News/Stats/Studies

Older Americans give to charities and other important causes more generously than most other Americans, according to a survey released by Chase Card Services, a division of JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Over the past decade, U.S. foundation support for programs benefiting Hispanics and Latinos has held steady at approximately 1 percent of overall foundation funding, even as the Hispanic population in the country has grown significantly, a new report from the Foundation Center finds.

According to Foundation Funding for Hispanics/Latinos in the United States and for Latin America, total grant funding targeting Latinos in the U.S. between 2007 and 2009 averaged about $206 million a year, while funding for Latin America averaged roughly $350 million annually.

The National FFA Foundation announced it raised a record $16 million through corporate and private financial contributions to support FFA in 2011.

The foundation welcomed 40 new corporate sponsors in 2011, raising the total number to 1,212. Three new corporations combined for a $3 million gift to FFA. The foundation also drew more than 80 new companies and organizations as exhibitors at the 2011 National FFA Convention & Expo, the nation’s largest gathering of students. More than 53,350 FFA members, teachers and school administrators attended the 2011 event.

Chapman Cubine Adams + Hussey (CCAH), a full-service direct marketing firm serving global nonprofit organizations, announced that the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) has chosen the company as its direct marketing agency of record. CCAH will be responsible for developing and implementing NWF’s multichannel fundraising initiatives to help increase the organization’s revenue, expand monthly giving and improve donor retention.

After a tough couple of years, things are finally looking up for legit nonprofits, but they're still living hand-to-mouth on a day-to-day liquidity basis. Those are among the findings of a couple of economic reports recently released by Theater Communications Group, the grant-making, advocacy and networking org of U.S. theater nonprofits.

According to TCG's Theater Facts 2010, there are signs of hope, particularly in a metric TCG calls the Change in Unrestricted Net Assets, which measures all forms of a theater's income vs. all expenses.

After 16 years, a program that gives University of Oklahoma business students real-world management experience on Saturday reached the $1 million mark in donations to local charities from the profits of student-run firms. Through the years, students in the Integrated Business Core program at the Price College of Business have sold beach towels, water bottles, flash drives and playing cards — most carrying an OU logo.

In nearly 90 percent of high net worth households, women are either the sole decision maker or an equal partner in decisions about charitable giving, according to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2011 Study of High Net Worth Women’s Philanthropy.

In an online study of donors who had given by any method, conducted Nov. 15-17, 2011, Dunham + Co. discovered that online giving has become an important option for donors who are 60 years of age or older.

The study found that while 61 percent of all donors surveyed had given an online gift at some point, a surprising one out of two donors (51 percent) 60 years old and older said they had done so.

As end-of-the year giving gets under way, some charities like the American Red Cross are skipping disaster pictures and switching to gentler imagery to urge people to forgo extraneous holiday gifts and, instead, give “something that means something.”

To deliver its message, the American Red Cross has a new animated character in its multimedia campaign highlighting the seasonal dilemma of whether to please family and friends with material gifts or to give them something that betters the lives of others.

Despite signs the economy is improving, nonprofits that rely on state money should brace for at least two more years of tough times, a new report warns.

The report, prepared by Changing Our World, a philanthropy consulting firm, traces the evolution of the economic crisis, assesses its impact on state budgets, and explores whether philanthropy can make up for the loss of government spending on social programs.