RE: Nonprofits affected by Financial Crisis

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Nonprofits affected by Financial Crisis

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  • I referenced, on my personal blog, a few instances of discussions taking place that focus on nonprofit organizations and the current financial crisis. One was the Meyer Memorial Trust blog which asked how nonprofits in the Pacific Northwest were feeling the crisis and the other was NPR's All Things Considered story focused on possible funding crunches for nonprofits based on corporate funding streams. It got some conversations started on Twitter and email and I thought it would be great to capture and continue that conversation here. What do you think?

    You can see the original post on my blog here: Amy Sample Ward's blog
  • here is an article from the Connecticut paper, via @mimio00

    http://www.connpost.com/ci_10639440?source=most_emailedhttp://www.connpost.com/ci_10639440?source=most_emailed
  • Amy,

    Thank you for posting this.

    I'd like to add an optimistic tone to the discussion. As a norm, giving does not go down in the face of a crises, as supported by a study by AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy and The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. More informaton on the study is here in What do crises mean for giving?

    Over the past 40 years, giving has risen. It is true that during certain hard times, corporate giving goes down, but corporate giving is actually only a small percentage of overall giving.

    Individuals are still the most important source of charitable giving. You need to show donor that you are the right organization to give to, by using good fundraising practices. I think current news reports put us in an unrealistically discouraged frame of mind about fundraising.

    Successful fundraising goes on in good times and bad.

    Best wishes,

    ________________________
    Sasha Daucus
    www.FundRaiserSoftware.com
    www.FundRaiserBasic.com
    Volunteer TechSoup Moderator

  • Today, onPhilanthropy just sent out a special message on the Economy and Nonprofits. In it, they validate the importance of asking questions about the impact of the economic situation on nonprofits.

    to quote further

      We’ve asked Michael Hoffman, Chairman of Changing Our World, and a team of veteran consultants to examine the uncertainties of the current economy, and put them into perspective based on a dispassionate review of philanthropy in previous downturns. In addition, a list of questions frequently being asked has been compiled, and is presented here along with answers. We hope you will find them helpful.


    Michael Hoffman's own comment on the impact of the economic turbulence on nonprofits emphasizes the need for leadership and the cultivation of good donor relationships.

    Here is their list of Economic Q&A: The Crisis and Nonprofits posted on October 9, 2008.

    Best wishes,

    ________________________
    Sasha Daucus
    www.FundRaiserSoftware.com
    www.FundRaiserBasic.com
    Volunteer TechSoup Moderator

  • Here in Austin we (Greenlights for NonProfit Success) are responding to the many questions we've gotten on this issue from our peers by hosting a Town Hall meeting on October 30th which will feature a seasoned nonprofit director who has weathered several downturns previously, a foundation exec who can speak to how the foundation community is likely to respond, and a banker who can help explain what is really going on. So far have 175 registrants. Will be posting a recording of the session on our site after the 30th.
  • Hi everyone,

    I just wrote a blog entry about a lot of these same subjects. I linked to the study Sasha mentioned, as well as some encouragement and insight from other nonprofit blogs.

    Happy Friday,
    Elliot

    Elliot Harmon
    Staff Writer, TechSoup

  • I think that the malaise faced is not like historical precedents. While I applaud optimism - I think nonprofits as a whole need to realize that the flat world phenomenon has changed the labor economic in a way that represents a tectonic shift in income levels that has finally come home to roost.

    I would advise nonprofits to be more proactive in their efforts and to embrace more of a reciprocal partnering model with their constituents. Internet technology and the ability to use community based tools can provide a strong foundation for relationship building and fundraising. One only need consider the campaign efforts of the Democratic Party to realize that the medium offers great potential for a well focused effort.

    My experience has shown that most nonprofits greatly rely upon the big givers - a small handful of wealthy financiers - this is because historically it has been too expensive and complicated to cultivate the masses. The problem is that the generational time-lag in social networking has resulted in unmet expectations (i.e. current devotees of social networks have not hit their prime earning years and hence do not have discretionary income to donate) . The result is that as a whole the half hearted attempts to drive web based giving have been met with less success than anticipated.

    Yet, I would encourage nonprofits to not give up on net. The internet affords many small donors with a shared interest but small capability to give - the ability to contribute in the form of micro donations that in aggregate can provide a sustainable and predictable contribution which provides the foundation for success.

    My colleagues and I are working hard to make this happen with our service at www.kindclicks.com and we would welcome participation from any nonprofits (it is free). KindClicks free services help individuals profit from their online presence and use the proceeds to sponsor nonprofit causes they care about.
  • Frank,

    I appreciate the discussion on how online giving can have a positive impact on nonprofits, although I disagree with some of your statements.

      My experience has shown that most nonprofits greatly rely upon the big givers - a small handful of wealthy financiers - this is because historically it has been too expensive and complicated to cultivate the masses.

    This is a generalization that my experience doesn't support, and actually neither do the statistics. The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University said that in 2007, Americans gave $306.39 billion to charity. About 74.8 percent of that total came from individuals; 7.6 percent were from bequests; 12.6 percent was from foundations and 5.1 percent from corporations. (from recent CNN article.)

    Good development directors are fully aware of the importance of cultivating their individual donors. And when it comes right down to it, the 'masses' are a group of individual donors.

    I realize that your thrust may be that donors can be reached much in the same way as TV advertising used to reach the TV 'masses. However, I think if you look closely at this, you'll find that successful development directors continue to appeal to individuals because that is where the big money is. You may get some initial giving through a 'mass' approach, be it direct mail, the Internet, or cell phone giving, but then those relationships need to be cultivated to make for a stable stream of donations.

      as a whole the half hearted attempts to drive web based giving have been met with less success than anticipated.
      I wonder why you say this? The adoption curve may be somewhat early, but I'd say that it is far from half hearted...?

      Anyway, I appreciate you bringing in the aspect of how online giving can be an effective way to reach a new group of donors, and that it is early to know exactly how this will peak out.

      Best wishes,

    ________________________
    Sasha Daucus
    www.FundRaiserSoftware.com
    www.FundRaiserBasic.com
    Volunteer TechSoup Moderator

  • I just wanted to point out this related article from USA Today. It cites a number of nonprofits that are feeling the economic slump, but also notes that foundation giving has actually increased during every economic slump the US has experienced. I've talked to a few organizations in Europe that are worried, given the economic trouble there as well.

    Has your organization being feeling the economic crunch? Do you forsee a decrease in giving as a result?

    Megan Keane

    Follow me on Twitter: @penguinasana or connect with me on my website.

  • Megan, Elliot,

    Thanks for the links on the economy and nonprofits. I've been tracking the articles that I find and have found some interesting ones, too.

    Love to see what anyone else is finding.

    ________________________
    Sasha Daucus
    www.FundRaiserSoftware.com
    www.FundRaiserBasic.com
    Volunteer TechSoup Moderator

  • I've been keeping an eye on the news stories about the impact of the economy on nonprofits. I've run into a couple of articles that might help navigate these times:


    Hope that helps,

    ________________________
    Sasha Daucus
    www.FundRaiserSoftware.com
    www.FundRaiserBasic.com
    Volunteer TechSoup Moderator

  • Robert has a collection of articles on the TechSoup blog as well.

    I also just found out about a survey that ForumOne is conducting about online communities and the economic downturn. You can take the survey here and let them know what impact (if any) the economy is having on your online community efforts.

    Best,

    Megan

    Megan Keane

    Follow me on Twitter: @penguinasana or connect with me on my website.

  • i think alot of non profit organizations are not non profit any more.

    Thanks and Kind Regards,

    Wasim Mansha
    Web Designer/UI Developer
    wasim@infonama.com

    Latest News | Listen Songs

  • This discussion started about 8 months ago.  I wonder how everyone is feeling the financial crisis now? 

    I know that in my own Chicago organization, our YTD giving is up over last year but still below 2008 and 2007.  We're also not certain on the rest of this year.

    We're a moderately small organization (rev. $350k ly vs $450k the year prior) so one grant of $25,000 can have a big impact up, or down.

    I feel this is an opportunity for non profits that traditionally compete with each other, to find ways to work together to expand the number of donors interested in specific types of charities.  I've been maintaining a database of non-school tutor/mentor programs in Chicago since 1993 and organizing quarterly events to try to draw volunteers and donors to the database, then to each organization, based on where they are, what age group they serve, and what they show on their web sites.  We've created a map-based program locator to support this.

    The challenge is finding ways to increase the number of people who visit this map to shop and choose where to get involved.  Since we don't have advertising dollars, we need others to be writing about tutoring/mentoring, and pointing to the Program Locator as a place to go to find information.  If the American Idol TV show can draw 10 million viewers weekly, why can't organizations and business partners in the non profit sector innovate ways to draw large number of people through sites like Tech Soup, or similar portals, to all of the organizations who spend time sharing ideas here?

    I've seen blog action days, and taken part in blog exchanges, but I've not found many intermediary groups who work to draw volunteers and donors through their portal directly to a large number of like-kinded non profits in the same geographic area.  The articles in this collaboration section illustrate what we're trying to accomplish.

    Do any of you see evidence of non profits in different geographic areas banding together to create "advertising" that would increase the number of people volunteering, or providing financial support,  in one, or more, of the groups in such a collaboration?

    If you have links to those, please share.

     

     

    Daniel F. Bassill President Tutor/Mentor Connection Cabrini Connections 800 W. Huron Chicago, Il. 60622 312-492-9614 http://www.tutormentorconnection.org

  • As someone who runs a nonprofit without any money at all (no, really) I can say that obviously this recession didn't impact the org.  We have been very successful at drawing large numbers of people to what we do without paying a single cent (obviously) for advertising.  In our first year over 1100 people had joined our email list and we have managed to make it into virtually every print publication in Seattle including two glossy magazines.  We've had no shortage of volunteers and without wasting our time over thinking ROI or anything else we spend our time moving forward, making the program happen and reaching out to get free advertising (though we've actually stopped doing this as we're doing pretty good at the moment).

    I honestly think going without money has been the key to this as we're something to write about, something different.  But more than that because we don't take money we don't have a board, an ED or anyone at all to have to run things through.  We're nimble and can simply move forward with outreach, looking only to each other when we have questions about how to do that or to run something by someone else to see if it's appropriate.

    There are lots of groups that can help nonprofits find volunteers and occasional collaborations but in my humble opinion until nonprofits become more nimble, more able to produce and reach out without having to sit through an overly lengthy process this will always be a problem... combine more people together who have to overtalk each process and likely nothing will happen.  There are obviously NPO's out there who aren't stuck in the meeting/talking trenches and are instead on the producing side but certainly if that applies to a nonprofit they will likely drive themselves into the ground simply talking about fundraising or connecting rather than doing.

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