Fundraising Talks
News and updates from the USM Office of
Advancement Research
Tell Me More...
Looking for funding opportunities? We've identified a few funds that might be useful to you. Visit the links below to learn more about the requirements and deadlines for these opportunities. 



Contact Us

Director of Advancement Research
301.445.2709

Prospect Researcher
301.445.1952

Office Clerk
301.445.1950
Letter from the Director
Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the March 2019 issue of Fundraising Talks.  The month of March means the beginning of warmer weather, spring cleaning, and National Women’s History Month. In light of this, March is an ideal time to dive into some spring cleaning at your institutions by looking into your Customer Relationship Management program (CRM) or donor and alumni database to ensure that data is tracked and maintained accurately. Additionally, take a look at your overall fundraising plan to create more efficiency in development efforts.

We already have many great processes in place to ensure that data is stored and tracked consistently and accurately in donor/alumni databases, such as regular screenings on constituent records to update biographical information, purging of duplicate records, and updating organizational details. Some best practices found in a recent article from Forbes, “ Best Practices For Data Hygiene ,” include performing an audit of data, establishing standardization rules and adding constraints, automating data cleansing, updating data frequently, and severing organizational silos. As a proponent of the positive impact of accurate data, I would encourage fundraising professionals to take routine steps or integrate new processes to your normal operations to maintain data integrity in your databases. 

March is also a great time to remember the ways women contribute to philanthropy, and understand how women’s philanthropy continues to change and evolve. The Women’s Philanthropy Institute at IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy conducts research and provides reports on female philanthropists. The 2018 Women Give report explores how parents transmit generosity to their children, and whether this differs for sons and daughters. Most interestingly, the study confirms that parent giving patterns influence sons and daughters differently. Click here to read the full report.

  • Adult children – both sons and daughters – whose parents give to charity are more likely to give to charity. 
  • Parents’ giving frequency influences adult daughters’ giving more than adult sons’ giving.
  • Adult daughters’ giving has a stronger relationship with parents’ giving as parental wealth increases.
  • The gender difference in how parents’ giving is related to their adult daughters’ and sons’ giving, is driven by higher-wealth parents.

I hope you find information from the report useful as you continue to engage prospects and donors for fundraising efforts. As always, please feel free to reach out to us with questions, comments or any assistance with prospect research!

Best Regards,
Sapna and USM Advancement Research Team
At the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Michael London uses artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms to automate repetitive fundraising tasks. For example, when people make gifts to the hospital, an algorithm runs information about the donors against records that determine if the donor is already in the fundraising database. If they are not, AI automatically creates a new record for them. According to this article from the Chronicle of Philanthropy , the clinic processes 80,000 gifts annually with the same number of employees who processed 30,000 donations annually a few years ago, thus freeing up time for the employees to craft strategy or build ties with donors. Using data in fundraising is not a new idea, but many fundraisers do not know how to proceed properly with data. AI may change that, as it is able to analyze data and prescribe critical steps to take next. Read more about AI and how it is changing fundraising shops here.
In a blog post , the Helen Brown Group suggests fundraisers keep track of biographic data about companies. Collecting data such as a company's contact people, matching gift information, annual revenue range, and more can help bring corporate fundraising to the next level. However, what information you track depends on your fundraising program's needs. The Helen Brown Group's post outlines and defines many types of data on companies that your office could track including corporate sponsorship programs, matching gift programs, corporate major giving programs, corporate sponsorship programs, and much more.
According to a study by The Philanthropy Outlook 2019 & 2020, total giving is expected to grow by 3.4 percent and 4.1 percent for each respective year, thanks to giving from foundations and estates. There is expected to be a lag in giving by individuals and corporations, but high net worth gifts to education and health should grow. Una Osili from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy noted that there is much uncertainty driving giving this year, due in part because of the federal government shut down earlier in 2019, and due to the impact of tax reform. Read more findings here.
Studies on giving from the past year are showing that philanthropy lagged Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2018 and that giving grew only due to donors who gave at least $1,000. According to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project's 2018 Fourth Quarter Report, giving increased by 1.6 percent last year, estimated against the projected GDP growth of the federal government. The report, which is based on 4,500 charities, also shows a dive in the number of donors and retention rates. The revenue from smaller gifts (gifts within $250 to $999) decreased by 4 percent, while gifts of $1,000 of more increased by 2.6 percent. According to the Non Profit Times, this indicates that giving is growing because of larger gifts from richer donors and that small and mid-level donors are slowly disappearing. Fundraisers must try and engage these mid-level donors as best they can in the coming years. The Non Profit Times theorizes that the results may have been because of the federal tax law signed in 2017, which doubled the standard deduction and may have caused taxpayers to take fewer itemized deductions including the charitable deduction. Read more here. An article from the Washington Post draws similar conclusions here .
With small and mid-range gifts decreasing, charities may be able to offset these losses by raising money through little-known federal tax credits. This article from Inside Philanthropy explains what New Market Tax Credits are and how they may benefit your nonprofit. A division of the U.S. Department of the Treasury administers the New Market Tax Credits program, which authorizes banks or entities that enable loans, investments, or financial counseling in low-income communities to allocate tax credits to qualifying projects. Golf courses, gaming facilities, farming businesses, and residential properties are ineligible for the tax credits, and typically preference is given to rural and underserved states. In the past, it has helped fund a solar canopy project at the Cincinnati Zoo, and a Center for Natural and Health Sciences at Elms College in Chicopee, Massachusetts. However, becoming involved in the New Markets program can be a time-consuming process, warns Kevin Edwards of Edwards + Strunk, a consulting firm. Despite this, Elms College was able to receive $3 million to fund their Center. Read more here.
The number of billionaires and their net-worth is down in comparison to previous years, but despite this, eight Marylanders have made Forbes billionaires list of 2019. They are, in order of highest net worth: Ted Lerner, developer and founder of Lerner Enterprises and Washington Nationals owner; Stephen Bisciotti, co-founder of Allegis and owner of the Baltimore Ravens; Mitchell Rales, co-founder of Danaher investment firm; Bernard Saul II, chairman and CEO of Saul Centers Inc.; Jim Davis, co-founder of Allegis; David Rubenstein, co-CEO and co-founder of the Carlyle Group; Dan Snyder, owner of the Washington Redskins; and Kevin Plank, founder and CEO of Under Armour and alumnus of the University of Maryland, College Park. Read more here.