Financial Services

Should You Invest in Account Updater for Monthly Donors?
June 26, 2017 at 11:45 am

Account updater (also called account recycling or account recovery) is becoming more and more popular. Some donor base systems have started offering it for a small fee. Some systems charge a flat fee every month, and some charge a small fee based upon the amount to be recovered...

New Technology Platforms Brings Together Foundations, Nonprofits for More Impactful Outcomes
June 15, 2017 at 12:16 pm

When it comes to a nonprofit organization’s mission, relationships are important. It is imperative for nonprofits to use everything at their disposal to reach their mission’s goals. It’s a known fact that technology is constantly evolving. It’s easy to think of technology and relationships as two separate entities, but what if we melded the two together to achieve “the bigger picture”?…

#NPPTrendingNow Ep. 4: All About Donor-Advised Funds
June 2, 2017 at 11:13 am

This week, we received lots of love on our April cover story about donor-advised funds, followed by Pamela Barden's blog post, where she shares three things to consider when fundraising is no longer "fun," and Pamela Grow's blog post, where she shares her thoughts on donor-centricity vs. community-centric fundraising...

Rise of the Donor-Advised Fund: A Fast-Growing Vehicle to Charitable Giving
May 25, 2017 at 9:41 am

In our sector, we are constantly faced with obstacles of how we can increase charitable giving; but more particularly, how can we get our donors to continue to give over the years. A donor-advised fund is an account sponsored by a nonprofit organization that enables donors to give to charities and receive tax benefits—essentially a charitable savings account…

It’s Important to Keep Your Personal Finances in Order (and Here’s Why)
May 19, 2017 at 10:22 am

I am always interested in attending educational conferences and seminars in order to learn why people give and what motivates people to give. I recently attended the Rethinking Wealth meeting in Indianapolis sponsored by the National Christian Foundation and OneAscent. Pastor Ralph Browne “Chip” Ingram was the keystone speaker. He has been a pastor, coach and teacher for more than 25 years. He is currently senior pastor of the Venture Christian Church in Los Gatos, Calif...

More Donors Starting Funds Rather Than Giving Directly to Charities
April 19, 2017 at 9:13 am

For the first time on record, the nonprofit that received the most in donations in the country is not what you typically think of as a nonprofit—and that has some in the nonprofit sector worried that the new model is upending traditional philanthropy. Giving accounts allow donors to get an immediate tax benefit when they…

Nonprofit Finance Study: Have a Back-Up Plan
April 3, 2017 at 9:47 pm

Nonprofit finance departments have a unique set of challenges—complex revenue sources, compliance, audits, staff turnover. And those are just a few of the big ones. The finance/accounting team does some critical (if sometimes overlooked) work. The “2016 Nonprofit Finance Study” from Abila took a closer look at what goes on in the department...

Budget Blueprint: Will It ‘Make America Great Again’?
March 30, 2017 at 8:47 am

President Donald J. Trump released his preliminary budget proposal for fiscal year 2018 titled “America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again.” The $1.1 trillion budget blueprint has many nonprofit organizations in a slight panic, wondering what they’re going to do...

Fidelity’s Charity Arm Raised $7M in Bitcoin Donations in 2016
February 2, 2017 at 11:46 am

Fidelity Charitable, the public charity arm of mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments, raised $7 million in bitcoin donations last year. The organization launched the donation option in November 2015, enabling contributions from customers by way of their donor-advised funds. Fidelity Charitable has utilized Coinbase as a payment processor to handle bitcoin-to-dollar conversions. New statements from…