From Jim Eskin, External Relations Councel . --............................................................December 2009

It's just a fact that everyone acts nicer during the holiday season. Perhaps, it's joy of the parties, receiving gifts, being with family and friends ... we're kinder and more sensitive to the needs of others.   So here's a resolution to extend that spirit of compassion to the rest of the year. If giving and helping people makes us feel so good, let's practice it 12 months a year.

To all our friends,  we wish  you Happy Chanukah (the first of the eight candles is lit the evening of December 11th) and Merry Christmas. These holidays make us us better people. Let's remember that we can celebrate a higher level of humanity throughout the year.

The Joy of Giving         
Charles Bronfman, former co-chairman of the Seagram Company and founder of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, doesn't like the notion of "giving back." He says, "I give because I want to give."
 
Bronfman, who has been involved with philanthropy for 63 years, has co-written the book The Art of Giving with the president of his foundation, Jeffrey Solomon. He maintains that philanthropy never dips as far as the economy and returns at the leading edge of any recovery. "It can be for guilt; it can be for pleasure; but at the end of the day, giving is something that makes you feel better."

Capital Campaigns Aren't Suffering      
Most capital campaigns by colleges and universities that seek to raise $1 billion or more are on track to meet their goals, despite the bad economy.
 
Marts & Lundy, fundraising consulting firm based in Lyndhurst, N.J., analyzed 26 of the biggest campaigns now under way. Seventeen of the drives started before December 2007, when the recession officially began, and the nine others began in 2008.

The report notes campaigns appear to be making sufficient progress toward meeting their goals. This means other organizations now contemplating campaigns should be encouraged by the findings, as long as they have well-established constituencies and a well-organized campaign plan.

2010 Giving Plans        
Despite the bad economy and rising unemployment rates, a majority of American professionals aren't cutting back on giving. Fifty-eight percent of respondents in an American Society of Association Executives survey say they will probably give to the same number of nonprofit organizations next year, and nearly a quarter said that they have donated more than $5,000 to nonprofit causes in the preceding 12 months.

Philanthropy Swiss-Style          
Do you recognize the name, Stephan Schmidheiny? A 61-year-old Swiss billionaire, he has to be one of the world's least known and most foresighted philanthropists. He was one of the first to hop on the sustainable-development bandwagon. In the early 1980s, his forestry company, GrupoNueva, planted fast-growing trees on abandoned farmland in Concepción, Chile. He was also ahead of most do-gooders in aiming to help the poor by boosting their entrepreneurial efforts rather than by handing them welfare.

In 2003, Schmidheiny placed $1 billion in business assets, including GrupoNueva, into a charitable trust which uses up to $30 million of profits annually to help entrepreneurs across both Central and South America. That gift puts him among 14 living donors -- including Bill Gates and Warren Buffett -- who have given away $1 billion or more.
 
Schmidheiny, who has houses in Costa Rica and in Hurden (in his home country), divides his time between managing his remaining $2.5 billion and working on environmental and charitable projects.

Philanthropy Massachusetts-Style  For three decades residents of Townsend, Mass. couldn't raise the money needed for a new public library. Now they have a $20 million state-of-the-art facility that was built and donated by a reclusive local executive. Two years ago, Sterilite Chairman Albert Stone sent a letter to officials in Townsend, where his plastics manufacturing company is headquartered, offering up the library. No conditions, naming rights, or requirements for matching funds were attached.

The generous gift stunned townspeople, who primarily knew Stone as a fiercely private, and often gruff, local resident. The 22,000-square-foot complex, which just opened, houses a senior center and public meeting hall. The library boasts 56 computers plus wireless Internet access.

Volunteering is Robust 
Though many companies have cut back on their donations during the recession, employee volunteerism is thriving. Twenty-seven percent of respondents in an LBG Research Institute survey say they are more motivated to volunteer now than a year ago, before the global financial crisis. 
 
Nearly 56 percent of workers  participate in volunteer events run by their employers. The most common reason volunteers cited for their involvement is personal interest in the cause that they were aiding; but the second frequently mentioned motivation was concern that local charities are suffering in the economic downturn.

Boo on Telemarketing  
A New York State "Pennies for Charity" report calculated that telemarketers raised $208 million on behalf of 444 charities in the Empire State, but the telemarketers pocketed $124 million, or more than 60 percent, for themselves. The charities got less than 40 percent of the dollars raised in their names.
 
Among the key findings? In almost half of the telemarketing fundraising campaigns, charities got less than 30 percent of the dollars. In only 7 percent of the campaigns did the nonprofits get 65 percent or more of the fundraising.

Acting Like For-Profits
Nonprofits are increasingly investing in for-profit social enterprises despite -- or maybe because of -- the economic downturn. In a Community Wealth Ventures Inc. and Social Enterprise Alliance survey, more than half of 848 social sector organizations already operate a social enterprise, while 60 percent indicate they plan to launch another in the next few years.

Cause Marketing         
What has a down economy meant for cause marketers who depend on the kindness of shoppers to raise funds for nonprofit organizations, associations, and assorted other doers of good deeds?  Carol Cone, chief executive at Cone Inc., a Boston agency specializing in cause marketing, says it may be even more relevant now.
 
To Cone's practiced eye, cause marketing is in a "Goodness 3.0 phase." The first iteration, in the 1970s and 1980s, involved brands and corporations organized around social issues. These included Ben & Jerry's, Body Shop, Stonyfield Farm and Tom's of Maine. "The Goodness 2.0 era," ran from the '80s through quite recently, and its organizing principal was that "if you took a hard-earned dollar out of the community, you had to give back." Its practitioners included Kenneth Cole, Levi Strauss, McDonald's and Timberland. In the 3.0 era, Cone asserts, that goodness is no longer a nice-to-do, it's a have-to-do.

The Workhorse of PR 
Despite continued reports of newspapers failing and social media growing, communicators say press releases are as useful as ever, especially for targeting print outlets. A recent Ragan Communications and PollStream poll found 49 percent of 401 corporate communication pros believe press releases are "as useful as ever." Another 33 percent say they're a necessary evil that won't go away soon, in part because of SEC notification rules.
 
An overwhelming 64 percent say they target their press releases most often to print outlets, and 23 percent list online news and financial sites as well. If press releases are losing relevance, it's because of the growth of social media, say 45 percent of respondents. Though, 23 percent and 24 percent respectively blame the demand for a more trustworthy and/or engaging information source and the decline of the newspaper and magazine industry.

Entrepreneurism Surges           
Entrepreneurial activity shows positive signs during these hard times. The National Entrepreneurial Assessment
indicates total entrepreneurial activity increased to 10.8% in 2008 from 9.6% in 2007. Opportunity continues to be the main driver for entrepreneurs in the U.S. -- 87% started their companies because of a business opportunity, while only 13% got started out of necessity.

Filling Big Shoes           Expect State Attorney General Martha Coakley (pictured, right) to be the next U.S. Senator from Massachusetts replacing the late Edward M. Kennedy -- and to become the first woman Senator from the Bay State. In a Suffolk University poll, 44% of Democrats chose Coakley, followed by 17% for Boston Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca, 16% for U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, and 3% for City Year founder Alan Khazei. Twenty percent are undecided. On the Republican side, State Sen. Scott Brown (45%) led Jack E. Robinson (7%) with 47% undecided.

In head-to-head match-ups, Coakley is way ahead of all potential GOP nominees. The primary is December 8th, and the general election is January 19, 2010.

The Other America      
Here's a somber reminder of the pain and poverty still experienced by too many have-nots of society: A new Agriculture Department study finds that the number of Americans living in households without consistent access to sufficient food rose to 49 million last year, the highest level since the government began tracking "food insecurity" 14 years ago.

The increase, by 13 million from 2007, was larger than observers of hunger trends expected and appears to highlight the growing daily hardships arising from the recession's impact on jobs and wages. The findings fit with reports from nonprofit food pantries and soup kitchens of increased requests for help during the past year.

Quiz: Largest Charities 
Every year Forbes ranks America's largest nonprofits in terms of private donations. Over the last year, these charities received $40 billion in single-year contributions. On average, they had $515 million in annual revenue, up 5% from last year. Donations accounted for $204 million, or 40% of revenue. This ratio has held for a decade. Can you match the following charities with their annual private gift income? Anwers are shown at the bottom of the left-hand column. Until next month ...

	Jim Eskin External Relations Counsel 10410 Pelican Oak Drive San Antonio, TX 78254 210-523-8499 (H) | 210-415-3748 (C) jeskin@aol.com
Stratagems is a copyright-free publication. Readers may duplicate and/or redistribute the information in each issue. Comments and suggestions are welcome! Send your feedback to: jeskin@aol.com

Answers: 1=c, 2=b, 3=d, 4=e, 5=a.

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