St. Jude

I have been working on my major case study for the past few weeks, and never thought there was as much going on with St. Jude as there actually was. I know they need millions to keep the hospital open for a week, but it is so incredible to think that they successfully fund raise millions and then some in order to not only keep the hospital open, but to be able to do additions, treat more patients and treat more and more diseases as the years pass. It really is overwhelming to try to understand everything that involves St. Jude. I feel like they set an example for every nonprofit organization because of the immense success they had beginning with ALSAC, along with the success they continuously have.

Nonprofits in a recession

I wanted to post commenting on Rebecca’s presentation in class today about recessionary economy and nonprofits. I thought that some of the ideas she mentioned about how to keep people donating even when the price of gas is $4.00 were great to think about. It has been on my mind a lot as well, knowing that our economy is facing hard times in the U.S., and whether I will be able to find a job in the nonprofit sector in the years to come. If nobody has any interest or extra money to donate to nonprofit groups, then how would I be able to have a job?

Listening to Rebecca’s presentation made me feel a little bit better about the outlook of nonprofits in the years to come. It makes sense that in a recession nonprofits will need more donations and more volunteers than ever because more people will be in poverty and need assistance. I think if we can tap the people who aren’t hurting as much, and get them to give back even more then it will balance things out. Also, I agree with trying to show how even though everyone is hurting financially, some people are hurting much more so everyone should help out.

Web Savvy Nonprofits

I think it is interesting how much of our class discussion and current event presentations have seemed to revolve around new technologies and fund raising and networking through the internet. It seems to me that the web is now one of the most important means of communication for any organization. An organization’s website has now become the “face” of the organization in many ways, and for many people it is the first impression that they get when learning about a non-profit. And we all know first impressions are often the only impressions we get to make.

I was reading an article called “Five Step Strategy to Market Your Nonprofit Online“, and I think it had some good tips about how any nonprofit, no matter how small, can start using the web for the good of their organization. Little things, like jazzing up the organization website, building email lists, trying out social media, and creating an e-newsletter can go a long way to making a more net-friendly organization.

I know it seems like everyone is on the web these days, but there are still masses of people who don’t know how create or update things on the web. I’m doing an internship this summer for a local non-profit in my hometown and the people who I talked to were ecstatic that I knew a few things about building a website and how to use HTML and  they proposed I do an entire overhaul of their website because the person who started working on it was no longer there, and nobody else knew anything about updating it. I think with a little bit of training, and a few new ideas, any nonprofit can keep up with the times and become more web savvy.

Texting-Good for nonprofit?

 I don’t exactly know what to think about texting for a fund raising campaign. In a way, I think it’s a great idea. On the other hand, I think it could be potentially annoying. I personally would never subscribe to receiving more texts asking me to donate. Like we talked about in class, I get enough stupid text forwards from friends, along with stupid e-mail forwards. The last thing I want is to get texts pressuring me to donate. I absolutely think that it’s necessary to ONLY receive texts if you signed up for it. I read an article on the Chronicle of Philanthropy website talking about the text messaging campaign that was unveiled during the Super Bowl. The United Way started their own fund-raising campaign using text messaging. According to the article, “In a television advertisement that appeared during the game, the United Way appealed to viewers to send a text message that would generate a $5 contribution (or at least $4.50, excluding administrative costs) to help American kids stay physically fit.” United Way, in my opinion, went about this in the perfect way. They proposed their campaign during the best time of the year to watch commercials and they had it dealing with sports and kids, both of which have a lot to do with during the Super Bowl. Here is the website where the video from the commercial is shown.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b38idebP4ag

“In Europe and other areas of the world, using text messages to make a donation is commonplace.” I think that it will probably take us (United States) a while to catch on to this, (I really don’t think I will hop on this train) just like it always does. I think it will get bigger, but I’m still not sure that it will be the easiest/fastest way to donate. Heck, people aren’t donating solely on the internet, they still use the phones!

Wisconsin Foundation for Independent Colleges

I just read the article that Harvey posted about the Milwaukee based nonprofit helping at-risk teenagers go to college. I thought it was very interesting to read about all the great things they are doing for young people, and to read how it was made possible from a business standpoint. It seems like there are so many great ideas out there to help kids who would not be able to attend college without help, but many of them fail because it costs a lot of money to put a kid through college, and many slip through the cracks.

I think it is good that the organization set some specific goals for what they wanted to accomplish. Then, they hired some people who really cared, and knew what they were doing (a winning combination) to make their vision a reality. I think that in order for a nonprofit to really be successful, you not only have to have a passion for what you are doing, but you also have to have the business skills to raise the funds and compete with all the other nonprofits and for profits out there. It seems like this organization has both of these aspects, and is doing a lot of good because of it.

Nonprofit organization teams up with Wal-Mart

 recently read an article in the Oregonian about how a local nonprofit organization called Mercy Corps has introduced a program with Wal-Mart that hopes to end poverty for Guatemalan farmers. The farmers will provide fresh produce to the retail giant. The program sounds great except for one little problem Wal-Mart is involved. Wal-Mart has not produced one selfless act in the last twenty years. This is just another opportunity for them to make themselves look pious and they are using an innocent nonprofit organization like Mercy Corps to hide their real intentions of making an ungodly amount of money. Wal-Mart will do the same thing to the Guatemalan farmers as they do to all of their suppliers control them. They will tell them the price they are willing to pay or go someplace else. After time the Guatemalan farmers will become dependant upon Wal-Mart and they will have to churn out produce for a smaller profit than it takes to make the produce. Who in the end is benefiting from this situation but Wal-Mart. I realize that a nonprofit can also benefit from being supported by the biggest retail mogol in the world but at what price.

Nonprofit Exeutive Salaries

Though we haven’t spent much of any time in class discussing the salaries of nonprofit executives, and how they impact giving/contributions/fundraising-in-general, I came across this online article from one of my Google Alerts. A Portland, Oregon, TV news station looked at the salaries of nonprofit executives as part of an investigative journalism piece. An interesting read of how an audit can change executive’s perspectives. The article, as expected, is a little critical, but a rather interesting look at just how much salaries may impact administrative expenses. As many of my students know, I’ve discussed administrative costs, efficiency, and accountability ad nauseum in our discussions about the economics and and ethics in philanthropy.

Something to think about. — Prof. Harvey

Mandatory Volunteering… Good or Bad?

I noticed that a few people had posts about mandatory volunteering and I’ve decided to go with the same topic instead of coming up with my own this week.  I fist started volunteering because I got in trouble in high school and had to do 40 hours of community service.  I was a good kid with good grades, involved in clubs and sports, and I’d had several jobs but volunteering was something I’d never done before until I was forced.  I worked at the Eagle’s Nest (a place where women can find cheap donated clothing) after their move to a new building.  I enjoyed volunteering and was glad I could help women in need.

So the question this poses is that should volunteering be mandatory for more than just punishment?  For me, the community service was not a punishment because it helped developed me and was my first glimpse into the nonprofit world.  I think it would be a good idea for high schools to require a certain amount of volunteer time per academic year or to be completed before graduation.  Many people in my graduating class became involved with drugs, many didn’t go to college, and all but me and 2 of my close friends are pregnant or have children.  I think volunteering would have helped to get my classmates involved in our community and give them something productive to do with their time.  Some of the girls I knew volunteered at the animal shelter and it became a popular thing to do for several months.  I think it would have been nice if our school would have encouraged us to volunteer or required it or even let us know about volunteer opportunities in our community.

I also think jobs should encourage philanthropy work but not require it.  Many people work more than one job and if one or both of their jobs required volunteer time then that would not be good for the employee’s families.  But jobs that reward people for volunteering would be a good thing for the communities they are in.  Some good ideas we discussed in class were paying employees for the time they volunteer and matching employees donations to charities.  Overall, I think anything that encourages people to donate their time toward a good cause is great and should be implemented.

The (confusing?) economics of philanthropy

I’m getting ready to lead these fine fundraising/philanthropy scholars down the road of the economics of philanthropy. As I’ve been gathering various materials and bits of information, I came across “Four Nonprofit/Philanthropy Trends to Watch in 2007” (better late then never, eh?). I was rather struck by the rather brief discussion of fragmented funding, the creation of larger pools of capital (by donors), and what some funders may now be referring to as “vanity projects.”

I spent quite a few years in the nonprofit sector, and will return into it after I have completed my current teaching contract. I can see both sides of this discussion. On more than enough occasions I have extolled the issue of how it was always easier to get “project or program” funding, and took a crow bar (among other things) to get operating funding. There is something to be said for the collective wisdom of nonprofit capacity building (the virtue of accountability not to be forgotten) over a nickel-and-dime funding approach through smaller project and program grants. I can’t say I like this approach referred to as “vanity projects” however. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I do happen to agree with the trend of treating each nonprofit subjectively. For too long there has been what the authors refer to as an “old school” perspective on operating vs. other funding for organizations. Very black and white. Operating funding has traditionally been a hard nut to crack. Each nonprofit should be looked at from more than just a standard “efficiency” perspective, and taken subjectively. No two nonprofit organizations are created equal. Nonprofit organizations cannot pick up the slack left by both the government’s and the private sector’s inefficient production of “public goods” when their funding is left in a status-quo mode, in-perpetuity. Capacity is subjective, and it takes solid capacity (the definition thereof different with every organization) for an organization to pick up that slack, move toward meeting its mission, and encourage change.