Find a variety of business stories in the impact of charitable giving on the economy.
Nov. 15 marks?National Philanthropy Day, an observance promoted by a related trade group and not a bad day to start planning a fourth-quarter charitable giving story.?
Checking in on corporate giving is a must; local social, science and cultural institutions no doubt depend on support from your area?s corporate leaders.? Here?s a recent report from the Chronicle of Philanthropy that notes companies are giving these days of their employees? talent in additon to cash; that might be a fresh angle to pursue ? what sort of mentoring or volunteer groups do your region?s employers support??
Another area of interest:? Corporate matching of workers? charitable gifts.? This is a perk prized by employees and charities; what are trends among your region?s employers?
Crowd funding.? I?d say this is the freshest topic of the year; online?sites like CrowdRise allow individuals to create fundraising events for causes they cherish.? Ask area non-profits how they are benefitting from crowd-sourcing and what the drawbacks are.? After all, many crowdsourcing sites take a cut of the action; would non-profits prefer a check sent directly to them?? Or is the net effect of extra publicity and participation a boon to fundraising??
Patterns.? We often focus on how much giving goes on in a community of individuals or corporation, but perhaps this is?a good time to analyze patterns.? How are contributions being directed now compared to pre-recession or early recession economies?? Are more social welfare and basic-needs groups receiving support, compared to cultural organizations or other ?discretionary? causes?? And how have dollar amounts trended?? Are charities relying on high-volume, low-dollar contributors, or is aid coming mostly in the form of large lump sums from fewer donors??? Sorting out these patterns, even anecdotally via questions of non-profit executives, will provide interesting insight into need and assistance in your region.
Scams.? This is a perennial; check with your state?s attorney general, local law enforcement, the regional postal inspector and others about trends in charitable-giving scams.? This year, predictably, fake donation sites for Hurricane Sandy victims are rife, as CNN reports.
Marketing.? Giving USA is a project of the Center for Philanthropy at Indiana University; they offer a variety of reports and surveys for sale and likely will share selections free of charge with journalists.? The center is just out this month with a survey, in partnership with Bank of America, of charitable giving among wealthy households; among other things it finds that about one-quarter of these high-net-worth households plan to increase giving in coming years, with about half planning to hold steady.? It?s noteworthy that interest in donor-advised funds or foundations were attracting more interest; a sign perhaps that contributors want more control over?the use of their philanthropic dollars ? this might be an interesting angle for a giving story.?
The report also addresses motivations for charitable giving and, interestingly, why donors say they stopped giving to particular causes.? I?ve often thought this was a little-explored facet of fundraising; the marketing campaigns that strike the right note without turning off prospective donors.? For example, there?s a heart-rending animal-welfare ad that runs on area cable stations ? you?d think it would make soft-hearted viewers snatch up thier checkbooks, but I?ve heard a lot of anecdotal evidence that the ad is so painful people snatch up their TV remotes instead and change the channel. If you take up a stoary about how charities market themselves ? what sort of appeals work, compared with those that don?t ? the Center for Philanthropy report offers?interesting context.?
Source: http://businessjournalism.org/2012/11/15/how-does-charitable-giving-reflect-the-economy/
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