Philabundance

Food and hunger nonprofits City Harvest and Philabundance utilize the "brown paper bag" outer envelope technique in these direct-mail fundraising campaigns. In this video, I show viewers how each of these nonprofits gets donors engaged in the packages in different ways. For access to more mailings like the ones seen here, visit www.whosmailingwhat.com.

Dunkin' Donuts is selling travel cups for $3.99, with $1 from each sale donated and distributed among four regional food banks. As an added incentive, the cup gets customers 99-cent refills until Dec. 31. Talk about a great incentive for a great cause!

Bill Clark, executive director of Philabundance, hosted local, state and federal legislators and members of the public at a ground-breaking ceremony Thursday morning at the future site of Fare and Square, the nation’s first nonprofit grocery store. Chester, Pa., has been without a grocery store since the West End Market closed in August 2001. The new venture will be located in the same space at Ninth St. and Trainer Ave.

As nonprofit organizations continue to struggle with the economic downturn, compounded by decreased funding from the government, foundations and individuals, US Airways is again partnering with The Nonprofit Center at La Salle University’s School of Business, Philadelphia, to provide Delaware Valley nonprofits with valuable information and insights at a free half day program on Friday, Oct. 14.

“Relationship Fundraising:  Finding the Personal Touch in an Impersonal World” will feature six experts from various fundraising sectors.

The holiday season provides ample opportunity to proposition potential donors and renew supporters' contributions. According to Michael Nilsen, senior director of public affairs for the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), approximately half of all charities get between 30 percent and 60 percent of their contributions during the last quarter of the year. Roughly 20 percent of AFP member organizations noted that in December alone, they received 50 percent of their annual contributions noted Nilsen.

A suburban Philadelphia philanthropist who believes charity is a powerful incentive thinks he can help get Americans back to work one donation at a time.

Gene Epstein, 71, is promoting a $250,000 effort called Hire Just One, with plans to make $1,000 donations to charity in the name of businesses that hire an unemployed person and keep the worker on the payroll for at least six months.

PHILADELPHIA, May 28, 2009 — The Social Enterprise Initiative of the Harvard Business School Club of Philadelphia has awarded two scholarships to local nonprofit executives to attend the Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management program at the Harvard Business School in July 2009. This year’s recipients are Jay Spector, President and CEO of JEVS Human Services, and Gwen Bailey, Executive Director of Youth Service, Inc. Both of these recipients lead critical organizations in our region.

Do you feel like your organization is barely treading water?

In the session "Help! My Development Team Comes to Work in Lifejackets!" at the Franklin Forum, sponsored by the Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater Philadelphia Chapter, in Philadelphia in late April, presenters discussed the signs and symptoms of organizations in distress and solutions to weather the storm.

What a grand time. FundRaising Success ventured into the tricky awards arena for the first time this year. And even though it was all new to us, it was a terrific experience from start to finish. We had a better-than-expected showing — 33 packages in all, submitted by 10 agencies and two organizations — a small but enthusiastic group of judges and a lot of fun.