According to the Giving USA Foundation’s 2007 report, $295 billion was donated to U.S. nonprofits in 2006. 83.4 percent came from individual donors and bequests, 12.3 percent ...<< MORE >>
"(CFI) predicts philanthropic support for schools, colleges and universities will grow by 5.3 percent for the academic year that began July 1," the article notes.
Good news for university advancement! For the entire article, check out the Philanthropy Journal.
Jacqui Higgins
NOZA
I have the privilege of adding a new blogger to our insightful and intuitive group. His name is Jason Dick and he is the Campaign Manager at Bellvue Community College in WA. He has his own blog, A Small Change, and the following is a post from that blog. In addition to his own, he will soon be writing periodically for our NOZA blog! So, please extend warm welcome to Jason, and I hope you will go to his blog and check it out, leave comments and ask him questions! If you have any suggestions for blog topics that you would like Jason to cover, please let us know in the comments section!
Jacqui Higgins
NOZA
Gaining Fundraising Support
By Jason Dick
A Small Change- Fundraising Blog
One of the most frustrating problems in the fundraising world is when you don’t have internal support. It is next to impossible to get anything done if the Executive Director or President does not support the work that you do. But it can be incredibly frustrating and difficult if the program staff or in some cases faculty or doctors don’t support the fundraising process.
Here are a few things that I have done to gain the support of organizations that I’ve worked for. Recognize the work of the program staff (this works well with faculty).
I’d love to hear from you any stories good or bad about staff supporting the fundraising function. What have you done to help people see how important fundraising is?
(You can post your comments for Jason here, and I will relay them back to him, or please visit this blog post on A Small Change to leave your comments directly. Thanks!)
As if you needed any more convincing on the importance of cultivating meaningful relationships with donors- the AFP has recently reported on a study by Target Analytics that takes the case even further.
The study notes that in an unstable economy, major donors- those who have a strong relationship with the organization- are more willing to give consistently than those who are simply appealed to through direct mail or events.
Peter Fissinger, president of Campbell & Company, a full-service consulting firm headquartered in Chicago had many excellent observations in the AFP article. He said, "’organizations that rely solely on special events and direct mail often suffer when the economy slows. It’s the donors you have a real relationship with—those who are active and invested—who will continue to give in trying times.’"
He goes on to say, "’the natural way of thinking is that a direct mail program would be a very consistent source of revenue and that major gifts would be more volatile. That actually hasn’t proven to be the case.’"
Read the entire article and learn more about the study here.
Jacqui Higgins
NOZA
If you didn't get a chance to participate in the TechSoup & NOZA video Webinar, it’s OK, because you can watch it free, or download a PDF of the content on the NOZA Training page at
www.nozasearch.com/fundraising-resources.asp! The title of the Webinar is NOZA Tips & Tricks.
Over 150 nonprofits attended and over 200 have watched this exclusive, value-added training. Find out how beneficial NOZA can be for your development and prospect research efforts directly from some of our most frequent users. There are lots of answered questions and tips on how to best utilize our database and how other nonprofits have benefited from NOZA data.
Check it out, and let us know what you think!
Jacqui Higgins
NOZA
One of the many useful tools in an organization’s prospect research is 990-PFs. The 990-PF is a Private Foundation’s annual tax return and it lists the foundation’s assets, grants (total grants given and the specific grants) and the board members. The IRS requires every private foundation file a Form 990-PF each year.
This type of information is invaluable when researching where to appeal for grant money. NOZA is proud to facilitate communication between grant makers and grant seekers with its free 990-PF Database. Research up to eight years of 990-PFs.
For more specific tips and information on how to "Be a 990 Private Eye," check out this informative blog. It gives tips on how to best read and interpret a 990-PF. You can also check out Understanding 990-PF Tax Returns training PDF.
Not all tax-exempt organizations are required to file 990 tax returns. Visit the IRS Web site for more tax information on charitable organizations.
Jacqui Higgins
NOZA
The Philanthropy Journal recently reported on a study of the giving patterns of high-net-worth business owners, and some of the results are surprising. It suggests that fewer than half of those surveyed gave to charity and nonprofits for tax benefits or social networking, and rather donated for "positive change" and "moral beliefs."
Though, the study also suggests that business owners are particular when choosing what organization they will give to. Many have reported regretting contributions to organizations that "did not spend their money wisely."
For the entire article and more information on the study, check out the Philanthropy Journal.
Jacqui Higgins
NOZA
Search Database of 34 Million Charitable Gifts to Find Donors Who Support Your Cause
Are you looking for new individual, corporate, and foundation donors who support your mission? Find them with an exclusive one-day discount to NOZA, the world's largest searchable database of charitable gifts, available at TechSoup on July 23 only.
If you would like to try NOZA for free before the special offer, click the following link to request 100 credits (to access 100 search records) at no cost!
Request 100 donated credits to try NOZA
Hurry! The credits expire July 9 so
place your request today. You can create a new NOZA account or add the credits to your existing account.Once you've had a chance to see how NOZA can help your fundraising efforts, make sure to visit TechSoup on July 23 to receive a special discount on a much larger package of search credits -- 4,175 -- enough to help you find new donors, research existing leads, and boost your fundraising.
For 8 hours on July 23 only, your eligible U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit or U.S. public library can request the specially discounted package of 4,175 donation records at NOZA for a $99 admin fee (the retail value is $250). This offer gives you the ability to search and download 4,175 records of giving to U.S. charities. Find philanthropic history by name, region, gift amount, cause, donation type, and more.
Learn more about our special one-day offer.Charitable giving raised by one percent (3.9 percent, before inflation) in 2007, going from $300 billion in 2006 to $306 billion in 2007, according to Giving USA 2008, the yearbook on philanthropy released by Giving USA Foundation.
The study also reports that every type of charitably organization saw gains in 2007- a positive stat in light of worries about the recent economic downturn.
For more information on the Giving USA stats check out the Giving USA Foundation press release and the Nonprofit Times' recent Special Report.