News/Stats/Studies

When brands exhibit inconsistencies, consumers find it hard to swallow proclamations of corporate social responsibility (CSR), according to a forthcoming Journal of Consumer Research study.

Researchers found that CSR messages from brands associated with excitement and openness (Apple) or tradition and conservation (Aunt Jemima) are swiftly understood and accepted. On the contrary, when brands that suggest luxury, power, or status (Rolex) espouse their good deeds, their efforts aren't as well-received.

While ninety-six percent of Americans say they can identify two to three causes that are important to them personally, only 37 percent of Americans actually have purchased a produced associated with a cause in the last year, a new survey says.

And 74 percent of 1,000 adults age 18 and older who took an online survey conducted by communications company MSLGROUP agree there often is too much of a disconnect between the causes companies support and the brands and products they sell, while 67 percent believe companies only support causes to sell products.

The results of an online poll allowing fundraisers from around the world to shape sessions at the International Fundraising Congress (IFC) have been announced, giving the Resource Alliance, which organises the IFC, a fascinating insight into the views of the fundraising community. Fundraisers were asked to share their opinions on issues which will form the basis of sessions at the IFC delivered by six well-known speakers – Karen Osborne, Stephen George, Anne-Marie Grey, Fiona Duncan, AJ Leon and Nick Allen.

The number of Americans who volunteer dropped slightly in 2010, according to a new federal report.

Nearly 63 million Americans, slightly more than a quarter of the population, volunteered for charities last year, providing services valued at nearly $173-billion. That’s down from 2009, when 63.4 million adults, or nearly 27 percent of the population, donated their time.

The volunteer rate has not changed significantly since 2006, hovering around 26 percent. Volunteerism reached nearly 29 percent from 2003 to 2005 and has been as low as 20.4 percent in 1989, says the report.

Convio offers six recommendations in a new study to successfully integrating all marketing channels to communicate with donors and supporters.

Network for Good has updated The Network for Good Online Giving Index with insights and trends from the first two quarters of 2011. This Index builds on data and observations from The Online Giving Study released last December and is updated quarterly to provide timely and relevant snapshots of the state of online charitable giving.

In order to ensure the effectiveness of corporate philanthropy programs, executives should apply the same prudence to giving decisions that they do to other business activities, according to the Director Notes report released by The Conference Board, the global business research and membership organization.

The report, Making the Business Case for Corporate Philanthropy, provides practical recommendations to companies and boards for ensuring the legitimacy of their corporate giving programs. It also discusses the role of institutional investors and questions surrounding disclosure, and highlights examples of corporate giving successes and failures.

Public school systems around the country may have spent the past several years starving for cash in this financially troubled era, but a new report shows that philanthropists doled out $684 million in private grants from 2000-08 to organizations involved in reforming the teaching profession.

The analysis, the first comprehensive examination of philanthropy activity in this area, showed that the biggest chunk of the money — 38 percent — went to teacher recruitment, while 22 percent was spent on professional development, 14 percent on teacher preparation and less than 10 percent for everything else.

In many regions, the local philanthropic community has become aware of these gaps in services for the poor and has sought to assist the nonprofit community in building capacity and expanding activities. Local foundations are experimenting with various strategies to address the growing dispersion of poverty.

An analysis from the Brookings Institute combines an original data set of foundation grants for social services with in-depth interviews to assess the role of foundations in supporting the suburban social safety net in the Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, and Detroit regions. It finds that:

President Obama released the Administration’s 2011 National Drug Control Strategy, which coordinates an unprecedented government-wide public health and safety approach to reduce drug use and its consequences in the United States. The Administration’s new Strategy features Milwaukee’s Safe & Sound program, a partnership between law enforcement agencies, local residents and young people to prevent youth gang activity, crime and drug use.