Association of Fundraising Professionals

As the fourth quarter of 2011 begins, fewer than half of surveyed nonprofits reported fundraising increases during the first half of 2011 compared with the same period in 2010.

According to a report released by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative (NRC), of 813 responding nonprofits surveyed in July:

• 44 percent reported increases in charitable contributions received through June, compared with the same period in 2010;
• 25 percent reported giving remained level; and
• 30 percent reported charitable contributions have declined so far this year.
• 1 percent did not know.

Nonprofits in the U.S. did a better job in 2010 acquiring and keeping donors but continued to lose money because they still lost donors and secured gifts that were smaller than in 2009, a new report says. So net giving in 2010 still trailed its levels from before the recession but improved significantly from 2009, says the 2011 Fundraising Effectiveness Survey Report, an initiative of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute.

Nonprofit organizations in the U.S. were better at retaining donors and shored up their net losses in donations in 2010, according to the latest report of the Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP). The FEP, a report of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute, compares gains and losses of donors and donation amounts. The FEP indicates year over year growth by comparing how many new donors are acquired with how many stopped giving, and the donation levels of each.

With the United States Postal Service looking to downsize, some of America's favorite nonprofits that rely heavily on direct mail fundraising could become a new kind of charity case.

That’s because legislation to restructure the money-losing agency includes a provision that would eliminate reduced postage rates for nonprofit mail.

Under Rep. Darrell Issa’s bill, the 40 percent discount that nonprofits have been getting for the postage rates on their mailings since Congress authorized it in 1951 would be reduced by 5 percent a year, and to 10 percent after six years.

Exactly two months after Rachel Beckwith's ninth birthday, the fundraising campaign of the Bellevue girl who died in a traffic accident last month has raised more than $1 million to bring clean water to African villages.

There has been an outpouring of donations to charity: water, which brings clean drinking water to people in developing countries, since the story of Beckwith's wish to raise $300 for safe drinking water by her ninth birthday captured the hearts of the local community and the nation.

Jason Mitchell and Barbara Talisman facilitated this workshop at the 2011 Bridge Conference in July.  Kevin Sturtevant, CFRE, Vice President for Development from Public Justice, joined them and shared his on-the-ground experience.

Opportunity is everywhere, and not just strictly in the form of donors and dollars. Sometimes it wears a mask, and it hides in plain sight. But most development professionals have the innate skills to find it, learn from it and use it to help with future challenges. Here are two examples of what I mean.

Check out recent posts from the Too Busy to Fundraise and What Do You Stand For blogs.

The tentative deficit deal between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner does not make any changes in the tax deduction that donors receive for making charitable gifts.

The deal, which would trim the federal deficit by almost $2.5-trillion over the next 10 years, identifies $900-billion in spending reductions now and would require Congress to pass $1.5-trillion more in cuts by December 23. It is in that process that reducing or eliminating the value of the deduction could come under consideration.

Blackbaud announced the opening of an office in Mexico City, a new local team, and a reseller agreement with EXITE.TI to support the growing Latin American philanthropic sector.

Blackbaud has been investing in the region since the introduction of eTapestry Español, its first Spanish-language software, in 2010. With this new partnership, EXITE.TI will handle the sales and support of Blackbaud products in Mexico, including eTapestry Español, a web-delivered Spanish-language fundraising and CRM solution designed for small to mid-sized nonprofits to help them fundraise and manage relationships with their constituents.