With a background in fundraising and philanthropy, I’ve been on both sides of the fence. I’ve thought about how to convince people to trust me and my organization with their money, and I’ve thought about how to determine whether an organization could be trusted with money I was stewarding.
If you’re finding yourself in a situation where you’ve got cash you’d like to see working for you in a way that will make the world around you a better place, think about these three criteria before you decide:
Return on Investment
It’s true that money donated to a philanthropic cause isn’t an investment in terms of bringing cash flow and/or assets back to you (unless you’re considering a loan situation like Kiva.org), but it can be an investment in making changes that you think need to be made.
When checking out a new organization for a potential donation, consider what they’ve delivered in the past month, year, and decade. Take the time to look at their Guidestar.com profile and at their past 990 forms. Read their annual reports, their websites, and their social media streams. If you can, sit down with their executive director or Board chairman. Speak with other donors to the organization.
Overall, learn how your money will be used, and determine whether you consider their track record to be a good investment.
How Can You Get Involved?
A great way to see how well an organization is doing is to become a part of it in some small or large way. Consider becoming a volunteer or taking a seat on the Board of Directors. If you have particular expertise in Continue reading →
The Economist had a great piece recently about the fragility of the public’s trust in non-profits at home and internationally. The problem? They want to believe in non-profits and their work, but they really don’t understand what it is non-profits do or how they do it. What they do know is that many non-profits have been called out recently due to missteps like inappropriate use of donated funds. So what’s potential contributor to do?
Enter terms like “transparency” and “impact” — the (not necessarily new, but definitely being revived) buzzwords of a philanthropy and non-profit sector completely plugged into a 24-hour social media machine. These days, potential donors are being warned to Continue reading →
All right, philanthropy fans — what’s Pepsi been doing these days? Taking Crowdsourcing Philanthropy mainstream, that’s what.
Do the folks who are submitting ideas and voting for their favorites over on RefreshEverything.comknow that they’re taking part in one of the most forward-thinking forms of philanthropy currently being practiced or that they’re taking part in an experiment that many nationally branded companies would find extremely risky? Who knows. What we do know is that America loves voting for things, and they’re jumping in with both feet on this one.
Premise
The basics of the program are the following: Pepsi is accepting up to 1,000 wannabe grant projects each month throughout 2010 via online submission. Submissions are accepted between the 1st and the 15th of each month. Voting on each month’s submissions takes place in the subsequent month. For example, you can vote on April submissions in May. Continue reading →
Social Venture Partners (SVP) is an innovative organization that combines contributions of many sizes from individual philanthropist partners into larger, venture-capital type gifts. Accompanying these gifts is strong capacity building expertise and volunteer efforts from the philanthropist partners themselves. This model of giving is ideal for philanthropists who want to be involved in community efforts, share their expertise with local nonprofits, and meet and socialize with other local philanthropists.
As part of our series on Longtail Philanthropy, I’m interviewing Stacy Caldwell of Dallas Social Venture Partners, and Ruth Jones of Social Venture Partners International. They’ve been kind enough to share with us some of the more nuanced details behind Social Venture Partners, as well as why they think the SVP model is one that will be sustainable and effective as Philanthropy continues to change.
How is the Social Venture Partners (SVP) movement changing the face of philanthropy?
Ruth Jones: SVP is the largest donor network in North America, with some 2000 partners. Its dual mission is unique: partners seek to bring about significant, long-term positive social change in Continue reading →
Lucy Bernholz (who writes the rockin’ Philanthropy 2173 blog) and her company, Blueprint Research and Design, have recently released their Blueprint 2010 for Philanthropy and Social Investing.
Think of this as a 44-page road map anticipating those events, issues, and trends that are most likely to impact what happens to your social investment this year. A few of the topics included:
- Which innovations should I understand and which are just buzzwords?
- What are the key policy issues that might influence philanthropy?
- What wildcard events will matter and what should I look out for?
You can buy other books about philanthropy trends, but by the time you get them, they’re dusty inside and out. Lucy’s pretty smart. I’m running to get my copy.
Creating an online presence isn’t a fast process; it takes time, work, and attention. Whether you’re a social entrepreneur, a nonprofit, or a grant-making foundation, getting online is a critical and money-saving step to significantly increase your promotional efforts and public relations profile.
But How Do I Get Good at Social Marketing?
Social marketing is best done by employing copious amounts of extroversion and diligence! That said, here are a few tips for those starting out (and a few reminders for those who are already in the mix).
- Dedicate Resources: Even though there are enough anecdotal statistics these days showing that an online presence is worth spending time and money to create, many nonprofits and foundations are unwilling to dedicate resources to continued online efforts.
Guess what. You have to. It’s not a question of whether you need to get online, it’s a question of how soon you’ll be left behind. Some of the greatest available wealth is sitting in the pockets of a very young generation — and this generation is looking online to figure out where to distribute that wealth. Any resources you give to creating an online presence for your organization or product will be paid back in spades — financially and/or via public relations — in the next 10 years.
Find someone on staff who’s energetic, outgoing, able to maintain and monitor relationships, and knows his or her way around a computer. Carve out 50% of this person’s time and dedicate it to building and maintaining an online presence.
- Figure Out An Online Message: Spend a week figuring out what your main online message will be. Your mission statement is fine, but you can’t fit it into 140 characters on twitter. Continue reading →
If you’ve wanted to volunteer in your community but aren’t sure where to make a long-term commitment, consider taking part in Disney’s “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day” promotion, which runs throughout 2010.
This is one of the highest-profile campaigns by a corporate giant to promote volunteering and giving back in the community, and it’s also a good way to “sample” volunteering at a local non-profit without having to make a long-term volunteering commitment.
Here’s How it Works
Disney has collaborated with the HandsOn Network, the volunteering arm of the Points of Light Institute, to offer one-day volunteer opportunities. In exchange for spending a certified day “on the job,” Disney Parks awards a free theme park ticket to up to 1 million volunteers.
What Does This Mean For Philanthropy?
Here are a few thoughts about how this promotion is innovative in today’s philanthropy landscape:
- Exposure of a new generation to volunteering: Corporations have long used their philanthropic efforts in marketing campaigns, but this is a little different. Instead of awarding dollars to worthy non-profits, Disney has created an incentive for an entire population to learn more about volunteering, philanthropy, and the work of the non-profit sector. While this may stymie non-profits in the short-term (many might rather have the money), I have to believe that the long-term benefits of a new generation having volunteering experience will break down potential barriers to philanthropy in the future. Over three million people signed up for Disney’s “Free Ticket on Your Birthday” promotion last year, so the one million person goal in this year’s promotion isn’t far-reaching; and many families are signing up together, meaning the kids get exposure to the needs as well.
- Exemplifying a mutually beneficial relationship between donor and recipient: Disney’s theme park attendance will increase as a result of this promotion, which means food, lodging, and merchandise sales have great potential to increase as well. This is a great example of a mutually beneficial donor/recipient relationship — even financially.
- Combining individual efforts into a greater overall outcome: This is another example of Longtail Philanthropy. Through this program, many people will offer a small gift (a day of time) in order to create a much larger overall impact. If one million individuals volunteer through this promotion, a significant impact can be made within the participating non-profits.
So while this promotion may not change the face of corporate philanthropy, it will surely give some social responsibility departments something to Continue reading →
There are three truths when it comes to the grantmaking process:
Fact #1: Funders get bogged down in due diligence, report review, and grant follow-up when they could be developing more effective and efficient funding strategies.
Fact #2: Nonprofits spend too much time and money meeting specific funder requirements for application and reporting.
Fact #3: Due diligence, grant applications, and reporting have to happen.
Can we make all of this waste less time?
Well, the answer is…maybe. There have been a few efforts to streamline grant processes regionally, and even a large effort nationally. The jury is still out as to whether or not these efforts are the silver bullet.
Local Efforts
Many local grantmaking associations, like Philanthropy New York (formerly the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers), have been streamlining their process for years. This means that the funders aligned with Philanthropy New York agree to accept a standard grant application from nonprofit agencies and a standard reporting format from nonprofit agencies, ensuring that agencies with programs funded by association members don’t have to write different reports for each funder — they only have to write one.
While this is happening in several regional areas, there are still many funders in those regions who decline to jump on board.
National Efforts
Managed by Grants Managers Network, Project Streamline is a national initiative developed by the following partner agencies:
• Grants Managers Network (GMN)
• Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP)
• Association of Small Foundations (ASF)
• Council on Foundations (CoF)
• Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers (Forum)
• Foundation Center
• Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO)
• National Council of Nonprofits (NCN)
Currently in Phase II of a three-phase campaign, Project Streamline focuses on four core principles: Take a fresh look at reporting and application requirements, Right-size grant expectations, Relieve the burden on grantees, and Make communication and grantmaking process clear and straightforward.
To date, the initiative has picked up some heavy-hitting sponsors, including the Gates, Hewlett, Ford, Robert Wood Johnson, and Packard Foundations.
Analysis
While regional efforts have had lukewarm results, I’m very interested to see how these theories work in practice nationally. This isn’t a new problem, and it’s been exacerbated over the years by resistance to change, a lack of trust between funder and grant recipient, and even a lack of trust within the funding community.
Institutional funders spend time and money developing targeted grantmaking strategies, and there’s a concern that standardizing processes might lessen the control currently held by foundations over what outcomes are being measured, reported, and publicized by individual agencies. If there is any Continue reading →
As you know, I started the Longtail Philanthropy series of posts to relay a few options for those new philanthropists who may not have scads of superfluous money laying around, but who nonetheless would like to see how their dollars might be combined with others’ in order to make a difference.
Kiva is an organization that not only allows the opportunity to combine your cash with other people’s to make a greater impact, but also completely redefines giving. In fact, what you’re doing with Kiva isn’t “giving” at all. It’s lending.
Kiva.org “connects people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty,” and it does so in a strikingly innovative way. Called peer-to-peer lending, Kiva’s model allows many small loans from individuals like you and me to be pooled into bigger loans, then administered to entrepreneurs around the world via third-party micro-lending partners.
How Do I Do It?
It’s a bit like online dating. You log onto Kiva’s website, search through the online profiles of qualified entrepreneurs, and determine who will receive your loan. Your money (amount is determined by you, and can be as low as you’d like) is then pooled with that of other lenders who have chosen the same entrepreneur, and the funds are disbursed to a Kiva partner micro-lender who has made a loan to this entrepreneur.
When the entrepreneur pays the micro-lender back, the micro-lender pays Kiva, and Kiva pays you. You can then go on to re-invest (and by “invest,” I mean social investment — you aren’t making any cold hard cash on this deal) the repaid funds in another entrepreneur, or have them placed back into your paypal account.
What’s My Risk?
According to the Kiva.org website, out of $53,000,535 in ended loans, 97.87% have been paid back in full. So while Kiva does not absorb the risk of lost funds (if your chosen entrepreneur does not pay the loan back, you’ve essentially lost that money), your chance of being paid back in full is very high. If you’re just starting out, consider making a $25 loan, or another amount that you’re comfortable losing in the worst case scenario.
The Latest News
While Kiva has made its name as a facilitator of lending internationally, recently the organization has blurred the lines between third-world countries and the USA, introducing its collaborative micro-lending to the United States market of low-income entrepreneurs. This controversial decision to bring the process stateside has fueled much discussion in the micro- and peer-to-peer lending communities, and may make your decision easier or more difficult depending on your desired outcome and political leanings.
If you’ve got some time (and an ability to deal with a scant amount of cheesiness), check out this video about how Kiva works. Those of you who are visual learners will benefit:
A Fistful Of Dollars: The Story of a Kiva.org Loan from Kieran Ball on Vimeo.
Be sure to check out the first post in this series, Meetup Philanthropy.
Blogger’s Note: This is the first in what will be a series of posts looking at what’s been called Longtail Philanthropy or Network Philanthropy — aggregating smaller efforts to produce larger impact.
Been to a “meetup” lately? Even if you haven’t, you’ve likely at least heard about Meetup.com — a social networking website that helps bring together people who have similar interests and happen to live near one another. The site is useful if you want to find a hiking group, a book club, or a wine-tasting event; but we’re also seeing more and more groups coming together not just for social networking, but for social good.
The Whole Can Be Greater...
Head to Meetup.com and search for Philanthropy: there are 76 already-formed meetup groups in 60 cities and 3 countries. These run the gamut from groups who get together to volunteer for charity, groups who pool their cash to give larger amounts to charity (these are commonly called “giving circles,” and we’ll talk about them at a later date), groups that like to talk about social entrepreneurship and venture philanthropy, groups of non-profit workers who get together to discuss fund raising, etc.
So, if you’re new to philanthropy — or are trying to figure out how your $10 per month or 3 hours per week can make a difference in your community, city, state, or country — consider finding a meetup in your area with like-minded folks. You might be surprised what happens when the whole is more than the sum of its parts.
Photo Credit: aigarius