News/Stats/Studies

Why Corporations Invest in Cause Marketing/Corporate Philanthropy
December 7, 2010

Having an impact on critical issues in the No. 1 reason that corporations invest in philanthropic or socially responsible activities according to a new study, "Why Corporations Invest in Corporate Social Responsibility," by public relations firm Weber Shandwick.

How to Donate Like a Pro
December 7, 2010

Investors demand a good return from their assets. Now donors are increasingly seeking the same for their charitable dollars.

Finding the worthiest, most-efficient organizations to maximize the impact of your donations couldn't be more pressing.

Donors are rethinking their giving strategies, says Patrick Rooney, executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. "They want to make sure now more than ever that they're using their money wisely."

Charities With an Expiration Date Hurry to Make a Lasting Mark
December 7, 2010

Imagine charities created with their own self-destruct mechanisms built in.

Realizing Rights and Water Advocates will both blink out of existence this month, as planned. Both groups were designed to change the way global problems are perceived and solved, without adding permanently to the nonprofit world’s burden of too many charities.

While a small but growing number of foundations have made clear their intentions to spend all their assets and shut down, charities that set their own expiration date are relatively rare. But more charities may want to consider the approach.

Solving Social Problems Is Key Motivator for Giving, Big Companies Say
December 6, 2010

Big companies are most likely to give to charity or undertake other social-responsibility efforts because they want to fight national or global problems, according to a new study by Weber Shandwick, a public-relations firm in New York.

But business-oriented goals, such as building consumer loyalty, were the primary drivers for many corporations.

America’s Millionaires Rank Highest in Global Philanthropy Study
December 3, 2010

Forty-one percent of American millionaires consider charity one of their top three spending priorities, a far bigger share than wealthy people in 19 other countries, according to a new survey.

The survey of 2,000 millionaires by Barclays Wealth, in London, found substantial differences among the wealthy depending on where they live.  For example, only 20 percent of Australian millionaires considered charity one of the top three spending priorities.

Unraveling the mystery of why we give, or don't
December 3, 2010

Generous impulses often are described in fundraising appeals, conversation and greeting cards as coming "from the heart." In fact, the origins of giving probably are deep in the brain's circuitry.

The University of Notre Dame is leading a new research initiative that will merge economic, sociological, neurological and psychological studies to explain why some people give and some don't.

Nonprofits finding ways to adapt
December 2, 2010

Local nonprofit organizations are feeling the heavy burden of a flailing economy, reporting another year of falling revenues.

But organizations refuse to sit idle, hatching plans for the new year to grow their fundraising efforts and stay afloat to serve as best they can. They say the problem isn’t the donors —they are feeling the financial pinch just as much as the nonprofits are — it’s simply the amount of money that is being raised.

Private Aid for Global Health-Care Efforts Dropped as the Economy Soured
December 1, 2010

American charities that provide health care to poor people overseas have been hit hard by the recession, according to a study released Tuesday.

Cash gifts from private donors for nonprofits’ global health work dropped by 33 percent from 2008 to 2010, according to the study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, in Seattle. Corporate donations of medicines and equipment dropped by 59 percent in that time, although the decrease was due in part to a new method the researchers used to measure the value of products.

Convio Survey Shows Overall Giving During 2010 Holiday Season to Exceed $48 Billion as 74 Percent of US Adults Plan to Give
December 1, 2010

Convio estimates that US giving during the 2010 holiday season to nonprofit organizations will be more than $48 billion across all giving channels --including online, direct mail and  donation at checkout – as more than 174 million adult Americans plan to give money to charity between Thanksgiving and year-end. Online giving alone is estimated to account for more than $6 billion, an increase of more than 30 percent from this same period in 2009.

To Help Donors Choose, Web Site Alters How It Sizes Up Charities
November 30, 2010

Charity Navigator, perhaps the largest online source for evaluating nonprofit groups, recently embarked on an overhaul to offer a wider, more nuanced array of information to donors who are deciding which organizations they might help.

Its reinvention coincides with the growing need of nonprofits to provide more — and broader — information about themselves and their impact in an effort to wean donors off a reliance on administrative-cost ratios and other financial metrics that have traditionally been used to assess charities.