November 1998
■iorth Caroiina
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VOLUME 6, ISSUE 3
PhilantbropyJoumal
OF NORTH CAROLINA
The business of service
Nonprofits today more entrepreneurial, businesslike
There is a move to increase the
professionalism and accountability
of the independent sector, and .
more nonprofits and the sources
that fund them are working to
encourage the change.
By Emily Brewer
Nonprofits need to be enterprising
to make it in today’s world.
Shouldering a greater burden
than before, with fewer resources
and higher expectations, nonprofits
no longer can hold out their hands
and reap sufficient funds to do the
job, say observers.
Jim Johnson is one the nation’s
I
leading proponents of increasing the
efficiency and efficacy of nonprofits.
He founded and directs the Urban
Investment Strategies Center at the
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, which supports strug
gling minority businesses by teaching
them business and management
skills.
“In an era of devolution at the fed
eral level, with fewer and fewer dol
lars coming from the federal govern
ment to address community prob
lems, the nonprofit sector is going to
have to address more of those prob
lems and be more entrepreneurial to
raise money to meet that mission,”
says Johnson. “Competition is going
ENTREPRENEURIALISM
to become more intense.”
To become entrepreneurial, a
nonprofit first must examine the
entrepreneurial and business skills of
the existing staff and board, says
Johnson. TTien it may need to recruit
staff with those skills and train exist
ing staff.
Beth Briggs, president of Creative
Philanthropy in Greensboro, says as
more nonprofits boast professional
administrators at their hehns and
increasingly sophisticated boards,
they have the abihty to step back and
look at the big picture of fundraising.
“Today they have business sense
and they have people thinking about
where the money is going to come
from and what they can do to get it,”
says Briggs.
To look ahead, nonprofits need to
draw up a strategic plan, keeping
clearly in line with the mission of the
organization, she says.
“Nonprofits need a strategic busi
ness plan and need people on the
board who understand how to run a
business and how to meet the bottom
Une year after year,” says Briggs.
Increasingly donors are looking
for business objectives and a soUd
plan before investing their money in
the oiganization because many come
from well-run organizations, says
RELATED STORIES
I Going into business . . . .page 3
I Nonprofits collaborate . .page 4
Briggs.
There are a number of initiatives
emerging around the country that
pair nonprofits with businesses that
can share their know-how with non
profits.
On the West Coast, about 150 soft
ware millionaires have formed
Seattle, Wash.-based Social Venture
Partners, which works to encourage
Look for TRENDS, page 5
Lifetime of quiet charity
Blumenthal receives philanthropy award
The chief executive officer of Radiator
Specialty Company and head of the
Blumenthal Foundation has spent a life
time helping others.
By Patty Courtright
Charlotte
In quiet ways Herman Blumenthal has
made a big difference in North Carolina.
For more than 50 of his 83 years, the
Charlotte businessman and philanthropist
has supported a wide range of civic institu
tions and programs designed to help the
state’s nonprofit sector.
For his contributions, Blumenthal
received the Philanthropy News Network’s
1998 North Carolina Philanthropy Award.
The award was to be presented to
Blumenthal by Hugh McColl, chief executive
officer of Bank of America, at the Oct. 29-30
“Nonprofits and Technology” conference
sponsored by the
Philanthropy News
Network.
Blumenthal’s son
Philip explains that
his father came from
a family that empha
sized the importance
of working for the
community. The phi
losophy started with
Herman
Blumenthal’s par
ents, Lithuanian
immigrants who settled in Savannah, Ga., in
the early part of this century.
“It’s nice to be honored, but he feels it’s
our obligation to work on behalf of the com
munity, especially when there are so many
organizations that need help,” Philip
Blumenthal says.
For many years, the Blumenthals have
given back to the community. In 1953,
Herman Blumenthal
Blumenthal and his brother I.D. established
the Blumenthal Foundation for Charity,
Religion, Education and Better Interfaith
Relations. The foundation has supported pro
jects promoting leadership, education, the
environment, the arts, family and health ser
vices, literacy and reUgion.
In a 1997 interview on the North Carolina
Public Television program “North Carolina
People,” Blumenth^ said: “It came naturally
to give away money and enjoy it. And we do
enjoy it.”
In 1978, 40 years after joining the family
business, Herman Blumenthal took over
direction of both the foundation and Radiator
Specialty Company, which his brother I.D. had
founded in 1925.
The company’s first product was a powder
radiator sealant. The company since has
expanded into five operating divisions that
provide 5,000 automotive, plumbing and hard-
Look for BLUMENTHAL, page 8
Duke University
targets individuals
in capital campaign
By Emily Brewer
Durham
Duke University will rely in large part
on an effort to boost the support the
school receives from individuals as it pur
sues the largest fundraising drive con
ducted by a Southern university a $1.5 bil
lion capital campaign.
In the past, approximately one-third of
donations to Duke have come from indi
viduals, says Robert Shepard, Duke
University’s vice president of develop
ment.
“The percentage of donations from
individuals has been less than other insti
tutions of our type,” he says.
That’s largely because Duke is a
younger school than other large research
universities, and therefore has a younger
alumni base, says Shepard.
But the five-year campaign publicly
Look for DUKE, page 20
Fundraisers need to have a handle on the name game
By Patty Courtright
Fundraisers need to take care
when offering to name buildings or
other facilities after donors, say
development officers who have used
naming rights in their fundraising
efforts.
Experts give three fundamentals
for using naming rights as part of a
fundraising campaign: planning, com
munication and consistency.
Long before a campaign is
launched, experts say, an organiza
tion should take a look at itself and
what it wants to accompUsh.
During this process of self-exami
nation, the organization looks reaUs-
tically at whether it has the resources
and personnel to spend the necessary
time and energy, says Richard
Hoffert, executive director of the
North Carolina Symphony.
Then, it must make sure the gov
erning board is in favor of the drive
and has discussed specific needs and
whether outside help is required.
This is when the organization deter
mines the amount of money neces
sary to support the mission and pin
points how the money will be used, he
says.
Board support at every step of the
process — before and during the
campaign — is crucial.
Organizers should work with their
governing boards to develop clear
pohcies and procedures that define
the ground rules under which dona
tions are received and processed,
says David Winslow of Winslow-
Considine in Winston-Salem.
“Always try to anticipate as many
questions as might arise through
your policies and procedures up
front, before the campaign begins,”
he says.
This is especially important when
naming rights are involved.
“UTtimately, when one is receiving
a gift and, in return, giving recogni
tion for the gift, it’s something that
will impact on the organization tor
years to come, so it affects the gov
erning board as well as the organiza
tion itself,” Winslow says.
Just how does an organization
decide its gift categories and levels
required for naming rights?
It’s a combination of art and sci
ence, Winslow says.
First, he says, make projections of
the size and number of gifts neces
sary for a successful campaign. Take
into account that some donors are
capable of making much larger gifts
than others, he says.
Then look at the structure’s floor-
plan and assign dollar amounts to the
various parts of the building as well
as the gift required to name the entire
building.
“This is where the art form comes
Look for NAMES, page 8
INSIDE
Opinicr, 10
Grants & Gifts 14
In November 15
People ■.....’ 15
Professional Services..!£
1 NONPSOFtlS
1 FOUNDATIONS
{ OPINION
1 FUNDPAtSING
Six agencies across the state partner
The Community Foundation of
Four fundamental principles guide
Charitable Remainder Unitrust can
with N.C. State University to modify
Western North Carolina celebrates
collaborative leadership.
direct unused retirement funds from
homes of the disabled.
20 years and large growth.
A column by Hank Rubin
I.R.S. to charity
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