Good news . . . Bad news

Nonprofits Not Out of the Woods Yet

From Joanne Fritz, your Guide to Nonprofit Charitable Orgs
Friday May 21, 2010

The good news from the 2010 Fenton Forecast: Leadership and Effectiveness Among Nonprofits* is that 80% of the respondents to this annual survey have a positive view of the performance of nonprofit organizations.

The bad news is that nearly two-thirds of survey respondents report they plan to either reduce their giving or keep it the same as last year. This is on top of already reduced giving levels for 2008 and 2009.

Donors seems to be quite cautious about their charitable giving for the moment and into the near future. Giving will decrease or remain static for 2010, even among those with higher incomes.

Among those donors who plan to decrease giving, 56% say they will cut their donations by 23% or more. Even older Americans, ages 50 and older, intend to reduce their giving the most.

Roger Craver, founder of DonorTrends, and chief blogger of The Agitator, said during these difficult times, we should focus our resources on our organization's "missionaries," "loyalists," and "lapsed donors."

I agree - it's always better to go to someone who has or had a tie to your organization. Just as in business, it's less expensive to retain donors that to recruit entirely new ones!

How to Land a Job

Thanks to Robin McCarthy and the staff at Women at Work in Pasadena CA for inviting me to join them and discuss how to go beyond your resume and truly connect with the employer and make a powerful personal impression. For 30 years Women At Work has provided career services to help over 100,000 women and men from all backgrounds. With long-standing employer relations, the center's Resource Room offers thousands of job leads. Through individualized career counseling sessions, workshops, and classes, Women At Work empowers the unemployed and under-employed to make smart career choices that will impact their lives and ultimately, the community as a whole.

I enjoyed talking to (mostly) women and some men about how to portray the unique part of their personalities to make an impact and to show the employer that they would fit into the culture of the organization. We had quite an age range - from late 20's to a women who was 70! We discussed how to do this in person and on the phone!

Their motto: "From Blueberries (pies) to Blackberries (cell phone)!" I hope to hear that some of my participants are able to land a job very soon.

Network executive is a champ at relationships

Since I came from the entertainment business (a lawyer working for CBS way back), I can appreciate how relationships run that industry. Recently an article in the Los Angeles Times highlighted a little-known executive, Bridget Baker from NBC Universal.

For 21 years, she has has negotiated with cable and satellite operators for distribution deals.

In the early years, it was tough because the cable operators hated the broadcasters. However, she launched CNBC and later, MSNBC. Now that Comcast and NBC have merged, she has to convince Comcast's direct competitors, satellite and telephone companies that offer tv service that she will not favor NBC's new bosses at their expense.

One of her former bosses said, "She's a relationship builder like no other. She has great people skills. . ." She has been called Lucille Ball in an Hermes scarf which hides her hard-nosed negotiator persona.

Another boss called her "not a traditional business-speak person but more colorful, more personable, more engaging. She has a style that's unique."

That's what I always advise - make yourself memorable. Think of something that sets yourself apart and offer it up in your interactions with others.

Here's a great example of a high-end "giving circle" and a new model for female donor power.

Everychild Celebrates 10th Year with Another $1 Million Grant

By Michael Aushenker, Staff Writer

2010-05-06
The Pacific Palisades-based Everychild Foundation commemorated its 10th anniversary on April 29 by awarding $1 million to the South Bay Center for Counseling's Career Pathway Program, a jobs program that will serve 300 at-risk youth in Los Angeles.'

'Our event [at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel] was a wonderful convening of members, spouses, and our grantees to celebrate all that we have accomplished in the last decade,' founder Jacqueline Caster told the Palisadian-Post. 'We were thrilled to be joined by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other city and county officials, who acknowledged the impact we have had with $8 million in grants that have served over 350,000 children in Los Angeles.'

In addition to the Palisades, the Foundation's membership is comprised of 225 prominent women from Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Malibu, Brentwood, the South Bay and San Fernando Valley.

Each woman donates $5,000 in annual dues in lieu of putting on fundraising events, and the group votes on which nonprofit organization to support with a $1-million grant each spring.

It all began in 1999 when Caster recruited 56 women, including her Highlands neighbors, Cynthia Alexander and Debra Colbert, to join her unique humanitarian project. Their first grant of $230,000 was awarded to QueensCare to help outfit a new mobile dental clinic serving students in low-income elementary schools within LAUSD.

Every year since, Everychild has invited roughly 30 to 50 nonprofit organizations to apply for its single annual grant. The women devote their energies, intellect, education, talents and professional skills toward the rigorous grant-selection process, vetting each proposal and then voting on the ultimate winner: a nonprofit that serves children and has proposed a new, innovative 'dream' project that can inspire replication, thus leveraging the dollars for maximum impact.

The foundation's philanthropic model has created a new prototype for leveraged giving, among women and beyond, both in the U.S. and abroad. To date, the organization has directly inspired multiple spin-off groups: four in Los Angeles (with three currently forming), two in Santa Barbara, one in Las Vegas, one in New York City and two in London.

For more details, visit everychildfoundation.org.