American Express

Employee matching-gift and volunteer-grant programs are two underutilized sources of fundraising for many nonprofit organizations.

At the Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation's 2012 Washington Nonprofit Conference, five fundraising pros shared their secrets to implementing and running a monthly giving program in their session, "25 Proven Monthly Giving Tools & Ideas Packed in 50 Minutes."

Marketing email vendor Silverpop launched a Facebook "marketing innovations" sweepstakes campaign, in which marketers can win prizes while Silverpop makes donations on their behalf to charity: water. The nonprofit organization seeks to bring clean, safe drinking water to developing nations.

The campaign, which began on Nov. 21 and will run through January 2012, is geared toward marketers and is running on Silverpop's Facebook page. For each new fan, the company will donate $1 to charity: water, with a maximum of $5,000 over the course of the promotion.

The White House and a coalition of nonprofits plan to start a new effort to improve the quality and diversity of nonprofit leaders following a daylong program in Washington, D.C.

The Initiative for Nonprofit Talent and Leadership will be led by Independent Sector in collaboration with the White House. Also among the sponsors are American Express, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Aspen Institute Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation, the Center for Creative Leadership, Commongood Careers, and Public Allies.

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) presented its 2011 International ECHO Awards at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center during the DMA2011 Conference & Exhibition, which concludes Oct. 6.

Nonprofit winners include Ministry of Health, Heart of the City/Auckland Council, Doctors Without Borders, SickKids Foundation / Winning Charities International, Outreach International, World Jewish Congress Foundation, World Vision U.S. and The Salvation Army in Canada.

Tweets from folks you should be following.

In support of the upcoming 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance, American Express announced the launch of the I WILL VOLUNTEER Facebook application, powered by HandsOn Network, the volunteer activation division of Points of Light Institute. This new app is designed to connect volunteers across the country to service projects in their communities.

The 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance is a federally recognized initiative being led by MyGoodDeed and HandsOn Network.

Sage North America introduced new payment processing security enhancements for large nonprofits using Sage Millennium, its highly customizable, Web-based constituent relationship management (CRM) software. Designed for diverse and complex fundraising programs, Sage Millennium version 7.9 includes a new, fully integrated Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliant application from Sage Payment Solutions, Sage’s payments division.

In response to President Obama’s call to action to promote high-growth entrepreneurship across the country, the Startup America Partnership announced a new wave of commitments secured from more than 15 companies and organizations to deliver strategic and substantive resources that accelerate entrepreneurs starting and scaling companies. These new private-sector partnerships deliver more than $400 million in value to U.S. entrepreneurs, building upon 20+ commitments already secured by the Startup America Partnership from companies like Intel and IBM.

Seven in ten Americans trust nonprofit organizations more than they trust the government or businesses to solve society’s problems, according to a new poll. But nearly nine out of ten Americans say that nonprofit groups face financial problems of their own and that getting sufficient money is one of the biggest concerns for charities.

The survey, sponsored by American Express, was conducted online over two days last month. More than 1,000 adults responded to the five-question poll.