News/Stats/Studies

The latest annual college fundraising figures from the Voluntary Support of Education survey by Council for Aid to Education show donations to colleges and universities rose 8.2 percent in fiscal 2011, crossing back over the $30 billion mark for just the second time ever.

But the very richest universities accounted for nearly half the growth: Of the $30.3 billion collected by colleges and universities nationwide, $8.2 billion — or 27 percent — was raised by just the top 20 institutions. At those universities, fundraising was 15.3 percent higher than the year before.

According to a new Bridgespan study conducted at the request of the White House Council for Community Solutions, multi-stakeholder collaborations that have achieved "needle moving" change share common operating principles and characteristics of success.

The study, Needle-Moving Community Collaboratives: A Promising Approach to Addressing America's Biggest Challenges, found a dozen examples of community collaboration that have effected significant change against a communitywide goal, 80 to 100 that are actively working toward such a goal, and another 500 in the planning stages.

Customer relationship marketing firm Merkle announced that it has acquired New York-based Social Amp, a recognized authority in Facebook Open-Graph marketing and OAuth solutions for Fortune 500 brands and global agencies. The acquisition supports Merkle’s ongoing strategy to expand its capabilities in the area of digital marketing and to further strengthen its connected CRM approach.

Cambridge Savings Bank announced the launch of a new banking division designed specifically to meet the needs of local and regional nonprofit organizations. The new program, “Community Partner Solutions,” addresses the unique challenges NPOs face in managing their money, while adhering to their charitable objectives.

Video gamers often are portrayed as slackers. But at a video marathon last month, participants proved to be adept fundraisers. The video-game enthusiasts from the group Speed Demos Archive, whose members dedicate themselves to completing video games quickly, raised about $150,000 for cancer research in a six-day marathon of speed gaming. That’s a big jump from the $53,000 the group raised last year in its initial event for the Prevent Cancer Foundation.

The Catalogue for Philanthropy Greater Washington, an organization that connects local nonprofits with donors, has established a workplace-giving portal which officials say they hope will help drive more corporate funding to charities.

In the aftermath of the recession, charities have been scrambling for new revenue sources to make up for cuts in corporate, foundation and government giving. The new portal is designed to allow company employees to view the needs and volunteering opportunities of charities with operating budgets under $3 million. All the charities are screened by the Catalogue.

Robert Gluck, CEO of Harris Connect LLC, announced that Gregg Carlson, president of its fundraising division and former CEO of IDC Ltd, which was acquired by Harris Connect in 2010, will be establishing an independent firm, Carlson Fund Raising LLC, and will be the president. Carlson Fund Raising will provide a range of strategic counsel services for nonprofit organizations. In addition, Carlson Fund Raising and Gregg Carlson will continue representing Harris Connect solutions to clients as a strategic alliance partner.

Microsoft Corp. announced the results of its 2011 employee giving campaign: U.S. Microsoft employees raised $100.5 million (inclusive of the company match) for more than 18,000 U.S.-based community organizations doing work in the U.S. and around the world last year. With this milestone, Microsoft employees have now raised more than $946 million for nonprofits and community organizations since the company’s giving program started in 1983.

Harvard Business School just released its first study of U.S. competitiveness, reporting that almost two-thirds of U.S. businesses will locate their new plants outside the U.S. None of this is surprising. But for me, one finding was truly shocking: only 22 percent of U.S. managers believe that doing good for their communities will help their businesses.

Has the economic pressure really had that extreme an impact? I remember just a few years ago that managers believed that doing good for their communities was critical to their business and their reputations.

Six young women in East Stroudsburg Area School District's U.N. Aspire group found themselves part of a real-life "Pay it Forward" after reading the award-winning book "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide," by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, a former Times foreign correspondent.

They will be featured in a documentary to air on PBS for their work fundraising on behalf of HEAL Africa, an organization providing medical care to people living in the Congo.