Welcome the 2009-2010 Board Members
Handing Out Hope begins its third year and exciting things are upon us!
-
Non-Profit News
Does Relief Aid from U.S. to Haiti Get Into the Right Hands?
Wednesday, 01/27/10Close to $2 million flowing into Haiti in relief aid from around the world and $379 million of that comes from the United States and most of that is not going directly into the hands of the Haitian goverment. Condidering the government corruption the country suffers from this is actually a good thing. The president himself, Rene Preval, made sure in a press conference last Wednesday, to annunce that most of this money is going directly to NGOs. “Just under one penny of each dollar is going straight to the shattered Haitian government, whose president is sleeping in a tent while struggling to organize an administration that was notoriously unstable even before the earthquake….” reports the Associated Press. With a reputation for being listed as one the world’s most corrupt countries, Americans would like to be assured that their donations are being handled and used in the best way possible to help victims of the Haiti earthquake, reports AP, in the Jan. 27th article, “Haiti govt gets 1 penny of US quake aid dollar.”
If you’re interested in helping people around the world who are in need and want to make sure your money not only gets into the right hands but also makes an exponential impact, visit our Keep Hope Alive campaign page.
(Editing by G. Guereque)
Male hormones cause men to be less giving than their counterparts-? Read the article at NewScientist.com -12/02/09
Two Birds with One Stone – A New Way to Promote the Gift of Giving and Marriage Equality…?
Tuesday, 11/10/09Gay couples are coming out in a big way. They are letting it be known that they are a couple, giving to charities and foundations, together. Last week Boston Opera supporters attended a benefit and met coupled co-chairs, Daniel Ludden and John Fiske III and Stephen M. Weiner and Donald G. Cornuet with delight. Surely no one is surprised that gay couples are great supporters of the arts; what is perhaps a new trend, though, is that they want to not only be recognized (versus stay anonymous) but they also want to be recognized as couples who give. Gay couples want this recognition to encourage other gay couples to give as well, reports The Boston Globe. Perhaps also a way to get the face of gay marriage out there, and encourage other gay couples to be out there also will provide exponential value to the arts, philanthropic causes and gay marriage.
(Editing by G. Guereque)
Malawi threatens arrests over Madonna school row
By Mabvuto Banda
Reuters
Thursday, November 5, 2009 10:12 AMLILONGWE (Reuters) – Malawi threatened on Thursday to arrest protesting villagers blocking construction of Madonna’s multi-million dollar girls academy, a new controversy for the singer in the African country where she has adopted two children.
About 140 villagers are demanding more money for land the government has leased to Madonna’s charity — Raising Malawi — for 99 years.
District Commissioner for Lilongwe Charles Kalemba, other senior government officials and Raising Malawi failed to reach an agreement in talks with representatives of the villagers on Thursday in a bid to resolve the dispute.
“If we cannot agree on this and if you cannot understand that this is government land, then I will have no choice but tell police to arrest you people for blocking development work on the site, ” Kalemba told the village chief, Chinkhota.
Madonna launched the construction of the school last month and pledged to build similar facilities in other countries if the project succeeds.
The Raising Malawi Academy for Girls — in Chinkhota village about 15 km (10 miles) outside the capital Lilongwe — is expected to be completed in two years and will admit 500 girls from the small southern African country’s 28 districts. The construction is expected to cost $15 million.
Malawi’s government came under fire after Madonna adopted 13-month-old boy, David Banda, in 2006, with critics accusing it of giving her special treatment by skirting laws that ban non-residents from adopting children.
In June this year, Malawi’s Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling made in April which said Madonna could not adopt a four-year-old girl — Mercy James — because the singer was not a resident of the country.
An AIDS epidemic has left more than a million children orphaned in Malawi, a country of 13 million people.
“We are protesting because we feel government and Raising Malawi have not been fair … earlier agreements about how much they were supposed to pay us have been scrapped and now we are being told the land does not belong to us,” Chinkhota told Reuters after the meeting.
Philadelphia dvd download Five Children and It dvd
“The construction of this school will be affected if these problems are not resolved, my people are not given enough money for them to buy farm land somewhere else and continue their lives.”
Ministry of Lands senior official Nector Mhura said compensation for the land was based on fair market prices.
(Editing by Giles Elgood)
Economy is Down, But Online Giving Is Up: Network for Good Reaches $300 Million in Donations Processed
BETHESDA, Md., Nov. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — In a sign of the steady growth in online giving, even amid the recent recession, Network for Good, the Internet’s leading nonprofit giving platform, has now processed over $300 million in online donations to more than 50,000 charities since its inception in November 2001.
“This accomplishment is especially meaningful given the economic downturn. During a recession, the challenges facing nonprofits are two-fold: People are giving less and need is rising. It’s encouraging to see more of the smaller charities succeeding in using the Internet as a cost-effective way to raise money in these difficult times,” said Bill Strathmann, Chief Executive Officer of Network for Good.
The Bridge hd buy The Burning Bed
In 2009, Network for Good has distributed money to 60% more charities than last year. The average Network for Good nonprofit is raising the same dollar amounts as in 2008, through more, smaller gifts. To illustrate, the total number of donations through Network for Good is up 92% year to date, but the dollar value of those donations is up 43% compared to last year.
Cara Leidy, Manager of Donor Relations for Higher Achievement DC Metro – which uses Network for Good tools to raise money online – said, “Network for Good allowed us to launch an online giving program that our own website was unable to support. Without these tools, we would be bound to print communications and processing of funds, thus limiting our reach to our donor base. Without a doubt, Network for Good is the easiest, most cost-effective way to set up an online campaign.”
Network for Good traces online giving’s progress to several key trends:
* The economy is fragile, but giving online is going strong. Network for Good is seeing double the number of donations this year, just at lower dollar amounts than in years past. The growth in online giving is particularly encouraging in comparison to offline giving trends: The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that the nation’s biggest charities are forecasting a 9% decline in total donations given this year – the biggest drop since the publication started tracking private donations in the early 1990s.
* Recurring gifts are a lifeline to nonprofits during a recession. A steady number of donors are setting up automatic monthly, quarterly or annual gifts that provide dependable and compounding cash flow for recipient organizations. At Network for Good, 1 in 5 gifts is a recurring donation this year, which is comparable to last year.
* More people are giving the gift of charity to others. Year-to-date sales of Network for Good’s charity gift card – The Good Card(R) – are up 60%, as more individuals and companies choose to say Thank You, Congratulations, and Happy Holidays with the gift of charity.
* A rise in grassroots and peer-to-peer fundraising is driving more donation activity online. For any given charity, the most significant source of donations is its own website, but Network for Good is seeing ten-fold growth this year to date in donations made through social networking sites like Causes on Facebook, Change.org and others.
* Corporations increasingly insert philanthropy into their marketing and rewards programs. Corporate giving programs like the Capital One No Hassle Giving Site make it easy for card members to give to charity or cash in reward points as a donation. Other companies allow consumers to add charitable contributions to routine consumer activities, capturing donations in new online venues. Network for Good is committed to investments in technology that make innovative forms of giving possible and provide scalable, trusted and efficient solutions for corporate partners.As the holiday season approaches – the busiest charity time of year – Network for Good is confident that the trend of online giving growth will continue. Annually, about 40% of giving occurs in December alone and Network for Good forecasts $32.5 million in donations processed this December, which is 30% growth from last year. Beyond 2009 looks even more promising for charities as more donors migrate online.
SOURCE: Network for Good
“ACORN’s…Woes,” an NPR storyand NJ Gov. Corzine, Reveals Donations, at NJ.com – 10/22/09
Brad Pitt’s Floating House Associated Press story at NYTimes.com – 10/06/09
Red Cross to Auction Off Little Pieces of Its History Read the story from NYTimes.com – 10/05/09
ACORN Donations Dwindle In Wake Of Videos Read and listen to the story from NPR – 10/01/09
Declining Donations for United Way Read the article from The Chronicle of Philanthropy – 10/01/09
Gates Foundation-Endowment reports loss Read the article from Seattle.BizJournals.com
Financial Times also reports (requires free registration)
– 9/30/09White House tells Agencies to keep politics out of Grant Awards Read the article from The New York Times – 9/22/09
Dirty Work download Gates Foundation Giving Loans Now Too! Read the article from Seattle Times – 9/20/09 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels movie full
Panhandling bans hurt some fundraisers The Sword in the Stone video Read the article from USA Today
– 9/17/09
“The problem with non” - Do Nonprofits use social networking like they should? Read the Seth Godin -Blog article here
Then read Study: Nonprofits flocking to social media on HeraldNews.com and make up your own mind. – 9/15/09Gates Foundation Stresses Savings With $35-Million Microfinance Grant Read the article here at, The Seattle Times – 9/15/09
Obama’s Budget gets criticism from the Nonprofit world. Read many of them in one place here. – 5/8/09
Are Charity Tribute Galas a thing of the past? Read the New York Times.com article about how, “The time-honored system of black-tie charity tributes is breaking down, [as it becomes yet] another casualty of the worst economic climate in decades.” – 5/1/09
Anonymous Giving Grows: Read the Story at The Chronicle of Philanthropy – 4/30/09
Volunteering among younger groups, falls for the first time since 9/11 – Read the story from AP national writer Martha Irvine at SEATTLEPI.COM – 4/22/09
Rethinking Global Philanthropy and Nonprofit Activities – The Chronicle of Philanthropy – 4/20/09
Social Innovation Office: Former head of Google.org’s philantropic arm appointed by White House Social Innovation Office will promote government efforts in assisting innovative nonprofits in tackling social problems.
Read the article by The Chronicle of Philanthropy here. – 4/16/09Stimulus Money Gives a Boost to Nonprofit Lenders
Read the USA Today Article here. – 4/15/09