Memorial Day

The American River looking to the H Street bridge.
Have a wonderful Memorial Day!

A very nice reflection on this day’s meaning from Mark Helprin in the Wall Street Journal.

An excerpt.

“In American military cemeteries all over the world, seemingly endless rows of whitened grave markers stand largely unvisited and in silence. The gardeners tend the lawns, one section at a time. Even at the famous sites, tourism is inconstant. Sunsets and dawns, winter nights, softly falling snow, and gorgeous summer mornings mainly find the graves and those who lie within them protected in eternal tranquility. Now and then a visitor linked by love, blood, or both will come to make that connection with the dead that only love can sustain.

“Sometimes you see them, quiet in some neglected corner beneath the trees or on a field above the sea, but numbers and time make this the exception. If not completely forgotten, the vast ranks of Civil War dead are now primarily the object of genealogy and historians, as the fathers and mothers, women, children, and brothers who loved them are now long gone. As it is for everyone else it is for the dead of all the wars, and neither proclamations nor holidays nor children innocently placing flags can cure it.

“Nonetheless, a universal connection links every living American with those who have fallen or will fall in American wars and overrides the lapses in sustaining and honoring their memories. We are and shall be connected to them by debt and obligation. Though if by and large we ignore the debt we owe to those who fell at Saratoga, Antietam, the Marne, the Pointe du Hoc, and a thousand other places and more, our lives and everything we value are the ledger in which it is indelibly recorded. And even if we fail in the obligation, it is clear and it remains.”

Charitable Giving Prediction

Reuters says it is going up this year, and if so, that is very good news.

An excerpt.

“(Reuters) - Charitable giving by Americans fell about 5 percent last year to $217.3 billion, but is forecast to rebound by up to 4.5 percent in 2010, according to a new report released on Thursday.
U.S.

“The Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College said in its report that individual giving this year is expected to grow to between $222 billion and $227 billion as the United States emerges from its worst recession in decades.

"2010 may just turn out to be the beginning of good news for fundraisers and charities. But it may not be until 2011 that we see the amount of individual giving returning to its pre-recession 2007 purchasing power," said Paul Schervish, the center's director.

“In 2008, individual charitable giving fell about 6 percent from the year before to $228.5 billion, the report found.

“John Havens, a senior research associate at the center, said it would be some time before the decline in giving in 2009 and 2008 could be reversed.

"Charitable giving in the first two quarters of 2010 seems to be on an uptick. However, growth may not continue the rest of the year if the fiscal crisis in Europe brings a second recessionary dip to the United States," he said.”

Volunteers

It is always a good strategy to get local business people involved as volunteers in local nonprofits and the Taproot Foundation has developed an innovative way to do that, profiled by the Leader to Leader Institute as their Innovation of the Week.

An excerpt.

“Peter Drucker strived to make business leaders see the community as the responsibility of the corporation. He called on leaders to embody "the Spirit of Performance" by exhibiting high levels of integrity in their moral and ethical conduct; focusing on results; building on strengths; and leading beyond borders; ultimately serving the common good.

“Leading beyond borders, the Taproot Foundation serves the common good by connecting talented professionals to their community through skills-based volunteerism.

“Taproot President and Founder Aaron Hurst recognized that nonprofits were doing inspiring and fulfilling work, yet in many cases, they lacked additional skills and resources needed to accomplish their missions.

“Hurst also realized that there was a huge wealth of untapped talent in business professionals who had skills that nonprofits needed. The question was, 'How do we leverage these skills?'

“In 2001, 40 years after his grandfather, Joseph E. Slater, wrote the original blueprint for the Peace Corps, Hurst created the Taproot Foundation, which works to lead, mobilize and engage professionals in pro bono service that drives social change.

"When I started Taproot, I was incredibly inspired by all of the work nonprofits were doing to support our communities," says Aaron Hurst. "I wanted these nonprofits to have access to the services they needed for success."

“According to a 2009 national study by Deloitte (Volunteer IMPACT Survey), 95% of nonprofits say their social impact would grow with pro bono capacity building support.”

Nonprofit Concentration Often Hurts Downtowns

The community discussion revealed in this story from the Maui News—while reflecting the situation in the Hawaiian town—also resonates with a Sacramento situation.

In Sacramento, it is accepted fact—by local business and residential communities—that the concentration of homeless and other social service nonprofits in the Richards Blvd/12th Street/North Sacramento vicinity has severely degraded the quality of life for businesses and residents in and around the area.

This negative impact extends to downtown where panhandling, loitering, and related crime have added to the long-term difficulty of renewing the lower K Street area.

Helping the less fortunate or those who have fallen on hard times is an important aspect of community and individual compassion and charity; but it is not something that should be at the expense of the public safety or economic viability of the larger community.

Helping another should not harm someone else.

An excerpt from the Maui News.

“WAILUKU - Even as the makeover of Wailuku town continues in a decades-long redevelopment project, some merchants and residents expressed concern Friday that a concentration of social services in the area could attract homelessness and crime.

“Wailuku either already is or will soon become home to a halfway house, housing for the developmentally disabled, a residential mental health care center, a free clinic, a battered women's shelter and a soup kitchen, said resident and commercial broker Susan Halas.

"I'm not advocating kicking any nonprofit out, not at all, but maybe we should consider that we are at a tipping point," Halas said when reached by phone Friday. "At some point, if you only have people there because they are receiving assistance, if nonprofits occupy a large percentage of your available space, then it becomes difficult for for-profits to come in."

“But Wailuku businessman Richard Dan said Market Street was in no way a new hotbed of crime.

“Dan agreed there is a problem with "annoying" drunks at the privately owned banyan tree park at the corner of Market and Vineyard streets but said that overall the complaints are overblown.

"They are trying to say there are junkies nodding off in the alleys, and that's not the truth," Dan said.

“The Maui Redevelopment Agency has adopted a plan for the 60-acre area calling for mixed use, such as buildings that combine residential, business, office and retail functions. But Executive Director of Wailuku Main Street Association, Jocelyn Perreira said the group still has a way to go toward its goal.

“Some residents and merchants blame the MRA - a recommending agency for redevelopment in Wailuku - for the influx of nonprofits to the area. Others say it's still too early to pass judgment on the effects of a master plan developed years ago.”

Deep Donor Data Mining

It has been the standard tool for many years in the fund raising business and it is a tool I believe is very intrusive and should not be used.

Donating money to a cause is a very personal and a very wonderful example of individuals contributing to the common good without any form of coercion, and because of that, donors should be treated with gratitude and respect rather than have every available personal bit of information extracted from existing databases to manipulate them into donating more.

This article in the Wall Street Journal indicates how deep the research can go.

An excerpt.

“Whether a patient comes in for a gall-bladder operation or to have a baby, the routine remains the same for staff at Sharp HealthCare hospitals in San Diego. The front desk checks insurance records to make sure the bills get paid on time. Nurses take vitals and tag their charges with a bar-coded wristband. And behind the scenes, fund-raisers scan the assets of each patient -- to find out whether they're "megarich," "wealthy" or merely "comfortable."

“While the folks checking in don't know it, the nonprofit hospital chain is hunting for prospective donors. Armed with powerful data-mining software, staffers screen admissions records to find wealthy patients who've shown prior interest in the hospital. Those who make the cut may enjoy a bedside visit from a "patient-relations director" who offers perks like free parking passes for visitors.

“It's all about establishing a relationship at the point of service, says Bill Littlejohn, the hospital foundation's CEO. "We've gotten many letters and gifts from people who said, 'It was so nice you stopped by,'" he says.

“When your favorite nonprofit isn't busy saving the whales, chances are it's making a serious behind-the-scenes effort to know you better -- using increasingly sophisticated technology. It can survey your salary history, scan your LinkedIn connections or use satellite images to eyeball the size of your swimming pool. If it's really on the ball, the charity can even get an email alert when your stock holdings double.

“Personalizing the Pitch

“Donor research isn't new, of course, but its reach has grown while the cost has dropped. For as little as $3,000 a year, even small nonprofits can tap into detailed databases. Data-diving practices expanded during the recession, as charities faced pressure to raise money more efficiently.

“According to marketing-research firm Campbell Rinker, nearly half of all charities now use these tools to research donors. Nonprofits say donor analysis helps them focus their time and resources on those who are most likely to give.

“In most cases, charities rely only on publicly available data. Still, donors might be startled to learn how much data have been compiled by charities, and how they're used. Even some fund-raisers worry that donors will find the increasing depth of their background research to be too intrusive. Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute for Philanthropy, says there's a good reason most nonprofits keep these research efforts behind closed doors: "It creeps a lot of people out."

Social Entrepreneurship

The seminal book about it is, How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, and there is an excellent article about it in the Sacramento Bee.

One person can change the world and inspired individuals have been doing so since the beginning of time.

An excerpt from the book.

“Where does this motivation come from?...I heard the same story again and again. Someone had experienced an intense kind of pain that branded them in some way. They said, ‘I had to do this. There was nothing else I could do.’

“At some moments in their lives, social entrepreneurs get it into their heads that it is up to them to solve a particular problem. Usually something has been brewing inside for a long time, and at a particular moment in time—often triggered by an event—personal preparedness, social need, and historical opportunity converge and the person takes decisive action. The word “decision” comes from the Latin decidere, meaning “to cut off.” From that point on, the social entrepreneurs seem to cut off other options for themselves.

“Over time, their ideas become more important to them than anything else. Every decision—whom to marry, where to live, what books to read—passes through the prism of their ideas. Although it is probably impossible to fully explain why people become social entrepreneurs, it is certainly possible to identify them. And society stands to benefit by finding these people, encouraging them, and helping them to do what they need to do.” Bornstein, D. (2004). How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas. New York; Oxford University Press. (pp. 240-241)

An excerpt from the Bee article.

“Despite the recession, a growing number of area residents have enlisted in the war against some of the world's worst demons, including starvation and bad water, AIDS and other diseases, child labor, human trafficking and sexual slavery.

“At least 121 nonprofits in the Sacramento area are dedicated to international relief – up from 36 in 2000 and 61 in 2005, according to Guidestar, which provides information on 1.8 million U.S. nonprofits. Sacramentans are finding other ways to help, too, battling poverty and misery on the ground.

“Local doctors are flying to Myanmar, India, Vietnam and China to perform lifesaving surgeries, restore eyesight and treat disease and infections. A UC Davis student started a nonprofit to educate and feed Namibian children struggling with AIDS. Throughout the region, schoolchildren raise money for Haiti at bake sales and basketball games.

“The fever to give – or give more – often starts with a spark that keeps on burning.

“In 2005, Grass Valley builder Greg Zaller went to Pakistan to rebuild homes for quake victims and ended up building a school system for illiterate women and children. "It's just triggered something inside me," he said. "From day one, you couldn't stop me."

“Rocklin pastor Don Brewster and his wife, Bridget, went further. They sold their home, left their adult children and grandchildren behind and moved to Cambodia to rescue 200 girls – one as young as 3 – from sexual slavery. "Here are these women selling their little girls to get money to eat," Bridget said. "Having been a single mom and struggling to raise three kids, all I could think of is, 'What if it were me in this situation? I'd be pleading for somebody to help me,' " Bridget Brewster said.

“With the world more connected than ever, "there's definitely a sense of global consciousness, that we're all in the same boat and what happens in one place affects another," said Amir Dar, executive director of idealist.org, which links thousands to nonprofit jobs.

“The Internet "is bringing to our attention a lot of problems that were hidden from us: rural poverty, kiddie porn," added Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy. "Because of the Internet, you see a lot more people trying to favorably influence the world situation."

Nonprofit Forecast

An excellent forecast from the Fenton Intelligence Report.

An excerpt.

“Nonprofits in the Post-Recession Economy: Prove Your Fiscal Responsibility and be a Credible Source

“While the job market remains weak, there continue to be signs that the nation is crawling out of the economic crisis. The latest government figures show a better-than-expected increase in consumer spending. Yet the nonprofit sector’s recovery is likely to lag.

“As The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently reported, if the current recession mirrors the one in the mid-1970s, donations likely won’t rebound until at least 2012. Most nonprofits are feeling the pinch through flat or declining memberships, dwindling donations, employee layoffs and in having to generally “do more with less.”

“The situation will likely get worse before it gets better. Nearly two-thirds of respondents say that the amount of money they plan to give to nonprofits will stay the same or decrease this year. Of those who plan to decrease their giving, more than half say they will cut charitable donations by 25 percent or more. It is a gloomy outlook given the downward trend in giving from the previous two years.

“Our study shows nonprofits must compete for a smaller pool of donated funds from individuals and that they will be scrutinized like never before to show how donations are used to provide effective programs and services to communities.

“Our research reveals that trust is the single most important component in the relationship between donors and nonprofits. Existing and potential donors must believe that a nonprofit is managing its funds to have the largest impact before they will invest. People want to engage with organizations to see for themselves the good work that is being done.”