Forbes

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation operated on a modest budget in relative obscurity for nearly three decades. Then it won the lottery. Over the next five years, BP will give the foundation nearly $2.4 billion as part of the $4 billion settlement with the Justice Department announced Thursday stemming from BP’s disastrous 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Forbes picked five all-star charities that are efficient compared to their peers and do fine work in their areas. The five all-star organizations are Brother's Brother Foundation, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, International Rescue Committee and United Way.

A report released by Blackbaud found that nonprofits could potentially improve their fundraising returns by better aligning with donors’ giving preferences and increasing transparency. The new report, Donor Perspectives: An investigation into what drives your donors to give, is based on survey results from more than 4,000 donors in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.

The report provides a view of the nonprofit sector from the donor perspective and compares results from Blackbaud’s recently released 2012 State of the Nonprofit Industry report (SONI), which gauged levels of nonprofit optimism and explored successful management strategies.

The ability for supporters to donate via cell phones is having a significant impact on the campaign finances of both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama during the final months of the presidential race. A recent study by the Pew Research Center finds that 10 percent of donors to these campaigns have contributed through a text message or cell phone app. The study found 15 percent of Democratic donors made donations with their mobile devices compared to 6 percent of Republicans.

Check out recent posts from The Agitator and The Nonprofit Quarterly.

Recent tweets from folks you should be following.

Recent tweets from folks you should be following.

Check out recent posts from the Twitter Advertising Blog and Forbes.

The Global Festival, produced by Goldenvoice / AEG and The Global Poverty Project, brought more than 60,000 souls to see a lineup including the Foo Fighters, Neil Young, The Black Keys, Band of Horses and K’naan — and became the largest syndicated charity concert in online and broadcast television history, generating more than $500 million in pledges to combat poverty around the world.

Forbes Insights announced the findings of a new study, Next Generation Philanthropy: Changing the World, sponsored by Credit Suisse Group, as part of the Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy. This summer, in an unprecedented gathering of wealth and international philanthropy, Forbes brought together 150 billionaires and near-billionaires, including keynote speakers Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Oprah Winfrey, for a private discussion of ways to help solve the world's most intractable problems. The peer exchange, which focused on greater collaboration, sharing of best practices and up-front education, helped advance the conversation around philanthropy on a global level.