credit card fees
credit card fees
Why isn't it a good idea to let your donor cover the credit card fees?

Asking donors to cover credit card fees dramatically reduces conversation rates, because it disrupts the flow of charitable thinking.

On throat-clearing and charity

Quit throat-clearing and write confidently in your fundraising communications.

Fundraising as trust-building

Given the decline of trust in American society, particularly trust in institutions, it’s refreshing to think of fundraising as a profession with a higher calling.

blockchain arts
How blockchain can help fund artists—and revive the arts

Funding for artists tends to go to major institutions, not to artists. But a new decentralized solution offers a way for philanthropists large and small to support artists directly.

Spotlight

Banks have no business advising individual philanthropy

Big banks know no more about philanthropy than they do about making toast. They shouldn’t be advising customers on either.

Unsettled minds, frenetic philanthropy

Torn this way and that by countless existential challenges, our philanthropy is pulled in numerous directions, resembling the “unsettled minds” of Americans today.

Latest Articles

Revising foundation proposals: comprehension for the skimming reader

The key to a good proposal is readability. Do the hard work for your reader to avoid confusion and help them catch the gist on a quick skim.

Call for nominations: the Herzog Foundation’s 2023 Teacher of the Year Award

Honor an excellent teacher at a local Christian school by nominating them for the Herzog Foundation’s 2023 Teacher of the Year Award.

AmazonSmile closure creates more urgent need for small-dollar givers

Average, everyday donors might not break the bank for most nonprofits, but they are part of a thriving civil society. And giving away even small sums of money on a regular basis is good for both giver and recipient.

How to take your foundation proposal to the next level

You’ve got a foundation proposal completely drafted—congrats! What’s the next step to take your proposal from good to great?

Should Nonprofits Publicize the Charitable Tax Deduction?

What role do fundraisers and nonprofit organizations play when it comes to educating their donors about charitable tax deductions?

Incorporating the vision: Mechanisms in nonprofit governance to ensure founders' rights

The removal and resignation of Project Veritas’s founder is an occasion to consider different ways to structure nonprofit governance.


Giving Review Blog

Revisiting “The Charitable Deduction in American Political Thought”

Learning again from a still-relevant event a decade ago at the Hudson Institute’s Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal.

A conversation with Loyola Law School’s Ellen P. Aprill (Part 2 of 2)

The nationally prominent legal expert in the taxation of nonprofits talks to Michael E. Hartmann about the taxation of higher-education endowments, comparing and contrasting the rationale for it to that for taxing private-foundation endowments, and explores some tax ramifications of other, newly emerging forms of giving.

A conversation with Loyola Law School’s Ellen P. Aprill (Part 1 of 2)

The nationally prominent legal expert in the taxation of nonprofits talks to Michael E. Hartmann about her career, the different revenue-raising and regulatory roles of the IRS, the non-revenue-related role of state attorneys general, the tax treatment of private-foundation endowments, and the challenges of following complicated IRS rules for small foundations.

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