American Red Cross

With the ability to feed 20,000 people from one mobile kitchen, and a chain of command so tightly run it would make a military officer proud, the Southern Baptist Convention teams are the backbone of disaster relief in the South. Nearly 95,000 Baptists across the country are trained to handle disasters. After the Red Cross and Salvation Army, the Baptist group is the biggest disaster relief organization in the country.

Thousands of church members are doing their part to help the South recover from the recent tornadoes. They raise money, sort clothing donations and hand out water.

On May 19, FundRaising Success will host its second annual virtual conference and expo: Engaging, Enlightening, Empowering Donors. Did we mention it's FREE? Each week until then, we'll be publishing bios of our featured speakers. Today: Kristin McCurry.

Blackbaud released a report focused on fundraising trends based on monthly findings from The Blackbaud Index. Additionally, Blackbaud announced the release of a new specialty index focused on arts, culture, and humanities organizations.

Overall, charitable giving once again increased in the latest three month period, rising 3 percent over prior year results

With Congress and the White House locked in an impasse over spending and a federal shutdown looming, nonprofit officials nationwide are scrambling to prepare for the worst: The closure of government agencies would halt grants to many nonprofits and stop payments to charities that have contracts to provide emergency food shipments, vaccination clinics, care for the elderly, and home heating aid.

How can you raise money for your cause when it doesn't translate easily to cute, emotional imagery? The secret is building a community through social media, according to Susan Gordon, director of nonprofit services at Facebook fundraising platform Causes.

Wells Fargo customers logging into ATMs in recent weeks found a new option on their screens. Next to the box that says "Deposit Cash" is one saying "Donate to Charity." Donate they did. In just 10 days, the ubiquitous ATMs collected more than $1 million for Japan relief efforts by the American Red Cross. The experiment marks the first time ATMs have been used nationwide - by any bank - to raise money for a charity, say national banking officials.

Ten days after the devastating earthquake and tsunamis in Japan, American donors have contributed more than $136-million for relief efforts, according to a Chronicle tally. Nearly two-thirds of the total has been raised by one organization, the American Red Cross.

The rate of donations is slower than after last year’s earthquake in Haiti and after 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. Nine days after the disaster in Haiti, donors had contributed more than $355-million, and nine days after Katrina they had given more than $740-million.

Fewer charities reported declines in fundraising last year compared with 2009. But a larger percentage of organizations reported bringing in about the same amount of revenue both years, says the report by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative, a coalition of six organizations that focus on philanthropy.

Just over half (52%) said they met fundraising goals, about the same (53%) as in a similar 2009 survey conducted by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, a member of the collaborative.

From a Lady Gaga prayer bracelet to special sushi rolls at restaurants, the disaster in Japan has led to a rash of relief efforts.

But as consumers become increasingly skeptical of cause-related marketing, celebrities, organizations and major marketers have to walk a fine line, trying to help without appearing to exploit the tragedy for profits.

Grizzard Communications Group and Convio Inc. announced that they have partnered on a new solution for nonprofit organizations that integrates Convio’s online marketing and fundraising platform and best practices model, known as Convio Go!™, with Grizzard’s direct response strategies and capabilities for implementing integrated campaigns. The new offering, Go! Forward, gives nonprofit professionals access to Convio’s online marketing tools and Grizzard’s direct marketing resources.