Quote of the Day

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It's not.  - Dr. Seuss

Cause Marketing: It's the Way to Go

Having a great cause marketing program in place can work wonders for nonprofits. It has the ability to increase donations, volunteers and support. One of the key tasks is to find the best partner for your organization so that both parties can benefit.

Ventureneer is hosting a free webinar on July 26th from 12 noon to 1PM entitled Cause Marketing: A Win-Win for Small Businesses and Nonprofits. It will inform businesses and nonprofits on how to increase visibility, build community and increase return on investments.

The webinar will also give details about:

Charitable Giving on the Rise

Good news for the nonprofit industry! Giving is on the up and up for organizations of all sizes, based on Blackbaud's findings. Blackbaud provides software and services for nonprofits. Interested in seeing the numbers? Well here they go...

• overall charitable revenue increased 11.3% in the last three months (ending May 2011)
• international affairs increased 13%
• art and culture organizations grew 12%
• small organizations grew 17.6 & in May
• medium organizations grew 10.3%
• large organizations grew 9.8%
• online giving increased by 6.7% for the three months (ending May 2011)

Source

Innovation Key To Funding Nonprofits

Nonprofit news sites are emerging everywhere. In order to receive funding, they have to become very creative. Examples of this creativity are:

• produce content with syndication deals
• invest in student training programs
• invest in user membership programs
• seek media partnerships

Eric Newton, special assistant to the president of the James L. Knight Foundation, states that sites may be able to rely on foundations for only three to ten years. Diversifying revenue streams is the best way to wean dependency on a single source of income.

To view the full article, click here.

Quote of the Day

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. - William James

CafeGive - Giving to Worthy Causes

Eager to do some online shopping and give to a great cause at the same time? Well if your answer is yes, visit CafeGive's website. They offer over 350 retailers such as Travelocity, Macy's, Home Depot, and Sephora. For each purchase that is made, the shopper is allowed to select a nonprofit to receive a percentage of the affiliation compensation.

Can't figure out which nonprofit you want to receive the proceeds? Well CafeGive can help with that too. They provide information and links to the websites of participating nonprofits for you to peruse and learn more. Need more convincing? The service is free. You don't have to register unless you want to keep up with the amount that's being donated on your behalf.

So what's stopping you? Head over to CafeGive.

DA Daniel Conley: And the drug money goes too...

Confiscation is the name, reinvestment is the game. Get what Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley is saying? Okay, that's enough with all the rhymes. Let's get to business.

Up to 10% of money seized from drug dealers and funds raised from auctioning their property will now be redirected to nonprofits who work towards helping youth avoid drugs, gangs and other hazardous behavior. An independent panel of county residents, selected by Conley, decide on the winner of the award.

The deadline to apply for the reward for the 2011 is August 19. Review this link for more information.

Source

Quote of the Day

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. - Anne Frank

Free Millennium Barrel Bottles for Charity

Buffalo Trace Distillery is giving away 174 bottles of its 1999 Millennium Barrel bourbon whiskey to nonprofits for free (one bottle per organization). These bottles must be auctioned off by the agencies no later than December 31, 2011 and the funds used towards their cause.

Nonprofits can apply by visiting http://www.buffalotracemillennium.com/.

The deadline to apply for the limited edition bottle is July 26, 2011.

D. Wade, working for KFC,again?

I'm sure most, if not all, of us have heard about the lockout occurring with the NBA right now. With that being said, KFC has reached out to Dwyane Wade to extend an offer of temporary employment. If Wade agrees to work the drive-thru, KFC will donate $250,000 to Colonel's Scholars, a charity that provides college scholarships to youth.

Interested in seeing proof of their invitation? Keep reading.

The Trevor Project

 
Providing prevention services to the young lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) community is what The Trevor Project does best. Formed after the creation of the movie Trevor, TTP has served as the only nationwide, around-the-clock suicide prevention and crisis hotline. They also provide online assistance to those in need.

Nonprofit Sues Casey Anthony

Texas Equusearch states they spent over $100,000 in the futile search for Caylee Anthony, the daughter of Casey Anthony, and now they want their money back. The agency was unaware that Anthony had knowledge of her daughter's death prior to the search commencing. Only after the criminal trial began did they learn the true story.

Over 4,200 volunteers gave of themselves to aid in locating Caylee. A lot of time was put into the search and the organization used 40% of their yearly resources to assist in the case. They feel they could have searched for other children during that time frame, which spanned from July to December of 2008.

Source

Tampa Bay Lightning Owner Nonprofit Pledge

At each of the home games for the 2011-2012 season (41 total), Tampa Bay Lightning will give $50,000 to various nonprofits. That equates to $2,050,000 at the close of the season.

Nonprofits can be nominated to receive the donation by individuals submitting entries here. The main qualification is that the nonprofit be located in one of Tampa's seven counties. A committee of local leaders and season ticket holders will be selected to choose the finalist, then the board of directors will conclude the process.

For this team, it's all about giving to the community.

Source

Quote of the Day

“True charity is the desire to be useful to others without thought of recompense” - Emanuel Swedenborg

Ferndale Restaurant Donates Earnings

Seifu Lessanework, owner of the Blue Nile in Detroit, has stated that all proceeds made in his restaurant on Monday evenings throughout the month of July will be donated to a nonprofit called Gifting Warriors. Gifting Warriors, located in South Carolina, assists wounded service members and their families.

Following in his footsteps, others associated with the restaurant have decided to give of themselves as well. Blue Nile's staff is working for free every Monday during July. The vendors pitched in by giving checks or supplying goods at no charge.

Source

Fair Market Value of Charitable Donations

Want to know how to write off non-cash donations? Watch the video below.

Quote of the Day

“Every good act is charity. A man's true wealth hereafter is the good that he does in this world to his fellows.” - Moliere

Six Ways to Fund a Non-Profit, Without an Investor*

1. Individual and institutional donations. For a non-profit, bootstrapping is self-funding from donations and fund-raising. The advantage is no time and effort is spent searching and preparing for the other alternatives, and no repayment terms or collateral are required. There is no discussion of equity, or return on investment.
   
2. Loans from a bank or other financial institution. Non-profits can apply for a bank loan or line-of-credit, just like any other individual or company. However, like anyone else, they will first need some collateral, or someone to guarantee the loan, and some evidence of a viable business, like receivables and inventory.
   
3. Personal loans from individuals, employees and board members. Personal loans are certainly an option, but should be avoided if possible. As in any company, they can lead to employee problems, or messy legal issues. A non-profit can also issue bonds to board members and members as a way of borrowing funds from those same people.
   
4. Government grants. The grant source often gets overlooked, but it should be a major focus these days when relevant due to the Obama administration initiatives on alternative energy and healthcare. The down side here is that real work is required to put in a winning application, and the award may be a long time in coming.
   
5. Private endowments. This is a funding source for non-profits that is made up of gifts and bequests subject to a requirement that the principal be maintained intact and invested to create a source of income for an organization. Endowments are usually limited to a specific area of interest by a philanthropist, and have many qualifications, so be careful.
   
6. Bartering services. Bartering occurs when you exchange goods or services without exchanging money. An example would be getting free office space by agreeing to be the property manager for the owner. This could work to get you legal or accounting services, but won’t get you cash to pay employee salaries. 

*Excerpt from Martin Zwilling's article "Six Ways to Fund a Non-Profit, Without an Investor"(the original article can be found here.

Deducting Charitable Contributions on Tax Returns

Here's a video explaining the rules to deducting charitable contributions on tax returns:

Organizations Lose Tax-Exempt Status

The IRS announced that 275,000 organizations have lost their tax-exempt status being that they didn't file legally required annual reports three years in a row. They believe the majority of these organizations are no longer active, but gave instructions to help those that are apply for reinstatement of their tax-exempt status.

You can view the full article here.

A video explaining how to reinstate your tax-exempt status, as well as other links are listed after the break.

Quote of the Day

"The age of chivalry is never past, so long as there is a wrong left unredressed on earth."

Charles Kingsley

Where is America interested in volunteering?

The answer is...

What area(s) are you interested in volunteering in?

Information found at http://www.volunteeringinamerica.gov/national