Fundraising: E-mail Appeals

You have been asked to prepare an e-mail so that supporters will visit your Web site and donate to your organization. You’ve written fundraising letters before, so this should be pretty simple right? Let’s take some time to learn what fundraising expert Mal Warwick has to say in the second edition of How to Write Fundraising Letters (Jossey-Bass 2008).

In a new chapter on online appeals, Warwick notes that there are similarities between writing a direct mail letter and composing e-mail solicitations. For example, in both cases, you want to connect with the reader personally by using “I” and “you.”

Warwick also helps you think about specific parts of the e-mail:

Subject Line: If you include the recipient's name in the subject line, would the person think it is junk mail?

Graphics: How will spam filters deal with the graphics in your e-mail?

Leading sentences: If recipients are using a “preview pane” in their e-mail client, is your lead engaging enough so that others will want to read the rest?

For more tips, stop by our library and browse How to Write Fundraising Letters. Be sure to look take a peek at Part 5 to learn about from Warwick’s toolbox, including ideas for “outer-envelope teasers” and suggestions on how to end a letter.

Sports Philanthropy

Sports fans out there, this post is for you. Have you seen the latest issue of Philanthropy, published by the Philanthropy Roundtable? The main article in the January-February issue, "Gridiron Giving," describes the charitable efforts of several active and retired NFL players including George Martin (Giants), Herb Lusk (Eagles), Warrick Dunn (Falcons), Ben Roethlisberger (Steelers), and Jason Taylor (Dolphins).

“How about philanthropy in other sports?”
Take a look at the Sports Philanthropy Project’s Sports Foundation Directory where you can find out about the foundations of your favorite teams or athletes.

“How did this directory come about?”
The Sports Philanthropy Project was created by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to assist sports team foundations in supporting ongoing community projects. Learn about how it all began in The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Anthology: To Improve Health and Health Care, Volume XI (chapter 10).

That’s it for today. Have fun exploring these links!

A Hands-on Approach to Grantmaking

With 40 years of experience as a foundation executive, Bill Somerville knows what it takes to improve foundation effectiveness. The president and founder of the Philanthropic Ventures Foundation is author of the new book Grassroots Philanthropy: Field Notes of a Maverick Grantmaker (Heyday Books). What are some areas for change? Here are just a few of Somerville’s suggestions for grantmakers:

-Learn more about the community and nonprofits you serve. Spend at least 30 percent of your time in the field.

-Transition to a “paperless giving” model that takes makes more use of e-mail and phone calls.

-Reduce inefficiency by allowing the executive to approve certain types of grants without consulting the board.

-Consider making grants to individuals that will allow your foundation to make the most of innovative ideas.

Interested in learning more? You will find copies of Grassroots Philanthropy in our libraries soon, and stay tuned for a full book review later this year.

How Chief Executives Help Their Boards Excel

A chief executive who is searching for ways to improve board performance may find useful tips in Getting the Best From Your Board: An Executive’s Guide to a Successful Parnership (BoardSource, 2007).

In this booklet, Sherill K. Williams and Kathleen A. McGinnis suggests that chief executives should concentrate on several key areas, including:

Mission – Yes, you are passionate about your organization; help your board members feel that energy.

Knowledge – The board needs information, now. Make sure you have answers about your nonprofit, and understand how your organization relates to the sector.

Standards – Concerned that your board isn’t focused on what is important? Clarify roles and responsibilities and try to make it fun (see p. 39).

Board Structure – Streamline your meetings and support your board committees. If staff members are providing assistance, make sure you provide some coaching.

The authors also give the guide a personal touch: essays written by board chairs and stories from chief executives. Stop by the library and have a look!

Readings on Philanthropy

If you are searching for an anthology of texts to help you reflect on your philanthropy, The Perfect Gift: The Philanthropic Imagination in Poetry and Prose would be a good place to start. The works from individuals ranging from Andrew Carnegie to Edith Wharton will help you explore fundamental questions such as why and how you should give.

When you are ready to tackle issues related to philanthropic leadership, responsibility, and effectiveness, including the role of foundations, our library has another book for you. Amy A. Kass the editor of The Perfect Gift, and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago, has just released Giving Well, Doing Good: Readings for Thoughtful Philanthropists (Indiana University Press). In her new anthology, Kass has included discussion questions to help you contemplate the works of Rick Cohen, Aristotle, Muhammad Yunus, Pablo Eisenberg, Sara Engelhardt, Robert Frost, Ralph Ellison, Benjamin Franklin, Lao Tzu, and many more.

The book was a result of the Dialogue on Civic Philanthropy series that Kass had facilitated. Enjoy!

Recent "Off the Shelf" Book Reviews

Here are quick highlights from Philanthropy News Digest's Off the Shelf book reviews by Foundation Center staff. Click on the links below for the full reviews:

Tools for Radical Democracy: How to Organize for Power in Your Community. Joan Minieri and Paul Getsos (Jossey-Bass, 2007)

“…a practical how-to guide to building community power without a lot of excursions into the ins and outs of fundraising...” More...

Forces for Good: Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits. Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant (Jossey-Bass, 2008)

“…a thoughtful, highly readable call to arms for any nonprofit leader looking to affect real social change..." More...

The Art of Film Fundraising: Alternative Financing Concepts. Carol Lee Dean (Michael Wiese Productions, 2007)

“...a toolkit that any independent filmmaker or nonprofit looking to produce a documentary film will want to keep close at hand...” More...

Click here for a full list of archived Off the Shelf reviews.

Foundation Giving Trends

The Foundation Center has just released Foundation Giving Trends: Update on Funding Priorities (2008 edition). The annual publication analyzes the grantmaking patterns of larger U.S. foundations through 2006.

The report notes that for the first time ever, health programs commanded a higher share of grant dollars than education programs. What caused the growth in health funding? As you may know, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a strong supporter of international development and health programs. The report adds, "The Seattle-based foundation’s historic $31 billion dollar gift from Warren Buffett in July 2006—which will be spread over several years—has enabled the foundation to implement a new Global Development program and expand its already considerable funding for global health."

Click here to download the Highlights of Foundation Giving Trends.

Foundation Investments

During the past few years, endowments of the country's largest foundations and universities have experienced healthy returns at rates most investors would be envious of. This wasn’t always the case, as noted in the new book Foundation & Endowment Investing: Strategies of Top Investors and Institutions by Lawrence E. Kochard and Cathleen M. Rittereiser (John Wiley).

A few decades ago, endowments would often underperform as a result of conservative investments. What was the turning point? About 40 years ago, McGeorge Bundy (the president of the Ford Foundation at the time) was troubled by the fact that endowments were not keeping up with the rising costs of higher education. He noted in the 1967 Ford Foundation annual report: “We have the impression that over the long run caution has cost our colleges and universities much more than imprudence or excessive risk taking.”

Kochard and Rittereiser explain how Bundy’s leadership and the Ford Foundation’s support led to legal and tax changes that have provided the flexibility for managing endowment portfolios that we see today.

The core of this book, however, contains profiles that describe the experience and lessons from respected chief investment officers (CIOs) at institutions such as the Hewlett Foundation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, and others.

The CIOs discuss their investment approaches, management techniques, and key challenges they have encountered.

Are you interested in other readings? Search the Catalog of Nonprofit Literature for more readings on endowments or foundation investments.

Corporate Social Responsibility: An Encyclopedia

Companies are becoming more aware of the environmental and social impact of their operations and continue to develop practices that will help them become more accountable. Nonprofit organizations may be interested in partnering with corporations to think of sustainable solutions.

Using common terminology can facilitate the interactions among companies, government agencies, and the nonprofit sector. Our libraries have have acquired a new encyclopedia to help organizations find definitions and understand key issues on this topic, The A to Z of Corporate Social Responsibility (John Wiley). The volume covers contains about 350 entries (terms, standards, legislation, and organizations) including:

Corporate Responsibility Index
Environmental Entrepreneurship
Ethical Consumption
Global Sullivan Principles of Social Responsibility
Intergenerational Equity
SIGMA Project
Social and environmental accounting

This book also contains a list of abbreviations related to corporate social responsibility.

Need some additional resources? Search the Catalog of Nonprofit Literature for more readings on corporate social responsibility or corporate philanthropy.