News
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Charitable Giving and Your 2020 Taxes
November 14, 2020
A Gallup poll recently found that 73% of Americans gave to charity over the past year (this is down nearly 10% from two years ago). And well over half of American donors make their gifts to charity in the final weeks of the year. If you’re in that group, you might want to know about […]
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Fundraising Way Up for First Half of 2020
November 4, 2020
The Chronicle of Philanthropy just released the results of a survey of 116 of the largest charities in America. It focused on how fundraising has fared during the global pandemic and the results might come as a surprise. The survey found: • On average, the groups raised 21% more in the first half of 2020 […]
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Michigan Looks to Renew Tax Credits for Giving
October 21, 2020
Michigan taxpayers and charitable donors take note. In late September, the state House passed a series of measures that would restore tax credits for charitable contributions to three types of nonprofits: community foundations, homeless shelters, and food banks. The tax credits were eliminated as part of broad statewide tax reforms in 2011 and nonprofit advocates […]
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Charitable Giving of Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates
August 20, 2020
Every election cycle, I publish the charitable giving of the candidates for President and Vice President. I think it’s important for Americans to know how the candidates for higher office support nonprofit charities. I also include the average giving for American citizens for comparison. The information below is taken directly from candidate’s most recently available […]
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Perspective
April 8, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic is clearly an unprecedented event for our nation and the rest of the world. Understandably, many nonprofit leaders and board members are concerned about their immediate and long-term futures. In times like this, a little perspective can be helpful. After all, this isn’t the first time our nation has faced a period […]
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America’s Most Generous Donors
February 19, 2020
Every year, the Chronicle of Philanthropy highlights the top donors in the United States. In 2019, the top fifty American donors gave $15.8 billion to various causes. This is nearly double the $8 billion given in 2018 by the top fifty. Here’s the list of the top ten American donors from last year: Michael Bloomberg […]
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4 Demographic Changes that Impact Fundraising
January 12, 2020
The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently reported on a University of Maryland study on four demographic trends among young adults (age 22-35) that are likely to impact fundraising: #1: Homeownership is falling. Bad news for fundraising as homeowners are much more likely to give and volunteer than other groups. #2: Fewer young people are getting married […]
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A Tale of Two Nonprofits
November 12, 2019
The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently reported that charitable giving in 2018 to the 100 largest American charities skyrocketed by 11% over 2017 figures. This report seems to be at odds with a report earlier this year (also by the Chronicle) that overall giving in 2018 declined by 1.8% over the previous year. How can this […]
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An Unexpected Smile
October 24, 2019
I was in Rockford, Michigan the other day and bumped into an old friend I hadn’t seen in some time. As we caught up, he mentioned that his family recently joined Bridgeway Community Church just a few miles away. He talked about the new church, its location on the Rogue River and how it had […]
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One Minute Read: Three Stories and a Lesson
September 10, 2019
Here are three 2019 stories about nonprofits in West Michigan (names of organizations and volunteers withheld to protect the innocent): A volunteer fundraiser approaches a donor prospect to ask for a gift to the nonprofit. The donor prospect tells the volunteer during an initial phone call that they’re not interested in the campaign. The volunteer […]