Dateline: March 27, 2007, Dallas, Texas
If you want to know what is really happening in the world of philanthropy and charitable giving, you should be at the Association of Fundraising Professionals' annual international conference, being held this week at the convention center in Dallas, Texas. The lectures and training sessions are all great and worth attending, but as Tom Cruise once said," Follow the money!" That means...
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visiting the exposition center. There you will find somewhere around 250 exhibitors, ready to explain their goods and services to some of the 4,000 attendees.
To no one's surprise, the usual suspects are all here, including Sage Software, Blackbaud, PC Calc, large financial institutions like American Express, Wachovia, and AXA Advisors, and just about any vendor you have personally had contact with if your organization is a charity. We were most intrigued with two vendors in particular. The first one is Great American Merchandise & Events. These are the folks behind the duckie derbies that you see charities with access to a river sponsoring. You didn't really think the charity put the event together by itself? You might be interested in their 20K racer package, which includes 20,000 characters, trademark and licensing, 24/7 support, banners, rental of a character balloon for two weeks, broadcast videos, and just about everything else necessary to stage the event. Of course, you do need to check with your organization's legal counsel to make sure you comply with state gaming laws. Gaming laws in most states apparently aren't an obstacle, but your organization must comply if the laws are applicable. Some folks in Wisconsin received a reprimand last year from overzealous state regulators—as we recall the problem was fixed legislatively, but check. To raise additional money at your charity's derby, consider buying branded duck calls from Image Craft Ink.
Our other favorite exhibitor was Brick Markers USA. These are the folks that laser engrave donor names on bricks forming pathways. As you know, this is a great fundraiser for charities. We were intrigued with the idea that one company had found such an interesting market niche. We had always assumed that the charity simply contracted with a local garden service or paver to create and lay the bricks. That is the story behind much of what you see in the exhibit hall. People are willing to deliver branded turn-key golf tournaments, travel tours (Academic Travel Abroad, and Cruises Inc) and cookbooks (Gateway Publishing and Jumbo Jack's Cookbooks) for charities. Golf Torunament.com had a thick catalogue aimed at tournament planners and sponsors. Page 2 of the catalogue describes their "Hole-In-One" and other big prize contests. They apparently provide the insurance for the million dollar payout. Hole in One International also provides insurance for "Hole-in-One" fundraising contests, with premiums starting at $150.
No surprise here, but there a number of organizations that broker and manage lists (Care2, TMA List Brokerage & Management, and Trinity Direct). Marquis Who's Who offers research on those on the lists.
There are also organizations that create donor recognition walls (Presentation Gallery, Ltd). Both Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods made appearances in spirit. You don't need to go to the ballpark and beg a well-know athlete to sign his or her picture. Give Upper Deck a call. They had a signed picture of Tiger Woods at work and Michael Jordan's Number 23 jersey on display. You pick your athlete and memorabilia, and Upper Deck will ship the item to you. No risk to the charity. If the charity auctions the item above cost, the charity keeps the profit. If the item does not bring the reserve price, the charity simply ships it back. And you certainly want authentic signatures. We don't guarantee anything, but we were impressed with what Upper Deck told us about their process. Need a celebrity speaker? Celebrity Talent International will help the charity negotiate the deal, working as the charity's agent. It then contacts the celebrity's agent and works out the details.
The Pension Protection of 2006 now requires charities to acknowledge all cash gifts. You might think that poses a problem for the church collection plate. Not anymore. Give SecureGive a call. They have created secure-giving Kiosks for both indoor and outdoor use. All the donor has to do is swipe his bank card and enter the PIN. SecureGive is currently installing a system at the Pearl Harbor memorial. The system not only charges the bank card, but provides the tax critical acknowledgment (that was what they said—we didn't see it in operation). The system also offers a financial control for once cash-dependent operations. And if you think about the Pearl Harbor site, it is a perfect fundraising tool for people who are most likely to come, enjoy the experience, but who normally would not view this as an opportunity to support a charitable cause.
You might ask, "What about direct marketing?" There were plenty of exhibitors offering the latest techniques. If your organization is a successful charity, it doesn't want the executive director to get hand cramps when signing the donor acknowledgement letters. That is where DAMILIC Corporation comes in. It displayed the new AF Plus. According to the marketing materials, the AF Plus is the only machine on the market that can handwrite personalized notes and envelopes in your own handwriting. It certainly is an impressive looking piece of equipment. We were also impressed with Direct Line, which showed us samples of their highly personalized direct mail campaign pieces. In fact, we received one last week, thinking it was a check from a client, only to learn that Direct Line was inviting us to stop by their booth at the AFP conference.
If your organization is raising funds using 800 numbers, it certainly doesn't want to pay an employee to maintain the number fulltime. That is where O'Currance Teleservices comes in. They provide inbound call services for fundraisers. They currently have 650 sales agents, expecting to add 1,000 within the next year. They used branched scripts, so the call can be customized to the caller's questions. If necessary, O'Currance can undertake what they call a warm transfer to someone at the charity. There are any number of companies that will design web-based fundraising sites, as well as assist the charity with credit card processing. EFT Corporation, which has been in business for 27 years, offers email fundraising, real-time transactions, echecks, payroll deposits, and capital campaign services. IATS was offering credit card processing services. Even Western Union Payment Services was at the show. If your charity decides to opt for this approach, it should carefully review the organization's financial controls and insurance coverage, even asking to be named as an insured on fidelity and other relevant insurance policies.
There are a lot of vendors selling what we would call premiums. Camelot Pewter offers a wide variety of mugs, plates, glasses, and dishes to help charities recognize donors, volunteers, or others. A number of less conventional premiums are offered by other vendors. ChemArt creates a variety of keepsakes, including the White House Christmas Tree ornament. As they say, "Time cannot be stopped. Moments can be captured." Artistry of Poland will work with a charity to design a Christmas tree ornament and then have it manufactured in Poland by skilled artisians. There was also one firm—Making Friends--offering stuffed bears with a twist. The bears are sold in kit form. The kits are sold to parents who have school-aged children, and the children then assemble their own bear as part of a classroom or group activity. This is obviously a premium that appeals to PTA groups. For more traditional pins, plaques, crystal gifts, bookmarks, and other awards and premiums, there is Sanford White Company.
If your charity wants to create a video or DVD to communicate with your donors or show your charity and its activities off on the Web, you might give Rich Tolsma Productions a call. Pinnacle Productions Video Services was also represented.
Even Senator Grassley's spirit made an appearance. Your charity can still conduct a car donation program. The Adesa Impact, Car Program, the Center for Car Donations, Charitable Auto Resources were each offering their services. We asked representative from the Car Program whether business had slowed since the change in the tax law. Apparently not. According to the representative, some people find these programs the easiest way to get rid of a car they cannot sell. They like the tax deduction (limited as it now is), but are more interested in a cost-free way to dispose of a problem.
Gifts of life insurance policies are still viable, but can pose complex issues for the recipient. Advanced Settlements offers services in this area. Transfer of donated stock can also pose issues under certain circumstances. Asset Stream assists charities with the processing of gifts of publicly-traded securities.
We are all familiar with charity auctions. AuctionStar/Crestware offers software to manage the entire auction process, including barcoding. Auction Anything.com offers an opportunity to reach individuals who cannot attend a charitable auction. Auctionpay offers event management software, online registration, and secure payment processing for auctions, as did several other firms.
Speaking of helping charities, consider NonprofitRFPExchange.com, which operates an online request- for-proposal service for charities. A charity simply posts its RFP online, at no cost. Businesses then review the RFPs on a no-names basis. If a business wants to submit a proposal, it pays a modest fee to nonprofitRFPExchange.
There were 22 firms offering fundraising counsel, including Campbell & Company, the Compass Group, Kethcum, and MGI Fundraising Consulting.
We haven't even touched the software products and services. There was fundraising and donor management software (Telosa Software) donor cultivation software (MatchMaker Fundraising Software), and donor tracking software (Campbell Rinker). Delcor will help a charity evaluate and measure its Web site's usability and effectiveness.
Publishers and the media were also well represented, with Boardsource, Chronicle of Philanthropy, GuideStar, Foundation Center, Nonprofit Times, Philanthropy Journal, and Philanthropy World Magazine. John Wiley & Sons was both a sponsor, an exhibitor, and it ran the conference bookstore. There was quite an impressive array of books on sale, offering advice on fundraising by board members, designing capital campaigns, building public relations programs, designing employee handbooks, developing leaders, and just about any other topic you can imagine. Our very own Jack Siegel participated in a Wiley booksigning. Sales were brisk.
Overall, the array of goods and services on display was impressive and eye-opening. It is clear that the world of the virtual charity has arrived. That means charities and their boards can concentrate on mission and purchase specialized services from experts without the need to staff up or re-invent the wheel. Now if someone could only figure out how to outsource the mission we could all go home.
The AFP offered one service outside the exhibit hall that caught our attention. They set up a phone bank, urging conference attendees to contact their elected representatives in Washington, D.C. The goal: To get Congress to make the recent legislation affecting donations of IRA funds to charities (known as the IRA Rollover provision) permanent. All an attendee had to do was pick up one of the phones. The phone then automatically dialed the congressional switchboard. The attendee was then directed to ask for his or her representative or senator, further requesting to speak with the staffer charged with tax matters. The attendee was then given a series of talking points to convey to that staffer or leave in voicemail. Business was brisk.
What was surprising was the absence of accounting and law firms. Anyone who works in or for the nonprofit sector should attend this conference at least once. It provides a fascinating glimpse of what goes on under the hood.
[If your firm was an exhibitor and was not mentioned, please don't be offended. No slight is intended. Most important, we do not endorse any of the firms mentioned or their related products and services.]
Internal Revenue Service - Circular 230 Disclosure: As provided for in Treasury regulations, any advice (but none is intended) relating to federal taxes that is contained in this communication is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (1) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (2) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any plan or arrangement addressed herein.
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