Philanthropy This Week

Good morning.

This week we brought you a wide range of news and research about the latest trends in charitable giving — early estimates of how fundraising fared last year, a look at how digital giving is exploding around the world, and our exclusive Philanthropy 50 rankings of the people who give the most to nonprofits, our February cover story.

Every year, as Maria Di Mento combs through data about big charitable gifts to compile our Philanthropy 50 there are some surprises, but there are almost always plenty of Wall Street titans, Silicon Valley tech moguls, and people with national profiles.

But this year, more than half of the names are new to the Philanthropy 50, and it’s a far more eclectic group, write Maria and Drew Lindsay: Take the Boston Pops clarinetist who made a fortune trading stocks. Or the two sisters from a farming and ranching family in Utah. Or Gordon Davis (shown above), a meat scientist who coached a university meat-judging team to a national championship.

More than half of this year’s Philanthropy 50 donors gave to charities that said their gift was the largest they’d ever received.

We hope you’ll dig into the full special report, including our snapshots of each donor who has appeared on the list over 23 years.

Here’s what else you need to know:

Chronicle illustration

Some nonprofits saw big jumps in fundraising during the 2022 year-end giving season, but others had disappointing results.

Much of the data is still being tabulated, reports Rasheeda Childress, but so far, results are mixed. The Salvation Army in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Montana saw a drop in year-end giving, but National Geographic achieved its $100 million goal and a Texas school district foundation raised nearly $100,000 more than the previous year.

But despite an unclear picture of 2022, it’s possible to draw some insights about what fundraising strategies are most essential in 2023. In-person events have been fruitful for clients of the fundraising technology company OneCause, CEO Steve Johns told Rasheeda, and a smart tactic during these uncertain times is to appeal to donor-advised fund holders, suggested Ann Gill of Vanguard Charitable. (We’re here to help you with that: Sign up for our March 9 webinar on attracting donor-advised funds.)

Meantime, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education’s survey of colleges and universities found that a strong stock market at the end of 2021 fueled a 4.7 percent increase in giving during the 2021-22 fiscal year, reports Emily Haynes. But by June 2022, the stock market had plummeted, and the outlook for 2023 is unclear.

What to do? Fundraisers need to keep showing donors why their institution is a sound investment, CASE chief executive Sue Cunningham told Emily, “When they have the means, then that will come to fruition as a charitable gift.”

Ilya Lukichev, iStock, Getty Images

Donors the world over are contributing more money digitally — and in more ways — than ever before, according to a study of giving in eight overseas countries.

Giving online or through smart devices increased worldwide during the pandemic, according to Rasheeda Childress, who reported on a study by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Donor-advised funds are growing more popular in China and Singapore, and workplace giving is picking up in Kenya and South Africa.

In South Korea, a kind of phone giving has sprung up that’s unique to that country, as is a homegrown idea that allows people to make recurring gifts from their bank accounts.

Although the study did not include the United States, it can show American fundraisers how other countries are innovating, Una Osili, of the Lilly School, told Rasheeda. “The takeaway, especially for nonprofits, donors, fundraisers, is to look at the global landscape and see what new and traditional uses are becoming more prevalent.”

Illustration by The Chronicle; Getty Images

Small nonprofits upset at the loss of AmazonSmile would do well to direct some of their ire to Amazon for having done so little (opinion).

The company donated $449 million through AmazonSmile during a time when its total revenue reached nearly $2 trillion, writes Christopher Hammett. When he ran the fundraising and business side of Falconworks Theater Company, “AmazonSmile seemed like a dream: free money that required no effort,” he writes.

In truth, he writes, “AmazonSmile was not so much a charitable-giving program as it was an advertising scheme in sheep’s clothing.”

Besides receiving a paltry 0.04 percent of Amazon’s revenue, small nonprofits made big sacrifices, including the chance to build a relationship with donors. And driving donors to Amazon deprived local stores of business, local people of jobs, and communities of the benefits that local civic-minded enterprises provide.

Writes Hammett: “I can’t think of a single company that is less community minded than Amazon — or more destructive of the fabric of communities.”

More to Read and View

We have plenty of other news and insights worthy of your attention as this long holiday weekend unfolds. Drew Lindsay looked at whether the devastating earthquake in Syria and Turkey will prompt Americans to give to a part of the world their donations have long neglected. And Sara Herschander looked at an innovative $125 million effort by the Mellon Foundation to fund visual artists, poets, and others to shift public attitudes on criminal justice — and to ensure that many of the dollars go to fund work by people who have themselves spent time in prison.

And if you’d rather use your screen time by watching rather than reading, we’re delighted to share this video interview of Craig Newmark conducted by our partner Glenn Gamboa at the Associated Press.

We hope you’ll take time to relax, recharge, and reflect during the Presidents’ Day break.

— Marilyn Dickey and Stacy Palmer

WHAT WE’RE READING ELSEWHERE

Elon Musk gave $1.9 billion worth of shares in Tesla to charity last year. (Forbes)

London’s Science Museum agreed to avoid doing anything that could harm the reputation of an oil and gas company that sponsored one of its exhibits. (Guardian)

A descendant of early benefactors of the University of Richmond is demanding a refund of $3.6 billion for his ancestors’ donations after his great-great grandfather’s name was removed from its law school. (Washington Post and Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Particularly ripe targets for cyber-criminals, charities need to understand their vulnerabilities and invest in protecting themselves. (Computer Weekly).

Aid is slowly pouring into Turkey and Syria after last week’s earthquake, but survivors and rescuers are increasingly frustrated and angry about the pace of the response. (New York Times and Wall Street Journal — subscription)

A $2.4 billion foundation is working to distribute all its assets by 2035. (Buffalo Business First)

Even as more Americans buy guns, the National Rifle Association is losing members and money at a fast clip. (Trace)

The American Cancer Society is putting the kibosh on plans by a Chinese maker of vaping products to send donations its way. (Stat)

Two Super Bowl commercials about Jesus Christ were the work of a nonprofit trying to catch the eye of “spiritually open skeptics.” (New York Times)

NEW GRANT OPPORTUNITIES

Your Chronicle subscription includes free access to GrantStation’s database of grant opportunities.

Food and equity. Growing Justice is a pooled fund that seeks to invest in efforts to expand the market for good food from locally or regionally owned and environmentally and economically sustainable farms, ranches, fisheries, and food businesses for tribal, Indigenous, Black, Latinx, Asian, and immigrant people. Awards of up to $250,000 will support community-led efforts to strengthen the efforts of people of color to deliver good food to institutions, leverage resources, and shift institutional procurement practices to become more equitable and sustainable, seed innovation, and grow models for equitable good food procurement across regions and sectors, and support the spread and scale of equitable good food procurement. Grant seekers are encouraged to complete the eligibility quiz by March 1 to receive an invitation to apply. Applications are due March 16.

Military service members and veterans. The Fisher Service Award, an initiative of Fisher House Foundation and Military Times Foundation, provides grants to nonprofits that improve the quality of life for active duty, reserve, National Guard, veterans, and their families. A total of $250,000 will be divided among the top applying nonprofits, and each award winner will also receive an advertising package valued at $34,000 from Military Times. The application deadline is March 23.