Association of Fundraising Professionals

PALO ALTO, Calif., April 14, 2009 — Jeff Skoll, founder and chairman of the Skoll Foundation and Participant Media, announced today that he has hired Dr. Larry Brilliant as president of a new organization Skoll is launching to address urgent threats confronting humanity and the planet.  Brilliant will focus the new organization, the Skoll Urgent Threats Fund, on identifying and supporting innovative high-impact initiatives to combat climate change, water scarcity, pandemics, nuclear proliferation and Middle East conflict. Brilliant will also serve as senior adviser to Skoll to ensure alignment of work on these urgent threats across Skoll’s business and philanthropic activities.

March 31, 2009, San Antonio Business Journal — San Antonio businessman and NuStar Energy LP Chairman Bill Greehey has been recognized internationally for his efforts for being a leader in fundraising and philanthropy.

New Orleans, March 30, 2009, Chronicle of Philanthropy — Forty-six percent of nonprofit organizations raised more money last year compared with 2007, according to preliminary findings of an annual survey, released here today by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

NEW ORLEANS, LA, March 30, 2009 — Sage North America today announced several fundraising technology developments designed to further help nonprofit organizations support their missions. The company will soon offer a new ePhilanthropy tool; has a renewed focus on adding next-generation technical capabilities to its Millennium fundraising platform; and has launched fully managed hosting services for its Sage Fundraising 50 software. Sage is demonstrating all of these technologies on the trade show floor at the Association of Fundraising Professionals' (AFP) 2009 International Conference on Fundraising, being held through Wednesday at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.

March 29, 2009, Chronicle of Philanthropy — The number of fund raisers attending the annual meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals has dropped by about 20 percent from 2008 — a drop that organizers attribute to the recession.

With the tightening of budgets, some large charities are scaling back on direct mail efforts, especially large scale donor acquisition mailings. However, the authors of a new book contend that it's important to keep direct mail as a fundraising strategy - just refine it so that it's more effective.

I’ve heard the confused refrain over and over, from friends, colleagues and certainly my wife, “This Twitter thing everyone is talking about … I just don’t GET IT. Who CARES what you had for breakfast this morning!?” They are referring to the 140-character “micro-blog” messages that users publish to a web page for a list of “followers” interested in what they have to say.

Foundations can play several key roles in helping re-stabilize cities, said Rip Rapson, president of the Troy-based Kresge Foundation.

You’ve almost certainly had the meeting. You know, the one about how to survive the crunch, the crisis, the catastrophe — or whatever you want to call it. The meeting where you probably were uncertain about what to do and even about what the impact might be on your organization. Maybe the only thing everyone agreed on was that it’s a difficult situation in fundraising at the moment with few clear answers on how to survive.

Looking for a group of donors who are optimistic in 2009 and planning to continue or increase their giving? Small business owners would be a good start, a study shows.