Buried deep in this New York Times article is a lesson for nonprofits. The info is buried at the end of Page 1 of the article; it details how a number of organizations lost their funds when a bank was declared insolvent. Ouch. Basically, those same rules that affect individual bank accounts ... cover nonprofit organizations, too. And for organizations that have multiple bank accounts - such as separate accounts for payroll, programming expenses, and what-have-you, THIS IS A CONCERN... Read Full Story

Nanny Nanny Boo Boo... Yes, I did write several months ago that heavy reliance on a single donor - whether individual or corporate - was a very risky proposition for a nonprofit organization. At the time, Wall Street had just begun to report significant decreases in corporate earnings. In that post, I detailed several organizations that had relied on Bear Stearns (and the firm's partners) for the majority of their fundraising revenue. {Side note - the blog software used by CommunitEy... Read Full Story

Ah, Labor Day in the United States. Beyond the holiday aspect, it means two things to me: First, we're deep into U.S. Open Tennis, something that I grew up watching every year. Now that I've admitted to being a non-playing tennis junkie, we can move to the second item - the Charity Season. Yes, the black-tie-and-formal-gown season begins in earnest immediately after Labor Day. The events that are scheduled in September seem to be the warm-up events. These are usually a bit more... Read Full Story

Many fundraisers struggle to reach younger donors, trying to find ways to attract the 20-30 demographic to events. Traditional balls and dinners are pricey for this age group - and perceived as stuffy, too. Drinking for Charity, based in New York City, found a way to mix (just another in a long line of puns today) their drinking and desire to support nonprofit causes. Drinking for Charity promotes the culture of charitable giving among young urban professionals by hosting social events... Read Full Story

When I first heard about the creation of the Athens Area Community Foundation (Athens, GA ... just in case you're more inclined to the global view), I wondered how successful the organization would be. The concept was to provide more economic development and job-training to address longterm poverty in the Athens GA area. For those outside of the Southeast U.S., Athens is also the home of the University of Georgia, and the Georgia Bulldogs. And they are a BIG deal ... especially this... Read Full Story

I have to say, it's an interesting proposition. For the record - I love the Ritz ... fond memories of the Pentagon City Ritz-Carlton while working at MCI, and from my honeymoon, too. It's always a pleasure to be a guest at their properties. Back to the story line ... "Come stay at the Ritz-Carlton, and give back to the region of the world where you are vacationing," is the premise for the "Give Back Getaways." So, if you haven't enough time to do good while at home, you can schedule your... Read Full Story

It wasn't a cataclysmic event, but it did get me thinking about another area where nonprofits can learn from for-profit corporations. Leadership in nonprofit organizations is graying. And I don't mean that they are only using one crayon from the box ... Generally speaking, executive leadership of established nonprofits (those in existence 10 years or more) is reaching retirement age. Which isn't a surprise, since the Boomer generation has hit that threshold, too. But what it signals is... Read Full Story

Habitat for Humanity's been serving the poor for more than three decades now - who hasn't heard of Habitat? Building quality homes for low-income, under-served families around the globe gathers a lot of attention; add in famous projects like the annual build with President & Mrs. Carter, or the Musician's Village in New Orleans ... to not know Habitat means you've been on another planet. Habitat has always worked with a pure donation and/or sponsorship model, both the International... Read Full Story

"Drivers of Effectiveness for Employee Volunteering and Giving Programs Fortune 500 Survey" is the title of this benchmark study, which is underwritten by Bank of America. Conducted under the auspices of Boston College's Center for Corporate Citizenship and supported by the Points of Light & Hands On Network, it will give companies a measurement of their own programs, as well as provide a roadmap for improving current programs. What I really like about this study - besides the fact that Bea... Read Full Story

Nancy Schwartz works to improve communications effectiveness of nonprofit organizations; her latest volley is all about tag lines. Yup, that "my life in 6 words" format that tells everything about your organization. Succinctly. The following is straight from her blog: After the 62 tagline finalists were carefully selected, these 12 award winners were chosen by 3,062 nonprofit professionals who voted in an online poll: Arts & Culture: Where Actors Find Their Space - NYC Theatre Spaces... Read Full Story