Silicon Valley

November 19, 2009, The Wall Street Journal — Thanksgiving is around the corner, but Silicon Valley's charitable giving is on the back burner.

Barack Obama's primary and presidential campaigns challenged and changed online fundraising, becoming the envy of many in the nonprofit sector.

In a session at the Franklin Forum, sponsored by the Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater Philadelphia Chapter in Philadelphia in late April, Justin Ehrenwerth, who served as Philadelphia coordinator for Obama for America, gave attendees an overview of the campaign's fundraising and volunteer strategies. He also shared advice on how nonprofits can implement similar ideas in their programs.

Colleges and universities led by Stanford, Harvard and Columbia raised a record $31.6 billion in fiscal year 2008, but their fund-raising outlook has darkened amid the economic crisis.

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