Volunteers

Fundraising pros Dane Grams and Richard DeVeau offer some general tips for small and midsized nonprofit organizations.

While companies have had corporate giving programs for years, they increasingly are involving employees by giving them a say in which charities to support and providing time off with pay for volunteering. Corporate volunteerism is growing, with 20 percent more companies allowing employees paid time off for volunteer projects than three years ago, according to a report by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy.

Corporate giving also has been a bright spot. Corporate charitable contributions rose 5.5 percent in 2009, according to Giving USA Foundation's report.

Wealthy Americans are making smaller gifts to charity, with more than half of them making their largest gift to fund nonprofit operations, a new study says.

They also are volunteering more, and those who volunteer more are giving more, says the 2010 Bank of America Merrill Lynch Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy.

Overall average gift amounts from wealthy Americans fell 35 percent from 2007, after adjusting for inflation, although several sectors saw average gift amounts grow 4 percent to 21 percent.

Donors are upbeat about end-of-year giving. Here are some helpful links to check out regarding your end-of-year fundraising campaigns.

Crowdsourcing is a new way of consulting your donors and supporters to figure out how to enhance your fundraising and unearth new ideas to achieve your mission.

Corporate philanthropy is changing.

Companies may allow their employees to volunteer while on the clock or reward customers for their volunteerism. Many give goods rather than cash and focus more on areas in which they have expertise. And, in what is perhaps the most profound shift, some companies are thinking more long term and aligning their philanthropy with their core business strategies looking for ways to do good at the same time they improve their bottom lines.

Despite what you may have heard, tweens aren't all about social networking, iPods, the mall and celebrities. Growing numbers of pre-teens and early teens are giving tweens a new face: a socially responsible young citizen. They're not only doing good in their local communities, but having a global impact. Some have created their own non-profits, and most have websites enlisting the support of kids like themselves who also want to help others.

Ten U.S. cities are recruiting volunteers to help with local problems such as flood recovery and childhood obesity as part of a nationwide emphasis on service led by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg founded a volunteer corps in his city last year in response to President Barack Obama's call for more Americans to do service work. He then launched a coalition of cities focused on service, and it now has more than 100 member cities.

Fundraisers from all walks of life are encountering many challenges these days, but what do the C-level executives see as the most important issues facing the sector? At the Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation’s 2010 New York Nonprofit Conference, three top nonprofit executives joined moderator Tom Harrison, president and CEO of Russ Reid, to discuss these issues in a two-part session, “Cracking the Shell: Open Dialogue & Discussion With America’s Top Nonprofit C-Level Executives on the Sector’s Most Pressing Issues."

For any fundraiser, having a stable of dedicated, enthusiastic volunteers is a wonderful thing. But at times, managing those volunteers can be a challenge. In an Aug. 19 VolunteerMatch webinar, The New Volunteer Manager’s Toolkit, Manager of Volunteer Programs Jennifer Bennett and Director of Strategic Initiatives Sarah Christian laid out some best practices for managing volunteers.