Environmental organizations from around the country last week got a chance to seek support for local projects by creating fundraising pages on Ioby, which stands for “in our backyards.”
The nonprofit hopes to become the environmental equivalent of DonorsChoose.org, which raises money for teachers in classrooms across the country.
The organization has already achieved great success in New York, where it has operated for the past three years. Since Ioby got started, it has raised $250,000 for New York grass-roots environmental efforts, with gifts averaging $35. Among the results of those donations: About 250 tons of food waste were composted, 36 farms and gardens were started, and nine bike and recreation days were held.
The organization hopes opening its online platform nationwide will enable groups and individuals to raise a total of $300,000 in a year.
Andrew Watt, president of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, says the high turnover rate among people who solicit money at charities is the result of short-term thinking.
Data suggest that fundraisers swap jobs every two years or so, in part because they are lured by better salaries and titles. But Mr. Watt says it takes more time in a job to master the skills that fundraisers need. In an interview with The Chronicle, Mr. Watt urges fundraisers to take the long view on their careers.
With the unveiling of a new Web site, charities now have a better way to tell subscribers of Groupon, the popular discount and deals site, how their money has made a difference.
Groupon Grassroots has replaced the G-Team name and online portal that simply allowed charities to learn how to get their cause in front of Groupon subscribers. Such online “daily deals” have become an increasingly popular fundraising method among nonprofit causes.
The new site has the same features, but charity officials can now also write updates on the projects that people have financed by buying Groupon “deals.” The updates will also allow potential donors to find charities or projects to support in their community. “It’s an easy way for people to see the collective impact that they’re having,” says Patty Huber, manager of Groupon Grassroots.
Groupon officials saw the popularity of its charity…
See all the the articles Chronicle reporters wrote while they covered the annual meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, held in Vancouver.
Reporting from the Association of Fundraising Professionals Conference
Here’s a comprehensive list of the Chronicle of Philanthropy staff’s coverage of the largest gathering of fundraisers during the first week of April in Vancouver.
Storified by Raymund Flandez · Thu, Apr 05 2012 16:00:52
DAY 1: SUNDAY, APRIL 1, 2012
@afpvancouver Yes, @clswitzer @raymundf23 are in Vancouver and will be posting throughout the conference. #afpmeetPhilanthropy
Great way to start the day – under the door at @FairmontWF from @philanthropy at #afpmeet http://pic.twitter.com/TGE4K4mdKatie Benston, CFRE
Fundraisers may not have to fill out their charity’s informational tax return for the Internal Revenue Service, but they need to know what’s in it, said a speaker at the Association of Fundraising Professionals meeting in Vancouver this week.
Audrey Kintzi, senior development director at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota, told fundraisers it’s no long acceptable to say they don’t have anything to do with the informational returns, known as Form 990s.
“You should know the 990 as well as the finance department does,” she said. “You are the face of the organization.”
In addition, Ms. Kintzi said, fundraisers need to realize that donors are looking at the tax forms and other documents to learn more about the organization and how their contributions have been spent.
“If you don’t think donors are reading it, you are sadly mistaken,” she said, adding, “They’re reading those…
Each year, billions of dollars are stolen from charities by people working for them. One simple way to keep that from happening, a former state regulator told attendees of the Association of Fundraising Professionals meeting in Vancouver, is for chief executives of nonprofits to sit down with staff members and ask bluntly: How would you steal from me?
Michael DeLucia, former director of charitable trusts in the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office, said that direct approach was not his idea, but he learned it from an ex-FBI agent.
The first time chief executives pose the question, no one may speak up, he said, but the second time, workers will be talking about the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the charity’s systems and suggesting improvements.
“Leaders need to send a clear message from the top,” Mr. DeLucia said.
Soon the fundraisers who solicit passersby on the streets of the world’s big cities will go high-tech.
Some groups are experimenting with using iPads to get attention and speed donation transactions. Charities are also seeking donors’ cellphone numbers so they can instantly thank the donors via a text message minutes later.
Daryl Upsall, a consultant in Madrid who advises nonprofits on the technique, said at a session of the Association of Fundraising Professionals annual meeting, in Vancouver, that street fundraising is growing more common and is now used in 35 countries.
But as the approach has become more popular, it has also spurred a backlash. In London and elsewhere in Britain, the solicitors are often called chuggers, a compression of the term charity muggers, Mr. Upsall says.
Because complaints about harassment have been on the rise, nonprofits have formed a…
“What’s love got to do, got to do with it? What’s love, but a second-hand emotion?”
Fundraisers were treated to a little Tina Turner at the beginning of “The Power of Love in Major Gifts Development,” a session at the Association of Fundraising Professionals conference, in Vancouver, that focused on the emotional issues in giving.
It turns out a little bit of love does make a difference—and can even land a $1-million gift.
Cindy Niemi, a major-gifts fundraiser at MultiCare Health Foundation, in Tacoma, Wash., says she and her colleagues visit donors whenever they end up as patients at the hospitals the foundation supports.
When Ms. Niemi was told to visit Philip Simon, she did what she typically does and picked up a teddy bear to bring to the patient. When she arrived at the hospital room, Mr. Simon was with his wife, Snookey. “They both lit up when they saw this little…
The first time that ice-hockey legend Wayne Gretzky ever spoke at an event for a nonprofit organization was at the local Lion’s Club dinner when he was 10, where he was honored for his athletic feats (even at that age) and where he met his idol, Gordie Howe, another ice-hockey legend. The Ontario-born jock was told he didn’t have to give a speech, but the emcee thought otherwise.
Shaking from stage fright, he got up, said “Thank you,” and began to cry.
“That was my first introduction to charitable work, being with foundations and charitable giving,” Mr. Gretzky told attendees of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, in Vancouver, in his keynote speech. “It wasn’t memorable,” he deadpanned.
That recollection got a lot of laughs from the largest gathering of fundraisers in the world. But they also saw a vulnerable Mr. Gretzky, who, with his voice breaking, confided with…
Donors who give every month to charity aren’t very likely ever to make a big gift.
Penelope Burk, president of Cygnus Applied Research, said in a study of donors she asked: “Does being a monthly-gift donor cause you to be more likely to entertain a major-gift ask?” The answer, Ms. Burk said, is “No.”
That doesn’t mean there’s no point in trying to convert some monthly donors into big contributors, but expectations should be low, she said. The smart plan is to look in other places to find wealthy people with the potential to give large sums.
“The best strategy to close major gifts or planned gifts is not to draw donors from existing feeder programs,” Ms. Burk says.
Prospecting follows news and trends about fundraising at nonprofits. You’ll find a mix of advice and techniques that have worked for other charitable organizations, as well as updates on new studies and forecasts that will help you do a better job seeking private money.
Holly Hall, who has covered fundraising for more than two decades at The Chronicle, edits the blog. She also writes many of the items, as does reporter Raymund Flandez, who specializes in fundraising innovations, and other Chronicle staff members.
Keep up with Holly Hall on Twitter at @HallHolly and with Raymund Flandez at @Raymundf23.
Follow Prospecting through your favorite RSS reader.
