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March 1998 VOLUME 5, ISSUE 7 A nonprofit newspaper about the nonprofit community Lpok for ys;pn the World Wide Web at:hftii;//wwW»W:>‘>h8 CAROLINA Tar Heel arts councils increase fundraising stakes Some arts groups have flourished even as they have weathered hos tile relations with governments upset about their programs. One lesson seems to be that controver sy can be useful in raising money. By Michael R. Hobbs Arts councils have faced increased scrutiny and criticism. They’re responding with ambitious — and successful — fundraising drives. Government funding for the arts has been attacked for supporting works that have offended some peo ple. In response, some local govern ments have trimmed their support of arts programs. But instead of hurting the pro grams, the increased attention has helped many of them. “We are so much farther ahead this year,” says Jeanie Duncan, direc tor of development for the United Arts Council of Greensboro. She attributed the pace of fundraising to increased support foUowing a contro versy last year over the eouncO’s sup port of a production of the play “La Cage aux Folles.” “That started a big debate over whether that was right,” Duncan says, with Guilford County deciding to redirect its $30,000 in arts council support to public school-based arts programs. But arts council supporters ral lied. “It helped raise the awareness of arts in Greensboro,” she says. “You had some people whose awareness was raised and they didn’t like what they saw. We had others who had their awareness raised and they said they wanted to help us.” This year’s drive is off to what Duncan calls a terrific start, with 25 percent of this year’s $960,000 goal raised during the silent phase that ran from October throng December. Last year’s drive mai’ked the first time since 1992 that the councO sur passed its fundraising goal, bringing in $2,000 more than the $870,000 tar get, she says. “The community really came out in support of us,” she says. Other communities across the state are supporting their arts coun cils, too, encouraging the groups to raise their fundraising goals, despite past controversy. In Charlotte, scene of a heated dispute stemming from plans to stage a drama with a gay theme in a pub licly funded theater, The Arts & Science Council of Charlotte/ Mecklenburg, has its 1998 annual fund drive goal at $5.7 million, an 18 percent increase over last year’s tar- Look for ARTS, page 11 Checks for dollars Challenge raises millions for soup kitchens The response is heavy after a Rhode Island philanthropist offers $ 1 million to match donations made to groups that feed the hungry. By Michael R. Hobbs It was Christmas in February for Nancy Dawkins. Dawkins, executive director of the Shepherd’s Table Soup Kitchen in Raleigh, had just completed the largest single fundraising drive her group has ever conducted, raising $31,690 in a spur-of-the-moment drive aimed at taking advantage of an offer made by a Rhode Island man who made millions during a career of sell ing newsletters and collectibles. “I’m just elated,” says Dawkins. “It’s the best single thing we’ve ever done.” Alan Shawm Feinstein, w'ho througli his philanthropy has made his a household name in Rhode Island, has pledged to spend, through his foundation, $1 million matching gifts of $25 or more made to soup kitchens and food banks during a 10- day period last month. Organizations across the country took up the challenge, raising mil lions of dollars in donations that were still being tallied late last month. “It’s just an overwhelming response,” says Steve Landes, a pub licist for Feinstein. Feinstein, 66, closed his newslet ter publishing business two years ago to devote himself to philanthropy, he says. In his home state of Rhode Island, Feinsteln’s contributions have made him a celebrity. He’s often seen on television, making appearances at schools and churches giUng away money. Most of the state’s public schools have hunger drives affiliated with him. He donated the money to build a high school in Pro\idence called the Feinstein High School for Public Sei-vice. Feinstein estimates he has given more than $50 million to charitable purposes, including the establish ment of the Feinstein Foundation. “I was very fortunate,” he says. “But I’ve always had this feeling that I wanted to do something to try to end Nancy Dawkins of the Shepherd's Table Soup Kitchen in Raleigh holds copies of checks given in response to fundraising challenge. [ hunger.” : Feinstein’s challenge came at a time of year during w'hich soup kitchens and food banks typically do little fundraising, says Kathy Super, director of development for Second Harvest, a Chicago-based network of U.S. food banks. Almost all of the 185 I Second Harvest-affiliated food banks I took advantage of Feinstein’s chal- I lenge. Super said. ; “People are talking about it quite a bit,” she says. News of the challenge w'as spread largely by fax machine. Look for FEINSTEIN, page 7 Blue Cross agrees its value should go to charity By Michael R. Hobbs The debate over Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina has moved to the arena of fine print. The conversation over a possible conversion of the firm to for-profit status now centers on details because of the announcement by Ken Otis, president and chief executive officer of Biue Cross, that the compa ny would support establishment of a foundation that would hold Blue Cross’ value. While Blue Cross says it has no plans to convert to for-profit status, the speedy consideration of legisla tion last year that would have allow'ed such a conversion prompted fears among the state's nonprofit community that charitable assets may be allow'ed to go to commercial purposes. Otis told a legislative study com mission iast month that the company wmuld support establishment of a method that wouid preseive tor char itable purposes the value of Blue Cross. Look for BLUE CROSS, page 11 Nonprofits seeking services that increase efficiency As the nonprofit sector continues to grow, new products and sen/ices from the private sector are appear ing. Nonprofit growth means for- profit opportunities for a wide range of businesses. By Sean Bahey Nonprofits strug^ing to improve service delivery while operating under titter budgets are creating a market for products and services aimed at making their operations more efficient. Competition for philanthropic dol- iars has led the boards and managers of nonprofits to push their organiza tions to do more with less. “An important recent development is the very fierce competition in the nonprofit sector,” says Lester Salamon, director of the Center for Civil Society Studies at Johns Hopkins University and a researcher on the nonprofit sector. New products and services geared specific^y to the nonprofit sector are emerging in that competitive envi- SERVICES & PRODUCTS ronment. “I do see new types of vendors serving the nonprofit sector,” says John Murphy, director of marketing for JSI Funi-aising Systems. “Those would include Web designers, the presence companies like American Express for managing nonprofit endowments, the possibility of con ducting e-commerce on the Web, all of those things are quite new” Murphy says he also has noticed that large corporations have begun to recognize the nonprofit sector as a market large enough to pursue, and many have created subsidiaries or new divisions to focus exclusively on the sector. He cautions the buyer to beware. “I think that nonprofits need to be veiy careful about what company they decide to work with,” he says. “The type of relationship they will have with a large corporation mi^t be quite dif ferent from the relationship they had with a smaller company.” Developing new products But large organizations can bring to bear considerable resources in developing products for the nonprofit sector, says John Greaney director of the public sector center of expertise for software giant SAP. SAP puts 17 percent of its profits back into research and development. SAP’s nonprofits benefit from that through products that are far more advanced than those of competitors. Look for SERVICES, page 22 INSIDE 1 NONPROFITS ; FOUNDATIONS f yVOtUNTESRS " I CORPORATE GIVING Grants & Gifts ...16 Olympics exodus Endowments rise Volunteer effort Wired club In March ...16 Key staffers hired to organize College and university A coalition has been formed Program teaches computers Opinion ...10 the 1 yyy Special Olympics World Summer Games leave. endowments grew again last year. to unite volunteers in North Carolina. to youngsters and opens doors. People ...17 ■ Page 4 Professional Services.. 18 ■ Page 6 K Page 8 IPage 12 FUNDRAISING Getting a gift policy Seeking or receiving dona tions of stock is best accom plished with clear policies. IPage 14
Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina (Raleigh, N.C.)
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March 1, 1998, edition 1
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