Interview on Donor Relations

Guidestar has an interesting interview with Dr. Thomas Wolf about his recent book How to Connect with Donors and Double the Money You Raise. The interview tackles questions such as: how can introverts be successful fundraisers; is getting too close to donors counterproductive; and how to deal with jerks.

Chance to Win $5K from GuideStar

GuideStar has partnered with KIMBIA, an online fundraising and event planning software manufacturer, to award $5,000 to the nonprofit organization that garners the most new reviews from supporters on their entry on GuideStar. Anyone who has first-hand experience with your organization and is not a paid employee can write a review. All new reviews from February 1 through February 28 will count towards the contest. Organizations must enter the contest and get the word out to ask for reviews. GuideStar has toolkits and suggestions for requesting and writing reviews.

Decline in Individual Giving

Guide Star USA, an organization that tracks finances of nonprofit groups recently reported a decline in individuals contributing to nonprofits.  The report is based upon a survey of executives at 6,800 nonprofit organizations.  67% of the surveyed organizations said fewer individuals made contributions and 66% said individual donations were smaller than in the past.  To learn more about this survey read Jonathan O’Connell’s article at the Washington Post.

GuideStar 101 for the Organization and the Donor

GuideStar is a powerful search engine that provides information for over 1.8 million nonprofit organizations registered with the IRS. GuideStar is an IRS registered nonprofit organization that promotes “nonprofit transparency and to provide a central repository of nonprofit information that donors could use to guide there giving decisions.” Anyone can register with GuideStar at no fee and will be able to view information such as general information about the organization, the organization’s mission and their filed IRS Form 990 over the past 3 years. If a donor requires more information they can purchase a membership at a monthly or annual fee. Continue reading »

GuideStar’s Nonprofit Economic Survey

GuideStar is an information service specializing in U.S. Nonprofit companies.  In December 2009 they published the results of their Eighth Annual Nonprofit Economic Survey.  The purpose of this survey was “to compare how charitable organizations fared during the first nine months of 2009 to previous years and to try and gauge the effect of the downturn in the economy on the American nonprofit sector.”     Overall, the economy has not yet completely rebounded and nonprofits are still struggling, however there were better indications for increased contributions.    Although organizations are not reporting the same levels of contributions they were seeing in 2007, they were up from 2008.  Click here to read a letter from the President and CEO of GuideStar and to review the results of the survey:

Letter from President and CEO:

http://www2.guidestar.org/rxa/news/articles/2009/from-the-presidents-office-december-2009.aspx?source=dec09nwsltr

 Results of survey:

http://www2.guidestar.org/rxa/news/articles/2009/down-but-not-defeated-results-of-guidestars-eighth-annual-nonprofit-economic-survey.aspx

Economic Conditions

A survey conducted by Guidestar reflects an economic slip consistent with general economic declines. The major findings of the on-line survey which included usable responses from 2098 public charities and 181 public foundations were that 52% of the respondents had a decrease in contributions received. This was primarily attributable to a decrease in contributions received from individuals and for those individuals who did give, gifts tended to be of a smaller amount. Typical of most recessions, 58% of the respondents stated that the demand for their services was increasing. 

Eight percent of organizations say they are in imminent danger of closing because of a lack of money.

 http://www2.guidestar.org/ViewCmsFile.aspx?ContentID=2319