Tuesday, September 29, 2009

September's Latest Top e-Giving News

Change always comes bearing gifts. ~Price Pritchett

Here is a blog that I sent out in my newsletter today - you can sign up to receive it regularly at www.onegiving.com! It is the latest news on e-giving from the month of September! Enjoy and happy reading!

The first thing that struck me this month was how much is happening with giving! My favorite was an article in Time Magazine about the Responsibility Revolution (http://bit.ly/3oyk1g). This article was a huge marker for us at OneGiving™ to let us know that, indeed, we are on the right path! Basically, the article talked about the fact that we are going through a Renaissance of sorts in which the American Consumer is becoming an Ethical Consumer and as a result, corporations are adapting their business practices away from a simple profit based model and towards a triple bottom line – impacting people, profit and the planet! This is great news for OneGiving™ as this is one of the core tenants of why we are creating OneGiving™ - to move the dial forward for businesses, consumers, nonprofits and others to become more evolved in their giving, business practices and impacts on people and the planet! Enjoy the article and the other valuable resources below!

Politics & Giving
Day of Service and Remembrance: President Obama declared September 11 a National Day of Service and Remembrance. This followed in a series of the administration’s commitment to service starting with the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, signed into law last Spring and followed by the Summer of Service – “United We Serve” campaign. http://bit.ly/16VqXg The administration encouraged people to stay involved in service throughout the year by logging volunteer activities at: http://www.911dayofservice.org/.

Corporate Giving
A New Age in Corporate Giving: A new report by LBG Research Institute found that corporate giving is changing given budget cuts and the new economy. In a survey of over 100 U.S. corporations and foundation, the report found that corporations are encouraging a shift from cash based donations to increased employee volunteer time (84%), in-kind donations (15%; e.g., office space, equipment, etc.), product donations (12%) and new strategic alliances to better align with business strategy and goals (over 50%). http://bit.ly/6OsZY

Nonprofits & Giving
Nonprofits in the Social Media Age: This is a terrific article that talks about the old model of nonprofit engagement that is a very linear and outbound model, with an organization broadcasting out to its members. Rather in the age of social media, nonprofits have to have more lateral lines of communication back and forth, much like was done in the Obama campaign and utilizing external chats, meet ups and other to fuel the talk, hype and energy focus on a nonprofit..http://bit.ly/MAe2t

Nonprofit Starvation Cycle: An article by the Stanford Social Innovation Review talks about the vicious cycle of nonprofit underfunding that starts with funders’ unrealistic expectations, the nonprofits adapt to the pressure from funders, the nonprofits spend less on overhead or underrepresent reporting expenditures, which continues the cycle of funders’ unrealistic expectations. The article highlights some of the ways to break the cycle, starting with adjusting funders’ unrealistic expectations. http://bit.ly/1anMWl

Social Media & Giving
Social Media and Executives:
Good research from emarketer about the value that US executives find in Social media. More than eight in 10 management, marketing and HR executives responding to a July 2009 survey reported using social media most for brand-building, followed by networking, customer service, and various research- and information-related activities. http://bit.ly/2L6RMm

Creating an Online Community: A great blog about creating an online community for social networks, nonprofits and more. Tips include: Listen!; create bite size content; provoke conversations; signpost the way; ensure good commenting; reward active members; don’t be the bottleneck; and simplify! http://bit.ly/15O7Bk

Mobile Giving
Mobile Giving is catching on: Because most of the $300 billion a year in charitable giving in the U.S. comes from individuals, Jim Manis, chief executive of the Mobile Giving Foundation, saw mobile giving as a way to reach a new demographic. He could increase the pool of charitable donors by capitalizing on the popularity of text messaging, which is used by almost 70 percent of people aged 18 to 24. http://bit.ly/121EaO

Giving Resources
20 Funder Networks That Tweet: http://bit.ly/4z8dlv & 90 Foundations That Tweet: http://bit.ly/1l7bdR

e-Cards that Give: A site that has ecards from Care2 that generate donations as well as send greetings! http://bit.ly/QEUFx

Giving Measurement & Outcomes
Measuring the Social Impact of 'Mission Investments’: Much like the long-running debate in the nonprofit world about how to measure a charity’s performance, a movement is under way to figure out how to evaluate whether investments that seek both financial and social returns are making a difference. The absence of common standards means that investors can’t compare the social and environmental benefits of different investment opportunities, said Antony Bugg-Levine, a managing director at the Rockefeller Foundation. Even measures as simple as the number of jobs created through an investment might be counted differently from one social-investment fund to another. http://bit.ly/17Oycw

GOOD - Metrics the beat at the heart of philanthropy: Great article about what it means to design and implement evaluations in ways that honor the voices and lived experiences of those who are participants or recipients of the services, programs, and policies the field supports and funds. http://bit.ly/16xbWQ

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

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