Faith Based/Religion/Churches

Bronfman urges American Jews to embrace the creative efforts displayed by young leaders and channel their energy toward reviving the community's philanthropic institutions. Here, FundRaising Success speaks with Bronfman about his book and how it can help invigorate fundraising and philanthropy in the Jewish community.

Wealthy black Americans are more likely to donate to educational institutions, religious organizations, and human-services groups than other affluent people, according to a new study.

Black donors who make at least $250,000 or who have $1-million in assets also tend to give anonymously and to nonprofits they know well, says Marguerite Griffin, national director of philanthropic services at Northern Trust Corporation, a financial-services firm in Chicago, which conducted the survey.

From storefront chapels to Sun Belt megachurches to suburban synagogues, across denominational lines, religious institutions are reeling from a decline in donations.

While the recession has sharpened the drop in giving, it is not entirely responsible for it. Rather, it has accentuated and accelerated a trend away from giving to religious organizations that scholars have been tracking for the past decade. The impending wave of retirements by baby boomers, who start hitting age 65 next year, threatens another blow to congregational income.

A recent survey is challenging a commonly held myth by many small to midsize Christian nonprofits. Many think that their boards are the key to their fundraising success, adopting a wishful "If only..." attitude, looking for wealthy individuals to sit on the board and only focus on fundraising. However, new information from a survey conducted by Mission Increase Foundation reveals that board members do not think fundraising is their most important role. And many of the nonprofit staff members agree.

A survey conducted by the Forward has found that Jewish and Christian religious institutions appear to raise about the same amount per member, despite the fact that church giving is voluntary and synagogues charge membership dues.

But the level of participation is quite different: While synagogues require roughly the same amount of dues from each of their members, church giving does not appear to be so evenly distributed.

Text messaging is fundamental to the daily routine of the next generation of donors and members. To build community and to recruit new members, text messaging is an option every nonprofit should explore.

CARIBOU - Now that the Portland Diocese's "Strengthening the Heartbeat of the Church" capital campaign is nearly complete, it is important to clarify information and reiterate the facts in order to bring balance to an opinion recently published in this paper. The campaign was the first such fundraiser for the Catholic Church in Maine in 40 years and the reasons for our recent effort were recognized more than six years ago. The need for funding immediate and long-term parish improvements and programs, vocations, Catholic Charities Maine, and Catholic schools was acknowledged by many groups who helped advise Bishop Richard

This month, the new Mandel Building of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland opened for business in Beachwood.

Less than a mile away, The Mandel Jewish Community Center building reached the half-way point in its massive renovation, with several new areas already open to the public.

When the Haiti earthquake hit back in January, the outcry and response were swift and plentiful. In this new era of the iPhone and other mobile devices, the biggest buzz in the fundraising sector was generated from the mobile-giving explosion following the disaster. But the biggest takeaway for fundraisers — all of them, not just disaster-relief organizations — is that donors have certain, higher expectations these days, and your organization must meet them.

It's time to send out quarterly contribution statements. Will you choose to simply print a line-item record of people's gifts, or will you use it as an opportunity to communicate impact? Here are eight ways you can turn contribution statements into dollars.