News/Stats/Studies

According to statistics from numerous public-service organizations, the number of college graduates from East Tennessee and nationwide seeking nonprofit and public-service jobs with organizations like AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps and Teach For America is sharply rising. Scant private-sector jobs and a weak economy aren't the sole contributors to this trend; student loan forgiveness programs, presidential support and a culture of service among the millennia generation are other root causes.

Advocacy by nonprofit organizations over a five-year period has brought more than $4.7 billion in benefits to low-wage workers and families and other neglected populations, according to a new study commissioned by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.

The report titled "Strengthening Democracy, Increasing Opportunities: Impacts of Advocacy, Organizing and Civic Engagement in the Gulf/Midsouth Region" describes and monetizes the impact of 20 advocacy and community organizing groups from Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi between 2005-2009.

When you think of workplace giving campaigns, a gift request form may be the first thing that comes to mind. But workplace campaigns are changing, employing innovative tools and strategies that are sparking engagement and redefining how companies and employees improve their communities.

A new study conducted by the Center on Philanthropy highlights successful workplace campaign strategies, helping nonprofits and companies develop engaging campaigns.

Charities are embracing the cloud, with almost three times as many charities using some form of software as a service (SaaS) as two years ago, according to the Charity IT Survey 2011.

17 percent of respondents said they use at least one SaaS solution, up from 12 percent in 2010 and 6 percent in 2009.

14 percent said they didn’t but were considering it, and just 5 percent said they had considered it but decided against it.

Not many charities are raising significant amounts of money through social networks, but the ones that are come in a variety of sizes, according to a new study.

Fewer than 3 percent of the 11,196 nonprofit groups that responded to the Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark survey said that they raised more than $10,000 on Facebook in 2010.

But of the 27 charities that reported raising more than $100,000 on Facebook, 30 percent had annual budgets of $1-million to $5-million.

The vast majority of nonprofit organizations sharing office space in nonprofit centers report significant improvements in their overall effectiveness and efficiency, a new study from the NonprofitCenters Network, a program of Tides, finds.

Sponsored by the Kresge and Lodestar foundations, the study, Measuring Collaboration: The Benefits and Impacts of Nonprofit Centers, surveyed U.S. and Canadian organizations in nonprofit centers and found that such arrangements provide a range of benefits to the organizations involved, including access to higher-quality facilities in better locations for rents that can be as much as 75 percent below market value.

The Center for Effective Philanthropy released a survey at its conference in Boston that injects some new data into the debate about whether foundations are doing enough — or too much, in the eyes of some — to measure their performance.

Seventy-two percent of the 537 foundation chief executives surveyed said that assessing their organization’s performance is a high priority, and 68 percent believe grant makers have made great progress in measuring their performance over the past decade.

A steep drop in financial support from foundations and individual donors is still hitting nonprofit organizations hard, but many have shown a resilience to carry on programs and keep up with rising demands brought on by the recession.

The need for charity services, which many turn to in tough economic times, have overburdened nonprofits over the last few years while, at the same time, funding for such growing needs has diminished significantly, according to consultants and local charity organizations.

"Philanthropy in Israel is still based on a lot of foreign funding and the relative increase in Israeli donations doesn't reflect the wealth is Israeli society," claims Professor Hillel Shmidt, a senior faculty member at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and director of the Center for the Study of Philanthropy.

According to new data set to be published by the center, Israeli philanthropy makes up only 0.7% of the Gross Domestic Product compared with 2.1% in the U.S. and 0.73% GDP in England.

Rapidata’s Charity Direct Debit Tracking Report 2011 reveals positive growth in regular giving for the third consecutive year in the U.K.