part of marathons across the country.

While good news for charity coffers, do this influx of philanthropic runners dilute the sport and put ill-prepared participants at risk of injury?

The Chicago Tribune fueled this debate with an article describing how the “once hard-core competitions” have come, in some instances, to “resemble parades.” It also quoted a running coach who says marathons have become “romanticized” and that charity groups don’t always have their runner’s best interests in mind.

In contrast, a marathon coach at the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society stressed how…

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Are you looking for a way to boost interest in a fund-raising campaign? Perhaps public humiliation of your executive director is the answer.

Well, that might be putting it a little strongly, but Nancy E. Schwartz, a charity marketing consultant, suggests on her blog Getting Attention that sharing something personal, “can deepen understanding, interest, and the connection” between donors and charity leadership.

Case in point is Holly Ross, executive director of the Nonprofit Technology Network, a Portland, Ore., charity that helps nonprofit groups use technology It recently conducted a campaign to raise $10,000 to help pay for charity workers to attend a national technology conference. To “kick it up a notch,” she challenged donors to give by offering them a chance to select a wacky stunt for her to perform if the goal was met.

The money was indeed raised and the selected stunt…

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If your organization uses memberships as a way to raise money and connect with donors, you may be interested in a recent study at the University of Maryland showing a curious connection between the cost of membership and the rate that people sign up.

To wit: people are willing to pay more to become members and, indeed, a higher priced membership level may even reflect better on the charity while also bringing in more money.

As reported on Real Time Economics, a Wall Street Journal blog, the researchers sent charity membership solicitations via e-mail to more than 700,000 people in one of three different ways. One group was told memberships started at a minimum donation of $25, another group was told the minimum donation was $35, and a third group was told memberships were being offered at a “special discount” rate of $25.

The results? The response rate was identical (0.23-percent)…

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