Blueprint Fundraising

Goodbye little orange boxes

Until today, I’d forgotten my first fundraising experience. It was with my little orange Unicef box, getting filled up with change while wandering the neighbourhood on Halloween night.

Unicef Canada is ending the program after 50 years and an average of $3M raised per year. The program will continue in the US. I wonder if another organization will somehow take over the concept. Little pink boxes anyone??

I’m so sad to see the program end! The association of sugary treats with raising money might be the reason I still enjoy fundraising today.

Fundraising for administrative costs

The spring 2006 issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review had a great case study on a unique fundraising approach taken by the United Way of Central New Mexico. By giving donors more control, they were able to fundraise for administrative costs, raise more overall, and make their donors happy.

Here’s what they did. They created a “Corporate Cornerstones” program which asks corporations to fund their administrative costs. The companies receive excellent recognition and the opportunity to give the United Way advice on management and business issues. The agency is then able to say that 100% of an individual’s donation goes toward program delivery.

The results of this approach have been impressive! Corporate giving is up by 132% since the program started (compared to being down for the United Way nationwide) and individual gifts are up by 112%.

The program resulted from some research the agency had done, which found that donors were concerned with admin costs and their lack of control over how donations are spent. United Way managers assumed it would be possible that business leaders would understand the importance of well-run administration. They were right. Donations through Corporate Cornerstones now exceeds what the agency needs for administration!

What is most interesting is that only one other United Way affiliate has copied the program (in Boise, Idaho). Why not try it?? I would love to see someone outside the United Way world try this and see what happens.

You can download the full article here.

Charity confessional

Another stealing-from-charity confession from the most recent batch of postcards at PostSecret.

Tip of the Week: IdealWare reviews nonprofit software

Making intelligent decisions about software for your nonprofit is 1000% times easier with the help of IdealWare. This is a Consumer Reports-style website with software reviews, comparisons and information.

I especially like their series of reports on A Few Good… Accounting Packages, Online Petition Tools, Online Donation Tools, Email Newsletter Tools, Databases for Membership Organizations.

Sorry my posting has been rather infrequent over the last two weeks. I’ve been preoccupied with a family visit and then the flu… but I’m back now.

We’re Small Business Blog of the Day

The Fundit is “Small Business Blog of the Day” on an interesting blog called Pajama Market. Thanks for the lovely review! Ouch on the comments on Blueprint’s site but not to worry, a redesign is in the works.

Elimination of capital gains tax to encourage gifts

The federal budget had at least one piece of good news for charities today (perhaps this is the only piece of good news!). The government will completely eliminate the capital gains tax on gifts of appreciated securities to charities.

AFP, CAGP and other advocacy groups have been lobbying for this for many years. In 1997 the capital gains tax was lowered to 50% and many charities
felt the impact through more and larger gifts of stock.

If this is all confusing and new to you, be aware that it is more advantageous (for the donor) to give appreciated securities to your charity than it is for them to give cash. When giving securities, the donor saves on the capital gains tax and receives a tax receipt. It is important to let your donors (especially major donors) know about this option.

Further explanations and background can be found here:

Conservative Government Comes Through For Charities (from Drache LLP Tax, Estates & Charity Law)
AFP May 2, 2006 Press Release
AFP Canadian Federal Issues