Author Archive
Congratulations to The Cleveland Foundation
The Cleveland Foundation kicked off the year-long celebration of its 100th birthday on January 2, announcing an array of special activities and gifts to mark this historical event. Chief among the planned celebrations is a series of monthly gifts to the community, all of which will highlight community assets the foundations has helped to build through the years. The first such gift: a day of free rides on the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, which the foundation first supported in 1981. I can’t wait to see what other gifts will be made: stay tuned for announcements, to be made on the second of each month throughout the year.
You can read much more about the planned activities – including addresses by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and General Colin Powell – online. And be sure to check out the new website that shows the growth and development of the foundation since its founding, complete with period photos and key events presented a decade at a time. Its searchable, interactive timeline is packed with interesting facts, stories and videos.
Happy birthday to you, Cleveland Foundation!
Foundation leaders join Philanthropy Ohio Board
Philanthropy Ohio members elected six new board members at the organization’s annual meeting held on November 14. Eric Avner, Leslie Dunford, Bill Kitson, Dawn Tyler Lee and LaTida Smith will serve three-year terms, while Denise Griggs will serve for two years, filling a vacancy created by a retiring board member.
Eric Avner is the vice president of The Carol Ann & Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation, where he oversees its community development grantmaking that supports initiatives strengthening Cincinnati’s urban neighborhoods, building a talented workforce and encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation.
Leslie Dunford is The Cleveland Foundation’s liaison to its board of directors and legal counsel, advising on matters of compliance and governance. She also manages the foundation’s facilities, office services and risk-management services.
Denise Griggs is the CFO at The Burton D. Morgan Foundation in Hudson, Ohio, where she managed the finances and investments, provides technical assistance to grant seekers and serves as secretary and assistant treasurer.
Bill Kitson is the president and CEO of the United Way of Greater Cleveland, with 23 years of fundraising, marketing and leadership experience in the United Way system that includes service in Milwaukee, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
LaTida Smith is vice president for programs, outcomes and learning at Saint Luke’s Foundation, leading and overseeing the program strategies, grants, evaluation and learning to advance the foundation’s focus on the health and well-being of greater Cleveland.
Dawn Tyler Lee is senior vice president for community impact at the United Way of Central Ohio, where she leads work focused on the impact areas of education, income, health and home. She also oversees activities related to diversity and inclusion and public policy.
#GivingTuesday encourages donations
After the last turkey sandwich and cranberries were eaten, the last piece of pumpkin pie devoured with your choice of ice cream or bourbon whipped cream, many Americans set out to shop the best deals on holiday gifts. We had Black Friday, with people lined up outside stores that open in the wee hours of the morning, all hoping to get the newest tech gadgets, games and toys. Following the post-Thanksgiving shopping weekend kicked off with Black Friday, there’s Cyber Monday, a day devoted to frenzied shopping online for great deals (haven’t done that, either).
Now, tomorrow there’s #GivingTuesday, when over 4000 nonprofits, corporations and individuals will kick off the giving season, encouraging and celebrating charitable giving. Last year’s inaugural event set impressive results to surpass this year:
In 2012, we had more than 2,500 recognized #GivingTuesday™ partners from all 50 states of the United States. The collective efforts of partners, donors and advocates helped fuel a marked increase in charitable giving on GivingTuesday. Blackbaud processed over $10 million in online donations on 11/27/12. DonorPerfect recorded a 46% increase in online donations and the average gift increased 25%. More than 50 million people worldwide spread the word about GivingTuesday – resulting in milestone trending on Twitter.
To be an official partner of #GivingTuesday, organizations must be a registered U.S. nonprofit with a specific #GivingTuesday initiative, or a for-profit business, school, religious or community group leading a project that will benefit at least one such nonprofit. #GivingTuesday also encourages generosity by individuals and families, by donating to or volunteering at favorite charities.
This year, some in the philanthropic sector are encouraging foundations to get involved in #GivingTuesday activities, including Phil Buchanan at the Center for Effective Philanthropy. He suggests that foundations select particularly effective grantees to receive #GivingTuesday Impact Grants.
Whether you finished your holiday shopping in the last few days or chose other ways to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday, tomorrow’s recognition of philanthropy is an opportunity to increase our support of nonprofits and the ultimate beneficiaries they serve.
Claudia Herrold
Ohio Celebrates National Philanthropy Day
Philanthropy Ohio and more than 100 communities across the country – including several in Ohio – are celebrating National Philanthropy Day this month, sponsored by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and its local chapters. Setting aside one day to celebrate how Americans give back to their community began in 1986, when then-President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation officially recognizing November 15 as National Philanthropy Day.
Here in Ohio, the celebrations hosted by regional AFPs occurred throughout the month at events that recognized local individuals, companies and foundations for their philanthropic activities. We offer our congratulations to two Philanthropy Ohio members received awards from the AFP of Greater Cleveland: Sherwin-Williams received the corporate leadership award and The Cleveland Foundation received the foundation leadership award.
Philanthropy Ohio celebrated philanthropy during the annual conference on November 14, when we presented awards to two individuals and two organizations:
Brian Frederick, president/CEO of the Community Foundation of Lorain County, received the Ohio Philanthropy Award, our life-time achievement award for outstanding service;
Cara Dingus Brook, president/CEO of the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, received the Emerging Philanthropist Award; and
The Cleveland Foundation and The George Gund Foundation received the Innovation Award for their work on the Cleveland Plan.
We think all philanthropists deserve recognition for their dedication to the causes and organizations to which they donate, whether they give $25 or $25 million. Thanks to their gifts our state and nation are stronger and healthier places in which to live and work.
Claudia Y.W. Herrold
It’s time to fully fund nonprofits
The conversation around funding nonprofits’ overhead or administrative costs has escalated in recent months, particularly due to an initiative spearheaded by GuideStar, Charity Navigator and BBB Wise Giving Alliance. CEOs of the three organizations penned a letter saying that the amount a nonprofit spends on overhead “is a poor measure of a charity’s performance.” GuideStar then created a campaign to end the overhead myth that has resources and FAQs as well as a sign-on support effort.
The three charity CEOs are not the only ones concerned about the reluctance of funders and donors to fully fund the cost of nonprofits’ programs and projects. A Stanford Social Innovation Review’s article says “The cycle starts with funders’ unrealistic expectations about how much running a nonprofit costs, and results in nonprofits’ misrepresenting their costs while skimping on vital systems—acts that feed funders’ skewed beliefs. To break the nonprofit starvation cycle, funders must take the lead.”
A group of foundations at our colleague organization, Donors Forum in Illinois, has produced a short video on the topic, also.
Since the end of the year is a big fundraising time for charities of all kinds – including our community foundations – this campaign is quite timely. Let’s end the overhead myth, funding nonprofits for sustainability.
Head back to school . . . at Philanthropy Forward ’13!
As we head toward the Labor Day weekend, almost all K-12 and post-secondary school students are back at their desks, with new teachers, new classes and content, new pencils and computers. While we here at Philanthropy Ohio don’t organize our programs and workshops to align with an academic year calendar, this is the time of year we gear up for our major, statewide learning and networking event, Philanthropy Forward ‘13. We hope all of you who are interested in being more strategic and effective in your charitable giving – whether through individual checkbooks or through organizational grants – will head to our annual conference – our “school” – on November 12 -14.
What can you expect at this year’s gathering? Well, we have new teachers to help you become better at what you do. If you’re a corporate funder, you’ll spend a day with Bea Boccalandro as she explains how you can make a quantum leap in your company’s impact. If you’re a trustee or CEO, Commonfund Institute expert William Jarvis will show you how the latest lessons from investment success can lead to better performance for your endowment. Interested in youth philanthropy? Wondering how you can build a network and mobilize others to impact your cause? Need to focus on tightening up internal controls? All these topics – and more – are courses at the conference that will increase your knowledge and help you get smarter and build skills. Isn’t that what school’s all about?
What will you attend this year? Check out all 35 courses and register before September 1 – that’s Sunday! – to be entered in a great prize drawing and save on registration fees.
Claudia Y.W. Herrold
Why choose Philanthropy Forward ’13?
With the dozens – perhaps hundreds – of philanthropy-related learning and networking opportunities you can attend, why should you choose Philanthropy Ohio’s annual conference? We asked some of our members that very question and here’s what they said:
It’s the perfect place to reconnect and refresh.
It’s very high quality content yet very cost effective.
The networking opportunities, engaging site visits and in-depth analysis of issues make the conference very special.
A great opportunity to share ideas and lessons learned with colleagues regarding the day-to-day challenges in our jobs.
Superb networking and learning opportunity.
I brush up on core skills I need to do my job more effectively.
Our conference, November 12 – 14 at the Hilton Columbus Downtown (a brand-new, high-tech treat in and of itself!) is packed with sessions designed by philanthropy for philanthropy, thanks to a very successful call for sessions we issued this year (a first for us). We’re also excited to bring Van Jones to the conference for a funders’ only reception and then a keynote open to nonprofits and the wider public.
Yet, we haven’t packed the schedule so tightly that you won’t have time to connect with colleagues – because we know that adult learning comes in informal settings as well as in classroom training. One of the new ways to connect is through our Wednesday lunch “job alikes” where you’ll sit down with others who do the same work as you, who share the same interests and challenges, for open space discussion about whatever is on your mind. And, our host event is at the beautiful statehouse, where we’ll also be honoring some friends of philanthropy.
Head on over to philanthropyforward.org to find out more about the content and schedule. And, be sure to check out the incentives we’re offering to those who register early this year. You can also listen to more reasons your colleagues are registering for the conference . Ready to register? Go online to register with a credit card or download the PDF to send a check.
I’m looking forward to seeing you at Ohio’s largest gathering of people engaged in philanthropy!
Claudia Y.W. Herrold
Philanthropy Ohio Opens Nominations for 3 Awards
We’re very excited to announce the creation of two NEW awards that we’ll present this year, in addition to our traditional Ohio Philanthropy Award, which we’ve given out for several years. Nominations for all awards are due no later than September 13, giving our board time to review the submissions and make decisions. We’ll present the awards during lunch on November 14, at our annual conference in Columbus.
The is our “life-time achievement” award, which we first presented in 2004. Nominees for this award should have made outstanding contributions to philanthropy and can be either an individual, an organization or group of individuals or organizations demonstrating:
• Long-standing leadership in advancing philanthropy;
• Creativity in responding to societal problems; and/or
• Significant positive impact on philanthropy.
Our NEW Emerging Ohio Philanthropist Award will recognize someone who – regardless of age – has engaged in philanthropy for the first time during the last few years, either in a career path or as a private individual, and shows amazing potential by demonstrating:
• Exemplary leadership in advancing philanthropy;
• Engagement beyond a single community;
• Creativity in a philanthropic endeavor or project; and/or
• Significant accomplishment in a short period of time.
Our other NEW award is the Ohio Philanthropy Innovation Award. It will celebrate a catalyst who has moved Ohio philanthropy forward through an innovation in the last few years, someone whose idea led to positive change in how the philanthropic sector operates, thinks or impacts communities.
You can find out more about the awards, download the nomination forms and learn how to submit nominees online.
Who will you nominate for this year’s awards? Yourself, a co-worker, a donor, an organization? Don’t put it off, get started with the process today.
Keep the charitable deduction, please
U.S. Senators Baucus and Hatch, who lead the Senate Finance Committee as chair and ranking member respectively, have called on their Senate colleagues to propose ways to improve the income tax code, starting with a blank slate and building from there. Rep. Camp, who chairs the Committee on Ways and Means in the House, has also signaled that tax reform is high on the House’s agenda this year. Further demonstrating their commitment to tax reform, Senator Baucus and Rep. Camp recently held a hearing in St. Paul, the first of several such events they’ve set to gather perspectives on how the tax code should be changed – the first time in over 30 years that they’ll try to do major reform to the federal tax code. In a joint statement, the legislators said “We are engaging the American public in a national conversation on how to fix the tax code. That is why we are here in St. Paul, meeting with leaders in business — big and small. We want to hear how we can improve their experience with America’s tax system.”
We applaud lawmakers’ efforts in this regard – maybe it will reduce the complexity in its 4 million words. We sincerely hope that their efforts do not undo a long-standing public policy of encouraging charitable giving in America. To that end, Philanthropy Ohio is urging Ohio’s members of the House and Senate to retain the current deductibility of charitable contributions. It has been a significant component of the tax code for nearly a century and clearly has significant, positive impacts on the economy and our communities.
The charitable deduction is vital to a strong economy and thriving communities in Ohio. The state’s nonprofits employ nearly half a million people – about 10% of Ohio’s workforce – and they earn over $18 billion in wages. It is estimated that these wages translate into about $500 million of personal income tax revenue for state and local government and over $1 billion in federal tax revenues.
Encouraging charitable giving helps ensure a fairer tax code. According to IRS data, people at virtually every income level use the charitable deduction to reduce their tax payments. This is clearly true in Ohio, where 26% of those reporting such donations made less than $50,000 in income and 67% made between $50,000 and $200,000.
The charitable deduction advances important policy objectives. The charitable deduction protects our freedom to create, fund and operate the institutions that weave the fabric of our civil society. Ohioans exemplify the strong American charitable tradition, giving over $6 billion to the causes closest to their hearts, directing dollars to thousands of Ohio organizations, including all manner of religious, educational, social service and cultural institutions.
We hope that Ohio’s members of Congress will stand together to support the charitable deduction. Call Senators Brown and Portman and your representative and ask them to keep the charitable deduction.
Let's Talk Philanthropy 
Engage in 2014
I hope you’ll try out a few of these options this year!
Claudia Herrold
Share this:
February 3, 2014 at 10:15 am Leave a comment