Half of Charity Campaigns Plan to Extend the Length of the Drive, Survey Finds
With the recession making it harder to raise money, 51 percent of nonprofit organizations now in capital or endowment campaigns have extended the length of their drives, and another 11 percent have reduced the amount they are trying to raise. That is the conclusion of a survey conducted in January…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
American Fund Raisers Urged to Look Overseas for Ideas
American fund raisers have much to learn from overseas charities, say Andrew Watt and Jon Duschinsky, who travel extensively to advise charities outside the United States. In an audio interview with The Chronicle, Mr. Watt, chief programs officer at the Association of Fundraising Professionals,…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Where Do Donors Turn for Advice on Giving?
Many fund raisers seek relationships with estate planners and lawyers on the theory that those experts will influence wealthy clients to make charitable gifts. However, research by Indiana University and Bank of America has found that, in recent years, wealthy donors have shifted preferences in…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Making Fund-Raising Research More Useful and Accessible
Russell N. James, a researcher at the University of Georgia Institute for Nonprofit Organizations, in Athens, told participants at the annual meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals that he understands why many fund raisers ignore academic research on soliciting gifts. Too often, he…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Fund Raiser Recommends New Way to Recruit Qualified Trustees
Charitable organizations in Great Britain often use executive recruiters to help them find qualified trustees to serve on their boards, said Sheila M. Bailey, a fund raiser at Apostleship for the Sea, a British organization that places chaplains on ships. Ms. Bailey said that using professional…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Fund-Raising Returns Reach New Low Point, Study Finds
Fund-raising returns reach new low point
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Proving What Works in Fund Raising: Scholars Dispel Myths
Few fund raisers have heard of John A. List, a University of Chicago economist who has spent a career figuring out how charities can increase contributions and — in some cases — proving conventional fund-raising wisdom to be flat-out wrong. But now, as the recession makes winning contributions…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
University Strives to Retain Fund Raisers by Grooming Its Own
After years of frustration with the high cost of hiring fund raisers in a job market marred by a scarcity of qualified people and rapid turnover, the University of Michigan decided that enough was enough. “We vice presidents would get together at conferences and wring our hands about the lack of…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
In the late 1960s, Kent E. Dove, a new fund raiser at Indiana University, spent so many evenings at the home of his colleague Curtis R. Simic that the Simics started setting a place for him at dinner. After the meal, the two junior fund raisers, both graduates of the university, would talk into the…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
The sour economy has slowed contributions to many nonprofit groups — but it is also slowing the revolving door among fund raisers, a trend experts say could help charities better weather the recession. Fund raisers who stay with the same institution for many years are more successful at raising…
By Holly Hall
Contributor