Asian American Giving

Diaspora Fundraising Group Shares Their Approach

Anh Ton wrote a very informative article for IdEA (International Diaspora Engagement Alliance), Four Ways to Improve Your Diaspora Organization's Fundraising Strategy. She encourages fundraisers to re-frame their question of “How do we get the diaspora to give?” to “How do we prove that we’re worth your investment?” Below is an excerpt of the four principles her organization, VNHELP follows in engaging the Vietnamese-American community in philanthropy. While the article is focused on engaging diaspora donors, I think any organization that is working with donors can easily apply these principles to their fundraising strategy.

1. Relate: Everything starts with relationship building. With diaspora donors, relationships are particularly important because these individuals tend to be accustomed to one-on-one connections rather than institutional support. As a fundraiser, you have to learn how to make the institutional personal. You’ve got to earn their trust and prove that your organization’s mission is in line with a prospective donor’s personal values. Remind them that it’s not about a donor writing a check to an organization; it’s about like-minded people combining resources to create positive change.

2. Educate: Once you’ve built a solid relationship with a donor or potential donor, begin to educate them. We don’t mean pulling out the pen and projector to go over organizational history or proposal writing cycles (although both are certainly conversations you should eventually have); we mean helping donors understand the role of organizations in charity and social development. Remind donors that you’re not just an intermediary; you’re providing value-added services like donor reporting, scheduling site visits, tax benefits and ensuring fiduciary responsibility—services that informal or peer-to-peer giving mechanisms might not be able to provide. And most importantly, show new donors how collective action through organizations can create sustainable impact beyond a single charity project.

3. Assure: Finally, assurance, which is really just another part of relationship-building. If philanthropy through institutional giving is still new to a donor, keep them updated, let them know what’s going on and let them get involved in the organization whenever possible. Never close the door just because you’ve received the contribution.

4. Engage the Next Generation: For American-born diaspora members, the engagement process is similar, but crafting the message may be a little different. Most young Asian-Americans make charitable contributions, but many do see philanthropy as a way of connecting with their cultural roots. 

Seminar: Donor Motivations and Professional Advisors

I have written before about working with professional advisors and how they can be a great asset for fundraisers, especially when it comes to planned gifts. So I am pleased to share with our readers a free webinar that Bank of America Merrill Lynch and the Council on Foundations are hosting on September 15th.

The webinar will look at the groundbreaking research, Study of High-Net-Worth Philanthropy, conducted with the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

It will provide new insights into the demographic and psychographic factors driving family philanthropy, volunteerism, and charitable giving. It will also explore the dynamics of donors' relationships with community foundations and the nonprofit organizations they support, as well as examine their relationships with the advisers they rely upon for support.

For more information and registration details, click here.

Unstoppable Philanthropic Machine: Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund

Twenty year's ago, the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund started as the first national donor-advised fund to help donors make charitable gifting easier. Today, it has helped donors support more than 136,000 nonprofit organizations with more than $11 billion in grants to charities.

At the end of 2010, the Gift Fund reports its strongest year ever for donations to nonprofits.

* Donors made more than 353,000 grants; up 19% from 2009.

* Grants totaled more than $1.2 billion to nonprofits; up 14% from 2009.

The Gift Fund also raised $1.6 billion during 2010 from incoming charitable contributions; a 42% increase compared to 2009. Contributions of appreciated assets and non-publicly traded assets comprised 50% of total incoming contributions.

Commercial DAF programs like the Gift Fund are impressive. They have been able to leverage technology to provide a streamlined service platform for donors. In addition, they have found a system to efficiently approve gift recommendations. With 353,000 grants in 2010 and 260 working days, the Gift Fund processed approximately 1,357 grants each day. That's an impressive amount of grants!

Asian Americans Encouraged to Apply! 01/13/2011

The Association of Fundraising Professional-Golden Gate Chapter's Multicultural Alliance program is accepting applications for the 2011 program.

If you are a fundraiser from a group that has been historically under-represented in the development profession, or if you work for an organization that predominantly serves under-resourced communities, we invite you to apply to this award-winning program for 2011. The year will include monthly workshops and networking sessions, where you will learn from experts in the field and share your experiences with other diverse colleagues.

For application information, please visit MCA's site. The deadline is January 31st.

Rich Will Give if Reminded

Are the rich so different from you and me? Yes, according to a recent study by Paul Piff and his colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley. The report, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, suggested that the poor, not the rich, are "more inclined to charity".

Through various experiments, the researchers found that upper-class participants said 2.1% of incomes should be donated. Lower-class folks felt that 5.6% was appropriate. 

The study also found that "the rich are capable of compassion, if somebody reminds them" but they do not show it spontaneously. Do you think this is true? Does this explain why many folks do not give because they have never been asked? Studies have shown that if asked appropriately, prospects do become donors.

So, why do the poor give more? The researchers believe it: 

... may be that the increased compassion which seems to exist among the poor increases generosity and helpfulness, and promotes a level of trust and co-operation that can prove essential for survival during hard times.

Tiffany Ueda Kelly of Greater Sacramento Urban League

The Northern California Planned Giving Council featured Tiffany Ueda Kelly, Development Director of Greater Sacramento Urban League in their latest newsletter.

Please share with us your experience at the NCPGC conference. 

Dynamic, great space to learn about planned giving. I like the fact that there are specific areas with relevant topics depending on your level and familiarity of planned giving. There are opportunities to network as well as see which companies serve nonprofits to assist in planned giving. 

Did you walk away with some take-aways to help you do your job better? If so, please share with us. I did walk away with some takeaways. Our organization has just started fundraising and getting into major gifts/planned giving, hence, it was to my advantage to attend the more basic courses. I'm in the middle of creating new remit envelopes for my organization; I made sure to include a box to check if they are including us in their estate plans. It plants the seed to get that conversation started even if the box comes back unchecked. Also I got the idea to create a marketing plan for the year to send out mailings/emails with targeted messages. Learned a lot about the latest technology to reach out to our supporters, in particular embedding widgets via Network for Good. At the end of the day, however, it's all about relationships and communicating with your supporters. 

What are some of your responsibilities at work? 

• Memberships • Annual giving • Major gifts/planned giving • Database management/maintenance • Donor tours • Board giving/fund development committee • Donor communications (ie. TY letters, phone calls, emails, etc.) 

Please share with us a little about your professional background. 

I graduated from Cal and worked in Tokyo for two years on the JET Program. Prior to becoming a fundraiser, I got my MBA at the University of Sydney, Australia and worked as a Senior Project Manager for IDC Asia Pacific for a few years. I moved back to Northern California and decided to work in a field benefiting the community. I was advised to get into fundraising and much to my surprise, found that a lot of my skills from the corporate world transferred over to the not-for-profit sector. I started out in Major Gifts at Sierra Forever Families for a few years and then moved on to Sacramento State (CSUS). Now I am the Development Director at the Greater Sacramento Urban League in charge of creating a fundraising strategy and starting up the development department. 

Who are your go-to people for work-advice? 

Many! I am a member of AFP and through this have participated in a mentoring program. Also my colleagues from AFP and past work connections & I get together now and then to compare notes. They tend to also be Development Directors or Major Gift Managers ranging from theatre to hospitals to retirement homes.

Corporate Philanthropy Out of Crisis Mode

After several posts about the negative effects of the economy, it was nice to see the report, 2010 Philanthropy Agenda: Is the Pressure Easing? from the Conference Board that corporations are moving out of crisis mode and into a recovery mindset. More than three-quarters of the 114 respondents to the report said that "they would make no recession-driven changes to their 2010 corporate giving programs. Strategic priorities such as aligning more closely with business needs, rather than economic concerns, are driving priority-setting in contributions."

Other findings include:

Only 11 percent of those surveyed said their companies would make fewer grants in 2010, compared with 34.8 percent in 2009. 

Only eight percent said they would make smaller grants, compared with 20.9 percent last year.

Corporate giving accounts for about 5 percent of all charitable giving in the U.S. Many nonprofit organizations rely on corporate contributions for unrestricted support, project support or event sponsorships. Corporate giving is closely tied to corporate profits so while the report paints a better picture for 2010, I would still be conservative in my estimates on how much funds can be raised from corporations this year.

Photo courtesy of Schristia, Creative Commons, Flickr

Use Metrics to Lessen the Guilt of Not Giving More

The 2010 PNC Wealth and Values Survey paints a gloomy picture for charitable giving. One in four wealthy Americans have cut their giving in the past two years. Yet, more than half say they "feel an obligation to give back to their communities." 

The report also points out several recent philanthropic trends. One in five donors changed the type of organizations or causes they support. 

The size of the biggest charitable donations have also dropped. One-third of all donations range from $25,000 to under $1 million now. Gifts of $1 million or more have shrunk to less than 1% compared to 15% two years earlier.

Bruce Bikel, head of private foundation management services and senior vice president of PNC Wealth Management was featured in an article by the Wall Street Journal recently.  Bruce recommends that philanthropists should take the emotion out of giving and focus on "mission-mindedness to help with the adjustment." This includes creating a points-based scoring system to grade each potential on a scale based on how the gift would fulfill their mission statement.

While I believe this strategy helps donors focus their limited funds based on a defined mission statement, I wonder how satisfied donors feel. One primary motivation for making a charitable gift is the passion associated with a cause or organization, or a connection with the beneficiaries. By taking out the emotions, the only things left are tools. How effective and long can giving-back last if the emotional bond and compassion is no longer associated with the act?

Photo courtesy of Woodlouse

 

The Magic Words Investors Want to Hear

- Dien S Yuen

I follow many for-profit practices and try to apply them to my philanthropic work. This requires meeting people, attending events and reading about topics that are not philanthropy related at all. As Bill Somerville of Philanthropic Ventures Foundation would say, "try to get out of your comfort zone."

Raising capital for a company is similar to raising money for non-profits or generating fees for social enterprises. You need to commit resources, talents, passion, and energy. I look to the best practices of venture capital, start-ups, sales, technology and other fields to improve my work. Blogs are one of my main resources and one of the blogs I follow is Thinking About Thinking, by Larry Cheng.

Larry Cheng is a partner at Fidelity Ventures. They provide capital, expertise, resources and connections for entrepreneurs at early stage and growth equity companies. In his latest post, The Magic Words, Larry writes about how the magic words, "I want to invest in the company," said by founders of the companies he invests in, warms his heart. When founders and executives want to invest their own capital into the business, it gives him, the investor, greater confidence in the company. 

Is their a similar practice in the non-profit world? Do funders look to see if the CEO, board of trustees and staff personally give to the non-profit they work at before providing them funding?

Photo courtesy of Kevin Kelly: Asia Grace

$50,000 Challenge from Donors - Give Before 12/24/09

To celebrate the launch of their Give Blog, Scott and Suja want to give away $50,000 to five charities and they need your help! The five charities they have selected are: The Hunger Project, The Grameen Foundation, Safe Passage, Catholic Charities USA, and Eastern Illinois Foodbank. Through December 24, Scott and Suja will match contributions up to $100 from new donors to these charities; each charity can receive up to $10,000 in matching funds. You can find out more on how to participate by visiting their $50,000 challenge page.

Scott and Suja started the Give Blog to motivate themselves and others to support charitable causes. Each week on their blog, they chronicle how they are living their lives each day in order to give more.  They write: 

In our lives we have been looking for the next thing to make us happy - a new bike, a new shirt, going to the movies, going out to eat, cable, or the next vacation. Regardless of our religious beliefs or non-beliefs, we have discovered that we obtain the most fulfillment in our lives from looking beyond these daily cravings to what our money can do for people who are in need. When we think about spending any money, we now ask ourselves whether it is something we really need or instead is something we can do without.  When we spend less money, it is easier to give away money.

We wish Scott and Suja the best and hope our friends can help spread the word and help Scott and Suja give away $50,000!

Photo courtesy of Give Blog