Charities Get Creative About Fundraising
Friday, November 23, 2007JEFF YASTINE: Well, retailers aren't the only ones who count on consumers opening their wallets this time of year. Some charities receive as much as 75 percent of their contributions at the end of the year. Now, in the midst of the housing slump, some charity executives are expecting a major drop in donations. So, as Stephanie Dhue reports, non- profits are coming up with new approaches this holiday season.
STEPHANIE DHUE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Finding the right gift may be a challenge, but giving a charitable donation as a present can be especially tricky. It may seem presumptuous to give someone a gift to the charity of your choosing. So the non-profit group Network for Good created a gift card, called the good card, that can be redeemed online to any registered non-profit. Network for Good CEO Bill Strathmann says the card takes the guesswork out of giving.
BILL STRATHMANN, CEO, NETWORK FOR GOOD: What you get is a gift that has -- around the holidays that has an incredible return, makes the world a better place, instead of giving a gift that might get returned.
DHUE: Similar gift cards are offered by Just Give and charitygiftcertificates.org. Stacy palmer of the "Chronicle of Philanthropy" sees these types of cards as an extension of the gift catalogs and registries some non-profits have created. And she says e-mail solicitations by charities are proving effective.
STACY PALMER, EDITOR, CHRONICLE OF PHILANTHROPY: What's surprising a lot of non-profit groups, they always expected that might work well for $10 or $15 contributions, because that seems like the sort of thing you would just decide to do online, but some groups are raising as much as $25,000 from a single person online.
DHUE: Palmer says those big donations are from givers who are used to large online transactions. And those kinds of contributions are typically well researched. There are web sites, like Charity Navigator and Guidestar that gather and publish research about non-profits. Guidestar CEO Bob Ottenhoff advises donors to check out charities that are soliciting this time of year.
BOB OTTENHOFF, CEO, GUIDESTAR: One of the things you want to be careful about is, is this organization transparent and are they accountable? Transparency in this case means are they willing to share important documents with you, audited financial statements, annual reports, information about their programs.
DHUE: Charitable giving typically rises and falls with the stock market. Despite recent volatility, most non-profits are optimistic about the gifts they'll receive this holiday season. Stephanie Dhue, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Washington.
