International Rescue Committee

On New Year’s Eve, the International Rescue Committee — a charity created in 1933 to aid refugees and those displaced by war, persecution or natural disasters — will be getting some unprecedented exposure. It is the first charity to be officially designated as a partner of the iconic New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square, which is watched by more than a billion people worldwide.

At a recent Wake Up Your Fundraising Breakfast Panel presented by FundRaising Success and sponsors Blackbaud and Listen Up Espanol, three fundraising professionals joined me in a discussion on maximizing your return on "big data" to enhance fundraising and relationships with donors.

Google announced that it will match monetary donations that its users make to fight Ebola through a new fundraising campaign website the tech giant launched Monday. This is the first matching campaign the company has ever announced.

The campaign will benefit four organizations — Doctors Without Borders, Partners in Health, Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee — by way of a donation to the Network for Good, an online fundraising platform.

Reviewing the winners across all channels for the 2014 DMAW MAXI Awards, the shared themes were engagement, extraordinary storytelling and relationship building. The stats and snapshot images of the winning Direct Mail, Digital Media, Multichannel and Telemarketing campaigns provided high-level intel of the strategies and tactics.

Not only do speakers at Engage reside over our in-depth cases studies and delve deep into attendees' concerns and questions, but they're available all day long to chat and further explore whatever it is the audience is looking to explore.

Blackbaud released findings from its Next Generation of American Giving study that explores charitable-giving trends and engagement behaviors and attitudes across four different generations — matures (68+), boomers (49-67), Gen X (33-48) and Gen Y (18-32). Baby boomers are emerging as the dominant force in charitable giving, responsible for 43 percent of all dollars donated. The study also revealed that multichannel engagement is the new normal, but the ideal mix varies from generation to generation.

The Direct Marketing Fundraisers Association (DMFA) announced the winners of its Package of the Year Awards, showcasing nonprofits' best direct-mail and e-mail fundraising efforts.

Forbes picked five all-star charities that are efficient compared to their peers and do fine work in their areas. The five all-star organizations are Brother's Brother Foundation, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, International Rescue Committee and United Way.

The San Diego Foundation has approved a total of $650,888 in grants to 20 environmental nonprofit organizations in the San Diego region. The individual grants that encompass climate, land and water use, and clean environment initiatives range in size from $9,600 to $45,000. A few of the grantees include Anza-Borrego Foundation, Groundwork San Diego – Chollas Creek, Outdoor Outreach, The Escondido Creek Conservancy, The San Diego River Park Foundation and Walk San Diego.

Make sure those thumb-through folks see your important direct-mail components first … so they turn into content-pullers and engage with you.