NonProfit Pro

Texas Severs Nonprofit Group's 110-Year Management of Alamo
March 13, 2015

Texas is taking over management of the Alamo, ending the Daughters of the Texas Republic's 110-year management of the site, according to a joint statement issued Thursday. In the statement, Land Commissioner George P. Bush said the General Land Office was taking over the day-to-day management of the downtown San Antonio mission-turned-fortress. The management of the Alamo will transition to office over the next four months.

Nonprofit Contractor Sent Government $1.1 Million Bill for Parties and Retreats
March 13, 2015

The largest nonprofit contractor working for the U.S. Agency for International Development during the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan billed the government $1.1 million for staff parties and pricey retreats. International Relief and Development collected hundreds of millions of dollars to work in the war zones and help impoverished nations around the world. At the same time—between 2007 and 2010—its executives were using IRD’s government overhead account to fund the parties and retreats, according to financial records provided by IRD to The Washington Post.

The Social Science Behind Peer-to-Peer Fundraising, Branding and Doing Good
March 13, 2015

What if we are making the world a better place by simply trying to raise money? In our quest to get people to raise more money, we might be making them nicer people. This is the latest social science treasure that the Turnkey resident neuropsychologist, Otis Fulton, noted to me (yelled from the kitchen).

'Email’s Not as Awesome as It Used to Be' — Highlights From M+R Benchmark Study
March 13, 2015

At NTEN’s 2015 Nonprofit Technology Conference, M+R Strategies’ Madeline Stanionis and Marc Reuben held a session that shared some upcoming metrics from the 2015 Benchmark Study. This year, M+R Strategic Services studied 84 participating nonprofits, and this was the first year the benchmark study also looked at cultural organizations.

Some noteworthy trends in online giving: Overall email list growth is increasing, but growth is much slower. Online revenue from email is down. Fundraising open rates increased.

You Can Teach an Old Dog Major Gifts Tricks
March 13, 2015

I believe you can teach old dogs new major gifts tricks if you are focused and willing to learn. Use every opportunity for growth, and continually practice your craft. In today's world of fundraising, status quo is not an option!

Apple Commits More Than $50 Million to Diversity Efforts
March 12, 2015

In an exclusive interview with Fortune, Apple’s human resources chief Denise Young Smith said the company is partnering with several nonprofit organizations on a multiyear, multimillion-dollar effort to increase the pipeline of women, minorities and veterans in the technology industry—and, of course, at Apple.