Salvation Army

Blackbaud announced the release of a report focused on fundraising trends based on monthly findings from The Blackbaud Index and featuring commentary from Dave Strauss, president and chief executive officer of SCA Direct. Additionally, Blackbaud announced the release of a new specialty index focused on environmental and animal welfare organizations.

First Hawaiian Bank, which began its Kokua Mai employee-giving program in 2007 to give back to the community, is pledging to donate $2.5 million to Hawaii nonprofits in 2011, raising its total contribution to charities to more than $5 million over a two-year period.

The state's largest bank and its 2,200 employees gave more than $2.5 million to more than 400 local charities in 2010, with employees and retirees raising more than $560,000 of that amount for 38 designated charities during its Kokua Mai fund drive in October.

Many nonprofit agencies see a spike in donations at the end of the year, said Dawn Littlefield, executive director of the Kishwaukee United Way, which supports more than two dozen DeKalb County nonprofits.

December is typically a busy month at the DeKalb County Community Foundation as well, executive director Dan Templin said. Many donors wait until the end of the year to take stock of their tax situation, he said, or to catch up on the amount they had budgeted for charity for the year.

Donors to The Salvation Army can double their donated dollars to the charity during this holiday season. The Salvation Army announced Tuesday that three anonymous donors have offered to match all donations up to $300,000 given to the charity's red kettles in the Chicago area through Friday. A fourth anonymous donor has offered to match gold coins found in the kettles up to 100 coins.

As charities are faced with an increased demand in services with just a slight recovery in giving in 2010, Blackbaud Inc. has a renewed focus on its corporate value "service to others makes the world a better place.” Just this year, the company participated in countless philanthropic initiatives; from donating over 4,469 toys during the holidays, and launching the Nonprofit Leadership Circle, to receiving the Green Business Pioneer Award.

This week's insider news includes new agency partnerships for The Salvation Army and Amnesty International USA; and a program to support multichannel giving by U.K. organizations.

The Salvation Army is tapping into the power of the mobile device this holiday season with the launch of a new iPhone® application to help strengthen fundraising for the organization’s iconic Red Kettle Campaign. Developed by Charity Dynamics, the Online Red Kettle iPhone app empowers individuals to conduct personal fundraising campaigns on behalf of The Salvation Army, all from the convenience of their mobile devices.  

Charitable donations are shifting from collection trays and kettles to laptops and cellphones as more nonprofits turn to online and mobile fundraising.

From Facebook to Colorado Gives Day, high-tech campaigns are sweeping the nonprofit world.

Leveraging technology from Denver-based mGive, the Salvation Army is testing a text-message fundraiser this holiday season to supplement its traditional Red Kettle Christmas campaign.

It ushers in a new phase of mobile giving, which might soon include higher single-donation limits, corporate sponsors and deeper engagement between nonprofits and donors via texts.

A new ranking of the nation's 400 biggest charities shows donations dropped by 11 percent overall last year as the Great Recession ended - the worst decline in 20 years since the Chronicle of Philanthropy began keeping a tally.

The Philanthropy 400 report shows such familiar names as the United Way and the Salvation Army, both based near Washington, continue to dominate the ranking, despite the 2009 declines. The survey accounts for $68.6 billion in charitable contributions.

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