Philanthropy
It’s official. Studies on social media in the business sector (Inc. 500 and Fortune 500) show much lower levels of usage than in the nonprofit sector!
According to a recent study by Nora Ganim Barnes, Ph.D., Chancellor Professor of Marketing and Director of the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, it’s clear that charities are prolific users of social media.
The study demonstrates how 246 charities and nonprofits on the Philanthropy 400 list are using social media. Note that it excluded colleges and universities. And, here are the results: Continue reading
I don’t know about you, but when I heard that LA Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, had made many charitable donations, I grew suspect. What were his motives? Was he trying to boost his image?
Well, now we know. According to Paul Blumenthal and Jason Cherkis of the Huffington Post:
“Since 2007, Sterling’s foundations have spread small sums of money around to multiple nonprofits supporting the African-American and Latino communities as well as a number of education, health care, homeless, and Jewish and Israeli groups. These contributions have been criticized in the past as an attempt to direct attention away from Sterling’s long history of being accused of racial discrimination.”
Apparently, allegations of racism have circulated for years. “He has paid multimillion-dollar settlements over lawsuits accusing him of discriminatory housing policies in his real estate holdings. Documents and interviews related to those cases claimed that Sterling refused to rent to blacks (‘they smell’), Latinos (‘all of the Mexicans that just sit around and smoke and drink all day’) and families with children (‘brats’).”
It makes me cringe. But, there’s a bigger issue at play here. Should charities accept gifts from donors whose motives or backgrounds are suspect? Aren’t their brand reputations at stake? Continue reading
Fundraisers and nonprofit marketers take note… direct mail fundraising is far from dead. In fact, its assumed death is premature and won’t begin to occur until the year 2030!
That’s the conclusion The Agitator made in its recent post, “New Era Begins In 17 Years.” It’s also what Jeff Brooks underscores in his recent post, “When will the direct mail fundraising era be over?”
Based on actual Blackbaud statistics of 2013 online fundraising growth rates (not crystal ball predictions), the formula works like this: Continue reading
