Accountability

Cancer Fund of America, one of four cancer charities the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) named in a civil complaint last May, has agreed to shut down. The Tennessee-based charity allegedly was part of a scam that bilked donors out of more than $187 million. Named the second-worst charity in America by The Tampa Bay Times, it is the last of the four charities named in the FTC complaint to cease operations...

I used to think Mop & Glo was the greatest product known to man. Once a week, I’d mindlessly squirt Mop & Glo on my tile flooring, run a damp mop over my tile and step back to admire the shine. Until the day came when there was no shine left to admire. So, are you using what I call "Mop & Glo fundraising"?...

Just hours ahead of attending Saturday's GOP primary debate in Greenville, S.C., Donald Trump blasted the Republican National Committee (RNC) for a fundraising email he claimed was "illegally" sent using his name. The billionaire went on a Twitter spree against the RNC early Saturday. Trump's recent comments are a response to fundraising messages the committee…

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead on Saturday morning, apparently of a heart attack sustained while visiting a hunting ranch in Texas. He was 79. Scalia, the longest-serving Supreme Court justice in history, was nominated by Ronald Reagan and confirmed by the Senate in 1986. He earned a reputation as the intellectual…

While Valentine's Day is very symbolic for us, I will never forget what I was told decades ago: to show affection every day of the year and not just one special, designated day. I always have carried that premise over to donors in my career. We need to love them all of the time. Unfortunately, many professionals have not developed a proper method or process to do this over time...

There is nothing more dangerous than a boring story. Don’t believe me? Think about a time when you watched a bad movie or tried to read a slow book. Maybe you fell asleep in the theater. Perhaps that book sat and gathered dust on your bedside table, but try…

Donald Trump wanted a small veterans charity to be his political prop. It said "no." Liberty House—one of the 22 organizations chosen to benefit from Trump’s multimillion-dollar fundraiser for veterans—is a scrappy veterans group in New Hampshire, with a small, $300,000 annual budget. On Friday, Liberty House Executive Director Keith Howard received a call from…

Throughout the 2016 campaign, two candidates have lapped the field when it comes to throwing fundraisers—former Gov. Jeb Bush and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. And for two politicians with a complicated history of both distancing and embracing their family names, Clinton and Bush now are calling on kin to help them raise cash…

The reasons for major gift officer (MGO) failure, other than the person not having the skills to do the job, are pretty basic. What I find interesting is that MGOs can simply decide to not let any one of these points be a reason for their failures. They can, literally, flick switches in their minds and make the decision to head in another direction if they want.

Philanthropy is the name of the game. Especially for Super Bowl 50 and the San Francisco Bay Area. This year’s host committee raised $12 million for local nonprofits, more than any other host committee has in years past, Fast Company reported...