Fundraiser Education

New York, July 13, 2009 —  With charitable giving down, more and more nonprofits are dipping into their endowments further reducing their resources -- making a bad situation worse. However, there is one type of giving that hasn't been tapped to its full potential and that's planned giving, which is just another way to raise money in addition to annual donations and grants. Yet, board members and fundraising staff shy away from planned giving programs perhaps because it sounds more complicated than other programs.

CHICAGO, IL, July 8, 2009 — North Park University is one of only two universities nationwide to offer a fully comprehensive nonprofit management program according to Nonprofit Quarterly, a magazine dedicated to strengthening the role of nonprofit organizations. In the 2009 Education Directory published in the spring issue, Nonprofit Quarterly surveyed schools nationwide to determine which eight essential programs are available at each institution. North Park University and Arizona State University were the only schools to meet all of the eight criteria.

WASHINGTON, July 2, 2009 — BoardSource, the nation's leading resource on nonprofit governance, has collaborated with Independent Sector to produce a new tool to help nonprofits, foundations, and corporate philanthropy programs examine and improve their governance practices. The Principles Workbook: Steering Your Board toward Good Governance and Ethical Practice is designed to help the nonprofit community meet its commitment to upholding the highest standards of accountability -- and do so in a cost-effective way.

June 25, 2009, The Financial Times — In the early days of the Global Philanthropy Forum, a strong belief guided Jane Wales, its president and chief executive, as she developed the conferences and workshops offered by the US-based organisation. “It’s like doing exercise,” she says. “You are much more likely to stay with something if you have a community of colleagues with which to pursue that work.”

July 1, 2009 — Ventureneer.com launches its second service offering: virtual classes and webinars for entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders. Ventureneer.com delivers a fresh approach to entrepreneurial learning, blending traditional formal instruction with informal learning derived from peers using Web 2.0 technology.

WALTHAM, June 25, 2009, The Boston Globe — College students, many of whom spend the little extra cash they have on pizza and laundry, don’t fit the typical profile of a wealthy benefactor. But in a growing national movement, students enrolled in newly created philanthropy courses are steering thousands of dollars to local charities.

PHILADELPHIA, May 28, 2009 — The Social Enterprise Initiative of the Harvard Business School Club of Philadelphia has awarded two scholarships to local nonprofit executives to attend the Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management program at the Harvard Business School in July 2009. This year’s recipients are Jay Spector, President and CEO of JEVS Human Services, and Gwen Bailey, Executive Director of Youth Service, Inc. Both of these recipients lead critical organizations in our region.

May 26, 2009 — Consumer advocacy group Consumer Action and leading financial services company Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE:COF) today announced that their joint MoneyWi$e financial literacy partnership will provide a financial training seminar for community groups in Boston.

Fundraising can be a tough job. There’s usually more to do than we can get done, and there’s a constant need for increased funding. Even in a prosperous year, working in fundraising isn’t for the faint-of-heart. This year, with the unsteady economy and the sense of gloom hanging in the air, it can be downright stressful.

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh have teamed up with groups from the universities of Strathclyde, Kent, Southampton, and Cass Business School to form a new centre that will support research into charity and philanthropy.