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Philanthropy’s Information Revolution

Friday, September 25th, 2009

Philanthropy: Optimized by Google

  • Google is dramatically changing the landscape of the philanthropic sector.
  • While Google’s overall impact has been negative for the newspaper and music industries, the “googlization” of philanthropy has benefited the nonprofit world by giving more people access to information that helps them donate.
  • Guidestar, Charity Navigator, PubHub and Social Actions are all sites that aggregate information for donors about non-profits.

Facts & Figures

  • PhilanthropySearch.org scans the websites of the 100 largest foundations, philanthropy consulting firms, university reserarch centers and other philanthropy-related sites.
  • SocialActions.com aggregates more than 50 sources of online social activity, including change.org, globalgiving.org, razoo.org and volunteermatch.org.

Best Quote

“Most important, the Googlization of philanthropy means that organizing the information will not be done by the information creators, but by third parties and – excitingly – the people who want to consume that information.” – Sean Stannard-Stockton, The Chronicle of Philanthropy

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Twitter Wins Big Time Funding

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Even though Twitter does not have a revenue stream and they’re still figuring out how exactly they can make money, the company has managed to raise $100 million in new funding!

  • The online social networking and messaging service is about to close its most recent round of funding with $100 million raised from fewer than ten investors.
  • The investors are made up of venture capitalist firms, private equity firms, and even a mutual fund company – T. Rowe Price.
  • In terms of generating a sustained revenue stream, Twitter is looking into options such as advertising and business services.

Facts & Figures

  • Investors have valued Twitter at about $1 billion, which is up from a previous valuation earlier this year that estimated the company to be worth about $255 million.
  • Twitter is expected to have 25 million users by the end of 2009.

Nonprofits In Debt? Businesses Aren’t The Only Ones Going Bankrupt

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

While nonprofits are somewhat restricted when it comes to investing, they can basically act like any hedge fund or corporation. In the past, this leeway allowed nonprofits to grow their assets enormously, but right now it’s causing them some financial headaches.

  • For a while now, nonprofits have been actively making risky investment decisions and racking up debt. This high-risk, high-return investing style allowed many colleges, museums, and nonprofits to expand rapidly.
  • A large portion of the debt is from tax-exempt bonds that nonprofits were allowed to issue – cheap debt, with potentially high returns. After the financial crisis, nonprofits’ assets plummeted in value, yet they still had huge debt obligations.
  • Without an increase in revenues (through donations or property sales), many charities are going to end up bankrupt!

Facts & Figures

  • According to the IRS, the value of tax-exempt bonds issued by nonprofits rose from $98 billion in 1993 to $311 billion in 2006.
  • Brandeis University has $208 million in tax-exempt bond debt and is selling its art collection to pay for it.
  • Copia, a culinary institution in California, went bankrupt because of $78 million in bond debt.

Best Quote

“[O]ver the next several years nonprofits across the country will have to renegotiate bond covenants, reduce services, cut staff or actually default and face foreclosures, repossessions, and in some cases, even bankruptcy.” – Norman I. Silber, Law Professor at Hofstra University

Condé Nast Won’t Cut The Car Service

Thursday, September 24th, 2009
To keep up its image, Condé Nast might choose to cut a few salaries rather than cancel a party or let executives go without their town-cars.
  • McKinsey & Co. recently finished a project assessing the ways publishing powerhouse Condé Nast must cut costs, a touchy subject for a company known for its culture of lavish spending.
  • Condé Nast does not take to cost-cutting tactics as do other publishers – it seems it would rather cut or renegotiate contracts with consultants such as photographers, writers, and stylists than get rid of employee perks like car services and parties.
  • Some believe the company released information about McKinsey’s report in order to shift the blame for budget cuts onto the consultants.

Facts & Figures

  • McKinsey advised that Condé Nast cut about 25% from several magazines’ budgets.
  • Typical perks at the company include: on-call drivers for top editors and publishers, staff reimbursements for $15 a day lunches they order in, and hotel stays at places like the W for freelance writers on assignment.
  • The publisher’s newsstands sales brought in $2 million less in the first six months of this year than they did a year ago.

Community Philanthropists Wanna Know: Where Brooklyn At?

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

If you’re not happy with what you’re given, sometimes you have to go out there and get it yourself.

  • Out of a sense that New York’s most populous borough isn’t receiving its fair share of philanthropic attention despite a huge amount of charitable giving by New Yorkers, Brooklyn-based Independence Community Foundation is taking matters into its own hands.
  • The largest private charity in Brooklyn is changing its name and its tax status to become the first borough-specific foundation with the ability to publicly raise and distribute funds within its own borders.
  • Local nonprofits are concerned that the new foundation will divert local donations away from their programs, but officials from the foundation say they will focus on new donors rather than trying to lure existing ones.

Facts & Figures

  • The combined net worth of Brooklyn’s residents is estimated to reach $154 billion in 2010.
  • According to a 2002 Foundation Center study, almost 90% of charitable donations in New York are sent to Manhattan.
  • Brooklyn has 2.5 million residents, making it bigger than the 4th-largest city in America.

Best Quote

“When you’re out here looking at the fact that New York State is still No. 1 in philanthropic giving, with over $5 billion annually, and then you start to look at how much is coming to Brooklyn, given our size and given our need, you realize that the landscape of philanthropy is quite uneven.” – Marilyn Gelber, President of Independence Community Foundation

Solar Power Doesn’t Have To Be Ugly

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

A new generation of environmentally-friendly solar power products seek to blend into your life instead of announcing themselves in the form of giant black panels.

  • Companies that make photovoltaic cells are beginning to manufacture solar power equipment that’s meant to be incorporated into buildings, instead of installed on and around existing structures.
  • These new products, often in the shape and style of existing roof tiles or shingles, are expected to be popular among the burgeoning green building industry. (Depending, of course, on how much and how quickly the economy begins to recover.)
  • Though this kind of built-in solar power is very new to the U.S., government subsidies throughout Europe have made it an increasingly popular choice there.

Facts & Figures

  • In California, a typical homeowner would pay approximately $20,000 to have her home outfitted with enough photovoltaic cells to generate half of her home’s power needs.
  • Built-in solar products cost 10-20% more to install than conventional solar power products.
  • In Europe, government incentives mean an investment in “building-integrated photovoltaics” pays for itself in five to seven years.

“The new materials are part of the building itself, not an addition, and they are taking photovoltaics to the next level — an aesthetic one.” – Alfonso Velosa III, Research Director at Gartner and Co-Author of a Report on the Market for Building-Integrated Photovoltaics

U.S. Poverty Rate Rises As Incomes Drop

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Poverty isn’t just an international problem. The recent economic downturn has highlighted a deepening domestic struggle to stay afloat.

  • The U.S. Census Bureau revealed statistics showing that the blight of poverty is spreading throughout the country, especially in the Western and Midwestern states.
  • Many of the newly impoverished Americans are children, even as two-worker households are increasingly seeking assistance in the form of food stamps.
  • Areas with the greatest increase in poverty rate are the same areas that have seen many jobs and wages disappear in the recession.

Facts & Figures

  • For 2008 data collection purposes, a family of four with two children is considered to be below the poverty line when they earn less than a total of $22,000 a year.
  • In 2008, the poverty rate increased in 31 states; 2007 saw an increase in only 10 states. Only Michigan saw its poverty rate increase in both 2007 and 2008.
  • The national rate of poverty is 13.2%, but the highest rate in the country can be found in Mississippi (21.2%), followed by Kentucky, West Virginia, and Arkansas (at about 17% each).

Best Quote

“There are lots of people who are using food stamps for the first time, because they don’t have any other options.” – Mark Mather, Demographer at the Population Reference Bureau

Latest Labor Stats Show Six Applicants For Every U.S. Job

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

These days, simply shining up your resume or strategically name-dropping in an interview may not be enough to land a paying gig…

  • Though it is widely believed the recession is at an end in the U.S., the unemployment problem is still sobering, and the ratio of unemployed Americans to available jobs is at a record high.
  • During the economic crisis, many companies laid off employees and took conservative financial stances to prevent losses. That added up to a large pool of jobseekers but increasingly fewer job openings.
  • Companies are afraid to resume hiring or try to expand now because they aren’t certain what the economic future will bring. Plus, any increase in overall workload can easily be shifted onto existing employees.

Facts & Figures

  • According to July data, there are currently more than six jobseekers for every job opening. In the 2001 recession, there were just over two jobseekers for every job.
  • The nationwide unemployment rate is up to 9.7%.
  • Job losses have hit hard in every sector of the economy, even in typically high-growth industries like healthcare and education.

Best Quote

“There’s too much uncertainty out there. There’s not going to be an upsurge in job openings for quite a while, not until employers feel confident the economy is really growing.” – Thomas A. Kochan, Labor Economist at M.I.T.’s Sloan School of Management.

Spend Money, Be An Activist?

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

You can affect change in all sorts of ways. But lately, people are using their wallets to make their voices heard.

  • In larger numbers than ever before, consumers are considering the environmental and social aspects of the things they buy – not just the price.
  • Consumer demand has been driving a transformation by traditional companies to become more sustainable, and often more profitable, in the way their operate their businesses.
  • Even though much progress has been made, transparent and authentic sustainable business practices are still not the norm. Increasingly vocal demand by consumers for sustainable products will continue to drive this “revolution” into all areas of business.

Facts & Figures

  • In a TIME poll, 40% of people reported buying a product because of its social or environmental benefits.
  • Socially responsible investment (SRI) funds have increased in number from 55 in 1995 to 260 today – they manage 11% of all money invested in US markets.
  • In 2007, a Goldman Sachs report found that companies that emphasized sustainability would outperform the financial market.

Best Quote

“We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals, we know now that it is bad economics.” – President Franklin D. Roosevelt

The Recession Is Probably Over, But It’s Still No Party

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Just because a recession is ending doesn’t mean huge growth right away. It’s interesting to see what the future may hold after such a terrible economic spell.

  • On Tuesday, Ben Bernanke – the Federal Reserve chairman – said that it was “very likely” that the recession has already ended, though the problems it caused will still linger for a while.
  • Forecasters predict that we will only experience moderate growth for the rest of 2009 through 2010 – the problems affecting credit markets, consumer confidence, and the housing crisis still need time to be fully solved.
  • One of the most important problems that needs to be addressed is how the government is going to carefully dismantle the spending, lending, and guarantee programs it put in place to stabilize the economy – too quickly and we could be back to more problems, but too slowly and significant inflation could set in.

Facts & Figures

  • Retail sales in August surged by 2.7% in July – the largest increase since January of 2006.
  • Growth in 2010 is predicted to be moderate, not much faster than the basic growth rate of the economy.

Best Quote

“Without these speedy and forceful actions, last October’s panic would likely have continued to intensify, more major financial firms would have failed, and the entire global financial system would have been at serious risk.” – Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve

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