Another 9+ Latest Resources on Giving & Social Media

We must not only give what we have; we must also give what we are.~ Desire Joseph Mercier

As I sat down to write about the latest news this week, I thought about something I heard recently – we receive as much as we give, but we don’t give expecting to receive. When we give, we give all that we are so we can make a difference. Hopefully, this week’s latest resources will help you to give more from your heart and head, to have a greater impact on the planet.

1. Obama and Giving
President Obama pledged $50 million from the Social Innovation Fund to provide aid towards the most promising nonprofits in the country. The social innovation fund, part of the Serve America Act was created by Edward M. Kennedy signed into law this spring. Additionally, $650 million was pledged for the What Works Fund in the Department of Education to invest in high-impact initiatives in schools and communities. The fund will be managed by the Corporation for National and Community Service to rigorously evaluate outcomes to identify promising programs. Obama also called on foundations, businesses and philanthropists to take an active role with matching investments from the private sector to create a public-private-nonprofit partnership http://bit.ly/e5JrK.

2. Giving Trends
Several recent reports highlight the impacts of the economy on nonprofits and fundraising.
§ A May 2009 Bridgespan report (http://bit.ly/9hcdS) that was a follow-up to a November 2008 survey of 100 nonprofit leaders found that 92 percent were experiencing adverse effects due to the economy, up from 75 percent in November. The report found that 49 percent of leaders said their organization’s financial situation had worsened, funding declines jumped from 52 to 69 percent and those reporting funding declines over 20 percent increased from 13 to 24 percent. Despite the reports of increasing nonprofit layoffs, programmatic reductions and reserve draw downs, leaders appeared to be optimistic about the future http://bit.ly/hLewm.
§ Another study by Johns Hopkins Listening Post Project (http://bit.ly/38xwaa) conducted in April 2009, found that 80 percent of nonprofit leaders reported experiencing financial stress with 40 percent experiencing severe stress.
§ According to the latest Target Analytics Index of National Fundraising Performance, the number of new donors dropped by 13% and overall revenue per donor declined 2.1% (http://bit.ly/LJj6S).

3. Corporate Giving
Three recent reports and events share lessons in corporate giving.
§ The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI) found that as corporate giving was down 8% in 2008, CEO’s practices around giving emphasize the importance of authenticity and direct connection to corporate identity (http://bit.ly/aoFLg).
§ At the Corporate Philanthropy Summit, companies found that given the economy, companies have to align giving directly to their business and eliminate programs that don’t relate (http://bit.ly/qgj3X).
§ Additionally, a recent Chronicle of Philanthropy report found that despite decreases in corporate giving, companies continued to give a median of 1 percent of their 2007 pretax profits to nonprofits. The report highlights biggest corporate givers in cash and in-kind with leading companies including Wal-Mart, Oracle, Exxon, Pfizer, Merck and others (http://bit.ly/4P6aI).

4. Funding Opportunities
After several conversations recently with nonprofits about whether or not social media was worth it for nonprofits, I wanted to add some funding opportunities that I found announced on social media sites worth checking out.
§ Google Gmail Creator, Paul Bucheit, will donate to IRS recognized nonprofits that are suggested and voted on through a google moderator application (http://bit.ly/diJ6A) and friend feed (http://bit.ly/17aUVo) – Make sure to post your nonprofit and share with your constituents to vote.
§ The Community Tech Knowledge Foundation Philanthropic Fund has released the Heart and Soul Grant Award Program for a nonprofit organization to submit a poem to provide an opportunity to create a song and receive $10,000 cash reward to promote their nonprofit mission with heart (http://bit.ly/KJrHA).
§ CommuniCause is offering a $25,000 social media makeover to nonprofits by submitting the name of your nonprofit online and encouraging others to vote (http://communicause.com/).
§ Nike is offering $650,000 in grants for groups that use sports as a tool to change the community. Groups can apply at nikebackyourblock.com and then can use Facebook and Twitter to encourage people to vote (http://bit.ly/19Oiid).

5. Giving Lists
Here are some interesting giving lists I found this week:
§ SocialEarth's Top 100 Social Entrepreneurs to follow http://bit.ly/129zmY
§ The Top 100 Tweeps to Follow for Social Entrepreneurship http://bit.ly/g5LVC
§ Best listing of click to give sites by Bioneers: http://bit.ly/zFyp2

6. Giving & Social Media
Ok, so here are some of the latest tips and resources for nonprofits in using social media:
§ YouTube released a product called, Call-To-Action Overlay that is a semi-transparent pop-up that links viewers to any website you choose (http://bit.ly/i2Cy6). The tool enables nonprofits to link to a donation page, blog, a petition, volunteer sign-up page or otherwise.
§ In a guest post on Beth Kanter’s blog, Jordan Viator writes about 5 tools that nonprofits can use to enhance their online presence and efficiency including social networks, video, file sharing, email and user experience (http://bit.ly/6QAOh).
§ A great article on how to leverage social media to create change through philanthropy (http://bit.ly/vDgOq).

7. For discussion
§ Here are a couple more blogs for the discussion about the pros and cons of cause marketing, what are your thoughts? Check them out: http://bit.ly/ZsNHP and http://bit.ly/6ml00.
§ The nonprofit world is discussing the new social innovation fund http://bit.ly/4cvJ2B, what do you think?

8. Nonprofits and Branding
Here is some information on nonprofits and branding:
§ A new Cone report, in collaboration with Intangible Business, (http://bit.ly/Mzowj) explores the relationship between nonprofit brand image and financial performance and provides the first public ranking of 100 nonprofit organization brands in the U.S.
§ Change.org is providing the opportunity for nonprofits to brand their profiles (http://bit.ly/188k9h)

9. Additional Resources
Here are just a couple additional resources that I thought might be useful:
§ 9 tips for optimizing a nonprofit site with SEO http://bit.ly/Nczgz; and
§ Too Busy To Read Tweets? Try Twitter For Busy People - http://bit.ly/dHW6a

Hopefully, these are useful for another week of the latest in online, giving, social entrepreneurial and social media news. Keep sending information, resources and reports my way and I’ll do my best to include the best of the best on a regular basis (note: I can’t commit to weekly, but will do my best to do it as often as I can). Have a great #FollowFriday and July 4th weekend ahead!

You can find me on Twitter @pilarstella and Facebook at www.facebook.com/pilarstella.