Critic sneers at public television's bland fundraising

Apparently Richard Levey at Direct Magazine wasn't impressed with WNYC's recent fundraising appeal. His new column offered this scathing review:

When a fundraising appeal goes into its 11th consecutive minute, and each minute seems like an hour, this is a problem.

The most interesting part of Lehrer’s appeal came when a WNYC associate flumfurred his way through an explanation of the 2-for-1 donation match deal offered by station trustee Lex Kaplan. Lehrer and his cohort puzzled through the math of the offer: Was it a 200% match or a 300% match, they wondered. Not the most riveting content, at least it was an attempt to liven up the proceedings with something unscripted.

Unscripted is apparently a no-no. When the appeal was rebroadcast during the wee hours of the night, this particular portion was cut out. Which was a shame, as it was easily the most human part of the pitch. Ah, well, everyone’s allowed a mulligan now and then, especially when it’s part of a good cause.

His parting shot contained this back-handed compliment:

When WNYC is at its best, it’s smart and engaging. Why its fundraising drives have the pizzazz and verve of last week’s pot roast is a mystery not even A Prairie Home Companion’s Guy Noir could untangle.

I think it's an important (although ignored) detail whether or not Mr. Levey is (or ever has been) a donor to WNYC...

Report: Kintera to annouce layoffs

Breaking news over at The Nonprofit Times:

"One month after Kintera received notice about potential de-listing from NASDAQ, widespread layoffs have begun at the San Diego-based software provider to nonprofits. The cuts are ahead of the firm’s quarterly earnings call slated for this afternoon.

Company insiders said more than 40 people were cut starting Tuesday, although Kintera officials declined to comment in advance of today’s 4:45 p.m. Eastern conference call to discuss first quarter financial results. The department losing the most people was finance, followed by marketing and product development, according to insiders.

Roth Capital, one of the few analysts still tracking Kintera, downgraded the stock from “buy” to “hold” on Monday, 15 months after making it a “buy.” Kintera, which trades on the symbol KNTA, ended 2007 with almost $16 million in losses, down from $33 million in 2006 and almost $42 million in 2005. For the first quarter of 2007, losses were $8.2 million.

An insider told The NonProfit Times the earnings report “is not expected to be good” but that the layoffs were more “matching expenses to resources.” Another insider was less optimistic, saying, “This doesn’t surprise you, does it? You had to see this coming.” Neither source would disclose the number of people losing their jobs.

You can read the entire story here.

Hunting lobby forces stores to pull support of pet shelters

There are 181 Meijer stores in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. The stores are called hypermarkets because they carry a combination of groceries and department store goods.

Unfortunately, this week they made a very bad decision to stop supporting a pet shelter because of complaints from a lobby group that claims to represent 35,000 hunters. The store is now getting the butt end of a reputation as not caring for the pets of families being foreclosed on.

Meijer had originally started a program to donate $1, up to $5,000, for every entry in an online pet photo contest. However, the plug was pulled last Friday after the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance charged the group organizing the Foreclosure Pets Fund is anti-hunting.

Shandra Martinez in Tuesday's Grand Rapids Press cites an Alliance press release from that was circulated on the internet with the contact information for Meijer chairman Hank Meijer:

"The money donated to the HSUS through this promotion, while not going directly to its anti-hunting campaign, will free up money from the organization's general fund that can be used to attack the right of sportsmen."

The pressure seemed to have worked because Meijer announced they were stopping their support. You can learn more about the cowardly response by the "heartless inhumane hypermarket" by reading the rest of the story.

If you want to make your opinions heard, you can contact Meijer CEO and Chairman Hank Meijer at 2929 Walker Ave. NW, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 49544-9428; phone – (616) 453-6711; fax – (616) 791-2572.

This story was tipped off to me by someone who emailed me a link to this story on "Fundraising and the Fungibility Problem" over at the Acton Institute Power Blog.

James Brown's children fight late singer's charitable trusts

According to an Associated Press story on Time.com:

Five of James Brown's children say their late father's will should be invalidated because his former advisers used undue influence to get him to create charitable trusts that the advisers would profit from, according to court documents filed this week.

The New York Times adds this:

Five Brown children are challenging the will in Aiken County Probate Court. They claim Brown's longtime advisers Buddy Dallas, Alford Bradley and David Cannon convinced the soul singer to create the trusts so the advisers would profit from managing the two charities after Brown died.

Just how much money is involved in Brown's estate is unclear. In October, Forbes reported Brown made an estimated $5 million in 2005 alone. But attorneys have said Brown's accounts do not have the money they expected.

Did Paris Hilton get screwed or was it a play to avoid taxes?

When Paris Hilton's billionaire grandfather announced on Christmas day that he plans to give away 97% of his fortune, the news coverage was almost giddy. Was the controversial heiress going to become a pauper?The Guardian Unlimited reported that the 80 year old Barron Hilton is worth over $2.3 billion thanks to the recent sale of the Hilton Hotels Corporation and from the coming sale of Harrah’s Entertainment.

Jerry Oppenheimer, author of House of Hilton, said that Barron Hilton "was, and is, extremely embarrassed by how the Hilton name has been sullied by Paris. He now doesn't want to leave unearned wealth to his family."

Seriously?

Call me cynical, but it seems like the media is ignoring the fact that the mega-rich often use charitable donations to manipulate tax laws. So, let's take a closer look:

First, since most of this wealth was generated in 2007 as the result of two huge sales of almost a billion dollars in assets, you can be sure that Barron was facing some serious taxes. By placing $1.2 billion in a charitable trust this year, he gets immediate tax relief. Convenient, right?

Now, I guess the foundation does do some good work. But don't forget, it also paid Steven Hilton more than a quarter million dollars in 2006. The most recent IRS Form 990s for th Conrad Hilton Foundation show three other Hiltons on the payroll, in addition to a group of investment managers who received over $2,300,000 in 2006.

It sure makes those claims that Barron wrestled millions intended for the poor from his dead father's estate look more interesting.

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:

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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.

Blackbaud blogs reveal news.... and gossip

If you use Raiser's Edge or any Blackbaud product in your fundraising program - you might be familiar with BlogBaud.com - a nonprofit blog written by Blackbaud employees.

You may also be familiar that others besides this site - like the Nonprofit Tech Blog - are covering Blackbaud's acquisition of eTapestry.

Less well known - yet very interesting is a group called the Blackbaud User Society (BlackBUS). Their blog and discussion board is a non-vendor suite of forums created and maintained by volunteers in order to share experiences, ideas and other relevant information as users of products from Blackbaud. They claim that of the 15,000 clients, they just registered the 1000th member of the BlackBUS community... that's 7% of all clients.

Finally. Even if you knew about those two pieces, you most likely haven't heard that Oracle could be considering an acquisition of Blackbaud. Barron's Online quoted Cowen's Peter Goldmacher as saying BLKB is on his list of Oracle's potential targets.

Hmmmm..... maybe Oracle is interested in buying this blog.

Is "Flight 93" firing Ketchum?

Flight 93 National Memorial partners hired Ketchum two years ago to generate $30 million in private donations for the proposed landmark. Despite bringing retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks and former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge on as honorary national chairmen of the fund-raising campaign, the group's fundraising has not met some expectations.

This past Sunday, Kirk Swauger at The Tribune-Democrat reported:

Though officials have not outwardly derided Ketchum, there has been an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the agency, which has raised $10 million in two years despite the national release of a Flight 93 movie, two cable television documentaries and the exposure that goes with them.

The Pittsburgh agency was paid a flat fee of $80,000. Now, just weeks before Ketchum’s contract is set to expire in February, the partners announced they have retained T.C. Benson study the ongoing fundraising efforts.

Benson will make suggestions after evaluating the partners' objectives, fundraising efforts and possible future opportunities.

A Ketchum representative, Jason Zajac, declined to speculate about whether his company will be retained when contacted by the Associated Press.

Similiar to the problems experienced at the World Trade Center site, the Flight 93 National Memorial finds itself behind on fundraising plans and facing larger than planned design costs. In September of 2005, the Flight 93 coalition unveiled plans for a memorial that was to cost between $30 million and $58 million to build.