NonProfit Pro

If you are the head of a nonprofit, we urge you to move away from using events to raise money. If you're an MGO who continually gets "asked" to help with an event, do everything you can to convince your boss it's a bad idea. And if you are a development director of a small nonprofit, you have to realize the best way to raise major gifts is to build relationships with donors and ask them directly to support your mission.

(Press release, Feb. 6, 2015) — PurchasingPoint®, the only group purchasing organization (GPO) in the nonprofit marketplace that serves the needs of national human service nonprofits and their affiliates, as well as other foundations and associations, launched a new portal that facilitates member access to discounts on essential products and services from more than 200 national vendors. The program offers members aggregate savings of 33 percent annually.

Two legal scholars testified before a Pennsylvania State Senate committee Wednesday that a proposed constitutional amendment might not give the Legislature the clarity or authority it is seeking when it comes to determining tax exemptions for nonprofit institutions. The constitutional amendment is supported by many nonprofit groups. They say the amendment will provide uniform, statewide standards that will help define what is a “purely public charity,” and they say that uniformity is needed in the wake of a 2012 state Supreme Court ruling that turned back a 1997 state law on nonprofits.

Recent tweets from folks you should follow.

America’s 50 most generous donors increased their giving by 27.5 percent last year — powered in large part by a $1.5 billion gift from Bill and Melinda Gates and a stunning rise in the number of tech entrepreneurs under 40, three of whom gave more than $500 million each. The increase is striking compared with 2012, when giving by the Philanthropy 50 rose just 4 percent.

My scope of work for clients kept broadening until one day I realized that desire for recognition was a much more powerful motivator than I had originally thought. And, I realized that the same human inclinations work in the other parts of my life in which I need to get people to do stuff — leading a company, raising teenagers, serving on boards, trying to buy big-ticket items for less ...

Doing the same thing over and over is relying on increased dollars, donors and gifts without expanding the number of prospects, number rated, number solicited, etc. Break out of Bill Murray's cycle in the movie "Groundhog Day" and the experience of déjà vu. Complete fundraising success depends upon your 360-degree view of the total fundraising process.

Dan Pallotta, the marketing executive who has been leading a campaign to get donors to stop evaluating charities based on their overhead costs, announced in August he was planning a three-day, 60-mile walk next June to raise $1 million to defend nonprofits against critics of their spending. In a news release sent to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, it was relayed that the three-day march planned for June 2015 has been postponed.

Instead of fitting donors to your programs, focus upon creating a seamless path for donors to grow in your organization. Identify and reinforce those donor values that support your efforts. Help your investors to give as it is appropriate for them. Encourage them to invest as it fits their particular situations in life — whether that's general cash giving, higher cash giving, gifts of assets ("major gifts"), planned gifts (simply "major gifts" that have an additional external donor motive along with a deferred payment schedule) or even through a capital campaign.

For those of us who are tasked with providing information that encourages giving, the right story can make our jobs go from impossible to possible. So how do we get those compelling examples that help our donors and prospects grasp the importance of the work we do? Following are things that I have found can make my task as a copywriter a joy — or a job.