Go Noles? No Goes?

This post describes 15 hours of my life between Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 14 at 10:30 a.m.

Let me start by saying I am a Florida State Seminole.  My mother was a Seminole.  And last night my firstborn son was accepted into the Florida State University Honors College.  Go Noles.

I am extremely disappointed with my Alma Mater — with the treatment my son and I, and all the other hopeful applicants and their families, received at the hands of FSU’s website over the last 12+ hours.  I hope as I tell the story we can all take away some lessons. 

Donna Caputo Guest Blog Post at 101Fundraising

I’m excited to announce that I have a guest post on the 101fundraising.org blog today.  This newly formed crowdblog offers fundraisers and other professionals involved in philanthropy an opportunity to blog and connect.  The site serves the international and Dutch fundraising community, publishing posts in both English and Dutch.  I wanted to support the site, so I submitted a blog post about the highly-charged situation in which someone requests the return of a gift.

Please read my blog here, and feel free to leave me a comment.  If you’re interested in blogging yourself, the site includes all the information you’ll need to sign up.

Donna Caputo is the Director of Consulting Services at Jacobson Consulting Applications, Inc. (JCA)
JCA provides strategic consulting to the world’s leading nonprofits.

CAN-SPAM Act – What Do I Need To Know?

New to e-marketing?  You need to understand and abide by the CAN-SPAM act.  First of all, it’s CAN-SPAM as in “stop spam” rather than “canned spam,” the lunchmeat Monty Python couldn’t live without.  The CAN-SPAM Act is a law that affects every organization that uses email in its operations.  It covers not only bulk email campaigns, but every commercial email message.  A violation is worth $16,000, so you’ll want to understand and abide by the rules.

Think about the email you’re sending.  Messages fall into one of several categories:  commercial, transactional, or other.  Commercial messages sell or advertise something, transactional or relational messages confirm or facilitate an ongoing or past transaction, and messages that fall into the “other” bucket are not commercial, transactional, or relational.  Messages that are primarily commercial are covered by the act. Messages that are primarily relational are exempt from most of the act although they cannot contain misleading or false information.  How does this work for a non-profit organization?

I’m Not Your Member

The following is a true story.

In the fall of 2010, I made a gift in memory of a friend’s mother.  My friend and her family requested gifts to one of two charities in lieu of flowers.  I picked one and went to the organization’s website to make my gift.

The website would only accept a membership payment.  The site offered a form you could print and mail in that included places to specify the memorial information and notification name and address.  I printed the form, wrote out a check, and mailed off my gift in December.

On February 4th I received a thank-you letter from the organization.  The letter was dated January 24th and referred to the “membership payment” I made on December 31st.  Apparently I am now a member of this organization, which is halfway across the country from my home, whose benefits I did not request and cannot use.  The acknowledgement envelope contained four pieces:  reply envelope, information about planned giving, a letter/receipt, and a reply form requesting another gift.

So why am I not sending another gift?

The $100,000,000 Gift – Fairytale Versus Reality

It sounds like a philanthropic fairy tale:  Former recipient of $30 scholarship repays alma mater to the tune of $100 million.

On January 26th, UCLA announced a $100 million gift from Meyer and Renee Luskin.  The gift will benefit the UCLA School of Public Affairs and a new residential conference center. Major gifts like this one aren’t magical, and they don’t simply drop from the sky.

The Luskin gift had a humble beginning. Meyer Luskin commuted to UCLA from his neighborhood on the East Side of Los Angeles, Boyle Heights. His studies were interrupted by World War II – he served in the U.S. Army Air Corps (now the Air Force). After the war, a $30 scholarship enabled him to continue his studies at UCLA. Meyer graduated with a degree in economics and went on to earn an M.B.A. from Stanford University. He met and later married Renee, a fellow UCLA student who earned a sociology degree.

What Do Online Giving Numbers Mean?

It’s easy to get caught up in good news.

According to a recent article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, “online donations rose sharply last year.” Convio, Blackbaud and Network for Good, all fundraising system vendors, reported increases in giving to their customers.  Convio reported its clients experienced more than a 40% increase.  Blackbaud reported 5,000 of its customers raised 10% more dollars online in December but didn’t specify what the increase was compared to.  Network for Good reported a 20% increase in online giving during 2010 compared to 2009.