Naming Rights with a Twist

Facing the prospect of a corporate title on the doorway, graduates of the University of Alberta School of Business started a campaign that raised more than $20 million to keep the name just as it is.

Three years ago, a fundraising committee thought it could set up a rich endowment by changing the name and joining the ranks of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management or Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business.

The committee even found interested buyers. Then members had a change of heart.

Instead, almost 170 alumni donated more than $20 million, and the school now has a signed certificate saying the current name will be preserved in perpetuity.

“People are loving it. It’s almost like counter-culture,” said Mike House, a member of the fundraising team.

Rather than honouring a single alumni who made it big, the name represents the whole community, he said. “They’re not about putting themselves first.”

Donors, alumni and administrators gathered at the Alberta Art Gallery on Monday to celebrate.

“This school is owned by its alumni. It’s owned by its community,” said Mike Percy, dean of the business school. “Always has been, always will be.”

The art gallery was built by many of the same donors, he said. “That’s what makes this city unique. There’s quiet wealth here.”

Preserving the name is a way of thinking for the future, he said. The school could have chosen one of its most famous alumni, and “at the end of the day, after one generation, no one knows who they are.”

The $20.5 million will be invested to support the school. Some of the interest will fund the salary of a new research chair position. Other funds will support the general operating fund to make it less reliant on provincial government budgets, while some will support scholarships.

The school was founded in 1960, and has several internationally known programs, Percy said. It also ranks consistently in the top 40 in the Financial Times of London rankings for research.

Stan Milner, a local businessman and philanthropist who led the committee, said members’ change of heart came when they started thinking about the future. “Because we’re building this for forever,” he said.

“Mind you, if Mr. (Bill) Gates showed up with $100 million, we might have changed our minds,” Milner added with a laugh.

The committee started the campaign in 2007, shortly before the economic downturn. But as the economy picked up, many alumni were happy to get involved.

The name “Alberta” gives the school a sense of place, like the Harvard Business School, he said. No one gets confused about where that is.

“(But) the Harvard Business School is so remarkably secure because their endowment is so huge,” he said.

Only endowments can give the type of reliable funding that will let the Alberta School of Business attract and keep star professors. “You need a few Wayne Gretzkys around.”

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Why Donors Name or Intend to Name a Nonprofit in Their Wills

We asked bequest givers and those who plan to amend their wills at some point to include a bequest to rate their primary reasons for naming a nonprofit in their will. Their answers most often related to intrinsic, personal feelings rather than tangible benefits. On average, younger Americans with wills (ages 40–54) and those of any age group who plan to amend their wills tended to offer nearly all of these reasons more frequently.

The majority of those who already have a bequest in their will or intend to amend their will at some point to add one cited the following as a primary reason for doing so:

» You just feel it is the right thing to do (81 percent).

• Those aged 40–54 and those with college degrees are slightly more likely to say this is a primary reason (87 percent each).

• This is also a primary reason for those with household incomes of $50,000 or more (86 percent).

» You can have peace of mind that you are doing something good (56 percent).

• Six out of 10 (61 percent) of the youngest Americans in our sample (ages 40–54) list this as a primary reason.

• Current givers favor this reason (60 percent, compared to 49 percent of likely future bequest givers with wills).

The following reasons swayed fewer than half of potential bequest givers but still factored into the decisions of at least 1 in 5:

» You can leave a legacy to an organization you care about that will live on after you are gone (46 percent).

• This reason appeals slightly more to:

• Those with incomes of $50,000 or more (54 percent).

• Those with a college degree (54 percent).

• Those between the ages of 55 and 64 (52 percent).

» You can honor someone you love or admire with a gift in his or her name (29 percent).

• This is most attractive to younger prospects (37 percent of those aged 40–54).

• This reason applies more to future (33 percent) than current (26 percent) bequest givers.

• This is more likely to appeal to women (32 percent) than men (25 percent).

» You can set an example for family members (26 percent).

• This is more attractive than average to younger prospects (33 percent of those aged 40–54).

• One-third (33 percent) of those with a college degree say this is a major reason.

» You can simplify your estate for your heirs (23 percent).

• This is more attractive to those with a college degree (28 percent).

• This reason is stronger among current (26 percent) than future (19 percent) bequest givers.

» You can pay back a kindness you’ve received, such as a scholarship or medical care (23 percent).

• This reason appeals to the younger prospect group (32 percent of those aged 40–54).

• More future prospects are drawn to this reason (29 percent) than those who have already included a bequest (20 percent).

• Those with household incomes of $100,000 or higher and those with a college degree are also likely to see this as a major reason (28 percent each).

» You can reduce the amount your estate will pay in taxes while keeping the amount you give to family and friends the same (21 percent).

• While neither gender differs notably from the average, this reason is more likely to appeal to men (25 percent) than to women (17 percent).

• Those who intend to include a bequest but haven’t yet are more likely than current bequest givers to credit this as a reason (27 percent among intended givers, compared to 17 percent of current givers).

» You can provide income for family members through gift annuities (19 percent).

• Those who intend to include a bequest but haven’t yet are considerably more likely than current bequest givers to credit this as a reason (28 percent among intended givers, compared to 12 percent of current givers).

» You can reduce the amount of income tax you pay now (13 percent).

• Those who intend to include a bequest but haven’t yet are more likely than current bequest givers to consider this important (18 percent among intended givers, compared to 9 percent of current givers).

• This is slightly more attractive to those with less education (18 percent of those with no more than some college education).

Motivations for Bequest Giving: Why People Give and Why They Don’t | 3

» You feel it is expected of you, for example because of your involvement in an organization (12 percent).

» You can receive income later from deferred gifts and take the tax advantage now (9 percent).

• Those who intend to include a bequest but haven’t yet are much more likely than current
bequest givers to credit this as a major reason (15 percent among intended givers, compared to 6 percent of current givers).

• This is attractive to younger prospects (15 percent of those aged 40–54).

» You can sometimes receive perks or privileges associated with a higher level of giving than what you can afford on an annual basis (3 percent). Six percent did not offer any of these as a primary reason.

*This research was provided by The Stelter Company

What Can We Learn From Our Global Fundraising Neighbors?

It is always a useful and productive experience to spend time in a new environment. That is the reason we fundraisers like to go to conferences. AFP, CASE, IFC, NTEN are great events that give us opportunities to get together, collaborate, learn and ultimately return home with ideas and best practices that will help our organizations achieve their goals.

What if we could extend this knowledge sharing beyond our own borders? What if we could learn how fundraisers in Bolivia deal with the lack of postal or banking systems? How did a Dutch organization generate more than 500,000 monthly donors? How are Italian organizations using digital media to drive results? How could we, wherever we are located, learn from our fundraising cousins on the other side of the planet?

Working for a global software company that only serves nonprofits, I am lucky enough to spend a great deal of time traveling and talking to nonprofits around the world. What has become obvious to me during my travels and my experience living internationally is the similar passion, drive and optimism that nonprofits around the world share with each other. There may be differences in fundraising styles and techniques from country to country, but the philosophy and passion remain the same. We also, as a global fundraising community, share many of the same challenges and concerns.

The State of the Nonprofit Industry (SONI) is the leading market research survey of several thousand fundraising organizations across multiple countries in Europe, Asia Pacific and North America. The survey focuses on issues critical to today’s nonprofits, including operational issues, technology, accountability and fundraising. This research has enabled us to assess the differences between fundraising in different parts of the world and track the trends over the years.

One example of a current challenge that is universal (or at least global) is the increased trends of donors wanting greater visibility of where their money is going. In fact, 60 percent of organizations in Germany responded that they had seen an increase in this area.

I noted earlier about the optimistic nature of nonprofits globally. This was also an area we polled in the SONI, asking organizations how they expected total income to change from 2009 to 2010. Almost all participants across Europe stated that they expected fundraising revenue to increase, with France being the most optimistic about 2010. Investments were also up, with 61 percent of U.K. organizations seeing an increase in 2010.

One of the most obvious differences between Europe and the U.S., for example, is the different focus between recurring giving and major giving. Almost all survey participants in Europe stressed the importance of sustainer or monthly giving programs, while the results for North America remained flat. In fact, the U.S. has never truly adopted recurring-giving programs on mass, which, as a British person living in the U.S., I find interesting and a significant opportunity. A recent report by Target Analytics, a Blackbaud company, measured the results of monthly giving programs for more than 15 large U.S.-based organizations and found some telling trends:

• monthly donors tend to be younger than those that give single gifts;
• recurring donors have much higher retention rates; and
• monthly donations are less likely to be affected by economic downturns.

Not only are these recurring-gift programs an excellent source of mostly unrestricted, recurring revenue, but they also provide a huge pool of committed and loyal supporters who might make for excellent major- or planned-gift prospects.

The way European organizations acquire these monthly donors is also an interesting difference between our two continents. Face-to-face fundraising is still a huge method in Europe, where a fundraiser or canvasser stands on the street soliciting monthly donations from passers-by. The U.K.-based Third Sector publication estimates that approximately 700,000 donors signed up by this method in 2009. Clearly this form of acquisition is not common in the U.S., and many organizations would, I’m sure, claim that it would not work in the U.S.

Consider this though: Face-to-face is becoming more common in Canada (I was recently approached by two separate large and well-known international nonprofits in Toronto within 10 minutes), and Greenpeace already is successfully acquiring new donors in many U.S. cities.

While the U.S. is by far the largest philanthropic market in the world, there are other markets that are growing significantly (i.e., Latin America). These markets have not had the luxury of fundraising best practices or standards, and they often lack an established culture of giving. Many times they do not have a professional fundraising body and lack the capacity that we in developing countries take for granted.

What we do see in these markets are organizations that are extremely creative. They innovate. They take risks. With little to lose and almost no resources, they look for new and unique ways to reach their constituents and find great, and often unexpected, success. Perhaps that is something we can learn from them.

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Download the “Give to Get Marketing” Webcast for Alumni and Non-Profits

Right click here to download the “Give to Get Marketing” Webcast for Alumni and Non-Profits. Please be patient as the video downloads; it is a large file (400mb).

Right click here to download a smaller 5mb version. This will display as a smaller image on your screen.

Take notes! Share the information! Right click the screen to advance to the next slide while viewing.

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Then view the movie.

It is in quicktime format and will play with the quicktime player integrated in the movie file. Choose view—>fit to screen to optimize viewing.

Click the screen to advance to the next frame.

Comments are welcome back about this presentation to webinar@monsooninteractive.com or call 866.665.3887 x 208.

Getting Past “No”

why people don’t give and how you can break through the barriers

Research has pinpointed three reasons why caring people don’t give, says Joanne Fritz on About.com. Fortunately, there are ways to counter those baffling thought patterns that even the most empathic people experience when considering whether to donate.

Diffusion of responsibility

You might call this the “bystander effect”: the assumption that someone else will do what needs to be done. Fritz cites an experiment where 70 per cent of participants who were alone responded with help to sounds of distress from another room. But when two participants were together, their response rate plummeted – in one case to a mere 7%.

Sense of fairness

Fritz describes research showing that humans will go against their best interests if the situation violates their sense of fairness. In an experimental game, two players knew that one of them would be given a sum of money to divide with the second player. If the second person refused the offer, then neither player got anything. When receivers felt that the first person’s offer was unfair, they often refused it, even though their refusal meant no one got anything.

“In the case of charitable giving, a donor’s altruism may be depressed if he feels that other people are not doing their share,” Fritz concludes. “It doesn’t seem fair to give, say, 10% of your income to charity if others are giving less or nothing.”

Money

Even thinking about money can also depress altruism – bad news for fundraisers! An experimental group that was prompted to think about money before moving on to other tasks displayed much more self-sufficient behaviour than the control group. They often took longer to ask for help, sat further apart when told to move into conversational groups, chose solitary recreation, helped others less, and gave less when asked to contribute their honoraria to a good cause.

What to do

Fundraisers need to be aware of these pitfalls of human nature. Fritz offers several tips to forestall their influence.

   • Use powerful images and focus on one victim instead of several.
   • Help create a feeling of community and fairness.
   • Show the interconnection between ourselves and people thousands of miles away.
   • Help donors understand that their gift is not just a “drop in the bucket.”
   • Tell compelling personal stories.
   • Offer ways to help that don’t involve just giving money.

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Fundraising Webinars

FUNDRAISING WEBINARS

SOCIAL MEDIA AND FUNDRAISING     ($175 Live / $175 Recording)  (Oct.19 at 2pm ET / 1pm CT / 11am PT)

What is the social media component to your fundraising strategy?  Join Jay Frost, a 25 year veteran of fundraising and a social media entrepreneur, as he takes you through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other major outposts of the social media revolution.  We will look at the specific cases where organizations have raised both awareness and money.   Following this seminar, you will be able to establish strategies, policies and guidelines for effective use of the many free tools available to nonprofits today.

 

For additional information on webinars offered by Brian Lacy and Associates:

Brian Lacy

(860) 478-9291

brian@brianlacy.com

Tags: training, webinar

A Dream to Rebuild New Orleans: Young High School Teacher Raises Over $1 Million to Build a Field of Dreams in the 9th Ward

Nearly 5 years after Hurricane Katrina decimated the city of New Orleans, the city is getting a boost of hope from a project started by a teacher at George Washington Carver High School.

Fresh out of college, the now 24 year-old Brian Bordainick joined Teach for America to help make a difference for kids growing up in the inner-city. When he showed up for his first day at G.W. Carver High School, he didn’t see a school – just eight trailers in the parking lot of an abandoned school.

Shortly after starting at G.W. Carver, Bordainick was asked to step in as the school’s athletic director – and become the youngest athletic director in Louisiana history. Hoping to help reshape a program that was once great (the football program won multiple district championships and has an alumni roster including NFL-great Marshall Faulk), Bordainick faced many challenges as the school did not have resources to support the program.

But as Bordainick began to piece together the program, he learned of an NFL grant program for $200,000 in matching grants to rebuild football facilities and decided to pursue the grant to build a state of the art football field and track for the 9th ward community – called “The 9th Ward Field of Dreams”. Throughout this process, Bordainick eventually found an architecture firm to provide a budget a rendering of the project, which proved to be slightly more than he had anticipated – $1.85 million dollars.

Although told by many that this was an impossible dream – Bordainick pushed forward with the 9th ward project and over the last year has raised over $1 million dollars, has garnered support from Nike, and even scored a feature for The 9th Ward Field of Dreams on ESPN. With just a little more help, The 9th Ward Field of Dreams will be built.

“Together we can prove that against formidable odds, a few people crazy enough to believe in their own power to create change can overcome a seemingly impossible challenge.” – www.9thwardfieldofdreams.com

Learn more about the 9th Ward story in the videos below, or text “DREAM” to 50555 to make a donation and help The 9th Ward Field of Dreams reach its goal of $1.85 million and bring hope to the city of New Orleans.

Anything is Possible from The Canary Collective on Vimeo.

Brian Bordainick Talk @ The Feast from Chris Schultz on Vimeo.

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2 Simple Ways to Increase Your Online Giving

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Exciting Partnership Includes Student Support, Municipal Government Grant and Private Philanthropy

Trent University’s new Community Sport and Recreation Centre is being bolstered by the City of Peterborough’s decision to invest $1-million into the facility’s construction.

The facility, which includes a strong commitment towards community use, fulfills the objectives contained in the City’s Vision 2010 Strategic Plan for Recreation, Parks and Culture by designating the Trent Community Sport and Recreation Centre as the third recreation centre serving the residents of the City.

Trent students have also contributed significantly to the project by previously approving a multi-year, $50 levy per student.

The $16 million expanded and renovated complex will serve the needs of the disabled, seniors, families, community sports teams, and Trent varsity athletes and intramural programs. With its Silver LEED designation, the new building will be an additional green asset for the University and City, and serve as a magnet to attract national and international sporting events.

eatures of the expanded complex include:

* Fitness centre
* Swimming pool retrofit
* Family/disabled change room
* Men’s and women’s change room upgrades
* Team change room
* Therapy pool
* Indoor rowing/paddling tank
* Climbing wall
* International competitive squash court
* Clinic for Health Excellence
* Multipurpose room
* Flexible classroom space
* Improved access to stadium, river and facilities
* Outdoor pavilion
* Respectful integration of the natural environment into recreational programs
* All inclusive memberships

The economic activity flowing from these events will generate the purchase of related goods and services, thereby stimulating the local economy. The building activity which is well underway, is a combination of new construction and renovations and will result in 180 plus jobs across different trades. The new facility is also slated to be the host venue for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) national Women’s Rugby Championships in 2010 and 2011.

Some of the latest construction highlights include:

* Structural steel installation – 98 per cent compete
* Roof decking – being installed
* Electrical system installed and operational
* Block wall supporting the climbing wall – under construction
* Therapy tank foundations are being poured
* New insulation – being installed on the River side of the building
* Preparations for installation of copper cladding
* Sprinkler systems – being installed
* Glass curtain wall – installation beginning in February
* New Cardio equipment – February

To support the project, a community wide team of nearly 100 volunteers are working together with campaign Co-Chairs Dr. Peter Adams and Mr. Gary Wolff, to raise $4-million towards the project. To learn more about the campaign and how you can participate, please visit: http://www.trentu.ca/athleticscampaign/.

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Haiti And The Rest Of Us: What’s Next For Non-Disaster Charities?

Seventy million dollars and counting. That’s how much money the Canadian arms of three major aid charities (Médecins sans frontières, the Red Cross and World Vision) raised for Haitian relief work by January 25. Other international relief and development charities report unprecedented results as well. The Salvation Army received $120,000 in just a few days in its first ever text messaging campaign. The backroom technology that made it possible comes from the Mobile Giving Foundation.

Bandwagon unites private and public enterprise

Private enterprise and even some government corporations aren’t far behind. The Liquor Control Board of Ontario brought in $126,000 in one week for the Red Cross by asking for $2 at the cash register. Air Miles encourages people to donate points. Benefit concerts, bake sales, fundraising walks, classroom campaigns and Facebook pages abound. And then there are the endorsements from celebrities: Celine Dion, Nelly Furtado, Michael J. Fox and Donovan Bailey, to name just a few.

In the U.S. the House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill allowing donors to Haitian relief to claim their gift on their 2009 tax return. (The Ministère des Finances in Québec announced a similar measure January 22.) “Are they saying that feeding and sheltering America’s growing population of hungry and homeless, caring for our nation’s sick or preventing life-threatening diseases is any less noble than the relief efforts in Haiti?” Greg Fox wrote on DonorPower.com in response to the U.S. action.

Right now we may feel like asking our media the same question.

2004 tsunami didn’t impede regular campaigns

What does all this mean for your charity’s prospects in 2010? We can look to the 2004 tsunami for clues. Arguably, that disaster occurred at a time when it might have had the greatest possible effect on overall fundraising – the crucial last week of opportunity for catch-up giving, scrambling procrastinators and tax-savvy donors. Yet the Association of Fundraising Professionals reported that in both Canada and the U.S., nearly two-thirds of nonprofits raised more money in 2004 than in the previous year (Canadian Fundraiser, August 31, 2005).

That’s good news for the rest of us. Add to that the fact that the generous response to the Haitian catastrophe occurs at the beginning of a new year of giving, that the economy seems to be recovering (for the time being anyway), and that the sector is more skilled and professional than it was in December 2004, and there may be no reason to tinker with the goals and budgets we’ve established.

Communicating our case

How, then, do we conduct ourselves as representatives of charities not relieving such dramatic need? Above all, says communications expert Nancy Schwartz, acknowledge it. “Pretending the disasters didn’t happen is the worst mistake your organization can make,” she advises.

It’s time for sensitive communication. You may actually go as far as to acknowledge the impact of the earthquake and the contributions your donors and prospects are likely to have made, she counsels. In doing so, you create the opportunity to talk about your issues and the resulting needs that persist even in the face of the Haitian tragedy.

Don’t overstate a connection between your organization, services or programs and the disaster, Schwartz warns. Continue your regular media campaigns and press releases, and if your pitch is timely, continue to make it.

Direct mail consultants differ on the immediate impact of the Haitian fundraising efforts. Lisa M. Deitlin told The Chronicle of Philanthropy that she recommended delaying direct mail fundraising appeals for a few weeks if possible. But Canada’s Fraser Green contends that the vast majority of disaster donors are not regular donors to charities in general. Since most of his clients see their greatest returns on the first renewal campaign of the year, usually held in January, he warns against delaying that first critical mailing too much.

Making the most of opportunities

Media coverage of a calamity inevitably declines as new news emerges. In Canada, the Olympics are just one of the stories waiting to crowd the devastating situation of Haitians off our news sites, front pages and airwaves. It’s not fair, but it is predictable.

Let us encourage the organizations engaged in Haitian relief to make the most of their limited time in the spotlight. Your solid communications plan, compelling case and knowledge of your audiences will have their usual effect in due time. We will all benefit from media attention to the many ways of giving, both old and new. Above all, we will benefit from the media’s celebration of generosity – the real good news in the midst of this tragic tale.

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