How Did You Do on GivingTuesday? How Did You Do on GivingTuesday? Chapter Leadership Brief 12.3.2021 By Steve Jacobson, AFP-NYC President CEO, JCA, Inc. This past Tuesday marked the 10th anniversary of GivingTuesday. Launched back in 2012 by the 92nd Street Y, and later spun off into its own nonprofit organization, GivingTuesday this year broke all prior giving records. According to the GivingTuesday Data Commons, a group of more than 300 partner organizations that pooled contribution data, over 35 million adults in the U.S. participated in GivingTuesday 2021, up about 6% from last year. In terms of dollars raised in the U.S., nonprofits earned $2.7 billion on GivingTuesday, a 9% increase from last year and a 37% increase over GivingTuesday 2019. And, while these figures are for the U.S. only, nonprofit organizations in 80 countries participated in this year’s GivingTuesday. GivingTuesday has truly become a global phenomenon.
Change actually IS good Change actually IS good Chapter Leadership Brief 11.5.2021 By Michele Hall-Duncan, AFP-NYC Secretary CEO and President of enCourage Kids Foundation I was reading a recent Classy blog which highlighted Big Results for Nonprofits That Embrace Flexible Work Environments. The blog went on to extol the virtues of remote work as it pertains to overhead reduction, employee retention, and employee morale. With a fundraising turnover rate of nearly 20% I thought about how my own staff has been affected during the pandemic.
“Come Chat with Us” “Come Chat with Us” Chapter Leadership Brief 10.22.2021 By Jill Scibilia, CFRE, AFP-NYC President-Elect Vice President, Development, Phelps Hospital, Northwell Health AFP-NYC recently launched a new “AFP-Member Virtual Coffee Chat” series. I had the opportunity to join the first session on October 1st, and I am so glad I did.
We Can Help! We Can Help! Chapter Leadership Brief 10.8.2021 By Steve Jacobson, AFP-NYC President CEO, JCA, Inc. A new study released just this past week by the Urban Institute revealed that charitable giving in 2020 declined significantly for small nonprofits while larger organizations tended to fare better. Until now, we’ve seen a number of studies, surveys and anecdotal references that have pointed to the level of giving varying widely based on nonprofit sectors. In 2020, as in other years, giving was impacted by current events. The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and others spurred giving to social justice organizations. The pandemic prompted increased levels of giving to hospitals and health care foundations. But, on the flip side, according to Giving USA, 2020 giving was down by 8.6% to arts and culture institutions. Overall, 2020 could be summed up as the “year of unequal giving.”
Get yourself some mentors Get yourself some mentors Chapter Leadership Brief 9.24.2021 By Craig Shelley, CFRE, AFP-NYC Treasurer Managing Director, Orr Group I’ve got a job that I love. Work that feels meaningful and that I’m proud of. My kids look at me with some modicum of respect. I’ll often tell myself I’ve worked hard, and I “deserve” it (whatever “it” is). There’s probably some truth to that but if I’m being honest, what I have achieved I’ve achieved because I’ve benefitted from the leadership, tutelage, and camaraderie of some great mentors.
Comfort Level Comfort Level Chapter Leadership Brief 9.10.2021 By Michele Hall-Duncan, AFP-NYC Secretary CEO and President of enCourage Kids Foundation Fall events will be starting soon. Galas, tastings, festivals, and other events are planned for the end of the year. But as the Delta variant brings us all back into a cautionary space – what do we do? Some organizations have decided to revert to virtual or hybrid events after planning fall in-person events. Zoom is even trying to cash in on that trend by finally adding a donate button for nonprofits.
“How Will You Spend It?” “How Will You Spend It?” Chapter Leadership Brief 8.27.2021 By Jill Scibilia, CFRE, AFP-NYC President-Elect Vice President, Development, Phelps Hospital, Northwell Health There is one more week before Labor Day—the traditional end of summer in New York. Do you remember the last day of summer vacation before going back to school in the fall? I do. It always seemed to be the very best day of summer. At least that is how I remember it. It never rained. The weather was just hot enough, but not too hot. Our friends and all of us who hung out in the neighborhood where I grew up were on the best of terms. Arguments were forgotten. We were all suddenly the best of friends—at least for the day. We played all day with abandon knowing it was the final day of vacation. We stayed out as late into the evening as our parents allowed. Every year I had the same thought, if only summer could last forever…
Looking for a Job? Looking for a Job? Chapter Leadership Brief 8.13.2021 By Steve Jacobson, AFP-NYC President CEO, JCA, Inc. No, I don’t have one for you. But chances are that there may be one out there for you. In one of the bright spots for fundraisers, the job market is picking up steam. This is welcome news to the many fundraisers out there who were let go, took reduced pay or were furloughed due to the pandemic. According to the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ (our parent organization) annual compensation and benefits survey, the pandemic resulted in fundraisers’ salaries dropping 3% since the pandemic began in March 2020. The survey also found that layoffs or furloughs occurred at 20% of the more than 3,200 organizations who responded to the survey.
Recharge Recharge Chapter Leadership Brief 7.30.2021 By Craig Shelley, CFRE, AFP-NYC Treasurer Managing Director, Orr Group Does anyone ever listen to the Hamilton song, “Non-Stop” and think he could very easily be describing the life of a fundraiser? The need for our work is always there, we often do what we do at the hours most convenient to our donors and least convenient to our families and social lives, we’re perennially working on under resourced teams, and every new fiscal year the clock goes back to $0 and the goals get larger. Non-Stop has been the only pace I think I’ve ever experienced in my 20+ years fundraising, leading, and advising nonprofit organizations.
DO Call it a Comeback DO Call it a Comeback Chapter Leadership Brief 7.16.2021 By Michele Hall-Duncan, AFP-NYC Secretary CEO and President of enCourage Kids Foundation As I write this leadership brief, we are in the throes of putting the final touches on our 18th annual golf tournament. If you’d asked me three months ago, my team, my board and even the golf committee themselves were managing expectations. No one knew what to expect between the moving target of vaccinations, venue limitations, and most importantly personal comfort level. I am so excited to share that we are nearly sold out and may even match our 2019 revenue. You know what I call that? A comeback! Was it tough? For sure. Exercising those old fundraising muscles, after months of being reactive instead of proactive required a shift, and for some, that shift was difficult.