American Cancer Society

America’s big charities expect fundraising to rise in 2011, but the increase won’t come close to making up ground they lost in the downturn.

Nonprofits that made The Chronicle of Philanthropy's Philanthropy 400, the charities that raise the most from private sources, expect a median rise of 4.7 percent — meaning that half expect more and half expect less. That beats last year’s 3.5-percent median gain. Altogether, the charities in the survey raised $70.3-billion last year.

Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist and craigconnects, released an infographic detailing the use of social media by leading nonprofit organizations.

"How the Top 50 Nonprofits Do Social Media" is a fact-filled, comprehensive look at which leading nonprofit organizations are most proactively and effectively using social media channels of communication like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn, and RSS feeds.

According to industry benchmark reports, the majority of nonprofit organizations have yet to reach the level of social marketing success that the mainstream business community enjoys. Data shows that nearly 90 percent of charities on Facebook and other social networks have raised less than $1,000 each on social networks in the past year.

Recognizing the pressure nonprofits face in meeting their 2011 goals, Social Edison opted to launch the BluCard this week by donating the proprietary application to a select group of charitable organizations. The technology allows organizations to build enduring, one-to-one relationships with their social network supporters.

Veteran fundraising consultant Tom Gaffny provided 10 timeless keys to fundraising success that he's crafted over the past two decades during his session, "The 10 Commandments: 10 Ageless, Irrefutable, Non-Negotiable Keys to Optimizing Your Fundraising Success," at the DMA Nonprofit Federation's 2011 New York Nonprofit Conference held last month.

The Foundation for Health Coverage Education (FHCE) announced that it has been awarded two grants totaling $60,000 from the Health Coverage Foundation. The grants will aid in updating FHCE’s U.S. Uninsured Help Line 800-234-1317 and website, www.CoverageForAll.org, and strengthen continued media efforts to educate uninsured Americans about their health coverage options. They will also enhance a collaborative outreach effort with the American Lung Association to assist uninsured lung disease sufferers with navigating the complex health coverage system.

Charity Dynamics, a provider of comprehensive online marketing and fundraising solutions for nonprofits, announced that nonprofit organizations across the country have now raised more than $100 million directly through the company’s Boundless Fundraising solution since it first launched less than three years ago.

Boundless Fundraising is a suite of online fundraising applications that enable participants in nonprofit special events to extend their fundraising efforts through Facebook, email and mobile devices. More than 75 U.S. charities currently use the applications as part of their overall event marketing and fundraising strategy.

Many nonprofits and their affiliates could face expanded requirements to disclose information to the Internal Revenue Service if some tax-agency officials and advisers get their way. What’s more, the IRS might require each affiliate to prove it deserves tax exemption, rather than granting one exemption to cover every affiliate.

Such changes could be a big deal — 250,000 charities are part of big national organizations, the IRS estimates. Organizations like the American Cancer Society, Habitat for Humanity, and the NAACP all would be affected by a change.

Every year tens of millions of Americans ask friends to sponsor them in events ranging from 3-mile "fun runs" to 100-mile bike treks. The largest such event — the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life — raised more than $400 million last year. Meanwhile, the ever-growing movement includes tens of thousands of tiny "thons," collecting for schools, hospitals and homeless shelters. As soon as the weather warms, the walkathoners take to the streets, proudly parading in their oversize T-shirts and ribbon pins.

Grizzard Communications Group announced that it has hired Karen E. Gleason as group vice president and senior strategist. Gleason will be responsible for leadership on national accounts and developing strategies for multichannel fundraising for a variety of clients.

Sen. Charles E. Grassley has renewed his effort to get nonprofit medical groups to provide more information to the public about the money they get from pharmaceutical, medical-device and insurance companies.

Mr. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, sent letters about the matter to all but one of the 34 organizations that he had contacted in late 2009 and early 2010, including disease advocacy groups like the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association and medical-professional groups like the American Academy of Family Physicians and North American Spine Society.