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On hold or have ten minutes between appointments?
These links reveal what development officers are doing, saying, or
thinking at other nonprofits.
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Read the latest research on how U.S. donors perceive and
respond to nonprofits.
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Sign up for free news and tips delivered to your email
box—or read them online.
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Choose news segmented to your type of nonprofit.
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Discuss development topics with your peers.
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Learn what worked and why in recent direct mail appeals.
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Check how your department budget compares with those at
other nonprofits.
Read the latest research on how U.S. donors perceive and
respond to nonprofits.
Independent Sector provides relevant
legislative updates and free summaries of recent research on how income
level, faith, and tax incentives affect volunteering and giving.
Dr. Paul G. Schervish, director of Boston College’s
Social Welfare Research Institute,
studies philanthropy, wealth, and spirituality. His specialty is how and
why major donors decide to give.
The Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy &
Nonprofit Leadership at Grand Valley State University is a treasure
trove of articles and research abstracts on demographic, societal, and
nonprofit trends that affect fundraising.
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Sign up for free news and tips delivered to your email
box—or read them online.
Philanthropy Journal
focuses on “how
electronic media are transforming the way people practice philanthropy,
online giving, and the way nonprofits do business.”
Twice a month,
Nonprofit Times, which
bills itself as “the leading business publication for nonprofit
management,” will send management, fundraising, and financial tips that
you can skim in a few minutes.
Guidestar’s free monthly newsletter gives
quick tips on issues such as working with a website contractor, winning
grants, laws affecting nonprofits, and creating online surveys to find out
what your donors care about.
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Choose news segmented to your type of nonprofit.
Philanthropy News Digest, published by
The Foundation Center, reports on grants awarded to various funding
categories, such as aging, arts, education, and health.
The volunteer-run
Charity Channel is an
excellent source of news and advice from nonprofit experts. Choose news
from nonprofits in the U.S., U.K., Canada, or other countries. Or select
subject-specific newsletters, such as E-Philanthropy, which offers
tips on how to write and design websites that move more people to support
your organization or use its services. In October 2003, the site began
asking for a subscriber fee of $2-3 per month.
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Discuss development topics with your peers.
Charity Channel’s scores of discussion forums
include college and university advancement, arts and social organization
fundraising, and health care philanthropy. In October 2003, the site began
asking for a subscriber fee of $2-3 per month.
Philanthropy News Digest has an active message
board of mixed usefulness. But you can easily skim threads for topics such
as writing letters that attract event sponsors or how much financial
information to include in your annual report.
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Learn what worked and why in recent direct mail appeals.
DMNews:
the online newspaper of record for direct marketers offers free access to two such stories per
month.
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Check how your department budget compares with those at
other nonprofits.
The complete annual survey from
Abbot and Langer
could double as a footrest, but the free summary gives enough data to
gauge how salaries and fringe benefits compare in nonprofits of similar
size, category, or location.
The Nonprofit Times reports on its
annual salary survey each February.
GuideStar, the national database of U.S.
charitable organizations, gathers and distributes data on more than
850,000 nonprofits that have 501(c)3 status with the IRS. There’s no
charge to register for advanced searches, which let you check nonprofit
990 tax forms to see what individual nonprofits allocate for fundraising,
publications, and outsourcing to consultants.
Of course, as
James M. Greenfield reported in the September/October
2000 issue of Advancing Philanthropy, some charities fail to
properly report their fundraising costs on their Form 990s.
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