Charitable Giving Increases in 2012

I'm writing this morning from the Hampton Inn in Horse Cave, KY on the way to Cleveland OH.  I'm also trying out a new ipad/iphone app called BlogTouch.  There are no guarantees how this will look once its posted.

Found this morning in a report from the website www.givingusareports.org that charitable giving increased in 2012.  The largest increases were to the arts and humanities, the sector which saw the biggest cuts during the recession.  Much of the increase came from corporate support, although there were modest increases in individual giving, largely attributed to uncertainty over the future of the charitable tax deduction.  The Giving USA Foundation publishes an annual statistical report that you can download for about $90 (which I didn't), but you can read a good summary of their findings (which I did) under the news tab.

There is a sister organization, The Giving Institute, with a website at www.givinginstitute.org.  Both sites look to be worth exploring.

The Overhead Myth

I'm a pilot, so I had to use
airplanes OVERHEAD to illustrate!

Take a look at OverheadMyth.com.  Guidestar, the BBB, and Charity Navigator have joined together in a new initiative to counter the media's obsession with "Overhead" costs of nonprofits.  I first started thinking about the sense this makes after watching the Ted Talk with Dan Pallotta speaking on "The way we think about charity is dead wrong" (search Ted Talk and Dan Pallotta).  Later I watched the video from the UWW Staff Leaders Conference which may be archived on the UWW website.  Now comes this website and perhaps the conversation will move to a new level. 

Giving 2.0 & Whoodl

Thanks to a WSJ article, I found a wealth of information on Laura Arrillaga-Andressen's website at giving2.com.  Laura teaches Philanthropy at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and her bio alone is worth reading.  But don't stop there!  This website has a wealth of information including "project u" where she has uploaded her class lectures, syllabi, and case studies.  It will take several hours of exploring to get all the valuable resources you can find on this site.


Also, I love Apps.  I am not sure how I ever got along without my iPhone or iPad, but I am definitely glad I have them now.  A while back I found an App that is helping me remember names and how I know people.  Whoodl lets you enter a name and then an almost unlimited amount of reminders, facts, data, whatever it takes to jog your memory.  Then when you run across someone and you can't remember their name, annual gift, or why you know them, just put in anything you know about them in the search window and up comes all the possibilities.  It's great for those moments when you see that big donor and draw a total blank on their name and all the details you would just love to know at that very moment.

Gift Acceptance Policies

None of us should have to create policies out of thin air since there are so many excellent examples out there to retread.  Last year, a group of us from Resource Development and Finance got together to rewrite our Gift Acceptance Policies (GAP's).

The process went smoothly.

1. Individually we reviewed the old GAP's and marked everything we thought needed to be changed, deleted, or added.
2. We reviewed several examples from other United Ways.
3. We searched the web for good examples from other sources not UW affiliated
4. We took the best ideas from everyone else
5. We wrote the new policies.
6. Currently they are going through the review process with the Board committees

You will find a PDF of the final draft by clicking HERE! (By the way, I upload these documents to Google Drive and I am told this makes them safe from viruses or other infections that drive our IT guys crazy!).

We borrowed heavily from our good friends at United Way of Greater Atlanta and Bentley Marane.  They have great GAP's.  We also found the GAP's from LSU to be quite good.  If you want a list of all the different examples we used, drop me an email.

2012 Bank of America Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy



Thanks to Joe Jerz, Senior Director of Campaign and Major Gifts at Heart of West Michigan United Way in Grand Rapids for sending out a link this morning to the study. It's only 7 pages long and I took a copy with me this morning on a visit to a Financial Planner.  It made a great impact piece for a conversation about her clients, our Tocqueville Society, and the endowment. 

Go to http://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/files/press_kit/additional/2012_BofA_Study_of_HNWP_-_Key_Findings.pdf

David

No Point in Reinventing the Wheel!

Finding a great idea is a whole lot better than trying to invent a new one.  So, inspired by my friend Bryne Lewis from United Way of the Wyoming Valley in Wilkes Barre PA and her blog, "Apples to Oranges", PG Retreads is dedicated to good ideas and resources from the world of planned giving that you just might find helpful.  

That said, the first resource I am going to recommend is ....

Apples to Oranges

 

Bryne Lewis is the Vice President of Resource Development at UW of the Wyoming Valley and she is chronicling their move to a new way of thinking when it comes to RD work.  Apples to Oranges is a new blog, so you can get in on the ground floor reading about their progress. You will find it at
 

"wewantoranges.blogspot.com".

 

For the next couple of days, I will add other websites, resources, and good ideas I find useful in our work. When I've posted everything I know currently, I will do my best to find and post at least once a week the best idea I think worth sharing. If you have a good idea, send it to me at dhall[at]uwca.org. You can contribute a blog post, get full credit, honors and accolades from your fellow planned giving searchers.

I am going to avoid using hyperlinks, actual email addresses, and other tools that make it so easy for phishers and spammers to send us garbage we don't want.  If you want to know how to get in touch with someone (like Bryne) email me and I will send you her contact info (she says I can).