Philanthropy Tidbits

Finally, the answer to that age-old question:
why do fundraisers leave?

Cygnus Blogger Penelope Burk is inviting frustrated fundraisers everywhere to explain why they’re leaving their cushy (lol) jobs. You can tell your story at her site.

      In the meantime, her research has already led to interesting findings:

·        fundraisers in front-line, non-management positions say that it takes them ten to twelve months to get fully up to speed, but the average tenure in these positions is well under two years.

·        39% of professional fundraisers were planning to leave their jobs at the time of the survey. 

·        48% leave to obtain a higher salary elsewhere

·        Nearly one in three leaves in frustration with “old school” fundraising attitudes, e.g. lack of appreciation for the time it takes to cultivate donors, viewing fundraising expense as unfortunate cost rather than essential investment, seeing paid fundraising staff as replacing, rather than enhancing fundraising by leadership volunteers

British are donating their brains, really

They’re waiting until they die, of course, but at least 1,000 people have pledged their brains to the British Parkinson’s Disease Society’s Brain Bank.

      The process is similar to donating any other organ, says a PDS spokesperson, except your donation will be used exclusively for research into the debilitating neurological disease, not transplantation. Parkinson’s afflicts an estimated four million people worldwide.

A blind date with a fundraiser?

A not-so-recent issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy  reported that a New York consultant has come up with a new twist on “dating”: speed consulting. Fundraiser, strategic planner, and chair of The Giving Institute Nancy Raybin and three other consulting firms offered a fast-paced benefit of 15-minute blocks of free advice for nonprofits. Maximum capacity was reached within days after the invitations went out. Future “dates” are envisioned.

Where the charitable people live

Apparently some U.S. cities are just more generous than others, according to a report from software distributor Convio. Convio measured giving to nonprofits who were utilizing its online fundraising software and identified the most charitable "large" cities (population more than 100,000) and "small" cities (fewer than 100,000) based on per capita online giving between January 1 and August 31, 2009.

      The most generous large cities were:

1.      Alexandria, VA

2.      Cambridge, MA

3.      Minneapolis, MN

4.      Arlington, VA

5.      Seattle, WA

      The most generous small cities were:

1.      Paramus, NJ

2.      Princeton, NJ

3.      Georgetown, TX

4.      Katy, TX

5.      Bethesda, MD

Taylor Swift turns 20; gives $250,000 to schools

It must be true. I read it in People. Country star Taylor Swift left her teen years behind with a 20^th birthday party that included $250,000 in donations she made to her favorite schools. The money will be used for salaries, supplies, and programs.

      ”Something I wanted to do at the end of this amazing year and especially on my birthday was give back to something I really believe in, which is education. The schools that I went to and the amazing people I got to learn from really turned me into who I am, and I wanted to give back."

Largest charities outpace corporations
and academia in use of social media

The third comparison by a research team at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Still Setting the Pace in Social Media, suggests that the country’s major charities use social media far more than their business and college counterparts. In the latest study, 89% of the charities are using blogs, podcasts, videos, wikis, social networking, and the like. A surprising 57% of them write blogs.

      Blogger jeffbullas distills the research to identify what he calls the “13 Best Practices of Social Media”.