Giving In The News: Our National Affiliate Mentioned in Philanthropy.com Article

Our national affiliate, National Christian Foundation, was mentioned in a recent article on www.philanthropy.com, website of The Chronicle of Philanthropy. The article, which focuses on the mixed signals coming from the non profit sector, mentions that NCF projects they will distribute $100 million more in 2008 than 2007. This number references all affiliates, including SCCF.

This is exciting because it is directly opposite of how many in the community foundation world view the donor-advised fund. For many institutions, the DAF is a tool that allows philanthropists to give assets away, while maintaining long term control over those assets. Here at SCCF, however, many view their DAF as a storehouse, used to set aside charitable funds when income is strong. Just as Joseph wisely set aside wealth to distribute in years of difficulty, these are now able to distribute to needy ministries suffering because of the economic downturn.

You can read the entire text of the article by reading the rest of this entry.

How to Increase Traffic Through Your Blog

By William High

Blogs are a great way to let people know about your ministry without having to sell them on it.  The key to a blog is letting people see that you are an expert in the area that you serve.  If you are with a rescue mission, write about the plight of the homeless.  If  you are in youth ministry, write about the challenges and opportunity of working with youth.  You get the idea.

Once you’ve decided to do a blog and let all the world know that you are an expert, how do you increase blog traffic?  There are several simple steps you can take to get a regular flow of people coming to your blog.  They include the following:

1.  Post regularly.

2.  Link to other bloggers in your posts.

3.  Write titles with phrases that people are searching for.

4.  Write as an expert not as an advertiser.

5.  Write about the events of the day to show that you are on top of what is going on.

6.  Write about actual news events and provide insight about how these relate to your area.

7.  Add your blog to your email signature.

8.  Let people comment on your blog.

9.  Post regularly (yes, I know I repeated it, but you get the idea).

10. Include your picture with your blog; it gives you credibility.

11.  Write short posts–200-300 words.

12.  Make it fun and interesting to read.

William High is the President/General Counsel of Servant Christian Community Foundation.  He may be reached at whigh@servantchristian.com.

Websites that Produce Giving

By William High

What kind of website do you have?  Does it produce giving?  Do you know the elements that produce giving?

A recent study by the Poynter Institute tells us what attracts attention:

1.  75-80% of the time people will look at photos and artwork.

2.  56% of the time people will look at headlines.

3.  31% of the time people will look at briefs and sidebars.

4.  29% of the time people will look at captions.

5.  20-25% of the time people will read articles.

So what does this tell us we should do?  Have good pictures.  Write good headlines–ones that catch attention, call to action, demand readership.  Make sure you have some sidebars, action boxes, break up your text.  Use captions to call attention to your work.  And write articles that show you are an expert or know how to get the information.

Simple points of action, simple points of entry are keys to making your site work.  If you have online giving, then make sure its obvious and just a couple of clicks away.  Don’t bury it.

Go for it.  Start today.

William High is the President/General Counsel of Servant Christian Community Foundation.  He may be reached at whigh@servantchristian.com.

Technology Challenges?

By Scott T. Rauth

Technology frustrating you? Want to get some questions answered, but there is no money in the budget? To help you with your challenges and save you time and angst, there are many effective non-profit organizations whose mission is to help you with the everyday challenges of dealing with technology.

To guide you through this process, we have prepared this listing of FREE or nearly FREE technology resources available to you as a 501c3 organization. Want to raise more money online? Google Grants pays for online advertising and garnered one of our clients’ $10,000/month in FREE advertising. Keep in mind, this grant doesn’t expire and there is no need to reapply, so this is a permanent benefit you can utilize for years to come.

Need Microsoft Office? – How about paying $25 instead of $450? Tech Soup provides software at 25-90% discounts. You want to be a good steward of the resources the Lord has blessed you with, but you’re so busy doing and helping others that you don’t have time to look into the options that can save you lots of money, time and frustration.

We encourage you to consult this Technology Resource Guide before you make any technology purchases or if you need general technical assistance. If you have other questions that this guide doesn’t address, please feel free to contact us.

Scott T. Rauth is the managing principal of Entire Computer Solutions, an outsourced technology consulting firm for small service firms and non-profit organizations in the greater Kansas City area since 1987. He can be contacted at 913-385-7800 or scottr@ecs-kc.com.

Fundraising in a Recession

By William High

A recent study by the Barna Group tells us that giving to non profits is down by 30% in the last three months.  My own informal survey tells me the same information.  What is normally the busiest time of the year for many non profits has now turned into a time of uneasy calm.

In looking at the months ahead, the bloom doesn’t promise to return anytime soon.  Some economists are predicting that it will take three years for investors to work off stock losses.  This means that gifts of publicly traded stock will be down for that same period of time.  So what is a charity supposed to do in these recessionary times?

First, don’t go lay off your development staff.  I learned of one ministry that was going to cut back and switch their development efforts to another person, yet the new person didn’t have the relationships with the donors.

Second, work to deepen your relationships–particularly with major donors.  They understand what recession is about and will often dig deeper to keep you going.

Third, think out of the box.  Think enterprise.  One survey tells us that 47% of all non profits are starting business enterprise–efforts that create an earned income approach.  One tip:  if you’re going to go for an enterprise, look for someone with business background to run that enterprise.  A good resource:  Generating and Sustaining Non Profit Earned Income (2004 Josey Bass).

Fourth, think online.  Look to grow your cash giving online.  The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported earlier this year that direct mail giving is down approximately 14% over the past two years.  Online giving is on a steady upward trend.  We know as well that those who give online tend to give more often and give larger gifts.  It also tends to be a steady stream once you have it going.

Fifth, as you think online, make sure you think online non cash giving. In these recessionary times, non cash is where the biggest opportunity may be found.  Non cash includes things like cars, boats, RVs, jewelry, gold, silver, collectibles, inventory.  As with the enterprise discussion, look for a vendor like www.idonate.com who can handle your online non cash gifts.  This is definitely an area you don’t want to tackle yourself.

Sixth, build teams or ambassadors who can participate in the fundraising process with you.  People like to join a winning cause.  There’s nothing more winsome to see someone other than the ministry leader promoting the leader promoting the ministry.

Seventh, don’t forget private foundation grants. The key to grants is making sure you are looking at the right ones, and then looking to build the relationships with the funders themselves. Sites like www.christianfoundationgrants.com can help you identify foundations that give for Christian causes.

Finally, start now.  Tis the season.

William High is the President of Servant Christian Community Foundation.  He may be contacted at whigh@servantchristian.com.

The Ups and Downs of Giving

By William High

The market has been up and down, the economy is clearly down, and many try to predict the impact of the downturn upon giving. Certainly, in circles where giving is motivated by tax deductions, we’ll see giving drastically decline. But one thing we know: even in times of recession, giving often remains steady in the church.

God’s people often remain faithful even in the downturns. Giving of this kind is not motivated just by virtue of a tax deduction. Giving has its own virtue—the advance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world, the support of the poor, the orphan, the widow, the needy.

But a recent Barna study out last week has revealed that the recession has impacted even Christian circles harder than expected. The results of the study, which looked at giving to churches over the last three months, can be summarized thus:

1) One out of every five households (20 percent) has decreased their giving to churches or other religious centers.

2) Among those who reduced their donations to churches, 19 percent dropped their giving by as much as 20 percent; five percent decreased their funding by 21 to 49 percent; 17 percent reduced their gift by half, and 11 percent cut their support by more than half.

3) A surprisingly large proportion, 22 percent, stopped their offering to churches altogether.

4) Upscale households were most likely to reduce their giving.

5) Barna projects $3 – $5 billion less for churches in 4th quarter.

6) Thirty-five percent of respondents said their church had offered a special talk about the financial hardship and ways to respond to it.

Fortunately in SCCF circles, we’ve seen giving rise nearly 60%. We’ve seen distributions rise at an even greater pace. It is an exciting time. I tell people that I envision the day when we might well deliver the final check for the completion of the Great Commission. What a privilege it would be to hand over the final check as some mission organization makes its way into some forgotten jungle tribe. These are indeed great times, and I believe the saints who’ve gone before us will run to greet us upon those streets of gold to hear our tales of great adventure of the incredible advance of the gospel.

You can decide which statistic you join – we invite you to come with us on our journey, trusting God to provide for His children.

William High is the President of the Servant Christian Community Foundation.  You may contact him at whigh@servantchristian.com.

Year End: Tax Planning

By William High

To demystify year end tax planning we offer the following suggestions:

1. Figure our your income and deductions.
This is one of the most fundamental and basic steps in year end tax planning.  By determining how much income and deductions you have, you can consider the next basic steps.

2. Postpone or defer income.
If your income is projected to be high, then consider postponing a bonus or deferring income into the next tax year.

3. Pay deductible expenses at year end.
Pay any state or real estate taxes at year end because those are deductible expenses.  Make an extra mortgage payment because the interest is deductible.

4. Give to charity.
Keep in mind that charity typically represents your biggest opportunity for deduction.  Under IRS rules, you are allowed to deduct up to 50% of your adjusted gross income (AGI), which means if you make $200,000, you can deduct up to $100,000 of charitable gifts.

5.  Give to charity with capital assets.
When giving to charity at year end, consider using capital assets such as publicly traded stock, real estate, business interests (LLC, LLP, C corp, even S corp).  By using these kinds of assets, you avoid capital gains tax and you are not pulling cash out of your pocket.  Under IRS rules, you are allowed to deduct up to 30% of AGI using capital assets.

6. Give to charity with non-cash assets.
One of the overlooked charitable deduction opportunities is through non cash assets.  This may mean donating vehicles, boats, RVs, gold, silver, jewelry, collectibles, stamp collections, classic photograph collections, timeshares, memorabilia collections.

7. Use donor-advised funds.
Donor advised funds are a common year end planning tool.  The beauty behind them is that you can make the gift now, take the deduction now, but not distribute the proceeds until later.  They can be opened quickly — ten minutes or less — and online. It’s a great option for those who need year end deduction but don’t necessarily know where they want to distribute.  Open your donor advised fund now at www.servantchristian.com.

8. Consult advice (and do it now).
Seek advice.  Don’t be bashful.  Many leave year end tax dollars on the table because they don’t seek the advice of those with proper expertise. And don’t delay in seeking that advice. You may contact us at info@servantchristian.com.

William High is the President of the Servant Christian Community Foundation.  You may contact him at whigh@servantchristian.com.

Year End: Giving Options

By William High

At the end of each year, Americans typically increase their giving. They do so for a variety of reasons, the most common of which is to further the work of a worthy charity. In turn, giving produces great personal blessing and joy. There are a variety of options by which people can give at year end.

Cash
This is the most common and simplest method. Americans give on average 2% of their adjusted gross income (AGI), but the law allows people to deduct up to 50% of their AGI. It is often advisable just from a tax perspective to give 10-15% of one’s income.

Gifts of securities
Gifts of securities include publicly traded stock and mutual funds. The best stocks to donate are those which have appreciated in value. Donate the stock before they are sold to achieve the maximum tax advantage.

Gifts of Cars, Boats, Timeshares and Personal Property
An often overlooked gift is a car, boat or other personal property. These gifts might include stamp collections, coin collections, timeshares, jewelry, or other collectibles.

Gifts of Real Estate
Property which is not subject to a mortgage may be an attractive gift option. Your deduction is based upon the fair market value of the property. Keep in mind that you may also donate partial gifts of real estate even if the real estate is not sold.

Gifts of Closely Held Stock
Closely held stock, including LLC, LLP, C corporation, and S corporation stock may be donated. Your deduction is typically based upon the fair market value of the stock. Like real estate, you may donate a partial interest. This may include donating minority, non voting interest.

Gifts that Provide Income
You may donate cash or non cash interests and actually create an income stream for yourself. The income may be fixed or variable.

Gifts from Your IRA
With the Pension Protection Act of 2006, if you are age 70 and ½ or older, you can make a gift of up to $100,000 using funds transferred directly from your IRA without incurring income tax consequences.

Call us at (913) 310-0279 or talk to your advisor about how to maximize your giving.

William High is the President of the Servant Christian Community Foundation. You may contact him at whigh@servantchristian.com.