Money for Good II Shows How a Small Shift Can Give Nonprofits a Big Gift This Giving Season: he statement above is just one of the findings of Money for Good II (MFGII), a new study released November 30, 2011. Other MFGII findings include:

Individual donors research only a third of their charitable donations, whereas persons who advise donors and foundation grantmakers research almost every donation they make.

Canadians continue giving: Despite stock-market volatility and downgraded economic forecasts for the coming year, Canadians intend on giving to charity with at least the same generosity they did over the last year, according to a new survey.

Poll results released by BMO Harris Private Banking show 71 per cent of those polled expect to give the same or more to charities over the next year as they did during the last 12 months.

Twitter donors worth the most on social media - Civil Society - Fundraising - News - providing news and in-depth coverage of charities, voluntary organisations and not-for-profits: People who make donations on JustGiving pages after being prompted on Twitter are nearly twice as generous as those who are inspired to give by a Facebook prompt, according to new figures.

In a study on the average gift value of donors directed to JustGiving pages via social media, Twitter prompts came out on top, with an average gift from someone coming from a Twitter link worth �30.26, compared with just �18.33 on Facebook. Facebook, however, remains the vastly more popular social network for JustGiving donors, accounting for 97 per cent of all visits directed through a social media source - in contrast Twitter facilitates a tiny 1 per cent of all visits from social media sources.

Time for Charitable Foundations to be 'Fundamental and Widespread' in UK

� Nonprofit Fundraising and Cause Engagement Study: Word of Mouth Still Most Effective Method of Engagement to Optimize Nonprofit Fundraising

I have written about several nonprofit fundraising reports that offer valuable insight into various areas of the current fundraising landscape. Some of my featured posts have included The 2011 donorCentrics™ Internet and Multichannel Giving Benchmarking Report, The Nonprofit Research Collaborative (and Part 2), the Millennial Donors Report 2011 (and Part 2), the 3rd Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report 2011, the Nonprofit Fundraising Effectiveness Report and The Blackbaud Index on Charitable and Online Giving October 2011.

Growing Philanthropy: Moving From Donors to Partners (Part 1 of 3) - Press - AFP: Growing Philanthropy: Moving From Donors to Partners (Part 1 of 3)

Charitable giving is estimated to be only 2 percent of average household disposable (after tax) income in the U.S. This number has remained unchanged on average for the past 40 years. A new report called “Growing Philanthropy,” based on a recent summit of nonprofit leaders, offers ways to change how nonprofits approach fundraising. AFP will present the recommendations in a three-part series.

PayPal Research Shows Strength of Community Trumps Popularity | Geoff Livingston's Blog: We live in strange times in which an online following is considered the mark of success. This era of weblebrity seems caustic at times with companies, nonprofits and individuals chasing personal brands for their time. Yet, as we dig deeper we see that real influence online does not necessarily tether itself to the most well known, rather the most engaged. Some research released today, The Effectiveness of Celebrity Spokespeople in Social Fundraisers, conducted on case studies within the PayPal network validates this truth.

Few Charity Employees Feel Financially Prepared for Retirement, Survey Finds - Conference Notebook - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas: Few Charity Employees Feel Financially Prepared for Retirement, Survey Finds

October 31, 2011, 10:19 pm

By Caroline Preston

Many nonprofit workers are worried that they won’t have enough money to retire comfortably, according to initial results released today of a survey about financial security among nonprofit employees. The early findings were presented at the annual Independent Sector meeting in Chicago.

Olin Business School Research Finds Trigger for Charitable Giving: Cryder finds in a new paper, “The Donor is in the Details" that charities can substantially increase a donor’s perception of the impact their contribution makes by focusing direct solicitation efforts on how donations help one specific person or address one specific problem. When donors know more, donors tend to give more.

Report from Indiana University researchers addresses need to ‘grow philanthropy’: IU News Room: Indiana University: The report, Growing Philanthropy in the United States, was released today (Oct. 28). It addresses the fact that philanthropic giving in the United States has remained static for decades, despite the best efforts of fundraising professionals and nonprofit organizations.

The UK Civil Society Almanac 2010: Workforce | Library | Research and policy | Skills - Third Sector: The report is based on the 'Work' chapter of the NCVO UK Civil Society Almanac 2010 and covers key trends and characteristics of the voluntary sector workforce, employment and volunteering.

New Study Says Charities Could Lose Up to $3.2-Billion From Obama Tax Change - Government & Politics Watch - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas: In another new study on President Obama’s proposal to limit the value of the charitable deduction, the Tax Policy Center has estimated that the change would depress giving from $1.7-billion to $3.2-billion a year.

That is less than the estimate of $2.9-billion to $5.6-billion offered in another study released this month.

Optimism growing in the sector, claims report: “There is a very real sense of optimism growing in the sector,” said Andrew Watt, president and CEO, Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), who provided commentary in the report.

Citing a situation not many in the UK sector will share, Watt added: “Rising giving levels are what is driving the sense of optimism and, in turn, anticipated growth in staffing. Part of that optimism is the nature of our missions—NFPs work to create change and inspire the public. We tend to be optimists, but with a healthy dose of realism.”

Charitable Giving Index: Fundraising Growth Slows - MarketWatch: CHARLESTON, S.C., Oct 17, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Blackbaud, Inc. BLKB 1.28% today released a fundraising trends report based on monthly findings from The Blackbaud Index and featuring commentary from Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP) and American Health Assistance Foundation (AHAF) on the newly released specialty index focused on healthcare organizations.

-- The report is available for download at www.blackbaud.com/blackbaudindex .

Teenage boys think working for a charity is boring - Third Sector: A survey by consultancy Magnified Learning finds that few would want to work in the third sector

A survey carried out in schools has found that nearly a third of boys aged 14 and 15 think the charity sector is the most boring to work in.

Manila Standard Today -- Philanthropy rising in Asia along with wealth, says HSBC study -- 2011/october/11: Asian philanthropists are giving more, and they are shifting to a structured and focused approach to charity, according to a new report by the Economist Intelligence Unit, commissioned by HSBC Private Bank.

The report titled, Something’s gotta give: The state of philanthropy in Asia, was based on various published research and in-depth interviews with academics, consultants and prominent philanthropists from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Nonprofits show optimism despite serious concerns, United Way survey finds | Hartford Business: Even as the economy continues its slow recovery, many Hartford-area non-profit organizations have a renewed sense of optimism, according to the United Way’s eighth annual Non-Profit Pulse Survey.

Foundations Step In to Help Grantees Weather State Budget Cuts, Report Finds | PND | Foundation Center: Based on responses from seventy-five members of the Grantmaker Leadership Panel — more than two hundred CEOs at leading U.S. private and public foundations — the study, Foundation Leaders Address the State Budget Crises (4 pages, PDF), found that a quarter of the funders reported having grantees that were forced to suspend operations. To remedy the situation, about half the funders surveyed have provided assistance to affected nonprofits, while two-thirds expect to increase funding for organizations that serve vulnerable populations in general.

Donors Hike Support for Canadian Hospitals to More than $1.2 Billion, But Giving is Still Short of Pre-recession Level: WASHINGTON, D.C., (September 19, 2011) – Donors to Canada’s health care institutions increased contributions by $80 million last year, but the much needed financial booster shot remained far below amounts raised before the recession hit. While charitable cash and pledges in FY2010 totaled $1.204 billion, 7.1 percent more than in FY2009, they were $133 million less than the total of funds raised in FY2007.

Charity staff turnover falls, survey finds - Third Sector: Staff turnover in charities fell from 20 per cent last year to 16 per cent this year, according to a new human resources study.

Seventy-three charities, all with more than 50 employees, took part in the annual People Count Third Sector study, carried out by the management and HR consultancy Agenda Consulting. It analysed staff data from March 2010 to March 2011.