Fundraising Compass

Subway Ads & Fundraising: Why Peanuts Matter.

By Gil Israeli, Director of Prospect Research and Senior Writer,

American Technion Society

(Photo source: National Peanut Board.)

New York’s Subway Ads can be inventive, funny, effective and, in this case, mirror attributes of the successful fundraiser. Real life peanut farmer Jeffrey Pittman volunteered his salt-of-the-earth appearance and ruddy cheeks to the cause.

Arriving in his freshly dry-cleaned duds, ready for the photo-shoot, he was too clean. So a girl smeared on the dirt, mostly on the jacket.

What’s today’s healthy snack? A four-part verbal fugue:  Grower – Harvester – Nurturer – Bringer Forther

We like Pittman – after all, like the best fundraisers, he’s a grower and this essential qualification can’t get any simpler… Read more

Who Are Your Access People? Identify and use them to reach out to major-gifts prospects.

By Gil Israeli, Director of Prospect Research and Senior Writer, American Technion Society
Appearing in Fundraising Success Magazine, May 2013

Every organization that raises (or strives to raise) major gifts faces the same challenge upon identifying a new prospect: How do I reach out to this person and develop a meaningful relationship? Unlike other types of fundraising such as direct mail, online giving, phonathons and small annual gifts, cultivation of major-gift prospects requires the critical first meeting, which can be facilitated by a door-opener or “access person.” With strong collaboration and information sharing between fundraisers and prospect researchers, the latter can play an essential role in identifying access people.

Who is an access person? He or she believes in your cause and may (or may not) be a donor. He knows your organization and, most importantly, trusts your professionalism to… Read more

What the Right Prospect Research Tool Can Do for Your Organization

By Alex Quinn, Senior Account Executive, iWave Information Systems

Whatever your fundraising mission, the right prospect research tool will help you achieve your goals.

Here are your five best reasons to make the investment:

1. It will save you time.

The whole point of a prospect research tool is to make your job easier, not create more work. With the right prospect research tool, you will  be able to search quickly and easily. Even better, some of these  tools will do the work for you by allowing you to… Read more

Version 2.0: The Giving Pledge Globalizes

By Bradford Smith, Foundation Center, Reprinted with permission.

They said that the Giving Pledge was “made in America,” they said that Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett didn’t understand other cultures, and that their brand of philanthropy was inappropriate for (substitute the country of your choice). They were wrong: on Tuesday, February 19, the ranks of the 93 American billionaires who have already signed the Giving Pledge — a public commitment to dedicate more than half of their fortunes to philanthropy—were joined by a dozen more representing 8 countries. In one fell swoop, the Giving Pledge has gone global.

How could the skeptics have gotten it so wrong? Since the Giving Pledge launched in 2010, wherever my travels have taken me, I have heard Brazilians, Mexicans, Europeans, and Chinese go to great lengths to explain why it would never catch on in their countries… Read more

Fly-by on Feb. 15, 2013: What can asteroid 2012DA14 tell us about fundraising?

By Gil Israeli, Director of Prospect Research and Senior Writer, American Technion Society

On February 15th, asteroid 2012 DA 14, measuring 163 feet across, about half the size of a football field and classified by NASA as a Near Earth Object (NEO), will pass about 17,200 miles above Asia, visible with a good pair of binoculars.

According to NASA, B612 Foundation and Scientific American, DA 14 is just one of an ongoing cascade of NEO encounters. It’s hard to get a handle on the overall risk. Expert opinions vary: based on landscape research, geologists report that 100 years is a likely span for Earth-bound cosmic events; space scientists maintain that centuries or thousands of years may pass before a significant life or planet-threatening impact occurs develops.

B612 Foundation, founded by a cohort of NASA alums, former astronauts and space scientists, aims to remedy the government’s current weakness in asteroid identification and tracking. With a $500 million (plus) fundraising campaign, they plan… Read more

Where can I find information on nonprofit capacity building?

Reprinted with permission from the Foundation Center.

Answer: Capacity building is a broad term that encompasses “actions that improve nonprofit effectiveness”, in terms of organizational and financial stability, program quality, and growth. This is according to Barbara Blumenthal, author of Investing in Capacity Building: A Guide to High-Impact Approaches  (Foundation Center, 2003). Read an online excerpt of the book here.

Increasingly, foundations are providing grants to help nonprofit organizations carry out their missions more effectively. Capacity building can take many forms, such as:
•     Professional development for staff and board members
•     Opportunities for peer learning, networking or leadership development
•     Creating or re-examining organizational plans
•     Initiating collaboration with other nonprofits
•     Developing new sources for earned income

READ MORE

Update (Part 2): The Fiscal Cliff, Taxes and Charitable Giving

By Mark Hefter, Esq., Director of Planned Giving, American Technion Society and President-Elect, Association of Fundraising Professionals, Greater NY Chapter

Please refer to the chart at bottom showing, under the tax law that expired Monday night (“2012” in the chart), under the law passed by Congress yesterday (“2013”) and if all the Bush tax cuts had expired (“No Bush”) for the following:

1.   The difference in tax savings when a married couple with AGI of $1,000,000, all ordinary income, makes a charitable gift of $500,000 cash (the maximum gift they could make under the 50% of AGI limitation on charitable gifts)

2.   The difference in tax savings when a married couple with AGI of $1,000,000, all capital gains or dividends, makes a charitable  gift of $500,000 cash.

3.  How much tax the same couple would pay if they make no gifts.

Read more