I heard a “fad vs. revolution” question posed on the radio this morning on the way to work. It was in reference to another topic, but it struck me, because I’ve been thinking this past weekend about all the various ways individuals are donating to the relief efforts in Haiti – via text messaging being the vehicle most prominently publicized.
Fad or future? What's your take on using SMS or texting to make donations?
I’ve been keeping my eyes open for any organization that is asking people to send in checks, but those appeals are almost nonexistent as most organizations are directing donors to their websites. A few are promoting phone numbers that take credit card donations, but these also are rare.
Is appealing for financial support via text messaging a fad or a revolution? How many more people will donate who wouldn’t have given otherwise, because it’s just a quick few punches with the thumbs and $10 is on its way? Preliminary numbers certainly point to the success of this appeal. If people give $10 via texting, but they would like to give more, will they? How?
Charitable giving is a $5.5 billion endeavor in Minnesota, according to MCF’s Giving in Minnesota, 2009 Edition research. Of this, 76 percent or $4.19 billion came from individuals. Over the past decade, charitable giving in Minnesota increased 67 percent, and the number of grantmakers in the state rose by more than 65 percent. In just a year, from 2006 to 2007, foundations and corporate giving programs increased their giving by 10.1 percent to $1.32 billion.
Has innovation or evolution in philanthropy contributed to this increase? What factors – technology, outreach strategies, messaging, donor-advised initiatives to name just a few examples – are redefining how and what we give? Which individuals and organizations are leading the way? These topics and more will be the focus of our spring issue of Giving Forum.
In the meantime, join the conversation on texting to support relief efforts in Haiti by commenting on this entry. I’m interested to hear others’ perspectives.
- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate
Although the fight in Iraq and Afghanistan endures, a new generation of veterans is coming home. A first-of-its-kind report reveals that many want to serve as volunteers, and that this volunteer work may be crucial to welcoming and re-integrating them into their home communities successfully. Effectively engaging this force for good on the home front will require cultural awareness and new tactics on the part of all of us in the independent sector.
The new report on the civic engagement and volunteerism of veterans is the first of its kind.
The report, released by Civic Enterprises and funded by the Case Foundation and Target Foundation (a member of the Minnesota Council on Foundations), is entitled All Volunteer Force: From Military to Civilian Service.
Report Highlights:
A Rocky Transition – Only 13 percent of returning veterans strongly agreed that their transition home was going well
Few Contacted – Nearly seven in ten respondents (69 percent) reported that no community institution, local nonprofit, or place of worship had contacted them after returning home
Ready to Serve - Ninety-two percent of respondents agreed or strongly-agreed that serving their community is important to them
Diverse Interests - Veterans are interested in serving many types of organizations, from those involved in environmental conservation, to disaster relief, to those serving other veterans and their families, to those who work with older Americans or at-risk youth
What Nonprofits, Faith-based Organizations and Grantmakers Can Do
Perhaps one of the most powerful things that organizations in the independent sector can do to engage veterans is simply to ask them if they’d like to volunteer. Many of those respondents currently volunteering reported that being asked to volunteer was the reason they began volunteering in the first place.
Faith-based organizations can also help ease the transition for veterans by recognizing them during services and asking congregants to invite veterans into their homes to share a family meal. Many returning veterans are Millenials and members of Generation X. These individuals are high technology users and may be contacted via forums and using other online communications vehicles. If you have a Twitter account or enewsletter, consider making a special appeal to veterans to volunteer at your nonprofit or serve on your board of trustees.
The report outlines many other strategies — from national policy down to the grassroots — for effectively engaging and re-integrating servicemen and women into their communities. The full report can be viewed and downloaded for free at civicenterprises.net
Join the conversation: Have you talked to your colleagues about how to reach out to veterans? If you’re a veteran or service member, what advice do you have for organizations who would like to engage you?
I’m sure your mailbox has been like mine these past few weeks – plenty of letters soliciting year-end financial contributions mixed in with the holiday greetings. The challenge has always been how to sift through all this and make the decisions to give to some causes and not to others.
Before you uncork a bottle of bubbly on New Year's Eve, will you be making any last minute donations?
How is the tough year affecting your year-end giving? Do we choose to support nonprofits that address hunger and housing? How about organizations that are filling a need created by government budget cuts such as those providing education or medical care and support to those who struggle to afford it?
Or do we support those nonprofits that may have experienced a drop in giving this year (like arts groups, for example), because a good base of their support now is being directed toward basic needs and they are not perceived as such? Do we support dire needs in our own zip code, state, country or across the ocean?
In this economic climate, difficult choices are coupled with our own decisions about how much we’re capable of spending, giving away and saving.
Given the amount of mail I’ve received (via the regular postal service and via email) now is a time of great need for the causes I support (as well as for those for which I’m not sure how I got on their distribution list).
Working in the nonprofit field, I tend to view fundraising appeals through a somewhat more critical lens, thinking about messaging, impact and other nuances.
A couple of recent articles caught my attention. In his monthly e-newsletter free-range thinking, Andy Goodman recounts a study conducted in 2007 at Carnegie Mellon University in which researchers studied the giving of students who received appeals using data alone to illustrate need, a personal story alone outlining need, and data plus story. The results in a nutshell: Story alone is a more effective appeal than data alone and surprisingly, data plus story.
A New York Times article recently touted Dec. 31 as the “most lucrative” day of the year for many nonprofits, especially those that solicit online giving. Nonprofits, the article says, are increasingly using a last-minute email appeal to entice people to take advantage of any tax benefits for giving during the preceding year.
Join the conversation: Has your mailbox seen more, less or about the same amount of fundraising mail this season? Which appeals do you find most impactful? Any examples you’d like to share? What’s your experience with New Year’s Eve giving? How much giving do you do then? Or, if you’re a nonprofit, is that a “lucrative day” for you?
- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate
Now, resources from many of these sessions are available online.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, unable to leave D.C. because of the health care debate, sent her keynote remarks via video. Below, she discusses how these unprecedented times for our country are a call to think and act anew – to meet the challenges head on – to examine every opportunity to bring together government, the private sector, nonprofits and communities to build a better future. She also highlights recent developments in D.C., as well as new initiatives in Minnesota. (Close-captioning for this video will be available in the coming weeks.)
Conference presentations and handouts from many of the breakouts are posted online and accessible on the conference website’s Download Center.
Despite the down economy, the 2009 Joint Conference of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and the Minnesota Council on Foundations drew a record 1,700 attendees. MCN and MCF partner to present a joint conference every three years.
- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate
"Now is the era of partnerships." Grantmakers are uniquely positioned to connect the dots between public, private and philanthropic organizations.
Right in line with our conference theme, “Transforming Our Work: From Challenging Times to Hopeful Futures,” Steve Gunderson, president and CEO of the Council on Foundations, shared his thoughts on transformations in philanthropy.
Foundations are moving toward mobilizing resources and making strategic philanthropic investments. The reality is, after the federal stimulus money is gone, resources will not be available to return to the way we worked before. “How will we respond?” Gunderson asks. “Now is the era of partnerships.”
Gunderson cites education as an example. In the past, the public, private and philanthropic sectors worked separately in their own way to tackle their priorities. In this new time of partnering, these sectors are playing not just side by side but together.
Philanthropy’s role can be to create innovation – to connect the dots – to connect funding resources with those who need it. Gunderson outlines the four Cs key to public/private philanthropic partnerships:
Connections: Nonprofit delivery systems and the philanthropic sectors need to be connected with the public sector. This needs to occur on the federal level, and just as importantly, on the state and local levels. Regional associations and local governments must be involved too.
Communication: Sharing, opening and broadening communication that is two-way is important to partnership success and future efforts.
Capacity-building: What role can philanthropy play in equipping nonprofits and government?
Convenings: Bringing diverse groups in each community together to define strategies and move forward is key. Nonprofits who are on the ground, know the needs of their communities and provide delivery systems to meet those needs must also take responsibility for bringing the many players together.
Join the conversation: What’s your take on this new era of public/private/philanthropic partnerships? What can and should be the role of each sector? What’s a great case study or partnership example?
– Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate
By working hard at working together, Minnesota grantmakers and nonprofits are taking aim at complex, core community needs.
In order for these partnership efforts to be successful, grantmakers believe a few key components must be present.
Brad Brown, executive director of Social Venture Partners, believes three of these components are: “First, a true collaboration requires real commitment of resources – dollars, staff, time, in-kind. We can’t just sit around the table and talk about what we want to do. Second, we need to understand what each partner can offer, and those skill sets need to be complementary. And, third, too often partnerships are people doing what they’ve always done, but in a piecemeal fashion. It’s not a real, effective collaboration until we integrate what we are all doing into a seamless whole.”
“Open communication also is essential, so partners feel they can discuss expectations,” says Marina Munoz Lyon, vice president of the Carl and Eloise Pohlad Family Foundation. “If we’re burdening an organization, asking them to do too much or do work that isn’t part of their normal portfolio or for which we’re not willing to pay, organization reps need to feel they can communicate this.”
For more grantmaker insight into the keys and barriers of successful partnering, check out the Fall issue of Giving Forum, MCF’s quarterly publication. This issue focuses on “The Power of Partnering: Grantmakers Use Collective Action to Amplify Impact.”
- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate
Jim Hoolihan, president/CEO of the Blandin Foundation, says his foundation starts its work by asking this. Exploring this question has meant that partnership work is now embedded in Blandin’s culture.
These grantmakers say, though, that partnership work is not always easy work. Addressing power dynamics is one key issue. Is it possible to have true collaboration when one party holds the purse strings?
If funding is viewed as only one piece of the collaboration amongst several at the table, then the answer is yes.
“Each organization brings something to the table, whether it be relationships, connections, knowledge, influence or the ability to leverage other resources,” notes Jill Shannon, director of community partnerships, St. Croix Valley Foundation. “We’re all the same that way, yet we touch our communities differently. Whether a grantee or a grantor, we can work together to accomplish a common goal. The task at hand is to see what each organization can bring forward to reach that shared goal.”
Hoolihan adds, “In some cases, we may have more money, but another partner may have more experience, and another may have more knowledge. Every partner brings something unique, and we recognize that what each brings to the collaboration is just as valuable as money… We do not have all the answers, and money by itself accomplishes nothing.”
For effective collaborations, partners not only must acknowledge the value each brings to the table, grantmakers must commit to listening sincerely with the intention of learning, and nonprofits must not be afraid to speak honestly and directly.
- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate
Decoding the Future of Philanthropy
(Philanthropy 2173) Lucy Bernholz discusses the future of philanthropy, and how data will be the new platform for determining the flow of philanthropic dollars.
Not Your Mama’s Philanthropy
(New Voices of Philanthropy) Race and gender diversity are often talked about, but what about age diversity? Trista Harris addresses this rarely discussed dynamic and warns us about the consequences of ignoring it.
The Problem with Non
(Seth Godin’s Blog) This is the post that launched a thousand angry comments. If you’re not attuned to the rhythms of the blogosphere, you may be unaware of this particular post which unleashed a shock wave of responses from the nonprofit community. In it Godin lambastes the nonprofit community for not taking risks and engaging in social media.
Why Seth Godin is Wrong (onPhilanthropy) In this frequently cited response to “The Problem with Non,” Tom Watson criticizes Godin’s arguements, pointing out that fear of embracing new technology is hardly unique to the nonprofit world, and that there many examples of nonprofits successfully leveraging social media to raise funds and awareness.
Posted by Chris Noonan 
