Philanthropy Front and Center - New York

AFP NYC Events: Direct Mail and Meet the Grantmakers

The New York City Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), the founding chapter of AFP, holds events for both members and non-members throughout the year.  Here are two upcoming events in February and March:

Direct Mail Boot Camp
Tuesday, February 12
8:00 am-12:00 pm | Member price: $60, Non-member price: $95

This intermediate, two-part program is designed for fundraisers who are involved with their organization's direct mail campaigns. You will participate in a moderated panel discussion that will answer your questions, and provide the latest ideas and techniques to enhance your direct mail knowledge base -- enabling you to develop new campaign strategies and more effectively execute your job responsibilities. Register >>

Corporate & Foundation Grantmakers - Meet the Funders
Tuesday, March 5
8:30-10:00 am | Member price: $60, Non-member price: $95

Join this grantmaker panel discussion to learn timely topics and giving trends for 2013 and beyond. Speakers will share their perspectives on corporate and foundation giving and what they think fundraisers do right when approaching them and what fundraisers should avoid when writing proposals or soliciting for support.

Speakers include: Doug Bauer, Executive Director, Clark Foundation; Susan Epstein, Managing Director, Jobs & Economic Security, The Robin Hood Foundation; Irfan Hasan, Program Officer - Health & People with Special Needs, The New York Community Trust; Stephanie J. Hochman, Director, U.S. Grant program, Citi Foundation. Register >>

GrantSpace en español

Como muchos ya saben, GrantSpace es el sitio Web del Foundation Center, diseñado para los que gestionan fondos filantrópicos y buscan la sostenibilidad duradera de sus organizaciones sin fines de lucro.

Hoy en día, se ha convertido también en un banco de conocimiento y recursos en castellano para el sector social. Con más de 70 artículos y múltiples seminarios en línea, queremos mostrarles lo más reciente de esta colección virtual.

Los seminarios en línea que ofrecemos de forma gratuita enseñan a redactar propuestas, investigar a fundaciones donantes, crear presupuestos de propuestas, y manejar las finanzas de la organización:

• La organización sostenible: Fundamentos para construir un éxito duradero
• Elementos básicos del presupuesto de un proyecto
• Principios de la redacción de propuestas
• Estrategias para la investigación de fundaciones donantes

Los siguientes artículos contestan preguntas sobre los temas indicados. Pulsen el signo (+) para ver todo lo demás bajo cada categoría:

Gestión y administración

Evaluación de programas

Espacios compartidos

Emprendimiento social
+

Procuración de fondos

Procuración de fondos en Internet

Auditoría interna de desarrollo

Investigación de donantes particulares
+

Fundaciones donantes

Formato universal de solicitud de fondos filantrópicos

Fundaciones corporativas vs. Programas de contribuciones directas de corporaciones

Cartas de solicitud de fondos
+

Finanzas

Ingresos generados

Presupuestos

Reservas operativas
+

Tecnología para el sector social

Reseñas de tecnologías de la información

Asistencia técnica
+

Apoyo a particulares

Redacción de propuestas para proyectos independientes

Fondos filantrópicos para artistas, músicos, etc.
+

Esperamos que utilicen a menudo estos recursos. Nos encantaría que nos comunicaran sus ideas para crear más contenido en castellano y que nos ayuden a contarles a sus colegas hispanohablantes sobre GrantSpace. ¡Gracias!
______

English synopsis: This blog piece highlights new Spanish-language resources published recently on GrantSpace, including webinars and brief articles about fundraising, grantseeking, and sustainability.
______

Inés Sucre
Bibliotecaria
Foundation Center-New York

Radical Retail

In my last blog post, I posed the question, Is Corporate Social Responsibility Socially Responsible? This is a question that many have debated since the concept ballooned in 2005, when corporate donations grew by an unprecedented 22.5%, amounting to $13.77 billion, according to the Giving USA Foundation.

But as Betsy Atkins states in her Forbes.com commentary, "It is absolutely correct to expect that corporations should be 'responsible' by creating quality products and marketing them in an ethical manner. . . However, the notion that the corporation should apply its assets for social purposes, rather than for the profit of its owners, the shareholders, is irresponsible." She goes on to say that it is the shareholders' responsibility, not the corporation's, to donate their own assets to charity.

Others say that companies should consider their impact on the world while pursuing their quest for profit, and thankfully for all of us, today corporate social responsibility (CSR) has reached an all-time high. In fact, some corporations are taking an even more radical approach to the concept of "giving back."

Take Panera Bread, for instance. Imagine walking into a Panera Bread restaurant, picking out anything you want from their menu, and at the end of the line there are no cash registers -- just a donation box. Sounds like a radical idea, right? Maybe so, but Panera Bread is doing just that in its newly established Panera Cares Cafes. A sign at the entrance says: "Take what you need, leave your fair share." While the stores do have cashiers, they don't collect money. They simply hand each customer a receipt that says what their food would cost at a conventional Panera Bread restaurant and direct them to a donation box -- but the cashiers will accept credit cards! All the money collected from customers is then donated to charitable causes. Customers who can't pay are asked to donate their time.

So if you knew that some of your lunch money would be used to serve at-risk youth or to feed people who aren't able to feed themselves, how much would you put in that donation box? That's what Panera Bread is trying to find out. But not everyone feels this is a good idea. Critics of the approach argue that the honor system won't work in the long run and that others will feel uncomfortable breaking bread next to the very people they are trying to help.

In spite of such doubters, Nordstrom will soon be opening a charitable concept store of its own in New York City's Soho district where the store will donate all of its profits to charity. But it will be following a slightly different model than Panera Bread. The "Nordstrom" charitable stores will be about a 10th the size of a typical Nordstrom store and will carry a different name.

Whether this somewhat radical concept and definitely controversial approach to CSR will catch on is yet to be seen. But the question still remains -- do consumerism and charity work well together or not? What is your opinion? Please share it in the comments section below.

-- Kim Patton, Training Coordinator, Foundation Center-Washington, DC

This blog post originally appeared in Philanthropy Front and Center-Washington, DC.

The B Corps Are Coming!

Social entrepreneurs take note: on Wednesday, June 16, 2011, the State Senate passed a bill that, if signed into law, could allow for the establishment of benefit corporations in New York. The bill was sponsored by State Senator Daniel Squadron and passed by a vote of 60 to 1; from here, the bill will be sent to the governor.

Benefit corporations, or B Corps, are already legally recognized by four states: Maryland, Vermont, New Jersey, and Virginia (as of July 1). For those unfamiliar with the concept, the benefit corporation is a new form of corporate organization introduced in 2006 with the formation of B Lab, an organization committed to quantitatively evaluating corporate social responsibility.

A benefit corporation is a company that is for-profit, yet is beholden not only to its shareholders, but also to socially beneficial principles such as environmental protection or fair treatment of workers. While several hundred companies in the U.S. have been designated as B corporations by B Lab, without the legislation to support these corporations' social missions, legally the companies are still vulnerable to lawsuits from their shareholders if company earnings are lowered by adherence to their ethical principles.

As an example, ice cream company Ben & Jerry's was launched by its founders as a socially responsible business. However, because the law dictates that a company's duty is to maximize profits for shareholders, when the conglomerate Unilever showed interest in buying out Ben & Jerry's for a massive sum in 2000, the board of directors was obligated to support the buy-out in order to avoid being sued by shareholders. If the legal framework for the benefit corporation had existed in 2000, Ben & Jerry's might not have been compelled to cooperate with the takeover.

Benefit corporations bear some similarities to low-profit limited liability companies (L3Cs), in that both allow for profit and public benefit simultaneously, but benefit corporations allow for more flexibility in their social purposes, while L3Cs feature more flexibility in their taxation. You can read more about the differences between the two in this article from Law for Change.

State Senator Squadron said about the proposed bill for New York, "I'm both a member of the New York State Senate and an eternal optimist…You have entrepreneurs and investors who want to do good, but also want to do it in the context of all the capital and all the resources in the for-profit world." Now that it's up to Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign the bill into law, the coming months will show what the future holds for benefit corporations.

In addition to New York, six other states are currently discussing possible passage of benefit corporation legislation: Colorado, Hawaii, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, California, and Michigan. See more details on the legislative status of these companies here.

To read more about the bill's progress in New York, check out this article from the New York Observer. To see more about benefit corporations overall, the New York Times ran a detailed article on the subject in April, and this piece from Capital Institute features an interview with B Lab cofounder Andrew Kassoy on how companies become certified as B Corps and the progress of benefit corporations as legal structures. For more information on social enterprises, read this Knowledge Base article on GrantSpace.

As more states begin considering laws related to benefit corporations, you're likely to see a lot more news items and information on this topic in the near future.

-- Tracy Kaufman, Library Assistant

Is Corporate Social Responsibility Really Socially Responsible?

We thank our colleague Kim Patton for permission to re-post this piece, which appeared originally in Philanthropy Front and Center-Washington, DC.

Recently I had the privilege of traveling to Lagos, Nigeria, to conduct a training for a group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). (That's me in the middle of the photo, with some of the training participants.) As we near the end of our Funding for International Programs month here at the Foundation Center, I wanted to share some of my thoughts and observations from my experience there, particularly as it relates to corporate social responsibility (CSR) both domestically and internationally.

Many people still think of Africa as a poor, underdeveloped country. But while poverty, famine, and disease still afflict many of its nations, Africa has one of the fastest growing economies in the world.  According to an article titled Cracking the Next Growth Market: Africa in Harvard Business Review (May 2011), Africans spent $860 billion on goods and services in 2008. The article goes on to say that Africa will continue to profit from the rising global demand for its reserves of oil, natural gas, minerals, and other natural resources. As a result, many corporations are trying to tap into that economic market. With that in mind, CSR was a big topic of interest during my training in Nigeria.

CSR is the concept that a for-profit business has obligations to look out for the welfare of its employees, the community, and society as a whole while making a profit. Companies display their commitment to corporate responsibility in many ways -- some give to charities, others organize community events, sponsor causes, or make a commitment to be more ecologically friendly. While some people view corporate responsibility as a genuine effort by businesses to reach out to the community and look beyond profit-driven motives, others are wary that some use corporate responsibility as a public relations or marketing tool.

What's in it for us?
In terms of corporate giving, many corporations will ask the question, "What's in it for us?" While many corporations view CSR as a way of giving back to the communities in which their employees and customers live and work, they also know that it can help increase their company's image and visibility as a socially responsible corporation. It has been proven that a company's reputation has a lot to do with whether or not we as consumers will choose to buy its products or services, which ultimately affects its bottom line.

Making your case
So when making your case for support to a corporation, always keep the three P's in mind:

• People – how does this help them reach more people or benefit their employees? 
• Products – how does this help them move more products? 
• Profits – how does it help them increase their profits or brand image?

Let them know upfront exactly what's in it for them! For more insider tips on how to develop effective corporate partnerships, our free class Introduction to Corporate Giving is definitely worth checking out.

What do you think?
On a final note, there's a new book related to this topic called Brand Aid: Shopping Well to Save the World. [Please note: The Foundation Center's New York library has just acquired this book for our collection.] The authors say cause-related marketing, a type of marketing involving the cooperative efforts of a for-profit business and a nonprofit organization for mutual benefit, inspires only shopping, not real social change. The authors use as an example the Product Red campaign, for which they argue consumers were asked to buy something that wasn't produced in Africa by Africans but was designed to help them. What's your opinion? Do efforts such as these do more harm than good? Please share your comments below.

In my next post Radical Retail, coming up in June, find out how some retailers are taking CSR to the next level, and learn more about building better corporate partnerships.

-- Kim Patton, Training Coordinator, Foundation Center-Washington, DC

"Hedge Funds and Philanthropy: Soul mates or strange bedfellows?"

Love was in the air on Wednesday, February 9, 2011, at a moderated panel discussion convened by the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society at the Graduate Center of The City University of New York. Kudos to Kathleen D. McCarthy, professor of History and director of the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, for bringing together a panel of New York hedge fund experts who provided views on what makes the partnership between hedge funds and philanthropy an exciting relationship.

Besides providing unique first-person insights into hedge fund managers and their brand of philanthropy, the panel provided insider tips into the psyche of the hedge fund manager. Two of panelists made it a point to refer to themselves as marathon runners. (Note: Last month you were advised in "Getting Fit to Fundraise" to use the library as your philanthropy fitness center.)

Joan Werner, former director, Marketing and Client Services at Ramius LLC, now serves as treasurer of 100 Women in Hedge Funds, a global association of alternative investments professionals who work to make a difference in the industry and their communities via mentoring, educational programming, and fundraising for specific causes. John Budzyna, chief executive officer, Cutting Hedge Consulting, is also chairman and co-founder of Hedge Funds Care, a worldwide charity focused on the prevention and treatment of child abuse. Lisa Utasi, director and senior equity trader, ClearBridge Advisors, co-chaired the Muscular Dystrophy Association's Wings Over Wall Street Fund Raising Committee for two years. Utasi was the 2007 Michael P. Beier Award Recipient for her dedication to raising funding for ALS.

Is philanthropy a natural activity of the hedge fund industry?

Comparisons between George Soros and Gordon Gekko were raised, and reference was made to Andrew Carnegie. Panelists were asked what makes hedge fund managers give, and how hedge fund philanthropy is different from the philanthropy practiced by private foundations.

Hedge fund managers are highly organized and analytical, sales oriented, and always interested in outcomes. As donors, they always want to know where the money will go, and how it will be used. Few donors in this field will be comfortable knowing their money is going to administrative costs and overhead. The ability to ignite individual passions, hopefully for your cause, is vital. At first glance, fundraising meets the hedge fund professionals need to network and do business. On a deeper level, philanthropy meets a human need to give back to society.

We learned hedge fund managers are good at organizing and attending special events. They enjoy the opportunity to come out and network with people they know in business. Having a name attached to an event is a surefire way to attract attention; honoring high profile individuals who interact with hedge fund industry professionals, including their lawyers, accountants, and analysts, was the common advice from the panel. Make sure the honoree is philanthropic, so he/she can encourage others to give. (You might try using the library's prospecting databases, including our Celebrity Directory to identify high profile hedge fund types who have their own private foundations.)

For some hedge fund professionals, the philanthropic instinct is discovered by accident and/or because someone asked them to participate. First there is commitment, and then comes a focus on due diligence and ensuring the money spent goes to programs, not overhead.

Two out of the three speakers discovered philanthropy by accident. John Budzyna, a marathoner, was invited to participate during a training run in Central Park. Once he discovered he could fundraise, the passion for the field grew. Due diligence and responsibility to the company's benefit, however, go hand in hand with that commitment; we were advised hedge fund professionals will ask whether their relationship with your cause or organization is good for their companies, and they will carefully scrutinize your finances.

Joan Werner described how 100 Women in Hedge Funds was founded by three women working in an industry dominated by men. The women saw a need to network, mentor, and educate other hedge fund women. Their 10,000 members feel strongly about helping their membership and helping society. Werner spoke about how she got caught up in fundraising. She showed up a meeting with 10 people in a room; she didn't join the group but soon would. The next day Werner was called upon to organize a fundraiser for breast cancer because of her sales experience. She quickly discovered her professional networking skills made her a natural at setting up fundraising events. The work was fun. Werner's members feel fundraising is a bonding opportunity that transcends the business side of their work.

100 Women in Hedge Funds is also quite focused on how grantees use the funds and requests several financial statements. If you can't use their money in the first year, they will hold on to it. 100 Women in Hedge Funds has relationship managers who stay in touch with recipients to monitor the grant money.

John Budzyna described how Hedge Funds Care picked child abuse as their cause. Child abuse occurs in all types of families and communities. He explained that even if poverty were to disappear from the world, child abuse would still continue to be a problem in society. Budzyna was hooked on the cause after his mentor took him on a site visit.

As far as organizational practices, the fundraising committee insists new committee members spend time visiting grant recipients. The organization also has an academic advisor in each city of operation who answers questions on how to allocate their money.

Lisa Utasi said traders give to ALS-related organizations because they know colleagues who are directly affected by this disease. "Once they see a need, they want to solve it." Utasi also focused on the skills that set hedge fund professionals apart in the philanthropic sector, and her instinct, like that of her fellow traders, is to determine whether a grantee organization is run in a business-like manner.

The skeptic in Dr. McCarthy prompted her to ask, "Does a show of philanthropy create loyalty in investors? Is there a business payoff to philanthropy?"

Joan Werner focused on philanthropy creating a bond – working together for the greater good, but she also said there was a payoff, both human and in the loyalty of customers, to her organization. Fundraising is a bonding activity for her membership. Werner believes fundraising can transcend the business side of your work.

John Budzyna concurred with Werner on building loyalty. Companies approach his group to co-brand an event. They pair a firm with a charity. Their database of hedge fund professionals has expanded to include a network of individuals working within the industry, including accountants, brokers, and information technology specialists.

Lisa Utasi focuses on a message, "You (your firm) will do well by doing good." She and Budzyna advise keeping the charitable side of your work separate from the business side. 100 Women in Hedge Funds stays away from issues or personalities with political or religious connections. The advice is to pick neutral organizations to support.

Two out of the three philanthropic organizations represented on this panel use public relations firms to communicate about their missions and events. There was consensus that not enough of the broader public understands how much individuals in the hedge fund industry give back to society. Budzyna is convinced that in 20 years we will read about the rise of the hedge fund managers in giving back.

Do hedge fund managers create their own nonprofit organizations?

Joan Werner has formed two nonprofits in addition to her work with 100 Women in Hedge Funds. Lisa Utasi says once you are part of something that is philanthropic it grows within you. Her commitment is now to microfinance and women. She's started five organizations to do work in this field. Budzyna says people come to Hedge Funds Care to replicate it in their communities. Budzyna said, "plenty of people out there want to make a difference."

This was an information panel discussion, and we look forward to the next session of the Leaders in Philanthropy lecture series.

-- Susan Shiroma, Senior Librarian

CECP Releases New Corporate Philanthropy Data

The Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), the membership organization of CEO and chairpersons focused on corporate philanthropy, issued findings from its 2009 Corporate Giving Standard annual philanthropy survey. Giving in Numbers: Trends in Corporate Giving (2010 edition) analyzes the responses of 171 leading U.S. companies, including more than 60 listed on Fortune magazine's list of top 100 companies.

Giving by Companies

Median total giving:

• 2008 = $30.08 million
• 2009 = $26.30 million

Change in total giving from 2008 to 2009:

• 36% of companies increased total giving
• 5% of companies remained flat
• 59% of companies decreased total giving

Size of changes to giving:

• From 2008 to 2009, 40% of companies decreased giving by 10% or more.
• From 2007 to 2008, only 24% of companies decreased giving by 10% or more.
• From 2008 to 2009, 5% of companies experienced no changes in giving levels
• From 2007 to 2008, 17% of companies experienced no changes in giving levels.

Though more than half of companies gave less, aggregate giving was higher in 2009 than in 2008 by 7%. This increase in aggregate giving was a result of two trends in 2009: 1) Pharmaceutical companies increased in-kind contributions of medicine through Patient Assistance Programs (PAPs); and 2) Corporate mergers and acquisitions resulted in combined corporate giving that exceeded the individual companies’ giving levels.

Corporate Giving Strategies
Confronting company-wide spending cuts and foundation endowment losses, corporate funders were forced to make choices:

• Organizations and programs meeting basic needs in health, human services, and community economic development, received an increase in corporate funding support.
• As stated above, drug manufacturers increased donations of medicines to cover the uninsured, recently unemployed individuals, and others.
• Companies looked to increase opportunities for employees to volunteer and offer pro bono services. Over the past three years, the percentage of companies offering paid-release time for employees to volunteer increased by almost 20%, and the number of companies offering pro bono services continues to grow.
• Companies experienced an increase in their employees' participation in matching-gifts programs and some raised their dollar limits, which allowed employees to donate a greater amount to be matched by companies.

The 2010 Edition of Giving in Numbers offers comparisons of CECP’s data sources and methodology to that of Giving USA, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, and the Foundation Center's research. In addition, look for information about how corporations leverage their connections to consumers, suppliers, and employees to further help in nonprofit fundraising efforts. And important for nonprofit organizations and corporate grantmakers alike, the report analyzes giving priorities by industry (p. 27); giving internationally (pp. 28-29); and giving by gender and ethnicity (p. 30). CECP makes the complete report, as well as a 7-page summary, available online.

Interested in pursuing corporate funding and other means of support from corporations? Learn about the strategies you can employ in our Introduction to Corporate Giving class. We offer it as a:

• 60-minute classroom session
• Full-day seminar
• Webinar
• Self-paced online class

"Crowdsourced" Philanthropy: How to Make Online Corporate Challenge Competitions Work for Your Cause

You may have noticed that a new trend has been sweeping the philanthropic world of late. As an alternative to traditional methods of grantmaking, several prominent corporations – among them, Pepsi, American Express, Target, and Chase – have opted to meld their charitable ambitions with the modern phenomenon of crowdsourcing. The results are initiatives in which both nonprofits and individuals can present their ideas for charitable projects, and the general public has an opportunity to vote on which ideas receive funding. The approach is noteworthy for its enormously collaborative, democratic nature and its manipulation of technology and social media tools as a route to success. To help explain exactly how these competitions work, our New York library/learning center held a seminar on September 15 called Corporate Challenge Competitions: An Inside Look. It featured Liz Dwyer of the Pepsi Refresh Project, along with Angela Jackson, who won a $50,000 Pepsi Refresh grant to support her start-up nonprofit, the Global Language Project, and Ruth Fertig, who won $250,000 in unrestricted funding for the International Rescue Committee through the American Express Members Project. Below you’ll find some of their advice for those who may be interested in giving these competitions a try.

Prepare yourself to become a lean, mean publicity machine. Make no mistake about it: the dicey aspect of crowdsourced philanthropy is that it transforms grantmaking into a popularity contest, so you’d better be ready to get popular! Getting your friends and family on board is a good start, but it’s not enough; it takes a whole lot of votes to win one of these contests. What our grant winners have in common is that they put forth bold, persistent efforts to reach as many potential voters as possible.

This requires a combination of creativity and assertiveness to spread the word on as wide a scale as you can, and it’s beneficial to start publicizing even before the voting period for your project begins. One grantee set aside a few hundred dollars to design a promotional postcard to distribute among her supporters. Sending out daily email blasts with reminders to vote early and often is also an effective strategy. One particularly enterprising grantee was on board an airplane and convinced a flight attendant to let her make an announcement to her fellow passengers about her project; she then distributed pencils printed with the web address for voting. While you’re assembling your plan for gaining publicity, it will be crucial to keep our next tip in mind.

Learn how to make the most of social media. These corporate challenge competitions base themselves almost fully in the world of technology. Voting happens through the web or through text messaging, and social media will be one of the most efficient ways of spreading your message widely and rapidly. Set up a Facebook page and a Twitter account for your cause, and consider making a promotional YouTube video – the more original and entertaining your video is, the more likely it is to spread to more viewers. When formulating your social media strategy, you want to ensure that you’re using these tools in the most effective manner possible; for some good tips, there are lots of nonprofit professionals online who can give you advice on what to do. For a start, our presenters recommend reading Beth Kanter’s blog, How Networked Nonprofits are Using Social Media to Power Change (http://www.bethkanter.org ), and also the slide presentation 50 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits (http://www.slideshare.net/chadnorman/50-social-media-tactics-to-help-nonprofits-meet-their-mission ).

Reap the benefits of the experience. When discussing her experience with the Pepsi Refresh Project, Angela Jackson regaled our audience with stories of all of the new people who reached out to her after learning about the Global Language Project. In addition to winning a grant, she was able to meet many new collaborators who wanted to help out in expanding her organization’s work. The lesson to be learned is that there can be a lot more than money to be gained if you do this. Even if you don’t get the grant, you can still harvest plenty of rewards out of having participated in the competition. The experience helps boost publicity for your cause and can help bring out some new supporters and donors, and possibly help you recruit new volunteers.

That being said, if it turns out that you are chosen to win funding, remember to thank your voters and thank them profusely! Your cause was propelled to the top because of their support, and if you show your appreciation, they’ll continue to support you as your project continues to grow in strength. Beyond this step, your corporate funder can help you through the process of managing your grant. For instance, the Pepsi Refresh Project is partnered with Global Giving, which will assist you through any questions you have or problems you may encounter. If your project is already tied to a registered nonprofit, you can start working with your funder to work out a disbursement schedule and reporting periods. If you are an individual rather than an organization, and are inexperienced in these kinds of things, your funder can first help you through the process of establishing a 501(c)3 or finding a fiscal sponsor, writing a project plan, creating a timeline, and any other nuts and bolts of setting your project into motion.

The procedures involved in joining these contests vary from company to company, so carefully read the online instructions for each one before submitting an application. For a little more information on what crowdsourcing in philanthropy is all about, read this post from the Wild Apricot blog for a better understanding. Also, search the Foundation Center’s Catalog of Nonprofit Literature using the subject/descriptor “online social networks” for more insight on how these technological tools can be used to promote your cause.

-- Tracy Kaufman, Library Assistant

A 'Flip' Chat With...Liz Dwyer, Ambassador of Education, Pepsi Refresh Project

(This is the seventh in PhilanTopic's series of "Flip" chats with thought leaders in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. You can find others here, including our last one, with The Economist's New York bureau chief Matthew Bishop.)

Since January, hundreds of nonprofit organizations and individuals have become agents of change in their communities with support from the Pepsi Refresh Project. Through the contest, which Pepsi is conducting in partnership with GOOD, Global Giving, and DoSomething.org, anyone can submit an idea in one of six categories: health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods, and education. At the end of each month, the ideas with the most votes win a portion of $1.3 million.

While a number of questions have been raised about the Refresh project (How is Pepsi measuring the impact of the grants? Is the competition engineered to reward popularity over merit?), the project has succeeded in creating a great deal of buzz -- for Pepsi as well as around online giving contests in general -- and has provided much-needed financial support for a lot of worthy causes.

Earlier this week, I had a chance to sit down with Liz Dwyer, ambassador of education for the project, to talk about the project and how Pepsi is measuring its impact. With more than fifteen years of experience in the field of education, Dwyer also shared her thoughts about what we need to do to increase graduation rates and teacher effectiveness.

(If you are reading this in an e-mail, click here.)

(Total running time: 6 minutes, 12 seconds)

Last week, Pepsi announced that it will expand the project in 2011 to Europe, Latin America, and Asia, as well as continue to fund it in the U.S. and Canada. What do you think about the Refresh project and the company's decision to expand it? Are there any problems with the model that need to be addressed before it goes global? And is this a model that other multinational corporations should be emulating? Use the comments section below to share your thoughts.

-- Regina Mahone

Free Shipping in September on National Directory of Corporate Giving

This September, the Foundation Center is offering free shipping on the newly-released 16^th edition of our National Directory of Corporate Giving when you order online.

The updated 16^th edition includes comprehensive profiles of more than 3,300 company-sponsored foundations and over 1,400 corporate giving programs. Each profile contains vital information on giving priorities and funding guidelines, including:

• Program descriptions
• Fields of interest
• Annual giving amounts
• Average size of grants awarded
• Giving limitations
• Key contacts - including officers, donors, and trustees
• Application procedures

The National Directory is also fully indexed by company name, subject, and geographic focus for quick access to funder profiles.

Visit the Marketplace section of our web site for more information on this publication or to view a sample company entry. The National Directory of Corporate Giving is available for just $195 with free shipping online. Order your copy today! >>