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Stand Up to Cancer and the Prostate Cancer Foundation have awarded a three-year, $10 million grant in support of a collaborative project that aims to develop personalized treatments for advanced prostate cancer....

A new report from the Nonprofit Research Collaborative finds that while the economy remains a concern for most nonprofit organizations, hundreds of groups saw an increase in donations for the first time in four years in 2011....

The Wikimedia Foundations has received grants totaling approximately $1.7 million from the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and Google to create Wikidata, the first new Wikimedia project since 2006....

The Yam Improvement for Income and Food Security in West Africa project will focus on increasing yields for 200,000 smallholder farmers, 90 percent of whom cultivate less than two acres....

With $500,000 in matching funds from three southwest Florida community foundations and the Patterson Foundation, the challenge generated over ten thousand donations in support of a hundred and nine local charities....

The gift will be added to the Schoen Family Scholarship Program for Veterans Endowment, which has provided $1.2 million in scholarships to 173 USC students since it was established in 1986....

A new report from the Hudson Institute's Center for Global Prosperity finds that philanthropy and remittances from the developed to the developing world dwarfed government aid in 2010....

New commitments announced at the meeting include an expansion of Code the Change, a project of Stanford student Sam King that hosts Code Jams in which computer science students provide pro bono volunteer services for nonprofit projects....

I have been waiting to get my hands on the latest 2012 Social Networking Benchmark Report because it’s one of the only comprehensive surveys that provides a good overview of how nonprofits are utilizing social media to brand themselves online, connect with new supporters, and raise money.

Between January 24, 2012 and February 21, 2012, over 3500 nonprofit practitioners representing a variety of verticals and operating budgets responded to an online survey about their use of online social networks.

Check out some of the social media survey results below.

• The majority of nonprofits (66%) use Facebook advertising for branding and awareness.
  
• In 2012, respondents accumulated an average of 8,317 members on Facebook, which is about an 81% increase from 2011.
  
• Over on Twitter nonprofits had an average of 3,290 followers on Twitter, which is about a 30% increase in community size.
  
• 93% of nonprofits have a presence on the top commercial social networks. This remains unchanged from 2011.
  
• Nonprofits run an average 2.1 Facebook pages.
  
• The average cost of a Facebook like is $3.50 and $2.05 for a follower on Twitter. BTW, if you are looking to recruit Facebook "Likes", consider Care2's Facebook Like campaigns, which are more competitive in pricing for acquisition.
  

 

Are Nonprofits Raising Money Via Social Media?

The majority of nonprofit are still not raising a dime on social networks like Facebook. 46% said that they were fundraising, with the top category (33% of all responders) prioritizing Individual Giving – soliciting Facebook supporters for individual donations (e.g. one-time gifts, memberships, and monthly gifts).

The U.S. economy seems to be on the mend, the stock market is on a tear, and the 2012 presidential election looks as if it'll be contested by two relatively pragmatic moderates.

Business as usual, right?

Not according to the Nonprofit Finance Fund's 2012 State of the Nonprofit Sector survey.

The survey reveals that nonprofits, especially frontline service providers, continue to face significant challenges two years into what is supposed to be an economic recovery but for millions of Americans feels like something altogether different.

Among the survey's findings:

• 85 percent of nonprofits experienced an increase in demand for services in 2011; (compared to 77 percent in 2010, 71 percent in 2009, and 73 percent in 2008);
• 88 percent expect to see an increase in demand for services in 2012;
• 87 percent don't expect their financial outlook to improve in 2012;
• 58 percent of human service organizations were unable to meet demand in 2011; 60 percent say they won’t be able to meet demand in 2012;
• 56 percent of human service providers received federal government funding or contracts in 2011; 69 percent received state or local funding;
• 52 percent reported late payments from the federal government; 62 percent said state or local government payments were late.

Of course, if House Republicans have their way, the situation almost certainly will get worse before it gets better. As reported today by the Washington Post's Ezra Klein, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that 62 percent of the cuts in the so-called Ryan budget passed by the House last week will involve programs for low-income Americans, while 37 percent of the proposed tax cuts in the plan will benefit Americans earning more than $1 million. Translation: Less money for social programs, more Americans falling into poverty, greater demand for frontline nonprofit services.

"Nonprofits are adapting to continued economic pressure in all sorts of creative and substantive ways, but for many these are stopgap measures that won't make up for the bigger forces at play: decreasing government support, the unwillingness of some private foundations to evolve funding practices, and a lack of necessary support from some boards," said Nonprofit Finance Fund CEO Antony Bugg-Levine. "We must rethink the way we fund solutions to our most pressing problems."

How we might do that is the subject of a post I hope to have up later in the week.

In the meantime, you can do a deeper dive on the survey data with the NFF Survey Analyzer, download a summary of the results in brochure or PowerPoint form, or download the full results in an Excel spreadsheet.

-- Mitch Nauffts

This post will be updated throughout the day


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The NonProfit Times is attending the Nonprofit Technology Network's (NTEN) annual conference, NTC. The event is being held in beautiful San Francisco, California this year, and our senior editor, Mark Hrywna, is tweeting about the latest happenings at the show:

18k pieces of content on @EnvDefenseFund website when redesigned. "Not just pile of clutter, wrong clutter" - @kiramarch #12ntcredesign
— Mark Hrywna (@mhrywna) April 3, 2012
Was v program related, wonky blog posts, nothing to convince ppl to give. Needed human, bit-sized pieces of info -@kiramarch #12ntcredesign
— Mark Hrywna (@mhrywna) April 3, 2012
User personas help set goals for website's site navigation, what info has hierarchy 'above the fold' - @farra #12ntcredesign
— Mark Hrywna (@mhrywna) April 3, 2012
Time to rethink ur website? Try this flowchart from @bigduck's @farra --> ow.ly/a3B3J #12ntcredesign
— Mark Hrywna (@mhrywna) April 3, 2012
Avg cost to acq #FB like = $3.5; Twitter follower = $2.05, accding to 4th annual #Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report #12ntc
— Mark Hrywna (@mhrywna) April 3, 2012
Most of us don’t need completely diff website for smartphone yet; might be depending on audience, goals -@farra #12ntcredesign
— Mark Hrywna (@mhrywna) April 3, 2012

87% of all US adults have cell phone, 66% 18-29 yos have smartphone (fr Pew research) #12ntcmobileprograms

— Mark Hrywna (@mhrywna) April 3, 2012

This post will be updated throughout the day


***
The NonProfit Times is attending the Nonprofit Technology Network's (NTEN) annual conference, NTC. The event is being held in beautiful San Francisco, California this year, and our senior editor, Mark Hrywna, is tweeting about the latest happenings at the show:

18k pieces of content on @EnvDefenseFund website when redesigned. "Not just pile of clutter, wrong clutter" - @kiramarch #12ntcredesign
— Mark Hrywna (@mhrywna) April 3, 2012
Was v program related, wonky blog posts, nothing to convince ppl to give. Needed human, bit-sized pieces of info -@kiramarch #12ntcredesign
— Mark Hrywna (@mhrywna) April 3, 2012
User personas help set goals for website's site navigation, what info has hierarchy 'above the fold' - @farra #12ntcredesign
— Mark Hrywna (@mhrywna) April 3, 2012
Time to rethink ur website? Try this flowchart from @bigduck's @farra --> ow.ly/a3B3J #12ntcredesign
— Mark Hrywna (@mhrywna) April 3, 2012
Avg cost to acq #FB like = $3.5; Twitter follower = $2.05, accding to 4th annual #Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report #12ntc
— Mark Hrywna (@mhrywna) April 3, 2012
Most of us don’t need completely diff website for smartphone yet; might be depending on audience, goals -@farra #12ntcredesign
— Mark Hrywna (@mhrywna) April 3, 2012

NPT Jobs has a new opportunity for job seekers looking to play a leadership role in concept and annual fund development. Intrigued? Then read on for more details.

Geneva, Ill.-based Marklund, a nonprofit serving the healthcare needs of disabled Americans, is seeking a Manager of Individual Giving. The chosen candidate should be prepared to work in a fast-paced environment where he/she will oversee all aspects of direct mail fundraising and appeals. Using various mediums including mailings and e-blasts, the Manager will seek to expand the lower-level annual giving program (gifts up to $5,000).

Reporting to Marklund's Chief Development Officer, other responsibilities of this position include:

• Identify, cultivate, and solicit current and prospective donors.
• Thank and recognize donors.
• Enlarge the donor base in terms of number of donors and dollars raised.

Think you have what it takes for this job? Make sure you meet the following requirements before applying:

• Bachelor's Degree in nonprofit management, marketing, business management, communications, or another related field.
• At least six years of progressively responsible experience in annual fund and donor engagement in the nonprofit sector.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and work independently, with a strong attention to detail.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong proficiency with donor database function and navigation.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Office programs, including Microsoft Word and Excel.
• Experience working with direct mail and e-mail vendors and printers.

Read more about this job, including more requirements, on our website. If you think you would be a good fit, don't hesitate to apply!

Launched in 2009 with a $3 million investment, the initiative provides low-cost loans and grants to supermarket operators and developers statewide, with the goal of increasing the supply of affordable fresh food in underserved areas....

Selected from more than five hundred entries, the winners will receive grants of $100,000 each to help doctors find cancer earlier, make more accurate diagnoses, and choose the best possible treatment based on each patient's unique cancer....

Through its Marine Microbiology Initiative, the foundation will launch a five-year, $25 million competition to identify and support some of the world's most innovative scientists in marine microbial ecology and related fields....

The funds will be used by the Global Institute of Sustainability at ASU to develop and deploy promising solutions to sustainability challenges and educate future leaders and practitioners....

This week I am taking a blogging break to enjoy Easter week with family.

I hope you and your family have a great week and I will post again on Sunday.

Our last webinar with Intacct dealt with moving your nonprofit financials to the cloud. In just a couple of weeks, this important topic will be in the spotlight once again.

On April 19 at 2:00 PM EST, The NonProfit Times and Intacct will host a free webinar entitled "Secrets of Nonprofit Financial Reporting." Managing your nonprofit finances is complicated. You have a diverse set of stakeholders that need powerful reporting. You need to manage and track different funding sources and you need to ensure your financial results are impeccable, especially in today's unstable financial climate.

Buu-Linh Tran, RAFFA, CPA and Manager, and Gordon Quick, Product Marketing Leader at Intacct, will be lending their expertise in this hour long event. They will be advising attendees on the following issues:

• How to meet the most common nonprofit reporting requirements and challenges.
• How cloud computing delivers real advantages for nonprofit finance.
• How to best set up your chart of accounts to fit your nonprofits' requirements.
• How to use cloud computing to organize, analyze, and communicate your financial results.

Interested in attending? Register today to learn all about these issues and more!

The first full week of the month always means a new issue of The NonProfit Times, but this one is a little different. Yes, this year's April 1 edition of NPT is our 25th Anniversary issue. We are celebrating 25 years of delivering high quality nonprofit news with a special commemorative article looking back at the past years, both the highs and the lows. 
Oh, and we also have the Top 50 Best Nonprofits To Work For in this issue. So you could say this is a pretty packed issue.
Articles:

• NPT Celebrates 25 Years: As NPT embarks on its 26th year of publishing, we take a look back at  some of the biggest stories we've covered.
• 50 Best Nonprofits To Work For In 2012: What nonprofits were the best to work for this year? NPT conducts it's annual study of the best nonprofits, led for the second consecutive year by the Wounded Warrior Project.
• Credit Card Scams Targeting College Online Donations: From California to Pennsylvania, from Wisconsin to Washington, colleges around the country were getting large online donations that turned out to be nothing more than credit card scams.

Columns:

• Failing Grade: Is the nonprofit sector focused on education's real future?
• Just Like Kindergarten: Learning to share donor information is beneficial.