Foundations, donors and others involved in giving away money need to change quickly to keep up with the world around them.

A new report by the Monitor Institute, a group in San Francisco that provides research and consulting services, says that philanthropists are still going about their work in many of the same ways as they did a century ago. While some forward-looking donors have tried new approaches -- for example, embracing a focus on efficiency, effectiveness and responsiveness -- they ought to also coordinate their activities with other organizations and find ways to adapt more quickly based on new information and changes in external conditions.

The study outlines 10 ways of working that will help donors operate in a fast-changing world including: understanding the context; choosing the right tools; creating and supporting networks; sharing much more information with others; recognizing that risks can bring big rewards.

Making The Grade
The BBB Wise Giving Alliance, a major charity watchdog, has released a list of its standards that national charities most commonly fail to meet when the alliance evaluates them against its "20 Standards for Charity Accountability." Insufficient transparency, inadequate board activity, and the lack of assessment of charity effectiveness account for the most failures in compliance.

The BBB Wise Giving Alliance evaluation of the charities that provided requested information in the past two years found that 56% met all 20 standards while groups in the remaining 44% didn't meet one or more of the standards. Bottom line: Many charities have more work to do to satisfy the expectations of donors.

Philanthropy Nuptials
Joan Hornig, a New York financier-turned-jewelry designer, has created a line of wedding items designed to channel some of the tens of thousands of dollars spent on high-end nuptials to charity.

Oil Spill Debacle
PhilanthroDEX, an online charitable giving index and forecasting service, projects the loss of charitable gifts from the BP Oil Spill will be $200 to $300 million in 2010 and as much as $600 million in 2011. However, the total effect on giving will depend on the number of states directly impacted by the oil spill and its subsequent ripple effect on the U.S. economy.

Several non-profits, including at least one New Orleans area church, have already filed claims in response to the release of data by PhilanthroDEX. Gulf coast charities and churches are already experiencing the constricting effect of the spill on donations, but the larger impact on these and national nonprofits is just beginning.
Organizations filing claims related to the spill will need to quantify lost income as part of the claims process.

Endowment Recovery
Two companion studies of the non-profit sector show that investment returns rose in the range of 21% in FY2009 after declining about 26% in FY2008. The average FY2009 total net return earned by the 173 independent/private foundations and community foundations participating in the 2010 Commonfund Benchmarks Study of Foundations was 20.9% (net of fees), a dramatic reversal from the -26% decline reported for FY2008.

Meanwhile, the 66 operating charities -- comprising cultural, religious and social service institutions -- participating in the 2010 Commonfund Benchmarks Study of Operating Charities realized an average net return on investment funds of 21.5% in FY2009 compared with an average net return of -25.8% in FY2008.

Text-Message Giving
The Pew Internet and American Life Project indicates that 11% of cell phone owners have made a charitable contribution via text message. Young cell phone owners were more likely to make text-message gifts than their older counterparts.

Among cell phone owners ages 18 to 29, 19% said that they had donated via text message, compared with 10% of people ages 30 to 49, 8% of people ages 50 to 64, and 4% of cellphone owners age 65 and older.

Nearly a quarter of Latino cell phone owners (23% ) said that they had made a text-message contribution, compared with 16% of African-American and 7% of white cell phone owners.

Higher Ed Upswing
After a year of steep drops in private giving to higher education, college fund raisers expect the amount of money raised in the fiscal year that just ended on most campuses to be 4.3% higher than the year before, according to the Council for Advancement and Support of Education's Fundraising Index.

Fund raisers predicted that giving over the next 12 months would continue to improve, ending up an estimated 5.7% higher than the year before. Predictions varied widely among institutions, with community colleges expecting the largest growth over the last 12 months and community colleges, and public four-year institutions estimating larger growth next year than private colleges would enjoy.

Lawyers Show Heart
The pro bono efforts of major law firms held steady in 2009 despite the continued pressures of the economic downturn.

A Pro Bono Institute report shows that in 2009, 134 of the nation's law firms performed 4,867,820 hours of pro bono work, an increase of nearly 24,000 hours from 2008. The total translates to nearly $2 billion in free legal services, or the equivalent of 3,100 full time lawyers -- almost the same as the number of full time salaried legal services attorneys in the U.S.

The increase occurred despite economic pressures, declining revenues, and a decrease in the number of participating attorneys -- some of whom were among the more than 5,600 lawyers laid off at large firms last year.

Volunteer Program Metrics
Companies that have long wanted to measure the return on investment and impact of their employee volunteerism programs now have new standardized metrics to utilize, thanks to the HandsOn Network.

The new standards include metrics for measuring the valuation of volunteer hours, the dollar rate of straight return on investment, and the dollar rate of social return on investment, as well as other key areas of reporting. These standardized key metrics will allow the corporate volunteer community to track trends and benchmark their programs' returns.

More Big Bucks
The world's wealthiest individuals in 2009 recovered much of the wealth they lost in 2008, and their charitable giving grew in all regions except North America.

The 14th annual World Wealth Report, released by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and Capgemini, indicates the world's population of wealthy people grew 17.1% to 10 million in 2009, returning to levels last seen in 2007, with wealth growing 18.9% to $39 trillion for high-net-worth individuals, and 21.5% for ultra-high-net-worth individuals.

High-net-worth individuals are those with $1 million in investable assets, while ultra-high-net-worth individuals are those with $30 million in investable assets, in both cases excluding the primary residence, collectibles, consumables and consumer durables.

Non-Profits And Recession
The Johns Hopkins University Listening Post Project says that almost a third of the 526 organizations surveyed made workforce reductions from October 2009 to March 2010, while only 23% reported employment gains over the same period, and 46% reported no change in head count despite facing greater demand for their services.

Employment changes varied significantly by field. For instance, organizations in elderly services and community and economic development reported overall employment growth, while theater groups reported job reductions of 6%, orchestras 3%, museums 1%, and children and family service organizations 0.7%. Arts and culture organizations have been hit particularly hard by the recession, with 56% of nonprofit theaters and 53% of museums reporting inadequate staff to maintain their existing activities.

Lucky Lady
Joan R. Ginther of Bishop, Texas has beat incredible odds four times! She recently won a $10 million prize to bring her total Texas Lottery winnings to $20.4 million.

Ginther's first win was $5.4 million in 1993. She took that win in annual payments of $270,000 for 19 years. During the 13th year of her first lottery pay out, she won $2 million with a $30 scratch-off ticket in the Holiday Millionaire game. She took that win as a lump sum of $1.5 million. For her third win, Ginther won $3 million in the 2008 Millions and Millions from a scratch-off.
Guess what? Ms. Ginther has moved to Las Vegas. I want to rub elbows and acquire some of her amazing luck.

Save The World, One Pair At A Time
Clothes4Souls, the apparel division of the international shoe charity, Soles4Souls, has launched its first national campaign at all U.S. bebe retail stores -- "take off your jeans for a good cause."

Women are invited to drop by bebe to donate "gently worn" jeans in exchange for $25 off a new pair of jeans selected from the new Fall 2010 Denim Collection. The company will get those clothes to people around the world who are in need. There is a a limit of one offer per customer. Additionally, with a minimum cash donation of $10, customers will receive $25 off a new pair of jeans.

Fundraising Down On The Farm
Does fundraising have an urban bias? Foundations are more likely to be located in cities, and traditional fundraising events, such as galas and auctions, cater to urban audiences. We need to be careful about overlooking the needs of rural America.

Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University research shows that although people from rural communities are less likely to give than those from urban communities, when they do give, they donate a higher percentage of their income than do their urban counterparts.

Interestingly, researchers found that "for both urban and rural residents, the amount contributed is closely related to some of the same factors that are associated with the probability of giving: being a college graduate, being married, frequency of religious attendance, level of wealth, level of income and itemizing charitable deductions."

Betty White For President
She may be 88, but Betty White has soared in popularity in the movies and on television this year. Seventy-six percent in the Rasmussen Reports survey rate the former Golden Girl favorably, with 55% viewing her very favorably. Just 14% have an unfavorable impression.

On other end of the public opinion spectrum, Lindsay Lohan, who was sentenced to 90 days in jail for violating probation, tops the list of the least liked, being viewed favorably by only 12% of Americans. Seventy-six percent rate the star unfavorably.

Sixty-two percent rate golfer Tiger Woods unfavorably, while 31% give him a favorable rating. Actor Mel Gibson is viewed favorably by 35% of adults, but 57% have an unfavorable impression of the Hollywood superstar.

Quiz: Most Charitable Cities
Charity Navigator compares the median performance and size of the largest non-profits in the 30 largest metropolitan markets The national average score is 55.68. Can you match the following cities with the overall financial health rating of their charitable sector (a higher rating means the city is more generous)? Answers are shown at the bottom of the left-hand column. Until next month ...

a. 51.89