Looking for funding opportunities? We've identified a few funds that might be useful to you. Visit the links below to learn more about the requirements and deadlines for these opportunities.
In May, we begin to see beautiful spring flowers and enjoy a little more sunshine. Many higher education institutions are holding in-person commencements like in pre-pandemic days, where graduates can attend ceremonies with their families and friends. While students embark on the next chapter in their lives, fundraising professionals can create opportunities for them to stay connected and cultivate them for future engagement. According to a report on multigenerational philanthropy, it’s estimated that Baby Boomers will pass along nearly $48 trillion in assets to their successors and charities over the next 25 years. This “great wealth transfer” will directly impact new graduates and will affect all types of giving programs at nonprofit organizations.
BNY Mellon’s reportShifting Horizons: Insights Into How Family Offices Are Responding to Rapid Economic & Social Change,shares how family offices responded to various socio-economic crises over the past few years. The report focuses on family office philanthropy, succession planning, cryptocurrencies, private banking, and taxation and regulation. Family offices are private organizations established to manage the financial and personal affairs of wealthy individuals and families, and it’s important for us to learn about their charitable giving behavior. Here are some key takeaways that might be helpful for us to understand family offices:
Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of family offices are involved to some degree in philanthropy, with 30 percent having a documented strategy. Among offices involved in philanthropy, one in five oversee charitable grants of at least $25M. Family offices engage in a variety of philanthropic activities including direct donation to charities, setting up private foundations, investing in charitable trusts and donor-advised funds, and volunteering and advocacy.
49 percent of family offices mention a sense of responsibility to advance social change as a top motivator for their involvement in philanthropy, while 69 percent mention “a desire to give back” as the top motivator.
A top priority for family offices is the ability to measure the impact of their philanthropic efforts.
Cryptocurrencies are considered important in overall investment strategies in family offices. 77 percent of family offices have some interest or involvement in cryptocurrencies.
Family offices need to overcome certain barriers to continue their involvement in philanthropy. A lack of shared values and interests among family members may become a barrier in their efforts to execute effective giving strategies. The biggest issue for family offices seems to be difficulty in integrating philanthropy into wealth strategy. As you can tell from this new research, the future of philanthropy will be influenced by the transfer of wealth to future generations, as well as family values and unique approaches to giving by each generation.
We wish you a wonderful start to your summer fundraising activities. As always, please feel free to reach out to us with questions, comments or any assistance with fundraising research!
Best Regards,
Sapna and USM Advancement Research Team
Did you know?
The University System of Maryland Foundation has access to a library of recorded webinars from the Annual Giving Network (AGN) that you may watch at any time from your computer. While we cannot currently gather in person for professional development events, this work from home period provides a great opportunity for you to learn on your own time! Please click here to see what webinars are available fromAGN.
If you are interested, please email Linda Bowman (lbowman@usmd.edu) and she will help you access these webinars for free. Please do not try to access these webinars on your own, as you will be charged a fee.
Please also note that the Foundation only has access to free AGN webinars, not workshops. Workshops are available at a marginally discounted rate.
USM Webinars
Measuring Your Success as a Gift Officer
Presented by Doug Kleintop, Associate Vice President, Development at The University of Delaware
Prior to the pandemic, virtual events were few and far between. In 2020, we quickly learned how to transition our events to new virtual platforms. However, now we find ourselves in a limbo where some of our attendees are burnt out on virtual events, some are itching to return to in-person events, and some are not ready to leave their homes and socialize face-to-face. Professionals from higher education institutions spoke to CASE about how they are handling this transition period, based on qualitative and quantitative data. CASE suggests that our schools do the same - look at the data to determine which events to keep hosting and which events to pare back. CASE also suggests being more intentional about why and how we are gathering with our supporters and thinking about how we can enhance gatherings for them. Click here to learn more about what schools across the country are doing with their events.
Does your institution utilize an engagement scorecard to gauge how well you are interacting with your donors? NonProfitPro says an engagement scorecard "allows organizations to harness the power of current constituent data and enable the identification of natural and meaningful actions, messages and requests to appeal to the target audience and deepen their relationships with the organization." In order to build an engagement scorecard, NonProfitPro suggests, identifying what constituent roles, actions, and interactions are most important to your organization; gleaning insights from your organization's current data; determining the engagement opportunities that are most valuable to your organization; and evaluating the information on the scorecard for insights that will assist in developing ideal constituent experiences and drive loyalty. Click here to read more.
Forbes says that digital fundraising events are more extravagant than ever, and that they need to be, in order to draw donations. Forbes suggests considering the following when planning a digital fundraising event:
When considering predictive modeling for your institution's initiatives, you have likely come across lists in your research that detail how you should prepare. According to EAB, these lists rarely give you credit for the steps that you already (likely) perform with your data. In this article, EAB breaks down a list of common steps required to initiate predictive modeling and identifies which steps your institution is definitely already doing, which you are probably already doing, and which you are not doing, as well as tips for success. Click here to read more.
New research from the DAF Research Collaborative (DAFRC), organized by Dr. H. Daniel Heist of Brigham Young University and Dr. Danielle Vance-McMullen of De Paul University collected account-level data for 13,000 DAF accounts from 21 community foundations and single-issue sponsors (sponsors working in a specific topic area, such as faith-based nonprofits). This work is important, as there is no easy way to know how quickly DAF accounts paid out to operating nonprofits. The DAFRC's research showed that "the median annual payout rate of the accounts they analyzed was a mere 11 percent—less than half the aggregate rates typically touted by DAF sponsorsand their lobbyists." Click here to read more findings.
In a blog post for APRA, Julie Fregetto, Director of Advancement Services at North Park University outlines how she grew a prospect development program and supported a major gifts program using seven steps:
Click here to read more about how Fregetto implemented these steps and what strategies led her and her team to success.
