Wealthy Donors

You may be asking, “Why do my donors keep giving the same amount year over year? Are they somehow stuck?" What’s happened is you've essentially trained these donors to give that amount year after year. If you have a caseload full of lower-end major gifts from donors like these, I want you to consider the following...

Earlier this year, Sean Parker—Napster founder, Facebook funder and serial disruptor—launched his latest and most ambitious project to change the world. With his own $250 million gift, he created the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, to well, hack cancer. That may sound like a worthy, if ridiculously naive, aim from a tech billionaire. But this…

When you imagine a typical nonprofit, you may picture a soup kitchen, a community center or a homeless shelter. While such services still exist, many nonprofits now design apps, build websites and design digital tools that help deliver social programs and services to those in need. "A lot of organizations that were previously not integrating…

The City University of New York is investigating whether a recent $500,000 donation intended to bolster the humanities and arts at its flagship school may have been improperly diverted. The inquiry was prompted by senior faculty members at the school, the City College of New York, who learned that an account that should have contained…

Welcome to The Salary Chronicles, where we’re bringing transparency to negotiation and salaries, one story at a time. We ask women to share their experiences negotiating their salaries and what their advice is for others doing the same. We share these stories anonymously so they feel comfortable speaking as openly and as freely as possible.…

At an estimated net worth of $66 billion, Warren Buffett is one of the planet's richest humans. He's also one of the most generous. Forbes puts his lifetime giving at $22.7 billion, 37 percent of his net worth. And now, Buffett is looking for people to help him spend his billions. Or, rather, his sister is. Doris Buffett, 88, heads up Sunshine Lady Foundation, responsible for sorting through thousands of letters asking Warren for financial assistance...

It’s a fact of life that between 20 to 30 percent of a nonprofit’s budget is spent on managing the other 70 to 80 percent of the budget. But it doesn’t mean that 100 percent of your budget can’t be used to generate reportable outcomes that are worthy of sharing with your donors...

These are the most charitable donors in corporate America. By surveying the top 150 companies in the Fortune 500 and collecting data from public documents filed with the IRS, and Securities and Exchange Commission, The Chronicle of Philanthropy has published a list of the most charitable public companies, which can be viewed here. With help…

Seventeen years ago, former University of Southern California and Los Angeles Rams quarterback Pat Haden joined the board of an old, little-known charitable foundation that helps needy young people get an education. The George Henry Mayr Foundation, established in 1949, has no office of its own, no full-time staff and no website. Its founder and namesake…

The 100 percent model—the idea that 100 percent of funds raised will go to programs, none to overhead—attracts nonprofits, as well as donors. Charity:water is one well-known nonprofit following this course. But is it a good idea for your nonprofit? Let's see. First of all, if you look at it from the donor's perspective, you…