Twenty-six children shaved their heads in a fund-raiser for cancer that raised $14,011.71 to benefit the Canadian Cancer Society. This summer they won’t have to worry about washing their hair before they can run out and play.

Their generous spirit was appreciated by Tom Shindruk, a 71 year old cancer survivor from Calgary. When asked if the children had been affected by cancer, more than half of the children raised their hands.

Comments Off

On Thursday, June 14th, Chef Ilan Hall, winner of Bravo TV’s Top Chef and Executive Chef Ryan Hardy of The Little Nell’s Montagna restaurant worked together to create a delicious lunch all in the name of a very good cause. Fifty per cent of the proceeds from the lunch will be donated to Food & Wine’s “Grow for Good” campaign, to benefit “Farm to Table.” “Farm to Table” is a national initiative dedicated to support local farms and also encourage sustainable agriculture. The luncheon was held in Aspen, Colorado.

The lunch was sold out. A three-course lunch featured chicken liver pate, chilled sorrel soup with smoked mackerel, Finocchiona salume, and panna cotta with strawberry rhubarb preserves. The lunch showcased Chef Hardy’s Rocky Mountain artisan cuisine and Chef Hall’s eclectic Mediterranean style.

Food & Wine’s “Grow for Good” campaign started to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. They are committed to raising $1 million to expand Farm to Table’s programs and services.

Comments Off

The Horses for Healing Barn Dance on June 9th was attended by 450 people. It is their largest fund-raiser for the year, and includes a silent auction. The Bentonville, Arkansas charity helps special needs children in Northwest Arkansas.

This year’s event was quite popular, as the charity chose to combine their fall concert with their summer barn dance. Trent Willmon, also their spokesman, performed at the event. Willmon is a country music artist and host of the CMT show “America’s Top Cowboy“.

The event included a pony auction. Guests were invited to bid on a horse or a pony and they received a photo of themselves with the animal.

The barn dance raised $153,000, which was a 62% increase up from last year. Proceeds benefit the therapeutic riding programs provided by Horses for Healing. Horses for Healing provides therapeutic riding programs for about 400 special needs children a year.

Comments Off

Last year, a lunch with the well-known investor Warren Buffett helped to raise $620,000 for charity. Buffett is once more auctioning a lunch to benefit the Glide Foundation.

The Glide Foundation is a social services charity that provides assistance to the poor and homeless that live in San Francisco.

Bidding for the lunch begins on eBay on June 24th and will end on June 29th at 7:00 PT. The winning bidder and Buffett will selected a “mutually agreed upon date” for the lunch.

The winner of the lunch is invited to take six guests to lunch with Buffett. The lunch will be held at the Smith & Wollensky restaurant in New York City. The restaurant has donated $10,000 to the Glide Foundation and has generously offered to host the lunch.

The 2006 lunch with Buffett was the second-most expensive charity item offered for bidding at eBay. The top item offered at eBay was a Harley Davidson motorcycle that Jay Leno sold in 2005 that was autographed by many celebrities.

2 Comments »

The Gilbert Center is offering an online seminar “Light a Fire: Successful Social Marketing for Nonprofits”. The seminar will be given on Friday, June 29th from 12pm (noon) until 1:30 p.m. (PDT).

The seminar will give information about how to use social marketing. It will also include ways to identify a network that will carry your message well. The seminar explains how to understand these communities and how to create successful messages that people will respond to. It will also discuss how to organize a online community.

The course is taught by Michael C. Gilbert. He has been consulting with nonprofits about internet strategies since the early nineties, and communication in general since 1984. He is the author of Communication Centered Technology Planning, 2nd Edition and Twenty First Century Fundraising Resources, 2nd Edition. He is also the Editor of Nonprofit Online News and the Founding President of the Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network. His full bio can be found here.

Comments Off

The Thank You letter often is created and sent without much thought. It may seem to be the last step in getting a gift from a donor and a routine task that warrants little merit. But it’s actually the first step in securing the next gift!

Purposeful and well-thought out Thank You letters can help you steward your donors, not to mention provide you with another way to communicate with them. Make sure you are getting the most from your Thank You letter efforts with these ideas.

1. Get the letter out quickly!
Everyone has probably heard that the faster you get your Thank You letters out the door, the better. And it’s absolutely true! Donors want to be sure that you received their gift and a Thank You letter is the best way to let them know it arrived safely. Experts say let no more than 48 hours go by from the time you receive a gift until the time you send out a Thank You letter. If it takes you a little longer and that’s the best you can do, work with it. Figure out what will work for your organization and put a priority on getting the letters out the door.

2. Relate your Thank You letter to the ask
Instead of sending out a generic letter, customize your Thank You letter to the specific ask that was used to generate the gift. If a gift comes to you from an appeal you sent out, then make sure your Thank You letter refers back to the story or the text in the appeal. You may need to write several different letters that can be used for whatever you have going on. For instance, you may want to write one letter for a special event you are working on, another one for monthly givers, and another one for donors who respond to your newsletter. Relating the Thank You letter back to the ask is a way to let your donors know you are paying attention.

3. Tell the donor what you will do with their money.
This is critical. Make sure the donor knows how you plan to use the donation he or she just sent you. Text like “Your gift will ensure that 15 children will go to summer camp for one week” makes the process of donating more real and tangible to the donor. They can envision 15 kids going to camp for a week and it helps create a bigger feeling of satisfaction for the donor.

4. Use a real signature
Digital signatures are easy and eliminate hand signing a stack of letters. But technologically-savvy donors know the difference between a digital signature and a live one. Have your President or Executive Director sign the letters, or ask a volunteer to sign them on his or her behalf. And use a blue pen so that donors can clearly tell it is a real signature.

5. Have the ED or President go through the letters and add personal notes.
This can bring big rewards in terms of stewarding donors! Taking a few minutes of a busy day to go through a stack of letters may seem like a chore to your boss, but donors who get a Thank You letter with a personal note will be thrilled that the ED took time to personally acknowledge his or her gift.

6. Add a reply envelope
Don’t be afraid to include a reply envelope in a Thank You letter. Many donors will hang onto these and use them for their next gift. You may receive some negative feedback, but you will likely receive a large number of gifts as well. It’s not uncommon to receive thousands of dollars in gifts from these “bounce-back” envelopes. You may want to code these envelopes so that you can track the number, size, and amount of donations received using this technique.

7. Include year to date or lifetime giving data
For donors who have been giving for several years, this information can be very enlightening to them. A donor who gives a $10 gift regularly to your organization will immediately see how their gifts add up over time. Sometimes donors forget when they last gave. Including year to date information can be a gentle reminder for them if they have pledges or commitments to make.

8. Make it clear that the letter is also a receipt
Don’t you hate getting boring thank you letters that drone on and never clearly spell out the gift you made? (By the way, if you aren’t giving to other organizations, you need to. It’s a great way to put yourself in the donor’s shoes and also let’s you see how other organizations handle the thank you process.) If you have to, draw a line on the page below the thank you text and put “Gift Receipt” about the actual gift information.

9. Include an offer to tour your facility or program site
Always include in your letter an offer for a guided tour of your facility or program site. You may never have anyone take you up on this, but they will remember that you offered. You will probably get a few people who want to visit you. Seeing firsthand the work that you do may make all the difference in the world to a particular donor. It can also mean the difference in an average size gift and a major gift.

10. Include the name and contact info of someone the donor can call with questions. Make sure that person is available.
Donors want to be able to call and talk to a real, live, knowledgeable person when they have questions. So be sure to include the name and phone number in your Thank You letters of someone who can answer questions for them.

Comments Off

Students of Hudson Elementary School held their annual math-a-thon fund-raiser to benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Pledges are collected for every math problem that the students solve. The students enjoy being challenged and also having the opportunity to help other children who are in need.

Hudson Elementary School has been holding the math-a-thon since 1995 with great success each year. In total they have raised more than $40,400 for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital over the years.

The top math-a-thon fund-raisers — and math problem solvers, were awarded prizes. The math-a-thon is sponsored by Six Flags Theme Parks and they provide free passes to their parks for every math-a-thon student raising $35 or more through the program.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital was founded by comedian Danny Thomas. The hospital well-known in finding cures for children’s cancers and other life-threatening diseases for children.

No Comments »

Students at the University of Texas at Austin danced literally all day and all night – for a very good cause. Their annual dance marathon raised $35,700 for the Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas. More than 150 students danced and enjoyed themselves at the event held in the Gregory Gymnasium held on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin.

There is only one rule for the dance marathon: participants must remain standing throughout the event. This includes eating and taking any breaks from dancing. The dance marathon includes live performances, games, dancing and food and beverages.

The Dell Children’s Medical Center is anticipated to open this summer at the old Robert Mueller Airport site. The current Children’s Hospital that opened in 1988 has outgrown their downtown facilities located next to the Brackenridge Hospital. The Dell Children’s Medical Center will be three times larger than the old facility.

The dance marathon committee plans to continue to do fund-raising for the Dell Children’s Medical Center through the University of Texas at Austin dance marathons.

Comments Off

Temple Beth Sholom has found a great way to raise extra funds for their school – by collecting ink cartridges that people would simply throw away and sending them to the Funding Factory. With just about everyone having at least one home computer, there is great potential for running a program like this. For every cartridge they collect they earn points, and each point can transfer into a simple to run fund-raising program for the school.

Fund-raising Success with Recycling

“Well in about 2 years we have raised 390.00,” said David Wallach. The school raises money through a combination of sending back ink cartridges and referrals for other people who send back cartridges. “Everyone your company refers and sends back at least one box gets 125 points. Each point is .40 cents.”

Program Is Low-Maintenance and Needs Few Additional Supplies

Funding Factory recycles ink and laser printer cartridges, but they also recycle cell phones. Temple Beth Sholom focuses on sending back ink cartridges because they like the return on this product. “Laser cartridges earn good money (sometimes) while inkjets earn some,” said Wallach. The school has been pleased with the program not only for the money given for returning the ink cartridges, but the support Funding Factory offers to the schools and organizations that participate.

The company helps each school by giving them promotional material to tell parents, teachers and the public about your program. “They give you promotional material for free via the website such as referral letters and business letters,” said Wallach. Wallach ordered 500 to 1500 free flyers for his school from the website to promote the program. They will also give you boxes with prepaid labels attached. “Just order them from the website; they no longer come in the welcome kit. But there is no charge for the boxes,” said Wallach.

An added benefit is the low costs associated with running this program. “Maybe a roll of packaging tape and used newspapers. All packages sent back use UPS Authorized Return Service. Just leave it for the driver or bring it to a UPS drop location or store,” said Wallach.

If you sign up with Funding Factory, they send you a Jump Start package. This package contains program guide, access to an online account, posters, flyers, labels for UPS to use on your own boxes so you don’t have to pay for shipping. This Jump Start package will reach you in about ten business days.

Three Ways to Earn With FundingFactory.com

Wallach explains there are three great ways to save with FundingFactory.com:

1. Collection of ink cartridges in your school or organization
2. Obtaining referrals
3. Getting other businesses at remote sites that do the same boxing and packaging that you do. “But you never have to pick the stuff up, but you get the credit,” explains Wallach.

Funding Factory also runs contests that are free to enter. An organization or school does need to have qualifying cartridges. “It is a great way to turn trash into cash and reduce the tonnage put into the dumpster that hits the bottom line. You send the laser cartridges in the boxes they came in for protection and less packing, and less garbage,” said Wallach.

How Your Payment Is Determined

On the Funding Factory website is a list that gets updated periodically - usually every week. “When you send in the units, they note the return and list all of what you sent and they list the value for each type of cartridge, if the cartridge is defective or refurbished or re-manufactured you get nothing. They can’t take re-manufactured or refurbished; this is because no one wants to buy them. Funding Factory will list how much you have earned and from what source,” said Wallach. Points can be redeemed at CDW-G, Amazon.com, Flaghouse, Ellison through their website, or you can simply request cash payout.

The Final Word On A Successful Fund-Raiser

”This is a great way to save and recycle for virtually no cost at all just a little time. I am sure you can deduce that I am enthusiastic about this program, well I am,” Wallach says.

If your group would like to earn some extra cash just like Temple Beth Shalom does, just register online with Funding Factory to get a free starter kit.

Comments Off

The Giving Back Fund, a top resource in celebrity philanthropy places Oprah Winfrey at the number one spot for their Giving Back 30 List. The Giving Back 30 List ranks celebrities who have made the largest personal and public donations to charity in the past year. The top five celebrities including Ms. Winfrey are the estate of late fashion designer Geoffrey Beene and estate of the late actor Jack Lord and his wife Marie, singer Barbara Streisand, and golfer Tiger Woods.

The philanthropic star-studded list includes many different celebrities: from sports figures, actors, musicians, media personalities and others. The list includes musicians Dolly Parton and Gloria Estefan, media personalities Rosie O’Donnell and Martha Stewart, sports figures Andre Agassi and Arnold Palmer, sports and entertainment moguls David Geffen and Jeffery Katzenberg and his wife Marilyn, and artist LeRoy Neiman and game show host Bob Barker.

The Giving Back Fund was first established in 1997. The mission of the fund is “to remain the premier philanthrophic resource to the sports and entertainment communities”. Their vision is “a society in which becoming a successful philanthropist is as valued and desirable a goal as success in athletics, business, entertainment or any other field”. They also seek to nurture new philanthropist celebrities.

Comments Off