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Thanks to the wonderful team at The Pursuant Group for putting together another powerful email campaign for Central Dallas Ministries!

Here is the Web version of the campaign (please click below):

Another edition of the PhilanthroFunnies

I think I've met these board members before...

New Films support United Way's LIVE UNITED campaign

The United Way just launched several new films to support their campaign, 'LIVE UNITED'

The United Way of Metropolitan Dallas has just released some new films to support the national "LIVE UNITED" campaign. The videos are available here:

http://www.unitedwaydallas.org/6.1/index.html

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Reviews of Seven Types of Blogging Software

Idealware: Getting Started with Blogging Software

Thanks to Laura S. Quinn for pointing me to this helpful resource:

Idealware: Getting Started with Blogging Software

This report reviews seven blogging tools (Blogger, TypePad, LiveJournal, Movable Type, Expression Engine, Text Pattern, and WordPress) for the needs of a typical nonprofit. We provide a summary of what to look for, a comparison chart, a comparison chart, and detailed reviews of each tool. We look at ease of getting started, ease and flexibility of configuration, ease of posting, and much more.

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Donor Cultivation Advice ... from Starbucks?!?

I love this campaign to engage customers... from Starbucks, of all companies:

http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/ideas/ideaList.apexp

Could you imagine if fundraisers were this proactive with soliciting the input of their donors? What would change if your donors began to feel the level of ownership over your organization's mission that the typical Starbucks junkie feels about their local coffee house?

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Recommended Web site: Street Poets Inc.

Street Poets

Street Poets Inc. has a powerful site that I encourage you to visit:

http://www.dreamyardla.com/

STREET POETS Inc. is a non-profit poetry-based peace-making organization dedicated to the creative process as a force for individual and community transformation.

Mission:

TO INSPIRE at-risk youth in the juvenile detention facilities, schools and streets of Los Angeles County to discover and develop their voices as writers, artists and human beings.

TO EMPOWER these young people to use the skills and increased self-awareness engendered through the arts to transcend self-destructive lifestyles.

TO CREATE a healing community that unites different racial, ethnic and socioeconomic segments of our city around the transformational power of the creative process.

Although, after forwarding it to some friends, I am still unable to respond completely to what of their questions: "Why do we live in Dallas???"

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2008 Echoing Green Fellows

I recently received this announcement from Echoing Green on thie 2008 Fellows program:

This year, for the first time in Echoing Green’s twenty-one-year history, more than half of our fellows are developing models for creating lasting change that harness market forces, including several who plan to launch socially focused for-profits. The 2008 class is also distinguished for its relative youth, reflecting Echoing Green's core belief that young people are key actors in sparking meaningful social change. One-third of the 2008 fellows are under 26 years old.

Learn more here:
http://www.echoinggreen.org/fellows/

Question of the day... what makes a person become a fundraiser?

Is there such a thing as a Natural Born Fundraiser?

Love of neighbor? Desire for money? Excessive guilt? Fear of hell?

What drives a person to become a fundraiser?

Are there natural traits that lend themselves to the task? Is there a gene that drives a person on in pursuit of wealth for others?

What went wrong in our childhood that made us decide to pursue this path???

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In honor of Independence Day...

Urban Connection - Austin

Happy Fourth of July! In honor of this glorious day in the history of our nation, I redesigned the Web site for CDM's satellite organization in the capital of Texas:

Urban Connection - Austin
http://www.UrbanConnectionAustin.org/

If you're in Austin, I encourage you to contact my friend Dean. He's a great guy, and he'd probably be willing to meet you at BookPeople (and any excuse for you to go there would be a good one).

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Want to stimulate the economy? Donate.

Want to stimulate the economy? Donate.

Over the past few months, the U.S. Treasury has begun sending economic stimulus payments to more than 130 million households. These families will each receive checks ranging from $600 to $1,800.

“This money is going to help Americans offset the high prices we're seeing at the gas pump and at the grocery store, and it will also give our economy a boost to help us pull out of this economic slowdown,” said President George W. Bush about the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 that he signed into law earlier this year.

The total amount of the economic stimulus package is estimated at $152 billion, or about one percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Reports from across the country indicate that many families are either holding onto the funds or using them to pay down part of the nation’s approximately $60 billion in credit card debt. Although the intent of the law was to generate immediate consumer action, Americans are showing some unforeseen “retail restraint” that is confounding some of the architects of the stimulus package.

This should come as no surprise with gas surpassing $4 per gallon and the USDA’s recent forecast that food prices will continue to increase by 4.5 to 5.5 percent in 2008. Considering this, families that choose to save these funds or use them to pay down debt should be applauded for their wise stewardship.

However, if we truly want to use these funds to turn the economy around, allow me to offer a challenge for families interested in being truly effective stewards: donate your economic stimulus payment to a charitable organization that provides emergency assistance to our poorest neighbors.

Across the country, food banks are seeing an average increase in demand of more than 30% compared to this same time last year. Their partners on the front lines are the food pantries and soup kitchens that are facing longer lines than ever before, including many people who have never before had to rely on charity.

Organizations that meet emergency needs do far more than simply help the neediest members of our community: they multiply the impact of dollars donated to them, frequently on an exponential level. For example, the North Texas Food Bank enables organizations like Central Dallas Ministries and the SoupMobile to purchase nearly $10 of food for every dollar that they receive.

The low-income families helped by these organizations spend almost 100% of their money on basic needs. Every dollar that a food pantry can save them on grocery costs is a dollar will be used to purchase medicine, pay rent, buy clothes, secure transportation and more.

Want to generate a real economic stimulus for Dallas? Donate a portion of your economic stimulus payment to a local charity that provides emergency food relief to our community. You can provide a $6,000 to $18,000 boost to our local economy without spending a penny of your taxable income – and still receive a tax deduction!

You can determine how much you should expect to receive through the economic stimulus payment calculator at http://www.irs.gov/app/espc/.

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