I was flipping through the May issue of Fundraising Success magazine (which you may be able to get for free, here) because the cover article was entitled “Big Ideas for Smaller Nonprofits.”
I thought I’d find some great insights to share with all of you, but my eye was caught by an adjacent full page ad.

The copy leads off: “9 (More) REASONS why PEOPLE give to NONPROFIT organizations” and then proceeds to list them. I’ve been trying to parse what exactly they mean by each of these things, and I have some first-glance ideas. I’m pretty sure this is not what the advertiser meant in most cases, but they only offer the single word for each point. Please note that this is not my list — it’s just what I’m working with. The commentary is mine.

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There is an interesting discussion taking place at the Give and Take blog and The New Voices of Philanthropy blog about the generation divide in fundraising. From the latter:

“On one hand I know how important it is to keep baby boomers engaged, on the other hand I am hearing from young people on a daily basis that they canGÇÖt advance because baby boomers wonGÇÖt leave the philanthropic sector and make room for young people to advance.”

A possible solution is offered:

GÇ£If we started thinking of the program officer position (of any other foundation or nonprofit staff member for that matter) as a collection of tasks that can be completed by one or many people depending on the time available for each worker.GÇ¥

I think that this is a good start, but doesnGÇÖt go far enough. The younger generation and the older generation should be set to work in parallel. Graying baby boomers see the world - and the world of philanthropy - in an increasingly different way as their young professional counterparts.

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Following up from yesterday’s post, I wanted to highlight one of the earlier responses to the question in question:

If she receives an allowance (or even if she doesn’t yet) encourage her save a certain amount of money each week to donate to a cause she’s interested in. Use some time each week to talk with her about what she’d most like to accomplish with the money, then some time to search for organizations that would help this cause, then (ideally) some time visiting and volunteering at one or two of them to see if they feel right to her. By this time she’ll have saved up some money, had some experience exploring what’s important to her, and some time with hands-on helping. She may want to see if a few of her friends are interested in doing this alongside her.

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I follow a wonderful online question/answer community on which the following question was recently posted:

How can I help my 5-yr old daughter with her interest in charity?

Wow. A five-year-old girl stumping her dad. Because she’s interested in charity. Cool. But just as fun as the question was the panoply of answers provided by the community:

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Perry Davis Associates has been around for 20 years now, and it’s seen its fair share of consultants over that time. The conventional wisdom around these parts is that a fundraising professional operates on a two-year turnover rate (maybe a little more). It’s not a shock: working in this field is stressful, and early ambitions and visions quickly turn to frustrations and disappointments. Besides, many of our peers do similar work (research, publicity, solicitation/sales) for much greater compensation and prestige. Here are some tips for keeping your head in the game: Read more…

Imagine there was a way to track any mention of your non-profit organization in the news, on websites, and on blogs. Imagine it was free and simple to use and maintain. Imagine it delivered every ‘hit’ directly to your email, on your schedule. Now stop imagining — it’s real.

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Sorry.

There is no substitute for a face-to-face meeting with a potential donor. Emails, letters, phone calls, faxes all remove the human touch, the ability to gain a sense of your colleagues interests through body language. They might even demonstrate a lack of conviction or authority on your part. On the other hand, personal meetings convey your willingness to take time out of your schedule to meet at your prospect’s convenience and bolster the sense of your devotion.

In this technological age there is a tendency to rely on all sorts of detached methods, but when it comes to fundraising, nothing compares to a face-to-face meeting.