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 10, 2009
The Internal Revenue Service is working to help “protect the trust and confidence” in nonprofit organizations during the current economic crisis and will be watching for possible abuses, said Lois G. Lerner, who oversees the IRS office that monitors charities and foundations.
“During hard times, there is often a rise in questionable or fraudulent activity, in overly aggressive or inappropriate fundraising, and in tax-avoidance accommodation schemes of less than sterling character,” Lerner told a conference of tax-exempt organizations in Washington held by Georgetown University’s Law Center, according to media reports.
“We are trying to stay ahead of the curve to curtail predatory abuse of tax-exempt organizations,” she said. “Consequently, we are looking very closely at applications from new organizations, and at activity being conducted by established organizations.
Lerner emphasized how important it is for the nonprofit sector to maintain the trust of the general public. “The IRS can help instill and maintain this trust by promoting compliance and transparency. Organizations can build and maintain this trust by doing the right thing – operating consistently with their long-held beliefs and missions, promoting transparency and accountability to the public, and resisting the temptation to sacrifice principles for short-lived and perhaps ill-gotten gains.”
It sounds like she was talking about Christian fundraising groups. Christian fundraising groups are committed to their long-held beliefs. These beliefs guide them to resist temptation and never sacrifice principles.
Christian fundraising groups that sell the Samaritan Card will find that the success of this easy fundraiser will further help them meet their obligations to their mission, their boards, the Lord – and the IRS.
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 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 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 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.
