Nonprofit Topics

Peer Group in Glenview Illinois

Ishna Darden — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 17:31:39 GMT

Would anyone that lives/works in Illinois be interested in joining my staff and I in a informative share of best practices with Raiser's Edge for lunch one day at our Glenview Campus ? I can be emailed at [Email Removed] for more info

Acknowledging Foundation/CharitableTrust Check (Pledge Payments)

EP — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:20:21 GMT

I apologize if this information is posted elsewhere but I was unable to find anything that answered my question and so if it is posted elsewhere, please let me know and I'll be more than happy to read it!

Anyway, my question is regarding pledge payments that are received in the form of what appears to be a personal check but is really a check from the donor's foundation or charitable trust. Currently, we send two acknowledgement letters when we receive either a foundation check or charitable trust check. The first letter is sent to the donor and thanks them for their distribution form their foundation or charitable trust. The second acknowledgement is sent to the address on file for the foundation or charitable trust informing whomever the recipient is that a letter was sent to the donor and we include a copy of that letter. Sometimes, the address of the foundation or charitable trust is the same as the donor's address sometimes it is different. Is it necessary to send two letters? I can't seem to find any information online nor can I sift through the IRS standards/guidelines and find anything to support multiple letters. Please do not misunderstand, I do not mind generating duplicate letters, I just want to make sure it is the right thing to do or common practice because numerous donors do not understand why they receive two letters - one to their foundation and one to them (for those that the address is the same).

Any information or guidance as to where I could find this information is greatly appreciated!

Thank you very much!

Upgrading within a Membership Cycle: Pro-rate? Extend Expiration Date?

Joan Blackwell — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:55:32 GMT

We're about to offer some significant upgrade opportunities and I expect to be receiving questions like, "If I upgrade three months into my current membership, will you extend my expiration date", etc. What about pro-rating? In the past, we've dealt with this on a case-by-case basis, but I'd like to have a rule of thumb, at least, established before going into this offer. Does anyone have a model or a policy they'd be willing to share?

Thanks!

Joanie Blackwell

Membership Coordinator

World Affairs Council of Philadelphia

have you ever surveyed your donors?

Srey Som — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:39:24 GMT

Wondering if anyone has ever done a survey of current donors.

If so what methods did you use, (i.e, mailing, phone, email)?

Have anyone done a newsletter donor survey? What's the response rate?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Authoritative language clarifying whether a gift is deductible if made through another person

Rena Hayami — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:17:36 GMT

I've researched the standard publications, (526, 1771), IRC Section 6115 and web-sites and have not yet found authoritative language that specifically states that a donation made by an individual through another individual or company is not deductible. The common scenario is that a person decides to collect contributions, whether made in cash or otherwise, and remits the cumulative total to the NFP in one check. Example: NFP receives a $1000 check from Mary accompanied by a list of 10 donors and addresses, each who have given $100 to Mary, thinking that their donation is deductible.

The only language I've found isn't satisfactory for a layperson. Not everyone "gets" that Mary isn't a qualified organization or legally required to remit funds. Does anyone have an authoritative response for this scenario that they can send or give me a link to?

Thanks.

Newsletter Mailing Criteria

Tracie Cassidy — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:55:34 GMT

With the rising cost of postage/printing, we are rethinking what audiences we mail our quarterly newsletter to. We mail to about 30,000 donors & are looking for a way to decrease that number by half. Currently we use a combination of constituent codes (if someone has a particular code they automatically get the newsletter) and/or giving history (if they give more than $150 in the past year or $50 in past 2 years).

What criteria do you use to mail your newsletter? Gift amount; if so, what are your parameters? Constituency? Both?

Thanks for your feedback!

Policy and Procedure for handling declined credit card payments.

Michele Barnes — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 20:06:06 GMT

I process credit card payments for our monthly giving program through YourPay. These payments are setup to be automatically deducted on either the 11th, or at the end of the month. A transaction report is then run to see what cards have been declined, and those donors are contacted by email and/or telephone immediately. If first attempt fails, 2 additional tries are made over a two week period.Unfortunately, many donors do not return phone calls or emails that quickly, or at all. So I am trying to determine how much farther to go with attempting to contact these donors.I would like to know other nonprofits handle this situation; what policy and procedures are in place; and what contacting methods are used. Any information will be greatly appreciated!

Social Networking for a Children's hospital

Tyler Mathews — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:57:36 GMT

It's obvious to see the many benefits (and some negatives) of social networking---especially if done correctly. I think using Flickr, Twitter, and Facebook groups, would be a no-brainer, assuming you have the right strategy and staffing, for most non-profits, but what about for a children's hospital that serves many special needs children? As we all know, many social-networking sites can lead to inappropriate profiles. And with an audience of concerned/protective parents and possibly children how do you decide what to get involved with? Should you have links from your site to Facebook, etc. or should you just have those sites link into the main website?

I'm mostly curious to hear what over children's hospitals (or other child-oriented nonprofits) are doing with these.

Thanks,

Tyler

Physician Solicitation

Helen MaCauley — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:03:55 GMT

Does anyone have any sample fundraising letters for physicians or any unique ideas? Our physician participation is extremely low and we have been unable to get them on line thus far. ANY ideas would help! Thanks

Life Insurance Premium Payment Allocation

Shahrzad Kojouri — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:01:09 GMT

My planned giving team is currently in the process of revamping our policy and procedures for gifts of life insurance policies when we are both the owner and beneficiary of said policy. We book the face value of the policy in Raiser's Edge as a planned gift, but we are not sure what to do with the annual payment the donor gives us to go toward the premium payments for the policy. The biggest question we have is: do we count the annual check given by the donor for premium payments in attainment (as a pledge or otherwise) and credit the donor for the gift in addition to the face value of the insurance policy?

Any answer to this, a place to find information on this subject, or even excerpts from fellow non-profit organization's policy and procedures would be GREAT!!

Thanks in advance!

Shaz - Insitutional Relations & Development

donor advised funds - pledge payments and tax info

Tricia Pekarna — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 20:29:26 GMT

Hello, I'm searching for information on the IRS rules regulating the designation of gifts from donor advised funds. I know that a donor can't pay a pledge with a gift through their advised fund. Does anybody know where I can find the actual IRS language outlining this? We are trying to put together a donor-friendly way to let people know that although we appreciate their DAF gifts, we can't use them to pay off a pledge. Also, does anybody have a good work-around for this situation? Specifically, I'm wondering if it's common to write-off the remainder of a pledge, then apply the new gift to the same account/fund/project. Any additional information or suggestions would be helpful.

Twitter anyone?

Christopher Donahue — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:41:07 GMT

This month's issue of Fundraising Well talked about Twitter and discussed ways a nonprofit organization can benefit from this popular social networking tool. Already using Twitter? Have any thoughts or questions? We'd love to hear about them.

Finance vs. Development

Christopher Donahue — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:04:57 GMT

Last month's issue of Fiscal Fitness touched a nerve with a number of our readers. We featured an article by development professional Tony Poderis regarding the ongoing differences between the development and finance offices. Many readers seem to have strong feelings regarding this issue; some readers made their viewpoints known by drafting a response to the editor. The responses were well crafted and offered some very detailed insight into contrasting positions.

In this month's issue of Fiscal Fitness, we are continuing the discussion and sharing a portion of these responses with you. Publishing letters to the editor is a new practice for Fiscal Fitness. Please let us know how you like this new format, and if you have any additional thoughts, opinions, or insights on this topic, please feel free to share them here.

Raiser's Edge consulting fees

Paul Mulligan — Thu, 04 Nov 2004 18:20:47 GMT

I work at a small non-profit in Colorado and another small non profit wants to hire me as their Raiser's Edge consultant. I have no idea what kind of fees to request. Anybody have any ideas/resources? Thanks.

Phonathon Asks

Jackie Hirschorn — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:27:16 GMT

Hi,

My agency is holding a phonathon next week, but we've run into some trouble: how do we determine how much money we should ask for? We have the donation histories of all the donors we are going to call, but we're not sure whether or not we should ask them to double their largest gift, or double the amount of the last give they gave? If you have any suggestions I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks so much!

Split gifts and one portion is for next fiscal year

Elaine Gipson — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:28:37 GMT

We occasionally have gifts that are intended for next fiscal year's annual fund. We have received a gift that is part unrestricted capital for this year and unrestricted af for next fiscal year. Has anyone encountered this? How do you reconcile with your finance office and make auditors happy? We need to give the donor the receipt, but if we receipt the next fiscal year gift now, it won't pull in reports for next fy annual fund.

letter to a donor advised fund manager

Paige Moses — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:12:09 GMT

Would anyone be willing to share a sample of a letter that can be sent to a donor advised fund manager stating that your organization can receive donations from the fund. We have been asked by a few fund managers to provide a letter stating that we are eligible to receive donations. Out in-house attorney would like to see a sample letter before she composes one.

Increase Efficiency to Offset Economic Slow Down

Christopher Donahue — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:42:01 GMT

The April issue of Fundraising Well discusses a few ways to help nonprofits weather the financial storms during this economic slow down. It talks about some general guidelines to follow and offers a few specifics on ways to improve efficiencies in these tumultuous times. We certainly didn't cover everything and would love to hear your thoughts on the subject matter. Feel free to post any specific tips, advice, success stories, best practices, or questions you may have.

You can view the April issue of Fundraising Well here.

Contact/Action Report Form

Mary Artis — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:58:45 GMT

I am trying to create a Contact Form to be used by our Major Gift Officers in conjunction with Microsoft Outlook, maybe create a form in Microsoft, and have the Officers fill them out after each visit. Does anyone have any experience or any Contact Forms they would like to share? Please contact me at [Email Removed]

Tribute Reports

Bis Feldmann — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:45:51 GMT

We are trying to revamp our process of sending out tribute reports. Currently, we send them once a week to acknowledgees. However, I'm concerned the info isn't pulling correctly - we run a query that has been set up, then do Honor/Memorial Ack letters, and then do the Tribute Reports. My concern is this - oftentimes I have letters for people, yet no tribute report pulled. On that same note, I often get tribute reports for EVERYONE who received a donation in their memory that week - even if there is not an acknowledgee listed in their record. Does anyone have any advice, or even do anything remotely similar to this (that's working)?

Printing pages

Nora Langolf — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 22:23:03 GMT

Viewed over the internet, our website pages look great to the naked eye, however when I print a page, I get most of the page, a large blank page and then the rest of my page. Anyone else have this problem? Ideas to fix?

Recycling for Charities?

Lori Del Nero — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:48:14 GMT

Is anyone familiar with this organization? We just received an e-mail thanking us for signing up with them (we never signed up that I'm aware of) and asking us to fax our 501(c)(3) letter to complete the process. They then ask us to link with their website. The e-mail states that they are located in Royal Oak, MI. Our fund development department is very small and no one associated with the department initiated this request so this makes us somewhat leary. Anyone know - is this a legitimate organization or is someone phishing? Thanks for any info! Lori Del Nero Administrative Assistant VNA/Hospice of Monroe County East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania [Email Removed]

Donation Kiosks

Heather Francis — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:49:20 GMT

Just wondering if any of you have donation or giving kiosks and if you could refer me to a vendor?

Fundraising Event - tax donation?

Belinda Goodman — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:14:56 GMT

I am in search of current tax donation guidelines regarding fundraising events. Here is the situation: We are hosting two events featuring a "famous person" on the same day. One event will serve food. One event is entertainment with the "famous person" reading a part. I believe the first event donation will be the cost of ticket minus the cost of the "meal". The second event is where we are having trouble coming up with the tax donation portion. If not for the "famous person" we would not be charging for this event. This is strictly to raise money. Any ideas of whether or not we can give full donation of the ticket price or is there an "entertainment" ticket price that needs to be deducted? Thank you, Belinda Goodman Institutional Advancement and Alumni

To all RE Development Users in Seattle Area

Joanne Felci — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 20:49:03 GMT

Hi there, Unfortunately I could not make the user meeting that happened in Tacoma last week but I was hoping if there are some Seattle area RE users - in fundraising/development - that would like to start an email support group and/or meet on occasion to brainstorm/share ideas that would be excellent. If you are interested please shoot me an email: [Email Removed]