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The philanthropy primer is short and sweet this week, because I have things at home that need to get done… and I’m a one man show. Hope you enjoy the links and articles provided below!

A Crossroads on the Path of Professionalism in Fundraising
Props to Lilya for an excellent reflective on fundraising as a career and it’s slow journey to profession… or are we technicians?

Rap video makes college telemarketing cool
I laughed at this when I watched it… and I thought of Jen, Carol and Stacie (caution, contains swears)

Art for Art’s Sake? Hardly!
I think this is a article worth review considering the bad rap arts gets in the world of philanthropy

Checklist For Year-End Appeals
This article reminded me of the Howard Taylor approach…
Pre-phone #1, Pre-phone #2, Email #1, Email #2, Don’t Phon-a-Thon, Send “sorry-we-missed-you-when-we-were-calling” letters #1 & #2 

More philanthropy news items can be found here:
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/08736056237804700469 

As always send comments or suggestions.

Greetings from Charlotte, North Carolina.  For your philanthropy primer reading pleasure, here’s all that’s fit to print.

Antioch College president ousted from his position, that’s the bad news. Good news is that Antioch University McGregor is opening a new facility just down the street.  If you remember, the MBA program move from the college campus to a university specific location off-site is what spurred the college closing debacle.  Stay tuned, you haven’t heard the end yet.  Any alumni base that can raise $5.3M (in a weekend) isn’t going to let it’s alma mater go down without a fight.

If you’re a donor to The University of North Texas, odds are you’ll have a hard time finding your name on an annual donor list. Best quote of the article is “We’ve never had a problem with it, but it’s not in the best interest of donors to list their names.”  Mr. McQueen might be right, the last thing you want to have on your hands is a Mean Green donor (pun intended).

Other events significant to higher ed advancement:
Colleges add student fees to respond to decreased support
Restricted giving in the news in Lynchburg and Princeton

What do the Cayman Islands, Congress and hedge-funds have in common… if you guessed “ideal location for a slimy photo-op” you’re wrong.  If you guessed “there’s an off-shore storm brewin’ and I don’t mean hurricanes” you’re not far off.  See what the Chronicle of Philanthropy has to say about the debate being brought to congress.

If I said it once, I’ll say it a million times… take another look at online giving, only this time do it like you mean it.  Oh, but don’t forget the Boomers .

Two posts that I think merit a full read:
Emotion & Logic in Philanthropy
Leveraging Philanthropic Assets

Okay, you know the drill.  Feedback and comments are strongly encouraged.  First to respond with an interesting news item not referenced in my Google Reader list: http://www.google.com/reader/shared/08736056237804700469 will win a great surprise (courtesy of Carol Lee).  Honestly Carol, what am I gonna do with 99 red ballons?

Philanthropy Thoughts is now The Philanthropy Primer

Several thought provoking articles during the past two weeks…

Not necessarily philanthropy related, but a good book “Made to Stick” first recommended to me by John Sebald of the Arizona Lutheran Academy, is reviewed at the website Lifehack.org

The topic of a The Donor/Charity Contract is addressed in the magazine FundRaising Success.  This aspect of philanthropy will only increase in importance as Gen X and the Millennials look to have greater involvement/control of their giving and have higher expectations regarding communications.

Red Cross and Johnson & Johnson dispute trademarks as the nonprofit ventures into tapping the resource of related business income.  This has HUGE implications as for-profits move into the nonprofit territory for purely commercial interests ( i.e. Dove’s Self Esteem Fund).  Both sides are looking to capitalize on the benefits of the other side… the corporate side of this topic is further explored by the NonProfit Times.

The nonprofit sector is seeing important mergers in the data support fields.  First Convio purchased GetActive, now Blackbaud has purchased eTapestry.  Credit to Paul Roberts to bringing this to my attention days before the story hit the news.

Looking to start a “Women in Philanthropy” interest group within your nonprofit?  Future Leaders in Philanthropy (FLiP) asks if their approach to philanthropy is different from that of men and wonders if this will change the direction of philanthropy.

Thanks for your interest in advancing philanthropy.  Please let me know if you’d like to be removed from this periodic listserv.  If you come across any helpful sites or philanthropy related news feeds, please pass them along.  Thanks!

The Philanthropy Primer contains links to interesting nonprofit sector insights.

The More They Give, the More They Love You
All we need is love.

Have Donors Changed In 50 Years?
Check out the list of motivators… fodder for a future divisional meeting?  Carol, I didn’t see rocking chair, clock or plaque anywhere on the list.

Nonprofit CEOs should be donors’ best friends
I’m forever telling donors (and prospects) that I don’t necessarily have to ask for money.  Often times all I have to do is match donor passions with Cedarville needs….  But I’m not ashamed to flat-out ask when it’s appropriate.