Maher started his thoughts earlier this month by criticizing Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s charitable contributions to the Mormon church.  In Maher’s opinion, “tithing” to the church shouldn’t be considered charity, because philanthropy isn’t the main function of the church.  He says he feels this way of all church donations, but particularly the Mormon Church because of the “secretiveness” surrounding the religion.  Maher certainly isn’t the only one of the opinion that church donations are a grey area when it comes to charitable deductions.

But he goes on from there to say that he believes tax deductions should be reserved for donations to nonprofits who serve basic needs, as opposed the organizations like the cultural arts or higher education.  He makes it clear that he doesn’t donate to his alma matter, because, in his view, they already have enough money.

I disagree with Maher for many reasons.  I’ve given money to cultural arts organizations, and I know that my donations are used to fund programs that add to the quality of life in Austin.  Many of the arts nonprofits here in Austin LOSE money on every performance they do or program they run, even if they sell tickets.  The price of tickets to nonprofit arts events doesn’t come close to making up the cost of doing business, and donations subsidize those programs and make them possible.  Donations also fund the chance for children to attend programs through these organizations, and hone artistic or performance skills that have often been cut from the public school curriculum.

What if Maher had to go through life with only reading, writing and math being appreciated skills?  He wouldn’t have a job today.

I disagree that the nonprofit sector should only be about basic needs and human rights.  We’re all passionate about different things, and we can all put our money where we want to help.

Thompson appeared in court today and pled “not guilty.”

If it seems like a lot of the nonprofit scams you hear about (and, thankfully, I don’t hear about too many!) deal with fake fundraising for veterans and law enforcement, you are correct.  Sham fundraising in that particular sector is such an issue that three years ago the FTC announced the launch of “Operation False Charity,” a crackdown on fraudulent telemarketers claiming to raise money for veterans, fire, and police funds.  Why are the scammers focusing on law and order type charities?  No real data exists, but it’s believed to be because our collective consciousness feels drawn to support those efforts, in this post-September 11th, Iraq-and-Afghanistan war time period.

There will always be jerks out there, out to scam the public.  But it really stinks when they give nonprofits a bad name, stealing money from donors and using it to line their pockets.  Philanthropy is based on a trusting relationship, that your money is being invested for a cause you believe in.  When that trust is broken by scammers, it makes it harder for the rest of us to do our good work.

The good news is you CAN do your due diligence.  Check out nonprofits before you donate.  Ask a friend, visit the website, take a look at where the money goes.  If you can, be a volunteer AND a donor to an organization.  Then you’ll REALLY see firsthand where the money goes, and you’ll get to be a part of what that money is doing in a tangible way, as well.

With the knowledge that amazing experiences change lives, Explore Austin takes at-risk teenagers on adventure trips of a lifetime.  The kids learn leadership alongside outdoor survival skills during their six years in the program, while sharing experiences with a mentor and a group of peers.  Their trips to remote destinations build self-confidence and a sense of responsibility for the first time in many of their Explorers, who go on to become confident young adults.  The Explorers are about to leave on their week-long summer trip, and they’ve asked us to put together little survival packs for their travels.  They’d use our contributions to purchase packs, snacks, and other survival goodies, and we’d assemble the packs and write notes of encouragement for the kids to read while on their trip.  Our notes of support would make a huge difference in letting these kids know that the city of Austin is rooting for them!

Hear more about what these kids do:

At the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Austin Area, kids have a safe place to go during the critical after-school hours.  They get homework done, play games with friends, practice music, build computers, and have a healthy snack waiting for them.  Here in Austin, the Boys and Girls Clubs serve 1,600 children EVERY DAY.  Most of the teenagers who graduated from a program in the Austin area say that the Boys and Girls Club was the only place they had available to go to after school.  Having somewhere to go after school is shown to be critical in kids staying out of trouble, avoiding sexual activity, and keeping good grades.  One of our local clubs is introducing a literacy program, and they want our help to build a reading room for the kids.  If we choose them, we’ll come in one evening with the children and help them paint a mural (designed by them!), put up bookshelves, and decorate a quiet library space for them to cultivate a love of books.

Get a look inside a Boys and Girls Club:

Austin Youth River Watch takes at-risk teens and teaches them to be environmental stewards through mentorship and after-school activities.  The students collect, analyze and even publish water-quality data.  AYRW is about more than just giving kids a place to go after school – they learn how to use science in a real-world setting, and do important work that contributes to Austin’s environment.  It’s science and environmentalism in real-life, and for many of the students, it’s the first time adults are connecting the dots for them as to what education can really do for you.  River Watchers return year after year to the program, and have nearly a 100% graduation rate.  If we pick them, we could join the River Watchers (both students and scientists) for a day in the river, collecting samples of marine life and bugs to report to the LCRA.

Watch the video and see what they do:

But it’s happening.  And the “Imagine Austin” plan is trying to prepare for it.  This 200+ page community plan is a suggested roadmap for how to shape Austin in the next generation.  The plan was built by professionals, volunteers, and thousands of comments from the general citizenship.  Every suggestion was taken into consideration.  Every interest group was given a voice, none more so than the other.  The Imagine Austin plan is about keeping our city compact and connected while it grows outward, being good environmental stewards, and providing access to health, prosperity and creativity for our citizens.

As this article suggests, no single group appears to be happy about ALL of the Imagine Austin plan.  And that makes the team behind it happy.  The Imagine Austin planning team proudly reports that the goal was to make everyone a little bit happy, because that means that no single group dominated the conversation.  Indeed, Margaret Thatcher says that “consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies in search of something in which no one believes, but to which no one objects.”

Certainly there will be things to object to in the plan.  Growth doesn’t happen without growing pains.  But if everyone objects to a little piece, if everyone hurts a LITTLE, then no one group or person will have to hurt a lot to make Austin an even better city.  Sounds like a pretty neat way of doing business to me.

So if you are looking for some light reading this summer, maybe you want to tackle all 200 pages of the Imagine Austin report before the city council brings it to a vote.  ;)  If not, you can get the highlights on their website.  Either way, change is coming.

Leadership Austin is hosting their final “Engage” breakfast of the season on Tuesday, May 1st.  The topic is “Economic Forecast: Austin’s Challenges and Opportunities.”  Besides hearing three diverse and well-educated panelists speak on the topic, attendees will also be sitting in a room with Leadership Austin graduates and some of the most well-connected civic leaders in town.  For a $25 breakfast, you can’t get much better company!  You can get your tickets on the Leadership Austin website.

Leadership Austin hosts these one-time Engage events throughout the year, as a way for people to intimately get to know certain facets of Austin’s culture.  This time around, it’s the future of our local economy, which I know we all care about.  It impacts us in the nonprofit sector, it impacts our supporters – it impacts all of us!  If you want a seat at the table for the conversation on May 1st, now’s your chance to join in with the local leadership.

Hope you can make it!

When former Alabama running back Trent Richardson heard that news, he decided Courtney fought hard for the chance to go to prom and deserved a night to remember.  Richardson, whose mother was a cancer survivor, heard through the grapevine from Courtney’s family that a prom date with him was her wish.  He quickly agreed, and the kind-hearted 20-year-old football star made it to the Hueytown High School prom.

The teen has picked out hair extensions to add to her short, chemo-cropped hair, but she won’t be able to disguise the fighting spirit that helped her beat cancer as a high school student.

After two years of Austin Involved’s awesomeness, we’ve broken 100 members so far, and more than 26 nonprofits who have benefitted from our members’ investments of time and money.  As we look toward growing for the future, we made a brave decision to merge with I Live Here, I Give Here, an outstanding local nonprofit also aimed at growing local philanthropy.  I Live Here, I Give Here is about creating more resources for local nonprofits, and some of their programs align wonderfully with what Austin Involved is doing, as well.  Together, all of these programs can really work together to make it possible for everyone in Austin to get start on a path to community giving.

So this week we officially announced that we have merged into one organization!  All of Austin Involved’s programs will remain unchanged, and I’ll still be directing the operations.  Now we’ll just have even more infrastructure and ability to grow!

Nonprofit mergers aren’t totally uncommon, and they’re gaining in popularity.  Check out some of these news stories of other local organizations going through mergers, like PeopleFund (our January 2011 Charity of Choice) merging with a nonprofit in Dallas, Caring Family Network merging with a nonprofit in Houston, not to mention our two local art museums merging to form one, big and stable organization.  Merging can bring the best of two organizations together, while at the same time saving money and being more efficient!

If you are on the staff or the board of a nonprofit interested in potentially merging, check out these resources from Greenlights for Nonprofit Success and the Council of Nonprofits.  It can be a great way to go, if you do your homework.  We’re pretty proud we chose to do it.  Cheers to Austin Involved and I Live Here, I Give Here!

But social media hasn’t historically been a great place to solicit donations.  Facebook and Twitter don’t tend to generate much money for nonprofits, though they do a great job of exposing new audiences to causes and needs in the community.

Now 2012 has changed the game.  All of a sudden, social media IS playing an important role in determining where the money goes.  The two notable cases this year have been the Susan G. Komen vs. Planned Parenthood debacle, where the social media outcry drove significant donations to Planned Parenthood, and the KONY 2012 video about atrocities committed by Joseph Kony and the LRA in Africa.

What do these two campaigns have in common?  What about them might be driving people to not just hit forward or “like,” but actually donate?  I’m suggesting that these campaigns are triggering anger, and it’s making people give.  That’s the one emotion that seems to be common among these two campaigns – not fear, not joy… anger.  People were angry that Komen pulled Planned Parenthood funding.  People are outraged over the actions of the LRA in Africa.

Is anger the key to maximizing donations through social media?