Worry no more fundraising fans

The last week of the calendar year is one of the busiest times of the year for nonprofit fundraisers. Even if, like many nonprofits, your fiscal year goes from July 1st to June 30th - the holiday season is still critical for fundraising success.

For the past week, "a fundraiser" has been too busy counting money and eating fruit cake to write on this blog. I apologize to all the fundraising fans out there.

I'd like to wish a Happy New Year to all of the loyal readers of this blog. We've got an exciting year planned, so if you haven't signed up to receive updates by email or to receive Don't Tell the Donor stories by RSS feed make sure to put that on your list of resolutions for 2008.

Charity uses efficiency rating to solicit funds

Meghan Goss, blog editor at the Humane Society of the United States, emailed me last week with this note:

I thought you might be interested in today’s blog entry from Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States. He writes about animal protection’s role in philanthropy and discusses the options available to donors for evaluating charities.

The blog points out HSUS's four-star rating from Charity Navigator as well as explaining how they pride themselves on being effective advocates and demonstrating a return on donors' investments.

AFP publishes more proof of fundraising divide

Look. I'm not here to waste your time.

Most people don't know this, but I have a magic crystal ball in my desk drawer. It has special powers that allow me to predict the future. Not only that, but I read a shit load of news stories everyday about fundraising in order to hopefully share some observations of what trends will influence our industry.

I'm not trying to scare you. I only want to warn you - so pay attention.

Small nonprofits seem to be in trouble... and it may only be a matter of time before larger groups start to see the same fundraising weakness creep into their programs.

The AFP published the results of an online fundraising survey today.

In general, larger organizations are faring better than smaller charities. Two-thirds of organizations with budgets greater than $50 million have raised more money during the last quarter of 2007 than in 2006, as are more than half (52.4 percent) of charities with budgets between $10 million and $50 million. In contrast, only about one-third (32.7 percent) of organizations with budgets smaller than $500,000 have raised more money during the last quarter of 2007 then they did during the same period in 2006.

Now, I know what you are thinking... fundraising is not an easy job. This is a very tough profession and if charities can't retain top quality talent and invest in fundraising, they aren't going to make it over the long run.

But if there is a recession looming which could cause an industry wide fundraising slump, there is no doubt smaller charities would be affected first. If you are a Development Director you might want to consider buying a canary for your coal mine in 2008.

"It’s got to be the economy, when those who usually donate are seeking help"

Another local Salvation Army might have to extend its kettle drive to meet its goal. With just six days left, the Fergus Falls Daily Journal reports that local officials are considering putting the kettles out for another week past the Dec. 24 deadline. Go here to read more.

Maybe they need a miracle like what happened in Exton, PA where an Army veteran who remembered getting free coffee and doughnuts from the Salvation Army decades ago gave a $10,000 check to a dumbfounded bell-ringer.

But honestly, even if expensive coins were dropped in kettles across the country, there is still bad news brewing... I can feel it in my bones.

Local Salvation Army chapters feel pinch

Channel 15 in Madison, WI says the Salvation Army needs a miracle:

Currently, the Salvation Army is about $70,000 behind where it was this time last year. There's also about 400 bell ringers short of last years volunteers as well. The Salvation Army's goal is $480,000 for its red kettle campaign. Right now its at $275,000 which means its $205,000 short.

And in Minneapolis - St. Paul the news seems to be even worse:

However, agencies that depend in part on United Way, businesses and individual donors -- such as Catholic Charities, the Emergency FoodShelf Network and Salvation Army -- report that fundraising is lagging while demand for food, shelter, clothing and other support has risen. Those seeking help range from the chronic homeless to folks who can't make mortgage payments.

Bad fundraisers are always looking for an excuse for missing their numbers. I've been doing this long enough to remember when groups used 9/11 or Katrina donation fatigue in past years... but I really think the Chronicle of Philanthropy is on to something when they point out the growing economic divide between charities.

Nonprofit's fundraising call center to close down

In May 2006, the Oregon Volunteer Firefighters Association opened a call center in downtown Coos Bay. Employees called residents all across the state, asking for donations to fund programs provided by the firefighters organization.

However, within the past month, the group’s Board of Directors decided to close the facility two days after Christmas. As a result, about 20 to 25 employees will lose their jobs.

Spokesman for OVFA Steve Schneiderman says it was an effective fundraiser, but scam artists used that to their benefit with many instances of impersonators posing as call center employees to make their own financial gain.

"There were some new laws that went into effect for fundraising and telemarketing in Oregon and that did show a decrease in the donations available. This is generally the major fundraising program that we do, so we are going to have to look for another way to raise the funds to support our programs."

That exploitation and the negative public view of telemarketing are the ultimate reasons Schneiderman believes the center went under.

My personal note to telemarketing scammers who impersonated the volunteer firefighters in Christmas and took away this source of funding AND these jobs - I hope your Christmas lights short-circuit and your house burns down.

UPDATE: This story from the Associated Press that appeared in The Register-Guard on December 29th paints a different picture of the story.

It appears there was an "investigation by the Oregon attorney general’s office into a New Jersey telemarketing company the state says takes the lion’s share of the money it raises." Under an agreement reached in November, "the telemarketing firm’s activities are restricted for five years, although it can operate charitable or nonprofit call centers under the terms of state law."

AFP asks Congress to ban percentage-based fundraising

The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) has a Code of Ethics that specifically bans the practice of percentage-based fundraising. They consider the practice unethical and have developed a position paper outlining why it hurts the industry.

Last week, the AFP went even further by calling on Congress to ban the practice.

On Thursday, Dec. 13, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing that examined the fundraising and spending habits of charities that serve veterans.

“If you examine the charities that have extremely high fundraising costs, including several of the groups highlighted during the hearing, you’ll almost always find that these organizations pay their fundraising firms on a percentage basis,” says Paulette V. Maehara, CFRE, CAE, president and CEO. “The one single reform proposal that would make the most difference in stopping fraud and strengthening public trust in the charitable sector would be for Congress to ban percentage-based fundraising.”

The AFP maintains that percentage based fundraising is unethical because:

* charitable mission becomes secondary to personal gain
* donor trust can be unalterably damaged
* there is incentive for self-dealing to prevail over donors' best interests
* the very philanthropic values on which the voluntary sector is based are undermined.

Even if you agree, do you think asking Congress to ban the practice is the right thing to do?

Did the credit crisis kill Santa Claus?

Back in August when the sub prime housing bubble sparked a sell-off in the stock market, the New York Sun wrote an article asking if year-end fundraising would get caught in the downdraft.

"The credit crisis and the stock market turmoil are having a preliminary impact on the nonprofit sector and concern is growing that fund-raising could be hurt if the downturn continues to gain steam."

Yet before fundraisers could blink, the market rallied and stocks hit multi-year highs in the early fall and everything seemed fine again.

And then November happened. Investors began to see that the impacts of the housing "bubble" were beginning to spread and infect consumer spending. Huge financial institutions began to write off billions of dollars in bad debt. As a result, the stock market appears poised for another precipitous decline - one that could threaten to wipe out most of the gains from 2007 in the Dow and the S&P index.

If stocks suffer, year-end bonuses will suffer, and therefore, year-end giving will also suffer.

I know some fundraisers who dug out that newspaper article from August and are already preparing their excuses in case they don't hit their year end numbers. I've joked before about creating a major donor fundraiser anxiety index and selling it to the guys on Wall Street who would use it as a leading market indicator of consumer confidence.

Fundraisers don't need Morgan Stanley to tell them that the country will enter a recession in 2008... the smart development directors see it happening already.

Two more articles on Monday finally confirmed for me that Santa Claus might be having trouble making his adjustable rate jumbo mortgage and therefore won't be bringing many year-end presents.

First, MasterCard announced that sales of women’s clothing, a traditional pillar of the holiday shopping season, are unusually bleak so far this year. "From high-end dresses to bargain coats, spending on women’s apparel dropped nearly 6 percent during the first half of the Christmas season, compared with the same period last year."

The second ominous sign came from Tracie McMillan who published an article on MSNBC this morning profiling the fundraising worries at the National Wildlife Federation where fears of a donor drain have made it difficult to replace departing benefactors.

Bill Levis, the author of a new pilot survey by the Urban Institute that documents the trend. Levis’ survey shows that most nonprofits post an average gain of just 10 percent each year: they lose 52 percent of their donations, which is then offset by a 62 percent gain in new or upgraded donations. In short, says Levis, nonprofits are losing almost as much as they’re gaining, pouring a river of money into a nearly open drain.

You could make an argument that different nonprofits have different fundraising structures. Some cash strapped organizations are dependant on aggressive short term revenue targets at the expense of growing a more sustainable long term donor value... but that misses the point.

If the economy is about to hit a recession, nonprofit fundraisers will be among the first to know it.

UPDATE: I can't imagine what it must be like to live in Manhattan and be surrounded by this shit all the time - but a Wall Street blog is reporting that Morgan Stanley and Bear Sterns are "much lower" than last years.

LA Times profiles Ron Paul fundraiser

Trevor Lyman is a 37-year-old musician and Internet entrepreneur who didn't finish college.

He was running a website called musicsubmit.com that enables artists to bypass major record labels and market their songs. He was a political novice who never bothered to vote in the past.

However, when the new Democratic majority in Congress didn't pull the troops out of Iraq, Lyman was drawn to Paul because of his promise to end the war immediately.

Despite the fact that he has never met Ron Paul, he was profiled by Dan Morain at the Los Angeles Times as "the man behind Paul's fundraising curtain" who helped the Republican candidate raise millions in online donations.

Much has been written about Ron Paul's surprising fundraising success... and given the early results from his Tea Party event on Sunday, plenty more attention will be directed toward the maverick's campaign.

I believe viral online fundraising can really work for all nonprofits... but it's not simply the technology that makes it work, it's a willingness to allow a decentralize structure... and a willing of fundraising staff to understand what motivates people like Lyman.

Former Bears coach Mike Ditka faces fundraising questions

Last week, the USA TODAY reported on the financial questions surrounding Mike Ditka's charity fundraising.

Twice this year, pro football legend Mike Ditka has blasted the National Football League and its players union, telling Congress that both groups are "delaying or denying" requests by needy retired players for help.

Ditka formed a charity in 2004 to aid those players. The Mike Ditka Hall of Fame Assistance Trust Fund has collected $1.3 million and netted about $315,000 after expenses. But it has given only $57,000 to former players in need, according to federal and Illinois tax records.

The trust paid more in fees to induce former stars to appear at a 2005 fundraiser than it gave needy ex-players in its first 3 years.

The net looks low because the charity spent $715,000, the bulk of the money it raised, to put on three annual golf tournaments. That figure includes payments of about $280,000 to a Chicago firm that organized the tournaments and at least $65,000 in honoraria to ex-stars.

Ditka is the outspoken former Hall of Fame player and coach for the Chicago Bears. In June, he told a House panel that injured and needy ex-players are "treated like dogs" while the union "does nothing material to help these guys." His charity, he said then, was created to redress "this grave injustice."

The charity, recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt organization, gave nothing to players during its first two years. It aided 10 ex-players in 2006.

Carl Francis, a spokesman for the players union, that Ditka frequently targeted, used the story to point out the potential hypocrisy in Ditka's criticisms.

"At some point it's got to be about more than holding yet another press conference and blasting people," Francis said. "You ought to be announcing 'We just gave away a half a million.' Unless, of course, you didn't."

Now, the former NFL legend is paying more attention.

Ditka said he had paid little attention to his charity's numbers until this year. He has begun cutting fundraising costs and will insist that half of the annual tournament's proceeds be paid out, he said, adding that the trustees have been told to pay needy players first before requiring them to fill out forms.

Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy, a charity watchdog, said the Ditka trust may have underestimated the charity's workload by naming only two volunteer trustees — three fewer than the minimum the institute recommends.

The group, he said, appears to have underestimated the cost of putting on golf tournaments, which are typically among the most expensive types of fundraiser.

This isn't the first time celebrities seemed surprised to hear that lending their name to charity fund can go badly unless you pay attention to the important things - like money.

Now the Chicago Sun Times and others are starting to ask hard questions.

Quote of the day

“Now the money sucks for two reasons. People are mad at the president; they are mad at the party. And then [there is] this whole immigration fight. People just turned off the spigot.”

- House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Oh). Quoted in a Politico interview.

400 Santas running for charity

The 2007 Santa Run attracted more than 400 people dressed as Santa to run the annual charity fund raiser in Newtown, Powys (located in Wales).

“We still had up to 400 santas running the four-and-a-half-mile course which was marvellous,” said organiser Michael Jones.

Event organizers are disputing reports that bad weather kept more people away. To check out more photos from past events, go here... and be sure to check out this story about the Santas arrested for starting a street brawl in 2004.

Maryland tells Sheriffs organization to stop fundraising

The Baltimore Sun reported yesterday that the National Organization of Deputy Sheriffs was ordered to immediately stop all fundraising in the state of Maryland.

Last Thursday, Maryland's secretary of state told the North Carolina-based organization it had committed nine violations of state charity regulations.

According to the state, violations include misleading potential contributors, implying that the state has endorsed the organization, using unregistered professional solicitors, submitting false statements to the state and misrepresenting the reasons why funds are being solicited.

Here is a funny video of a resident in Maryland confronting a door-to-door canvasser from the organization. It's funny to the fundraisers reaction to being asked if he is running a scam.

If you look at the website for the National Organization of Deputy Sheriffs, you won't see any mention of the ban in the state of Maryland. However, if you Google the organization, you will see that the state of Virginia has been warning its citizens away from the group since last year.

It's a shame these kinds of warnings are only offered state by state. Perhaps its time we start thinking about a federal agency with enforcement powers. Sure, it might seem scary, but any fundraiser who has had to fill out dozens of different state registration forms might be willing to consider one federal registration process.

What if Google made a play at Guidestar

For years, Guidestar has been the accepted source for information on nonprofits. Sure, they make it a little difficult to get a .pdf of 990s from several years back... but if you (or your organization) has a login, it is has always been the "leading source of information."

In fact, recently they even launched a way to donate directly to your favorite nonprofit.

One reader emailed me over the weekend to say that she was searching for information on the American Red Cross and she was surprised to find this page on the Google Finance website. The profile contains a summary, top news stories, top staff listing, a simplified balance sheet, and a list of similar organizations.

I did a quick search and found several dozen other nonprofits... and I must admit... I never knew these pages existed.

Meanwhile, I saw Trent Stamp linked to an article by Ben Gose at the Chronicle of Philanthropy which reports:

Mark W. Everson, the former president of the American Red Cross, did not improperly use the charity’s money while having an affair with the head of a Red Cross chapter in Mississippi, the Red Cross has announced.

The review of Mr. Everson’s spending focused on travel costs and expense reports, according to Carrie Martin, a Red Cross spokeswoman. It was conducted by the charity’s office of investigations, compliance and ethics, under the direction of the general counsel.

“This was just a matter of due diligence,” Ms Martin said. “We started looking into this as soon as we heard the news. It’s a question that is immediately raised in any kind of situation like this, and the Red Cross has a responsibility to determine that there was no misuse of donor dollars.”

Interesting to note that the Chronicle dedicated not to publish Paige Roberts name.

Nancy Schwartz wants to give you a better tagline

Nancy Schwartz's blog, Getting Attention is one of the best free resources for nonprofit marketers who are looking for ideas, tactics, and tips in order to communicate more effectively.

Recently, she posted about the importance of a nonprofit tagline by saying, "Your tagline is one of the most powerful marketing tools you have. That's why I'm making a special effort in 2008 to help nonprofits like yours craft better taglines."

So, she is asking for input from readers:

Please help me launch this research project by taking less than 3 minutes of your time to complete this short survey.

In return for your valuable time, you'll get guidance on best practices and tips for improving your tagline when the Getting Attention Tagline Report is published in early 2008. I'd like to send you a copy of the report. If you're interested, please provide your email where requested.

If you have three minutes, go fill out her survey.

Televangelists ignore Senate investigation

Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, sent lengthy questionnaires a month ago to six ministries so he could review whether pastors were complying with IRS rules that bar excessive personal gain through tax-exempt work.

However, two of those televangelists ignored Thursday's deadline to turn over information.

Benny Hinn of World Healing Center Church Inc. and Benny Hinn Ministries of Grapevine, Texas, said in a statement to the AP on Thursday that he will not respond to the inquiry until next year.

A lawyer for preacher Creflo Dollar of World Changers Church International in suburban Atlanta had said Wednesday that the investigation should be referred to the IRS or the Senate panel should get a subpoena for the documents.

All the ministries preach a form of "Word of Faith" theology, known as prosperity gospel, which teaches that God wants believers to reap material rewards for their faith.

Because they have tax status as churches, the ministries do not have to file IRS 990 forms like other non-profit organizations - leaving much financial information largely behind closed doors.

The letters sent Monday were the culmination of a long investigation fueled in part by complaints from Ole Anthony, a crusader against religious fraud who operates the Dallas-based Trinity Foundation, which describes itself as a watchdog monitoring religious media, fraud and abuse. "We've been working with them for two years," Anthony told CBS News. "We have furnished them with enough information to fill a small Volkswagen."

The other ministries targeted in the inquiry are Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and Bishop Eddie Long Ministries of Lithonia, Ga.; Randy and Paula White of Without Walls International Church and Paula White Ministries of Tampa, Fla.; and Kenneth and Gloria Copeland of Kenneth Copeland Ministries of Newark, Texas.

Brothers get 8 years prison for Katrina donation scam

Two Houston brothers were each sentenced this week to more than eight years in prison for wire fraud and aggravated identify theft in connection with operating a Web site that purported to raise money for the Salvation Army to help Hurricane Katrina victims.

The brothers were convicted in June after a four-day trial. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, they registered a Web site called www.salvationarmyonline.org on Sept. 3, 2005 - less than a week after the hurricane hit the gulf coast.

More than 250 people donated over $48,000 before the corresponding PayPal accounts were frozen because of reports of fraud, according to the prosecution.

U.S. District Judge David Hittner sentenced Steven Stephens, 24, to 63 months each on six convictions of wire fraud, prosecutors said Wednesday. U. S. Attorney Don. DeGabrielle told the Houston Chronicle that Hittner sentenced Bartholomew Stephens, 27, to concurrent 57-month prison terms on each of his six wire fraud convictions.

Blackbaud CFO exercises option and sells $1 million of company stock

In a Form 4 filed with the SEC last Friday, Timothy V. Williams (chief financial officer and senior vice president of Blackbaud Inc) reported he exercised options for 40,000 shares Wednesday for $4.80 apiece and then sold all of them the same day for $28.02 to $28.31 apiece.

Ironically, while Williams was cashing in, Blackbaud Chief Executive Marc Chardon gave an extensive interview which appeared in Investor's Business Daily and CNN Money this week.

The company started in 1981 as an early accounting program for educators. Today, Blackbaud has 19,000 customers. They include the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Michigan, and the Catholic Diocese of Dallas.

Blackbaud's year-over-year sales growth has risen each of the last three quarters, from 15% to 27%, 32% and 36%. Analysts expect 38% growth this quarter.

When asked who else competes in their market, Chardon said this:

Today there are three main kinds of fundraising. In high-touch fundraising, one competitor for us is the BSR part of Sungard Data Systems. Occasionally, the largest organizations might use Siebel (a unit of Oracle ORCL) or Salesforce.com CRM.

The second kind of fundraising is direct marketing, like for the March of Dimes or Easter Seals. Those groups raise smaller funds, but from a huge database of donors. In January we acquired a company named Target Software, which is a leading provider of that software. Our competitors there include service bureaus (database marketing firms) such as Merkle in the U.S.

The third kind of fundraising involves online fundraising from family and friends for events such as walk-a-thons. In this area, our Blackbaud NetCommunity product competes against Convio and Kintera.

Previously, this blog has reported on rumors that Oracle might be interested in buying Blackbaud... however, I have no reason to think there is any specific truth to that rumor.

How I won the "One Post Challenge" at Tactical Philanthropy

When I submitted my entry to Sean's "One Post Challenge" it wasn't my intention to hijack the contest.

Fourteen months ago when I started my Don't Tell the Donor blog, I was one of only a handful of fundraising bloggers. Over the past year, I was initially excited to see so many more bloggers add to the online conversation.

Unfortunately, the proliferation of websites has all too often produced an incestuous conversation. For this medium to reach its strongest potential and serve as a true benefit to the nonprofits we serve, we must find a way to reach out beyond a limited number of fundraisers and foundation staffers to engage directly with individual donors.

As I wrote in my initial post, "blogging is not about talking AT PEOPLE, it’s about making readers part of the story and giving them a reason to be engaged."

Engaged was a bit of an understatement. Within the first 24 hours my post generated 57 comments, which by itself would have been enough to win the contest.

Sean himself noted that the deluge of hopeful supporters leaving comments for their cause generated more traffic to the website than his mentions in both the Chronicle of Philanthropy and the New York Times. That single comment proved my point more than the huge number of posts that came in.

...oh, but by the way... there were a heckuva a lot of comments. As I write this now, it looks like there are 683 total comments. I will leave it to Sean to see if he thinks their was any cheating with multiple votes coming from the same IP address... but here is how I saw the horserace unfold:

A total of ten nonprofits tried to lobby for votes. The early leader, Pride at Work after generating more than 60 votes within the first 36 hours. Thanks to one dedicated activist who was able to use his own site to reach out to more people, Pride at Work built a commanding lead... so much of a lead, they stopped thinking about the contest.

Then, on November 26th, someone who went by the name "Kjerstein" posted comment #75 - the first vote for Forge. That was followed by more than 50 more votes for Forge within the next couple hours... and the battle lines were drawn.

For the last week, votes poured in from both charities. It wasn't until late on December 3rd when Pride at Work must have thought the voting was over when Forge moved in for their final push. The refugee assistance group poured on more than 250 votes in the final day and won the contest by a final vote (through 683 total votes) by a score of 423-231.

Truth be told, I had never heard of either group when this contest started, but I have learned a lot about them in the past couple weeks... I hope others have. Both groups did an excellent outreach marketing job... and I would suggest that even though I want to donate the $500 gift card I won to Forge, I would like to suggest that Sean award his second $250 award to the second place group in this contest, Pride at Work.

My work here is done. This "fundraiser" is off to run a couple victory laps around the blogosphere. Congratulations to Sean and to Forge (who apparently only live about an hour away from each hour). I would encourage other bloggers to organize these challenges... it seems much more effective than those bland carnivals.

Thanks again for letting me be a part.
"a fundraiser"

The difference between philanthropy and fundraising

Most nonprofit development offices are divided so that the responsibility of working with low dollar donors is separated from the staff who cultivate corporation, foundations, and major donors.

I know some nonprofits that rely on big gifts from a small group of philanthropists in order to keep their doors open, however I personally feel better when an organization has hundreds (maybe thousands) of individual members who give provide many nonprofits with their mandate to exist.

Sure, one donor could write a $100,000 check and provide more operating assistance than 2,000 donors who give $50 each through direct mail. However, low dollar donors provide an important endorsement that the nonprofit's work matters. On the other side, all too often it can seem as if major donors are more interested in using their gift to avoid taxes on their wealth or to advance their own social status.

A long time reader sent me two links to the New York Times yesterday that reminded me of my personal fundraising bias:

Stephanie Strom writes about an I.R.S. investigation of the Maddox Foundation of Hernando, Miss. who agreed to transfer millions of dollars in assets to the Dan and Margaret Maddox Charitable Trust in Nashville, TN.

Tennessee went to court in an effort to bring the foundation’s assets back to the state after its directors moved it to Mississippi without seeking court approval. It argued that Dan Maddox, who left more than $100 million when he and his wife died in a freakish boating accident in 1998, had little connection to Mississippi and had intended that the bulk of the money be used for charities in Tennessee.

After the move, the foundation began paying Robin G. Costa, its president and the executor of Mr. Maddox’s estate, handsomely and covering a variety of her travel expenses. The foundation bought a minor league hockey team and an Arena Football League team, contending that the purchases were charitable in nature because they encouraged local economic development.

Charles Isherwood writes a piece about the graffiti of the philanthropic class after visiting the Shakespeare Theater Company in Washington and finding names on everything. He observes:

But once upon a time a discreet collective plaque or a name in the program seemed to suffice. We live now in a different age. Celebrity has become a luxury product like any other, and the wealthy can purchase a tasteful morsel of the respectable kind through charitable largess.
I'm sure some bloggers like Phil at the GiftHub or Sean at Tactical Philanthropy could offer different opinions of this difference between fundraising and philanthropy. I'm also curious what others think.

(Photo credit to Stephanie Kuykendal for The New York Times.)

Wonkette publishes Paige Roberts photo

From Wonkette:

Paige Roberts is the Executive Director of the Southeast Mississippi Chapter of the Red Cross (and a former television reporter). She, like Everson, is married with two children, so I’m sure they had lots to talk about after they finished bumping uglies other than the fact that her house was destroyed by Katrina (and that the Red Cross was destroying her marriage). Let’s hope they also talked about what to do if she got knocked up, because two senior officials at the national Red Cross told the NY Times that she’s carrying his child. Like, seriously? How open about your sex life at the office do you have to be for your underlings to know your mistress is preggers?

Mississippi Press names woman in Red Cross scandal

Veto F. Roley at the Mississippi Press is breaking the story that Southeast Mississippi Chapter Executive Director Paige Roberts matches the clues given earlier this week by multiple news reports as to the identity of the woman who had an affair with the former leader of the Red Cross.

Multiple attempts Thursday by The Mississippi Press to reach Roberts were unsuccessful. "You will have to ask her about it," Roberts' husband, Gary Roberts, said when contacted Thursday. He is a municipal judge in Gautier.

A call to Paige Roberts' cellular phone was returned by Kiki McLean, who identified herself as a friend. She referred questions to the American Red Cross national office.

You can read the entire story here.

Paige Roberts was in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to attend a previously scheduled national Red Cross conference. The story goes on to say:

According to the New York Post, which quoted unidentified Red Cross executives, the woman involved with Everson lives in Mississippi, is brunette, lost her home during Hurricane Katrina, is married with two children and is a former television reporter.

According to a 2006 profile in The Mississippi Press, Paige Roberts was a reporter at WLOX-TV 13 from 1993 to 1996 and has two children. She is also brunette. The Robertses' home was completely destroyed in Katrina.

According to Foley's report, Barbara Dumas, chairwoman of the Southeast Mississippi Red Cross chapter, said Thursday that Roberts is still employed.

Nothing drives blog traffic like a sex scandal

And if the scandal involves a high ranking official from one the biggest charities in the country who is forced to resign over an affair with a subordinate... that's going to grab a lot people's attention.

This blog experienced one of the biggest spikes ever from individual Google searches on Thursday. Visitor numbers spiked after rumors swirled that the affair resulted in a pregnancy involving a former TV reporter who is working with a Mississippi chapter of the Red Cross.

All day long, I saw visitors coming to the site for the first time after typing in search terms, such as: "Everson affair pregnant scandal Red Cross," or "Red Cross affair made her pregnant" or "Everson resigns pregnancy affair."

It seems clear to me those spikes came from people who were hunting to find the identity of the unnamed woman in the affair. The Nonprofit Times knows the woman's identity, but chose not to publish it for editorial reasons.

...sources inside the organization told The NonProfit Times that the relationship was not a well-kept secret. In fact, according to a staff member with direct knowledge of the situation, Everson’s inner circle had unofficially warned him he was in dangerous territory with the relationship.

One contact of mine at a well known philanthropy paper told me:

"I'm actually not sure how we would handle the publishing of her name if we did have it -- though I think it's telling that the NY Post actually chose not to publish it."

So - I'm torn between conflicting feeling about whether or not publishing the identity of others involved in the story should be made public. I understand that some private issues should play out in private... and I certainly understand that many co-workers (even subordinates) find themselves in office relationships.

My intern finally tracked down the woman's identity and her picture, but I am not convinced publishing it is the best option. So what do you think?

Should we put it to a vote? Do you think bloggers who have the woman's name, identity, or picture of the poorly kept secret should keep it secret or make the name public?

Maybe we should use our Don't Tell The Donor official poll on the right hand side to cast your vote on what you would like to see happen.

Mississippi belle linked to Red Cross scandal

Several media reports are beginning to shed a little more light on the affair that led to the Red Cross firing their leader on Tuesday. The New York Times tells it this way:

A senior executive at the Red Cross who had been hired by Mr. Everson told board members about Mr. Everson’s relationship — with a married woman who is head of a Red Cross chapter on the Gulf Coast. Mr. Everson met the woman on trips that were part of efforts to restore the Red Cross’s reputation there. She is pregnant, two Red Cross executives said.

The New York Post describes the woman as a sultry Southern belle:

The glamorous brunette, a former TV reporter, is an official with a Mississippi chapter of the Red Cross - a position that put her on the front lines responding to the Hurricane Katrina disaster that leveled her own home.

Neither paper published the woman's name.

Four weeks too late

It's hard to get a lot of respect as an anonymous blogger. I understand that. Why would you trust someone who writes a blog without the accountability of their own personal reputation? That's one of the reasons, I got myself an intern to kick around.

But, come on. That doesn't mean you can simply ignore anonymous blogs altogether and wait for the mainstream media to deliver the news you need.

The security breach at Convio is a perfect case in point. Those of you that read this blog regularly knew back on November 4th that Convio had confirmed the fact that hackers stole password information. During the days that followed, I published no less than 13 entries, I kept in contact with the folks at Convio to ask questions and get official comments, I even posted a detailed analysis on what 6 groups did to notify their members.

I'm not trying to toot my own horn. However, I am shocked by the amount of email I received today from folks who only read about the security breach yesterday in the New York Times. One email was even titled, "BREAKING NEWS" and begged me to notify readers immediately?

Seriously? If anything bad happened, the risk was four weeks ago when the breach occurred.

This isn't news. I'm not sure why the New York Times waited so long to publish their story... Stephanie Strom had to have known this was old news. So, either the timing of the publication is weird or the New York Times just proves once again how blogs have changed the speed of the information world.

Will Red Cross scandal impact fundraising?

Stephanie Strom at the New York Times adds more to the Red Cross story. She reports that Suzy C. DeFrancis, chief public affairs officer for the Red Cross, was told that there had been no threat of a lawsuit. The article also writes:

Since he joined the Red Cross at the end of May, Mr. Everson had traveled around the country, visiting chapters and blood services operations and courting donors. He set ambitious fund-raising targets and, in a conversation about eight weeks ago, said he was concerned about declining donations.

There is also a quote from Trent Stamp at Charity Navigator who said, “This will affect fund-raising, organizational morale and public trust in this organization, which is already dangerously low."

Saucy Red Cross Boss Tossed

My new intern thought it was cute that the New York Post used the headline, "Saucy Red Cross Boss Tossed."

I responded by telling him that he should forget about taking a lunch break today. We have a busy day ahead of us so I went ahead and chained his leg to the desk so that he wouldn't be distracted. I told him if he finds any good angles to the Red Cross story, I will throw him some scraps when I get back from my lunch break.

For me, the most interesting part of the Red Cross story was the irony that Everson's wife is powerhouse lawyer Nanette Rupka Everson - once the chief ethics counsel for the Bush White House. The NY Post points out, "in that high-profile post, she vetted the kind of conduct issues that cost her husband his latest job."

It has also come to my attention to the board learned of Everson's affair from "a senior executive" and he was presented with the "evidence" in front of the full Board.

Word of Red Cross leader's resignation travels quickly

Late this afternoon, the Red Cross Board of Governors announced on their website that President and CEO Mark W. Everson would be stepping down because of a 'personal relationship.'

It's only been a couple hours and already Google is showing 288 news stories.

Lucky for you, I finally got an intern at Don't Tell The Donor to boss around. I ordered him to read every single story. He rolled his eyes and refused... but at least he gave me this:

**********************************
CNN points out in their coverage that Everson is 53 years old, was paid $500,000-per-year, and perhaps most interesting:

The organization became aware of Everson's relationship with a female Red Cross employee 10 days ago, Chief Public Affairs Officer Suzy C. DeFrancis told CNN in a telephone interview.

Bloomberg describes Everson's previous professional experience as commissioner of the IRS and they reveal personal details about his family:

The former executive is married to Nanette Everson, a former White House lawyer under President George W. Bush who later served as general counsel of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission until last March. They have two children.

And the Nonprofit Times adds some details about emergency conference calls between the executive board and the full board. They also share some rumors of favored replacements:

The rumors of his replacement are already humming. One name is that of Frances Fragos Townsend, who recently stepped down as an advisor at the federal Department of Homeland Security and who was talked about as a possible CEO before Everson.

I'll post more coverage as soon my surprising lazy intern gets through some more articles. Email me if you have any tips about this story or if you have any suggestions on how I can intimidate my intern into working harder and faster.

Red Cross ousts leader after learning of affair with subordinate

This story is just hitting the wires:

The American Red Cross announced today that its Board of Governors asked for and received the resignation of President and CEO Mark W. Everson, effective immediately. Concurrently, the Board appointed Mary S. Elcano, General Counsel, as interim President and CEO.

The Board acted quickly after learning that Mr. Everson engaged in a personal relationship with a subordinate employee. It concluded that the situation reflected poor judgment on Mr. Everson's part and diminished his ability to lead the organization in the future. He joined the American Red Cross as President and CEO on May 29, 2007.

Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, Chairman of the Board of the American Red Cross, said: "Although this is difficult and disappointing news for the Red Cross community, the organization remains strong and the life-saving mission and work of the American Red Cross will go forward. Mary Elcano, who has ably served as our General Counsel for the past five years, will continue to provide leadership, stability and continuity until a successor is chosen."

The married father of two was hired to improve the image of the Red Cross after criticism of how the charity responded to complains over their handling of the Katrina response. If you want to read his statement, go here.

"the silliness of the haters"

After months of trying to ignore Ron Paul, the grassroots fundraising strength of Paul's campaign to be the Republicans' nomination for President, have finally attracted enough attention to shift the level of attacks.

Recently, some conservative activist criticized Paul for accepting a donation from a Nevada brothel owner.

Paul's campaign was surprised to see Hof, flanked by two prostitutes, emerge from a limousine outside of Lawlor Events Center this morning. They arrived with MSNBC journalist Tucker Carlson, who has been traveling with Paul for a piece he's writing for the New Republic.

Ok, hang on a minute, this story was already funny enough but then Tucker Carlson shows up a bunch of hookers in tow, thinking this would be a good image for the campaign!

Some have asked, "Does this mean Ron Paul thinks brothels are a good idea?"

Lew Rockwell, former congressional chief of staff to Ron Paul. He runs a blog called the LRC Blog where he posted these reactions to the recent criticism on November 25 at 9:04 AM.

Well, No, it means that many diverse Americans think that perpetual war, a police state, income taxes, and the suppression of free speech and voluntary commerce are bad ideas.

When Christian Rightists demand that Ron return the money, and accuse him of approving prostitution if he doesn't, will we see the silliness of the haters?

It makes a good soundbite at a time Paul is getting lots of negative pressure despite his strong candidacy... but I don't agree that haters are being "silly," I think they are attempting to be strategic. And they have been very successful in that attempt.

Sears sues university over naming rights

Ryerson University in Toronto is celebrating the opening of a new lecture theatre named for clothier Harry Rosen, but Sears Canada isn't too happy about the name of the building.

The Toronto Star reports:

The department store giant is claiming that instead of getting the promised top billing on a building on the downtown campus in exchange for $10 million in donations, it's left with a lousy little plaque in the George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre, named for a guy who forked over half that much.

Sears Canada Inc. is calling for a court order that Ryerson put its name on a building or, failing that, pay an unspecified amount in damages for breaching the contract.

TechSoup's news - so old it's cold

A reader just forwarded me this email (dated Nov. 20th) from TechSoup, one of the leading edge techie types advising the nonprofit world. Why did it take them so long to notify subscribers?

TechSoup By the Cup - November 20, 2007
The Newsletter from TechSoup.org
"Technology served the way nonprofits need it."

***********************************************
CONVIO SUBSCRIBER ALERT:

Convio/GetActive - the service TechSoup uses to manage and distribute By the Cup - is warning subscribers to exercise caution after hackers broke into its systems and stole email addresses and passwords from 92 nonprofit clients.

While the vast majority of TechSoup email newsletter subscribers were unaffected, 3,000 TechSoup subscribers may have had the usernames and passwords they used to manage their email subscriptions stolen.

There is potential for misuse of this information should you use the same email address and password on other personal accounts (e.g, banking, PayPal,Amazon, Web-based email sites, etc.) Convio would like to advise you of important steps that you should take to prevent misuse of your personal information:

* If this email address and password are used together on any other accounts, it is recommended you change your password on those accounts immediately.

The email goes on to warn subscribers to be wary of emails asking for information. They also reassure folks that their privacy is taken seriously.

Yikes. Are they serious when they use words like "immediately" even though they waited almost three weeks to send out this notice? Maybe they should use warn us about the potential problems associated with Y2K?

Thank you sir, may I have another?

I used to work at a small social service nonprofit that accepted in-kind donations of clothes and food for our case workers to give to their clients. As a development officer, I would frequently get phone calls from a board member who would say something like this:

"Mrs. Smith is on her way over with a car load full of donations. She is a very wealthy real estate agent that the fundraising committee has been trying to cultivate for a long time. Can you meet her downstairs and thank her for the donations when she gets there?"

Believe it or not, I wasn't as cynical as I am today that early in my career, so I would cheerily accept countless bags of crap from rich people who felt guilty about throwing their "gently worn" clothes in the trash.

I honestly didn't mind the senselessness of me spending hours accepting donations, sorting them, and then writing tax deductible thank you letters... only to later throw most of it in the trash myself. Heck, I believed in that organization so much, I would eat maggots if it meant bringing on a new potential major donor.

What did bother me so much was the fact that many of these donors who unloaded their "gently worn" junk walked away with a sense of gratification that their charitable obligation had been made... and therefore never gave a financial donation.

I had this video clip of Kevin Bacon from the movie Animal House in mind when I read this opinion piece by Mark Winne, the former director of Connecticut's Hartford Food System. Winne describes his frustration at the troubling co-dependency between food bank donors and recipients.

Both parties were trapped in an ever-expanding web of immediate gratification that offered the recipients no long-term hope of eventually achieving independence and self-reliance.

He goes on to make this conclusion:

While none of this is inherently wrong, it does distract the public and policymakers from the task of harnessing the political will needed to end hunger in the United States.

The risk is that the multibillion-dollar system of food banking has become such a pervasive force in the anti-hunger world, and so tied to its donors and its volunteers, that it cannot step back and ask if this is the best way to end hunger, food insecurity and their root cause, poverty.

I recommend the article. I'd like to thank one of my favorite readers for passing it on - at this time of year I'm thankful that I have so many great readers in all corners of the nonprofit fundraising industry.

I can't help but think how many other small nonprofits around the country continue to accept in-kind donations they can't possibly use simply because they don't want to tell prospective donors "no" - and by doing so - may actually be prolonging an end to the societal problem they are hoping to cure.

BBC Children in Need breaks record

The BBC has an annual fundraising drive called Children in Need.

Last year, they raised £18.3m - with the sum reaching £33m after donations from all fund-raising was collected - and was seen by 8.9 million people at its peak.

It appears that this year is going to break all previous records... with £19m coming in during the 7 hour telethon which featured a performance by the Spice Girls. Organizers estimate the 36,000 donations were made online and 15,000 donations were made using digital TV service... and more than 212,000 phone calls were placed to operators.

Go here to listen to an interview exploring the technical requirements to handle 212,000 donation phone calls in one night.

The Things We Think and Do Not Say

Do you remember that scene in Jerry Maguire where Tom Cruise stays up all night writing a passionate mission statement and then distributes to his coworkers. He called it, "The Things We Think and Do Not Say" and when he walks in to the office the next day everyone gives his a standing ovation... only for him to be fired less than a week later.

I had this movie clip running through my mind when I came across Marsha Gittleman and James R. Rennert's opinion piece on the website of a Long Island, NY newspaper. Gittleman is director of development and public relations at United Cerebral Palsy of Suffolk and Rennert is province director of development at the Cenacle Sisters.

The two of them criticize the inefficiencies of special event fundraisers. They scold honorees who lend their names for fundraising without ever learning about the nonprofit honoring them or the cause. The authors even shame donors who ask, "what's in it for me?" or who attend fundraisers only because of the social status it brings them.

The directors of development come to the conclusion that if we all really care about the biggest percentage of each gift going to the cause, fundraisers should declare a hiatus in special events and return to personal face-to-face solicitations.

On Long Island for too long, organizations have had a misplaced comfort level in selling tickets to an event rather than promoting a cause.

The real target of this opinion piece does not appear to be the event planners, caterers, and silent auction promotion companies... rather the real target of this piece seems to be fellow development directors who have forgotten how to solicit donations based on the mission of their nonprofit without selling donors a ticket to a gala or an event.

Political fundraising can help or hurt candidates image

On Thursday, three researchers from the Ohio State University presented the conclusions of an interesting study at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association.

They tested an idea by showing newspaper articles about a mayoral campaign to 239 adults. Embedded in those news stories were references to the fund-raising prowess of the candidates. Later the participants in the study rated the candidates on several traits, including leadership, honesty, intelligence, and competency.

The liberal candidate who raised the most money was perceived as lower in integrity. However, there was no similar drop for conservative candidates who raised a lot of money. The conservative candidate best at raising money was more likely to be considered "competent" - particularly by conservative voters.

Why the difference? For conservative candidates, successful fund-raising "may signify a great individual achievement, leadership, and loyalty among his supporters," the researchers noted. . . . Similarly, he is perceived as being more competent when he has more money, perhaps because he has done what it takes to win without violating . . . his ideological principles."

"The liberal candidate, however, does not fair so well in the court of public opinion by raising more money," they added. "Across the board, respondents felt the liberal had less integrity when he had more money."

Do you think the same shifts in opinion occur when liberal nonprofit groups publicize their fundraising results?

Coverage of Convio security breach varies

This blog covered the news of Convio's recent security breach closely. We noted that despite Convio's best efforts to notify all 92 nonprofits impacted by the hacker - it seems only a handful of nonprofits made the news public.

Today I came across three stories of the breach that told the story - all with a slightly different tone:

Roger Craver at The Agitator applauded Gene Austin, Convio's CEO for prompt and open recognition and acknowledgement of problems - saying that it was a critically important part of the process of building trust. Roger even thought Austin "deserved a raise."

Compare that to Allan Benamer over at the Non-Profit Tech Blog who was not so gracious in giving Convio a "C-".

Convio gets that “C-” for the late disclosure and for not doing due diligence properly on their GetActive acquisition. However, Dave Crooke did a decent job of answering technical questions regarding the breach despite the fact that he did it on an e-mail list when he should have done it on the Convio site itself. However, Tad Druart, Convio’s Director of Corporate Communications, did a good thing by not only alerting the press but also the blogosphere. It was a calculated decision to be sure, but Tad probably tamped down on the level of blogging cattiness by the likes of yours truly and others.

I have to think Allen is referring to me as one of the others who might have been catty if Tad had not reached out to me to answer questions and offer official statements.

Finally, I thought it was interesting how the brief story on page 32 of the November 15th Chronicle of Philanthropy gave Gene Austin an opportunity to give the money quote... blaming the problem solely on the ghost of GetActive.

Despite the fact that roughly half of Convio's 1300 clients use the GetActive software, Austin told the Chronicle that he thinks the attackers may have focused on GetActive because, in the past, "Convio has put more investment in security than GetActive."

Food depositories report decline in donations

In May of this year, the Wall Street Journal published a story about how food banks across the country have experienced a drop in food donations - by more than 15 or 20% in some cases.I read more this morning about how this pinch is hurting big cities like Chicago:

Food retailers and manufacturers, in other words, are becoming more efficient—wasting less food, mislabeling less often and instituting fewer marketing campaigns—resulting in less food donated to the depository.

The federal government, in the midst of a legislative roadblock regarding the 2007 Farm Bill, is providing less food for the depository. In 2005 the government provided 34 percent of the depositories’ food supply—16 million pounds. However in 2006 the government decreased its donation to 10 million pounds.

Go here for more of the story.

If you've ever been to Erie, PA

An anonymous donor gave $100,000,000 to the Erie Community Foundation which is to be split between 46 local charities.

Each of the charities will get about $1 million to $2 million. The recipients include a food bank, a women's center, a group for the blind and three universities.

The city — and the entire county of 280,000 — could clearly use the money. There is a poverty rate of 19% in this industrial city on the shores of Lake Erie.

Baltimore aquarium bonds are downgraded

I know of a lot of nonprofits who have used bonds to raise money in recent years. There can be some real advantages for Boards who are looking to raise funds using the tax advantages of bonds... but what happens if those bonds get downgraded?

Aaron Cahall at The Examiner explains the impact such a downgrade had on the Baltimore Aquarium:

Last month, Fitch Ratings downgraded its rating for the aquarium’s approximately $34 million in bonds to “BBB+” from “A+”, citing the attraction’s diminished liquid assets and declining attendance. In early September, Moody’s Investors Service lowered its rating on the bonds from A3 to A2, and both firms held a negative outlook at the lower levels.

The institution has $23 million on hand, which is down from previous years... and it needs to find a way to push for new fundraising opportunities.

Contributions and grants totaled $9,532,193, or 23 percent of the aquarium’s $41.7 million budget last year, according to its 2006 annual report. Approximately 50 percent of the aquarium’s revenue comes from admissions, said Molly Foyle, director of media relations for the aquarium, with 30 percent from gift shop and on-site revenues and 20 percent from city, state and private contributions.

To be honest, I don't think this is going to be the only group that has their bond ratings lowered over the next few months.

Win $500 for your charity

I entered the "One Post Challenge" at Tactical Philanthropy and if I win, I'm offering to give my $500 prize to the nonprofit that gets the most votes (by unique individuals) in the comment section of this article.

Color of Change responds to attacks over donations

The nonprofit group that has helped raise over $200,000 for the Jena 6 legal defense fund is responding to slanderous allegations made by radio personality Michael Baisden.

Since July, 17th, ColorOfChange members have donated $212,039.90 for the legal defense of the Jena 6, six Black boys being unjustly railroaded by the criminal justice system in Jena, Louisiana. ColorOfChange has already sent $210,809.90 to the six legal teams defending these young men.

The group even offers a link to see the cancelled checks along with a website to refute each of the allegations.

In an email sent last Thursday to supporters of ColorOfChange.org, the group makes it's own claims about why Baisden would spread these attacks.

So why does Baisden resort to slandering us on the air now, after seeing for himself exactly how funds were managed? He's promoting his own fundraising effort this week and is trying to position himself as the only trustworthy source for fundraising around the Jena 6. He's stated explicitly that he started his fund because he thinks other efforts are untrustworthy. Discrediting us is a great way to promote himself and his fund.

I feel ashamed for posting the Denver Post, Chicago Tribune, and YouTube video link in a previous posting without this clarification... and I thank one of my favorite readers for pointing out this response.

Questions arise over Jena 6 donations

Both the Chicago Tribune and the Denver Post ran stories on Sunday asking questions about who is accounting for the money donated to help the Jena 6 with their legal defense fund.

Just weeks after some 20,000 demonstrators protested what they decried as unequal justice aimed at six black teenagers in the Louisiana town of Jena, controversy is growing over the accounting of at least $500,000 donated for the teens' legal defense.

Parents of the Jena 6 teens have refused to publicly account for how they are spending up to $250,000 that resides in a bank account they control.

Michael Baisden, a nationally syndicated black radio host who is leading a major fundraising drive on behalf of the Jena 6, has declined to reveal how much he has collected. Attorneys for the first defendant to go to trial, Mychal Bell, say they have yet to receive any money from him.

To make matters worse, pictures have been circulated on the internet which don't show the defendants in the best light:

One photo shows Robert Bailey, one of the Jena 6 defendants, smiling and posing with $100 bills stuffed in his mouth. Another shows defendants Carwin Jones and Bryant Purvis modeling like rap stars on a red carpet at the Black Entertainment Television Hip Hop music awards in Atlanta last month.

Someone even posted the photos to this YouTube video:


Alan Bean, the director of Texas-based group Friends of Justice, who was the first civil rights activist to investigate the Jena 6 case, was quoted as saying, "There are definitely questions out there about the money."

Fundraising blogs hit the mainstream

Noam Cohen and James Freed have an article in the New York Times Giving section today on the increasing power of fundraising blogs.

They interviewed Roger and Tom at The Agitator, Peter at the Chronicle's Give and Take blog, Holden at GiveWell, Jack at Charity Governance, Phil at Gift Hub, and Trent at Trent Stamp's Take.

Even Don't Tell the Donor got listed on the interactive blogroll.

Charity merger article in New York Times

Stephanie Strom (as always) has a great article in the New York Times today on the efficiencies that can be gained when two charities merge.

The article explores how Accenture helped the Hands On Network and the Points of Light Foundation merge.

Strom also cites examples like Safe Space NYC, the Children’s Village Inc. and Inwood House's creation of "a separate charitable organization to cultivate donors and solicit major gifts."

The Humane Society of the United States' partial mergers with two other animal advocacy groups, the Doris Day Animal League and the Fund for Animals, are also mentioned.

Hospital donors get preferential treatment

I think most people already assume that major donors and hospital Board members get extensive personal attention or a streamlined process for contacting doctors.

However, it's always juicy when a reporter gets their hands on proof that a state funded hospital operates a dedicated concierge program for VIPs or prospective donors.

The Dallas Morning News obtained a detailed list compiled by UT Southwestern staff members of about 6,400 people, many of them influential, wealthy or politically connected. The medical center used the list to flag powerful people or potential donors to offer them special treatment at the hospital.

Dr. John McConnell, executive vice president for health system affairs at the medical center, tries to explain the program with this innocent explanation:

The Special Assistance Office was supposed to "centralize what was already happening," he said. He could not provide figures on how many patients are enrolled in the program. Four full-time employees and one part-time employee work in the office. Its current operating budget is $300,000, which comes from clinical revenue, but not state funds, he said.

No wonder UT Southwestern has been able to increase the institution's endowment from $40 million in 1986 to $1.3 billion today.

To see who's on the list of hospital VIPs, go here.