Philanthropy News Feed

Philanthropists join to focus on best way to help schools - CharlotteObserver.com: "Foundation for the Carolinas announced today the formation of a committee to explore the most effective and appropriate role for the philanthropic giving to play in the community’s quest to achieve key school system goals.“This effort is an extraordinary opportunity for the private sector to deepen its support for

Undergrad philanthropy program gets director | Philanthropy Journal: "Julie Hatcher, a scholar in the field of service learning and service engagement in higher education, has been named to direct the first undergraduate program in the U.S. in philanthropic studies."

Kensington church celebrates four decades of pancakes for charity: "It started with a simple need and an interesting proclamation more than 40 years ago.The Rev. Charles Kirkley of St. Paul's United Methodist Church asked for a bus, and Jim Hobbs, president of United Methodist Men — a volunteer group at the Kensington church — decided it should be financed entirely out of pancakes and sausage."

Mass. Salvation Army Severs Ties With Local United Way - Philanthropy Today - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas: "Mass. Salvation Army Severs Ties With Local United WayCiting deep cuts in United Way funds, the Salvation Army of Massachusetts has ended its 70-year relationship with the grant-making giant’s regional chapter, according to The

This is part six of a six part series exploring the sessions in the Tactical Philanthropy track at the Social Capital Markets conference.

Session Description: Nonprofit Analysis: Beyond Metrics
Over the last few years, mainstream nonprofit analysts and rating groups have moved beyond simplistic metrics like the "overhead expense ratio." Join three of these groups, Root Cause, GiveWell and Charity Navigator as they present their analysis of DC Central Kitchen, a prominent job training and meal distribution nonprofit. You’ll hear three robust approaches to analyzing nonprofits as a way to determine the degree to which a social investment in the organization may lead to impact.

• Ken Berger, Charity Navigator
• Andrew Wolk, Root Cause
• Elie Hassenfeld, GiveWell
• Michael Curtin, DC Central Kitchen

One of the worst habits of “new” philanthropy is to import simplistic versions of business practices to the nonprofit sector. One of the places we see this habit is in the idea that we need to build some sort of unified ranking system to judge nonprofits. While the idea that we can somehow score nonprofit effectiveness on a simple scale is appealing, it is a dangerous simplification of an important idea.

In the for-profit world, the urge to create simple systems to do things like pick stocks runs deep. But these systems are understood to be of little value or sometimes outright scams. The truly great investors use robust systems that evaluate investment opportunities across a variety of qualitative and quantitative areas.

So I’ve been thrilled to watch nonprofit evaluation groups move beyond simplistic measures and embrace the complexity, human judgment and uncertainty that is at the heart of understanding whether a nonprofit is good at what it does.

For this session at SoCap, DC Central Kitchen, the nonprofit founded by Robert Egger, has agreed to open themselves to evaluation by Charity Navigator (using their new methodology), Root Cause and GiveWell. At SoCap, each group will offer their evaluation of DCCK with the organization’s CEO Michael Curtin in the room to offer his own views.

Our hope for this session is that it will help demonstrate that there are multiple, valid approaches to evaluating a nonprofit. Kudos to DC Central Kitchen for being willing to open themselves to outside evaluation and engage in this process.

You’ll find more information about DC Central Kitchen’s commitment to transparency and achieving impact here.

Just one example of coverage of the upcoming deadline for small nonprofits to file.Has your non-profit filed for its tax-exemption? | KIDK CBS 3 - News, Weather and Sports - Idaho Falls - Pocatello - Blackfoot, ID - Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Blackfoot - Idaho | Local & Regional: "EASTERN IDAHO - The laws have changed for small non-profit organizations, and their tax-exemption deadline is getting

On sharing among Jewish nonprofits | The Fundermentalist | JTA - Jewish & Israel News: "In an opinion piece for JTA, marketing guru Gary Wexler uses recent research on the benefits of information sharing in the fight against Alzheimer’s as a jumping-off point to talk about sharing information within the Jewish nonprofit world.You can check out the full piece on JTA, but here is an excerpt:"

• Report Watch: Leveraging Communications | The Center for Effective Philanthropy Sally Smyth at Center for Effective Philanthropy profiles a new report which looks at how foundations can supercharge their communications strategy to achieve more impact. I believe that effective communications is a key catalyst for large foundations. (tags: philanthropy)

How to Get Your Donors More Engaged | News for Social Entrepreneurs: "Generally, the answer on how to get a particular donor, or group of donors, more engaged isn’t a one shot ask, meeting, or phone call. Instead, the best way to get your donors more engaged is to develop a strong, organization-wide donor cultivation program that keeps your supporters informed and energized about your mission and

CT charitable grants climbed from 2006 to 2008 | Hartford Business: "Connecticut grantmakers distributed more than $902.7 million in 2008, a 22 percent increase from 2006, according to 2010 Connecticut Grantmaking Highlights published by the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy."

SOI Tax Stats - SOI Bulletin: Summer 2010: "SOI Tax Stats - SOI Bulletin: Summer 2010"

If you were David Koch evaluating Beck's contribution to the Teaparty Movement, how would you rate the rally? Do the demonstrators show adequate understanding of the talking points? We must kill the government to save Freedom and America. Do we have sufficient uptake? No banners reading, "Defend the Oligarchs!" Yet such is the cause in which they are enlisted, to make America safe for the most ruthless corporate interests.  Perhaps only the strong can save the weak. The wolf may be the best guardian of the lambs. Soros is Beck's stalking horse. Has he ever discussed Koch?

Meanwhile, on my desk I have a novel, longer than Moby Dick, by Ralph Nader, Tribune of the Poor. Only The Superrich can Save Us.Perhaps Soros? Perhaps Koch? Perhaps Gates? Save us from them. Only a rich person can save us from the other rich. Wasn't this the way society was organized under Feudalism?

This is part four of a six part series exploring the sessions in the Tactical Philanthropy track at the Social Capital Markets conference.

Session Description: Decriminalizing Fundraising
Fundraising is generally seen as "asking donors for a favor." But what if fundraising is in fact no different from raising investment capital or selling a well-vetted product? This session will feature two 20 minute talks by George Overholser and Dan Pallotta, two of the most visionary and radical philanthropic leaders.

• George Overholser, Nonprofit Finance Fund Capital Partners
• Dan Pallotta, Springboard

Each of the sessions in the Tactical Philanthropy track at the SoCap conference will feature a different format. Storytelling, interactive experiments, case studies and debate will all be featured. In this session, George Overholser and Dan Pallotta have been asked to bring their A-game and each give a 20 minute talk to remember.

George is a former executive at Capital One and venture capitalist who joined the Nonprofit Finance Fund to build their growth capital practice. He’s a strong advocate for “philanthropic equity”, the idea that nonprofits need a new category on their balance sheet that accounts for capital meant to be used to grow their organization. At NFF, George created the SEGUE approach to accounting for philanthropic equity in the absence of official equity accounting and worked with a range of nonprofits to raise multimillion growth capital investments.

Dan is the author of Uncharitable, in which he argued that nonprofits are unfairly prevented from using the tools of the for-profit sector. Known for his outspoken arguments against overhead expense ratios and in favor of generous, incentive heavy nonprofit employee compensation, Dan is one of the most controversial voices in the field.

While George and Dan come from significantly different points of view, they share a belief that fundraising practices must be fundamentally changed and that accomplishing this goal will radically improve the nonprofit sector.

Click here to see the full SOCAP10 schedule, including the Tactical Philanthropy Track. Nonprofit employees can apply for a 40% discount here. Click here to register for the conference.

Campaign Spotlight - Foundation and MTV Hope Campaign Is ‘Dead On’ With Youths - NYTimes.com: "The American Legacy Foundation in Washington, which sponsors the anti-smoking “Truth” campaign, is joining forces with the MTV cable channel for an initiative called “The Real World: Zombieville.” The project is based on “The Real World,” the long-running reality series on MTV that brings together a

Survey shows how, why we give | StarTribune.com: "Meanwhile, 61 percent of donors dropped checks in the mailbox -- including four of 10 donors under the age of 40.Another 34 percent donated online, the survey said. And most people contributed to charities in several ways, said Lisa McIntrye, a Russ Reid senior vice president.The 'Heart of the Donor'' report was based on interviews with more than

U.S. Open Tennis 2010: Andrea Jaeger's 20 Years of Good Deeds - The Daily Fix - WSJ: "Leaving tennis allowed Ms. Jaeger, now 45, to dedicate herself full-time to philanthropy and her Little Star Foundation, which helps children in need and is best known for its work improving the quality of life for children with cancer. The Wall Street Journal caught up with Ms. Jaeger at the U.S. Open, where

A Helping Hand From Uncle Sam: "Is your nonprofit on this IRS list of organizations that have not yet filed their Form 990-N (e-Postcard)? If so, Uncle Sam is offering a helping hand."

• The New York Community Trust | Why Let The Billionaires Have All The Fun? A profile of a very clever ad run by The New York Community Trust in the wake of the Giving Pledge. (tags: philanthropy)

This is part three of a six part series exploring the sessions in the Tactical Philanthropy track at the Social Capital Markets conference.

Session Description: Individual Donors Practicing Unconstrained Philanthropy
Many of the most well known, active participants in the social capital markets are institutions. But individual donors have fewer institutional constraints and can bear more social risk. These types of donors can make decisions faster, are able to act on less popular/overlooked areas that nevertheless promise big impact, and find it easier to forge collaborations. Join three individual donors who are doing cutting edge work in the social capital markets without the help of a large staff.

• Katherina Rosqueta, The Center for High Impact Philanthropy
• Dave Peery, The Peery Foundation
• Jerry Hirsch, The Lodestar Foundation
• Liz Alderman, The Peter C. Alderman Foundation

One of the reasons that I so enjoy working with individual and family philanthropists is that they tend to ignore the many self-imposed constraints that many large, staffed foundations seem to face. Unconstrained by the caution “culture” of much of institutional philanthropy, these donors are able to simply choose to operate on the leading edge.

This session will have a storytelling format. Katherina Rosequeta of The Center for High Impact Philanthropy, will play interviewer to three outstanding individuals who have chosen to doing things different.

Dave Peery, who manages his family’s philanthropy will talk about how his two person shop has ended up being featured in the Monitor Institute’s report on cutting edge practices for their efforts to do live strategic planning on Twitter, co-fund alongside groups like the Skoll Foundation and use video to help their grantees.

Jerry Hirsch, will discuss why he created the Collaboration Prize and became the biggest game in town for nonprofits seeking to merge or collaborate with others. While many funders wish that nonprofits would collaborate, Jerry actually focuses on funding effective and efficient use of resources without regard to issue area.

Liz Alderman will talk about how she and her husband Steve became “accidental philanthropists” when the death of their son Peter on 9/11 thrust them into a passionate effort to help people around the world recover from the mental health effects of being exposed to extreme violence.

You can get a sneak preview of Liz’s story in this video produce about her and Steve when they won the Purpose Prize.

Click here to see the video if you are viewing this post in an email.

The Nonprofit Quarterly | @npquarterly | Nonprofit Newswire | Why Are Hispanics Underrepresented on Boards?: "August 28, 2010; Source: Dallas Morning News | Racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented on nonprofit (and foundation!) governing boards, but Latinos are frequently more underrepresented than others. In Dallas, where there is a significant Hispanic population, nonprofits appear to