New Report Shows Giving Increased 4% in 2010

Giving USA Foundation has released their study results of 2010 charitable giving which notes that overall giving increased from the previous year. Experts are hopeful that after two years of steep declines, this could be a sign that the economy is slowly rebounding, according to the Washington Post. The increase chalks up to a hefty $10 billion in additional funds given over prior year, capping out at an estimated $290 billion that went to education, health institutions, arts and humanities and other charitable missions. Overall corporate donations rose 11%. This giving indicates that donors are more comfortable with the current economy.

Giving was also driven by extreme need, with disaster relief figuring prominently and people wanting to help in the wake of Haiti. However, outside of the amounts going to Haitian relief, human services organizations experienced a 4% decrease. It’s impossible to say that those organizations wouldn’t also have experienced an increase if it hadn’t been for donors redirecting what might have otherwise been gone to local support.

The idea of the crisis having passed is not shared by everyone. The Post quotes Kim Damion, executive director of the Manna Food Center in Gaithersburg, “I think the community has been very responsive when they feel it’s a crisis…but they are starting to think this is the ‘new normal’ and to retreat back to old giving patterns. For us that can be problematic. The lines have not become shorter at the food bank.”

Stealing at D.C. Nonprofit

In an ongoing effort to raise awareness that fraud does happen in nonprofit, that people will steal from even the best missions, and that it happens right here in D.C.: I bring your attention to the Fund for Peace, an organization dedicated to preventing war. An independent contractor of their College Park office pleaded guilty to stealing more than $95,000 by diverting wire transfers to her own bank account. She had been working with the organization for almost 6 years and now stands charged with federal wire fraud. She is scheduled to be sentenced on August 24 and faces up to 18 months behind bars. How do you ensure that wire transfers reach their intended destination at your company? It’s worth thinking about!

PBS Servers Hacked in Poptart Cat Attack

According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy and BBC News, PBS’s website was hacked over Memorial Day weekend as a protest to a documentary that aired. The hacker group “Lulz Security” found the documentary to be overly critical of WikiLeaks and changed the server content so that the image at left (alternately known as ‘nyah nyah cat’ or ‘poptart cat’) appeared on the PBS website. The group took advantage of the older content-management systems which had significant security issues allowing access to PBS’s servers. The Chronicle is noting this as an example of why nonprofits should take care and make efforts to keep their website security up to date.

PBS was not the only nonprofit targeted, as BBC reports, an organization affiliated with the FBI called Unveillance also got the poptart cat treatment. For-profit entities were also hit, such as Sonypictures.com. BBC groups Lulz Security in with “grey hat” hackers whose predominant goal is mischief. The group appears to be trying to apply humor in their protest to differentiate themselves from other aggressive hacker groups whose sabotage has monetary impact on the entity or gain for the hacker.

I’m more than happy for an opportunity to post a picture of poptart cat, but for those of you who might not want the image on your website, consider reevaluating how secure your content is.

How to Reach the 20-somethings

As the generation of people currently in their 20s (the millennials) has entered the work force, it became increasingly clear that their entire way of doing things is different. This is a generation that would not understand how exciting Pong was or how great it was when a Blockbuster actually still had a copy of the movie you wanted to watch. This isn’t a generation that ever upgraded from an 8-dot printer to a 16-dot printer. How the millennials get involved with causes in terms of support (both financial and service) is different from previous generations. Mailing unsolicited paper letters may no longer be the best approach when trying to reach these potential donors. The Chronicle of Philanthropy and the Case Foundation is hosting an online seminar dedicated to understanding the millennial donor called MDS11 millennialdonors.com on June 22 from 8am – 5pm EST. Registration is $75 for one person and provides access to live presentations, a virtual expo hall of vendors and live discussions.

Treasury Bonds: Is the future secure?

Nonprofit organizations tend to be heavily invested in treasury bonds because of their low volatility and relatively guaranteed return. The bull market combined with low interest rates and slow economic recovery has kept bonds in the limelight. But is it always going to be that way?

It’s fair to say that the bull market has to come to an end at some point. Whether it’s sooner or later is up for rowdy debate. Part of the beauty (and pain) of the market is that it isn’t as predictable as we might wish.

There is always debate and postulation, but this week has seen a significant increase on both sides because of the U.S. hitting its debt ceiling. The ceiling can be raised – it wouldn’t be the first time (in fact, it would be the 52nd time), and spending can be cut, but fears are being driven by the threat of default. Default would make the U.S. a “fiscally irresponsible borrower” according to Robert Rodriguez, Chief Executive of First Pacific  Advisors. Rising inflation could also cause current yields to be paid off with money that is worth less causing returns to fall, as Carmen Reinhard of Peterson Institute for International Economics asserts.

Whether we are dealing with another rapture (or subsequent lack thereof) remains to be seen, but bondholders should, at a minimum, be aware that their heretofore stalwart investment vehicle may be subject to increased volatility.

When Times are Tough Average Number of Volunteers Increase

According to the Corporation for National Community Service, approximately 63.4 million Americans (26.8% of the adult population) gave 8,100,000,000 hours of volunteer service worth an estimated $169 billion dollars in 2009.  This is an increase of 1.6 million volunteers or 2.5%, the largest single year increase since 2003.  Per the Independent Sector the average value of a volunteer hour increased to $21.36 in 2010 from $20.85 in 2009.  While we don’t know yet the number of volunteers for 2010 with the increase in value per hour the total value of donated time is sure to increase in 2010.  In Washington, DC, the value of a volunteer hour was $26.80 in 2009 (note per Independent Sector – DC has the highest volunteer hour rate in the country), with Maryland and Virginia close behind at $22.32 and $22.03, respectively.  For more information on the valuation of a volunteer hour and other volunteer related facts visit www.independentsector.org and www.volunteeringinamerica.gov

New Solutions for Tough Times

Some organizations have found a good way to make it through this tough economic environment – they’ve joined forces with their competition.  As the old saying goes, ‘two heads are better than one’. Sometimes a joint effort between like minded organizations means a better time of it for both organizations.  With the ability to expand their mission, they may increase their appeal to donors.  They also expand their donor base as they now combine their donor populations.  In March’s Chronicle of Philanthropy, there is an article about two such organizations that have set aside their competitive natures and joined forces, not only to raise money, but to strengthen their mission and ability to help their chosen cause. The Oasis Center and Stars of Nashville came together 2 years ago and have grown and strengthened their ability to help the troubled youths in their city. The two organizations have together raised more than $8-million dollars.

Per the article “Co-Habitation Leads to Savings, Collaboration” by author Samuel Fanburg, 45% of nonprofits located in close proximity to other nonprofits have seen an improvement in their revenue and 55% have reported an increase in quality of services to their clients.  The data shows that whether you are located next to another nonprofit organization or share the same space you will see an increase in the ability to raise funds and help your clients.

Obama Signs Repeal of 1099 Reporting Provision

We have been following the progress of the bill to repeal the burdensome 1099 Reporting Provision that would have required companies to file a 1099-Misc for every vendor for any cumulative annual amount of $600 or more. The provision was expected to contribute $19 billion toward paying for healthcare reform but was widely critisized for the intense reporting effort it would require. With the President signing this bill, the funds will be collected from people who will have to repay excess amounts claimed above and beyond what they were entitled under the healthcare reform.

The 411 on the New Transparency Act

Per http://www.usaspending.org/ the Transparency Act “requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to maintain a single, searchable website that contains information on all Federal spending awards.”  What does this mean to you?  Well, it increases the amount of information that has to be reported to the Federal government when you receive money from them.   Additional information about sub-awards larger than $25,000 will need to be reported by the awarding organization.  Also, the total compensation and names of top five executives will need to be submitted to the government for organizations that receive substantially all of their revenue from Federal funds.  This will go into effect for new sub-awards made over $25,000 as of 10/1/10.  The information will have to be reported by prime award recipient about all sub-awards that are made for individual amounts over $25,000.  See the FAQs on http://www.usaspending.org/ for more information.

2011 “State of the Plate” Is Out

The third annual State of the Plate research results compiled by Maximum Generosity, in collaboration with Christianity Today International and ECFA has been released.  The 2011 State of the Plate is a valuable resource for churches.  It documents trend, demographic information and draws conclusions from its survey of thousands of churches.