Posted by Fundraising Pro on June 12, 2009
Schools may be out for summer and church activities may slow down as families go away on vacation. But this a vital time for school fundraising groups and Christian fundraising groups to plan their key fundraisers for fall.
Never has there been a better time to sell the Samaritan Card as your group’s major fundraising activity. Newly released data for 2008 reveals that charitable giving by Americans fell by 2 percent last year.
The Giving USA Foundation, which has conducted the survey since 1956, expressed relief that 2008’s decrease was not steeper, considering that many Americans lost more than 2 percent of their wealth during the year.
However, the report highlights the challenging circumstances facing America’s nonprofits, many of which have been forced to lay off staff and cut programs because of declining revenue.
Particularly hard hit were social services charities which suffered a 12 percent drop in donations at a time when most of them were experiencing increased demand for their services.
The last similar overall drop in giving was n 1987, the year of the Black Monday stock market collapse.
Although experts agree that this past year’s drop could have been worse, it still means that nonprofits will have to do more with less.
The Samaritan Card, a wallet-sized discount shopping card, offers people a way to be charitable in difficult times and a way for organizations to easily raise the money they need for their causes.
Posted by Fundraising Pro on June 8, 2009
Christian non-profit groups and charities planning to start a business or keep one afloat are confronting daunting economic challenges. Experts in the field offer the following fundraising tips:
Don’t panic. The fundamentals of business don’t change, even in a downturn. To be successful, businesses still have to lure and keep customers, provide good service and keep prices competitive.
Watch the numbers. Keeping an eye on costs and cash flow takes on increased importance in a tough economy. Nonprofits that typically run their financial reports every couple of months should move to a monthly or even weekly schedule.
Planning is important. More charities are creating a range of contingency plans for their businesses now. It is important to outline courses of action for different levels of increases or decreases in revenue.
Be realistic. Many nonprofit groups are reeling from drops in their philanthropic support, but organizations in financial crisis should not start a business simply because it seems an easy way to make money. It could drain resources and create a worse situation.
Look ahead to the economic recovery. The downturn provides a valuable opportunity to plan and lay the groundwork for a new business to start in the near future.
Mission is key. To make smart choices in response to the economic crisis, nonprofit organizations need to remember why they started their businesses in the first place.
Sell the Samaritan Card. This wallet-sized discount card makes it easy to generate revenue. There’s little overhead and it offers your community a way to donate during difficult financial times – the card pays for itself after only several purchases.
Posted by Fundraising Pro on June 5, 2009
Many Christian fund-raising groups and other nonprofits run thrift stores as a way to generate income to serve their communities and causes. St. Vincent de Paul, the Salvation Army, Goodwill and the Hospice Shops are known nationwide but in every town various churches, hospitals, symphonies and animal protection groups run small thrift stores.
The current economic climate is good news for these charitable businesses. When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. It’s a jest, but it’s true, at least in this sense: When the economic going gets tough, the tough go shopping at thrift stores.
Millions of people have less to spend, so they spend more where goods cost less – at retail secondhand stores run by charities or for profit.
“Now that the economy is doing poorly, our stores are doing well,” Wendy Steinmetz, spokeswoman for the family-owned Thrift Town, a four-state chain with 15 stores, said in a recent newspaper article.
Some stores have been setting what Thrift Town dubs “world records.” Their weekly sales have hit all-time highs.
Similarly, sales in the Salvation Army’s thrift stores in are up from over a year ago, said Dawn Marks, a regional spokeswoman.
“Our clothing sales, our necessities sales, are up,” she said.
While thrift shops provide a wonderful service to the community by offering everyone a way to shop for very little money, a way to recycle and a way to raise money for good causes, they are very labor-intensive.
Thrift shops require many volunteer hours to sort and price donations and mind the store. Overheads can be huge too, if rent has to be paid on the store space and if a commercial truck is needed to pick up donations. And there are utility and insurance bills to pay.
Selling the Samaritan Card, a wallet-sized discount card, might be a much better fit for your nonprofit organization.
Posted by Fundraising Pro on June 1, 2009
As revenues fall for many non-profit businesses, their leaders are taking steps to limit losses, hold on to customers, and try to ride out the financial storm. Christian fundraising groups and school fundraising committees are not immune from having to come up with new fundraising ideas.
But the news isn’t all bad. Some business run by Christian fundraising groups and other nonprofit groups, like thrift stores, have actually been boosted by the recession, and a growing number of groups are turning their attention to newer industries, such as recycling and clean energy, that they think will grow in the near future A survey of 848 charities released last week found that 54 percent now run businesses. Of the groups that did not already run a business, 57 percent said they were think thinking about starting another one.
Some charities find that with a well-thought-out plan, now can actually be a good time to build or carefully expand a business, as many basic costs, such as rent or employees, are lower than they would be in a booming economy.
For some charities with more than one business, growth in one can cushion the organization against losses in another – and even in fundraising.
To attract more business and increase the funds that can go towards their mission and achieving their goals, many nonprofits are selling the Samaritan Card. This discount shopping card not only pays for itself after the first few uses, but organizations do not have to burden volunteers with the complications of storing and distributing bulky items such as tubs of cookie dough and rolls of wrapping paper. The wallet-size Samaritan Card is a great way to support great causes.
Posted by Fundraising Pro on May 29, 2009
For Christian fundraising and school fundraising these are trying but important times. Never in our lifetimes has the need been greater nor more challenging to meet.
Here are some innovative easy fundraising ideas suited for our times:
Giving Circles – Don’t have a lot of money to give? One option is to pool your funds with others in a giving circle, a group of donors who join to support the same causes. Groups can be as formal or informal as you want. Some meet regularly, name leaders and solicit matching donors, others meet less frequently. Groups also volunteer for the organizations they support.
Learn more about starting or finding a giving circle at GivingForum.org/givingcircles.
Matching Gifts – You may be able to double or triple your donations by getting a matching gift from your employer. While many companies have cut back on their programs in the recession, about one in ten charitable donations still can be matched by a corporate gift, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article.
Contact the human resources department of your company. Some limit contributions to certain categories such as education. You will probably have to fill out a form that can be found on your company’s website.
Samaritan Card - The Samaritan Card is a unique fundraising idea for churches, ministries, and other outreach organizations because it gives back to your donors. It makes fundraising easy and fun. It virtually sells itself.
One of the reasons fundraising is such a chore is because donors simply don’t want or need what most fundraisers are selling. Does anyone really need more chocolate or wrapping paper? People want the Samaritan Card because it offers up to 50% off at over 100,000 locations. Find out more at www.samaritanfundraising.com
Posted by Fundraising Pro on May 27, 2009
You don’t have to be one of the rich to give like them, according to a recent article on charities in the Wall Street Journal. Even philanthropists of modest means can direct giving after they pass away through “donor advised funds” – charitable giving accounts set up with community foundations or some investment firms.
With as little as perhaps $5,000, you can set up a fund to help inner city after-school sports programs or other causes you select. You get an immediate tax break and because you’re donating through an existing entity, your money won’t be absorbed by administrative costs (although you will pay a small annual administrative fee).
The mechanism is fairly easy: You donate to a local community foundations or charitable fund set up by an investment firm such as Fidelity Investments, Vanguard Group or Charles Schwab. They will invest your money and make grants supporting the causes of your choice. This way you get a multiplier effect on your charitable dollars because investment gains can accumulate before the money is distributed.
Whatever charity or nonprofit you are considering donating to, please meet with them first and suggest that as part of their fundraising efforts they should sell the Samaritan Card. This wonderful fundraising instrument gives back by providing up to 50% discounts at over 100,000 merchants and yielding up to 70% profit. There’s no paperwork so it is a wonderful way to make money without a lot of administrative costs.
Posted by Fundraising Pro on May 25, 2009
Choose carefully before you write a check to a charity, advises an article in today’s Wall Street Journal. Websites such as CharityNavigator.org and GuideStar.org provide information about charities’ programming and financing that can help in you make an educated decision.
Charity Navigator rates charities and evaluates their financial health, the article explains. It shows how much a nonprofit spends on programming versus administrative expenses. Plus it shows how it compares to charities that do similar work.
GuideStar.org offers information about a charity’s finances and programming, including its mission statement, program description and federal tax form. Donors can search for charities and donate directly from the site.
Becoming a volunteer for a nonprofit organization is a good way to become familiar with programs you’d be supporting as a donor. If you’re able to give a substantial donation, you should talk to the charity’s leadership about its accomplishments. Ask how the group evaluates its programs; ask to see annual reports. How do the leaders measure if they’re making progress toward their goals?
The fundamental question comes down to whether a nonprofit is treading water or making a difference, according to Rich Cowles, executive director of the Charities Review Council, which evaluates nonprofits and advises donors on effective giving.
Be sure to find out whether a nonprofit you are interested in helping sells the Samaritan Card. It offers nonprofits a very high return on selling a practical product that people can use instead of just asking for outright donations.
Posted by Fundraising Pro on May 22, 2009
What will the nonprofit world look like when the economy stabilizes? Part of what makes that a challenge is that even today, experts don’t have a viable estimate of how many charities are operating as opposed to those existing merely in the files of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Some charities go dormant during difficult times only to reemerge later.
The IRS recently reported that nearly 1.2 million charities and nonprofit foundations are registered in the United States. But more than two-thirds of those have less than $25,000 in revenue. Many of these charities - perhaps tens or even hundreds of thousands – may no longer exist.
Predictions that 100,000 charities will fail during the recession need to be tempered, experts say, with the fact that the U.S. added about 500,000 charities in the past decade alone. The pervading thought seems to be that losing 100,000 would not be catastrophic.
Meanwhile, some of the best-positioned charities to ride out the downturn may be food pantries and homeless shelters, which are gaining greater donor interest as the economy takes its toll on the country’s poorest citizens.
And charities that serve a so-called protected population, such as foster-care providers, should continue to see ample state support.
But many types of charities – including arts organizations and providers of after-school and job-training programs- are struggling. If your nonprofit organization needs a new fast and easy funding source, sell the Samaritan Card. Your group earns and your donors save by using the card. It’s a win-win.
Posted by Fundraising Pro on May 20, 2009
Nonprofit organizations could use donations of time from all kinds of folks with know-how in marketing, strategic planning, finance, website design, and many other areas of knowledge, a new study reports. But neither charities nor corporations are taking the right steps to encourage more people to donate their skills to good causes, according to a summary of the report in The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Nearly 40 percent of nonprofit leaders who responded to the survey say that will spend $50,000 or more on outside consultants this year but nearly a quarter of the charity officials have no plans this year to use skilled volunteers.
The study was commissioned by Deloitte LLP and is based on online interviews with 300 corporate executives and 360 nonprofit executives. The charity leaders had previously applied for donations from the Taproot Foundation, which helps connect nonprofits with pro bono services from professionals.
It is clear that charities need to become more assertive at seeking pro bono assistance and that corporations should develop better systems for offering skilled services from their employees in lieu of cash during these cash-strapped times. More information about the study is available on Deloitte’s website.
In the meantime, another way to cope with the extremely tight cash donation scenario today is to sell the Samaritan Card. It’s a wallet-sized shopping discount card that more than pays for itself with up to 50% off at 0ver 100,000 locations.
Posted by Fundraising Pro on May 15, 2009
According to a recent article in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, many nonprofit organizations have sharply reduced their budgets, due to declines in donations, fees, endowment income, and state government support. But most experts believe the worst is yet to come, as foundations cut their grant awards in the coming year to bring their distribution of funds in line with the steep investment losses their endowments have suffered.
The article quotes Paul C. Light, a professor of public services at New York University, as predicting that more than 100,000 charities will fail in the next two years and that he fears that survival of the fittest is angled towards the wrong kind of fitness. Those charities with well-oiled fund-raising machines are likely to survive and prosper while worthy charities with little name recognition or marketing clout may go under.
There’s general agreement, it seems, especially among funders inside government and in the philanthropic sector that there are too many nonprofits and some winnowing might not be so bad. But if the winnowing is done in a random way, we could wind up losing a number of very good nonprofits that should survive.
Some foundation officials believe that most charities have not fully come to terms with the severity of the current economic climate. But if you put off difficult decisions for too long, you put the whole organization at risk and may make yourself unattractive as a merger candidate should it come to that.
Keep on top of what’s going on in your nonprofit organization’s finances. Don’t forget to consider selling the Samaritan Card as a fundraiser. It’s not a luxury item like fancy wrapping paper or gourmet popcorn that people don’t need. The Samaritan Card offers people discounts on items they really buy. The Samaritan Card is accepted at over 100,000 retailers.
