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Alexander•Haas in the News... The Alexander Haas Partners are noted experts in the nonprofit field and are often called up by the national and local Georgia press when these publications are researching and writing on issues that impact the nonprofit field. Here are recent examples of our expert Partners in the news. College Fundraising: Is There a "New Normal"? David King, president and CEO of Alexander Haas, which provides fundraising counsel to colleges, universities and other nonprofits, suggested that donors may have more fundamental doubts about endowment: “One thing we’re hearing in conversations with donors is real questioning about endowment policies and endowment in general. I think a strong case was made over the past 10 or 15 years that endowment was a source of stability for institutions—that it provided a stable source of income that we could count on even if fundraising and admissions were up and down. Well, that hypothesis has now been proven incorrect. We are seeing donors who say, ‘You had an endowment, you lost half of it. I’m not sure I want to put my money in there now.’ ” click here to read the article For $53 Million, Houston Ballerinas Won’t Dance Around Buckets The company has started raising an additional $45 million for the endowment, said Jim Hackney, managing partner at Alexander Haas, an Atlanta-based fundraising consultancy hired by the ballet. click here to read the article Amid the gloomy economy, expressions of hope Jerry Henry ’80 M.Div., chair of the YDS Alumni Board’s Development Committee, began the Convocation and Reunions breakfast conversation on the economy by asking an interesting question with an even more interesting answer. Question: Why don’t American Christians give away more money? Answer: They are not asked! That was the dramatic opening of a presentation Henry delivered to a small but engaged audience of alumni in Niebuhr Hall who had gathered Oct. 13 to take up the topic “The Impact of the Economy on Churches, Schools, Social Service Organizations, Families, and Selves.” click here to read the article August 10, 2009
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Gifts to arts and cluture decline in recession |
US charities get less in '08 |
Study: Charitable giving drops little |
2008: Giving Dropped $6.4 Billion; Largest Decline On Record |
Charitable Giving Declines, a New Report Finds |
Sanford completes $400M donation ahead of schedule
Jon Walker • jwalker@argusleader.com • Souix Falls, South Dakota - April 9, 2009
T. Denny Sanford, citing today's economic uncertainties, has paid off five years ahead of schedule the full $400 million donation he promised to the Sioux Falls hospital system that now bears his name.
"I just wanted to get the job completed and make sure whatever happens in the world economy that they're taken care of," Sanford said Wednesday. "I think so much of Sanford Health and what they're doing."
The money goes to four Sanford Health initiatives ranging from research to pediatrics and hospital construction, but early payment does not mean officials will accelerate their progress on those projects.
"No, that's not the determining factor," Dave Link, executive vice president for Sanford Health, said Wednesday night. "We will always evaluate all projects based on the overall economy."
Kelby Krabbenhoft, president and chief executive for Sanford Health, said in an e-mail statement earlier Wednesday: "We will invest the money in a manner that will provide as much security and safety as can be found for this money today."
Sanford, a Sioux Falls banker, promised the money in February 2007 to the Sioux Valley health system, which then changed its name to Sanford Health in his honor. His plan was eight annual payments of $50 million starting then and ending in 2014. He accelerated his payments to reach the $200 million mark by the end of 2008. Last week, he paid the final $200 million in a bank funds transfer dated April 3, said Brian Mortenson, president of the Sanford Health Foundation.
Sanford, 73, had seen his personal wealth decline with the stock market. Forbes magazine this year estimated his net worth at $1 billion, a drop from $2.8 billion a year ago, a report Sanford said was accurate.
Asked Wednesday if he ever doubted he could complete his gift, he said, "You never know. There's not much of a doubt, frankly, but these are very uncertain times."
He spoke from Arizona as he boarded a plane for Georgia where he said he would watch "Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods - they're friends of mine" in this weekend's Masters golf tournament. The $400 million stands apart in South Dakota history. The Sanford foundation has a target of $6 million to $7 million a year for donations, Mortenson said. The next two largest gifts to the hospital system were $20 million, both personally from Sanford. Todd and Linda Broin gave Sanford Health $10 million last July to support a research project. Sanford Health's overall budget is slightly more than $1 billion a year.
Reaction
"It's fabulous," Candy Hanson, president and chief executive officer of the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation, said of the early payoff. Her agency is aiming this year for $8.1 million in contributions to endowments it manages for scholarships, nonprofits and special projects. "I think Denny is a role model for philanthropy in the community," she said. "That he and others are able to give back in this way only encourages the rest of us to do what we can in our own way."
The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University lists the Sanford gift at No. 45 on a tally of donations and the largest specifically to a hospital or health system.
"The fact that he could pay it off early ... really shows he wanted to see his gift put to immediate use," Del Martin, head of the Giving USA Foundation, which publishes a yearbook of American philanthropy, said from Atlanta.
Avera Health, amid its own long-term expansion costing several hundred million dollars, congratulated Sanford on Wednesday. "It's impressive he'd pay off his commitment early, and we know that will benefit the entire region," said Daryl Thuringer, marketing and public relations director for Avera Health.
Link said that while the early payoff does not accelerate the health's system work, it helps the effort to achieve four priorities Sanford set two years ago. They concern opening a network of pediatric clinics, establishing a pediatric research institute, meeting one pressing health issue since identified as Type 1 diabetes and supporting construction on the Sanford campus.
"It provides wonderful stability, security and progress on the goals of each of the initiatives," Link said. "We developed a working plan very early on about each of the initiatives. This absolutely makes it so we can continue."
Link said Sanford Health would announce several appointments this spring for research positions for those initiatives.
Focusing on What Works: Veteran Fund-Raising Consultants Offer Their Ideas
Association of Fundraising Professionals
March 29, 2009
The consultants said that some organizations have cut back on their fund-raising staffs or made some fund-raising jobs part-time. Del Martin, Founding Partner of the Alexander Haas fundraising consulting firm, says many organizations are asking her whether she can provide an interim fund raiser to work until the economy improves and the group can afford a permanent employee.
Striking a personal tone helps fundraising in uncertain times
by Joanna Carabello Contributing writer
Friday, February 13, 2009
With the economic downturn tightening donor purse strings, independent schools are having to sharpen their sales and marketing skills to keep development dollars flowing. The money may still be available, but only to those ready to work for it.
“What we have found is that there is really a mixed bag in what people are experiencing right now ... It’s not that everybody is struggling and unable to raise money, and it’s not that everybody is succeeding,” said David King, CEO and president of Alexander Haas, an Atlanta-based fundraising consulting firm.
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Feeling the squeeze
Economic downturn strains local charities
By Brian Boyd
Standard-Times staff writer
December 21, 2008 6:00 AM
While there are no numbers yet on how much Americans gave this year compared to last, there is anecdotal evidence that nonprofits are either meeting fundraising goals or just falling short, said Del Martin, chairwoman of the Giving USA Foundation, a Glenview, Ill.-based group that researches philanthropy.
"People will still give," said Ms. Martin, who is also a founding partner of Alexander Haas Martin & Partners, an Atlanta-based fundraising consulting firm. "They may not give as much in a recession, but people still give."
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Anxiousness growing during season of giving
Monday, December 15, 2008
By R. J. Kelly (Contact) Gazette Reporter
“The nonprofits are very worried, but mostly for next year,” said Del Martin, chairwoman of the Giving U.S.A. Foundation. “It looks like [most] are going to end the year about the same as last year, but human services organizations are seeing a bigger demand on their services,” she said just after returning from a fundraising forum in New York City.
Martin, who also works for an Atlanta-based fundraising consulting firm, said a study found that fewer than half of charities' gift receipts dropped in any year from 2001 to 2007, a period that included that last U.S. recession. “We are seeing a slight growth, but not as big a growth as in a non-recession year,” Martin said.
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Americans, as a group, are a charitable bunch. Last year, even as gasoline prices rose and economists worried about a recession ahead, we gave $306.39 billion to causes they cared about.
And even during economic hard times such as the one facing us now, giving continues - maybe not at the same rate, but the drop isn't as steep as one might expect. That's not to suggest that nonprofits won't feel the sting of the recession, but at the same time there's no reason to believe that people won't continue to dig into their pocketbooks to help a cause that touches their hearts.
It just might take a little more digging for a little less money.
At least that's the assessment of the Giving USA Foundation, whose chairperson, Del Martin, spoke to local philanthropists and representatives of nonprofit groups at the Blockade Runner at Wrightsville Beach on Thursday.
Jim Hackney, Alexander Haas Managing Partner, is featured in the new book, Creative Careers in Museums, by Jan E. Burdick. The just-published book features a chapter that chronicles Jim’s career in the museum world—following his steps from museum employee to being a sought-after fundraising consultant to the museum development community.
The book answers questions on how museums work and the types of jobs available in the sector. Jim’s chapter is one of a few inspiring stories of people who have transitioned into the museum field, offering career ideas for readers.
For more information about the book, and how you can purchase your copy, go to www.allworth.com.
A week or so ago, Pattie Johnson, the director of the Foundation Center's Atlanta field office, forwarded me a series of interesting charts put together by Alexander Haas, one of the premier fundraising consulting firms in the metro Atlanta area.
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Charities Are Bracing for a Long, Hard Winter
By Bryan Walsh
Friday, Oct. 10, 2008
For now, nonprofits are preparing for winter by paring back on nonessentials, even as they look to expand their base of donors. If the downturn is prolonged, we might see consolidations in the nonprofit sector, just as there have been in the business world. Ultimately, though, Americans will need to depend on the generosity of Americans. And the hopeful surprise is that in past recessions, donations to human services, like feeding the hungry, fell the least; in some downturns, they even rose. "That says something good about us as human beings," says Del Martin, who chairs Giving USA. We'll need a bull market in goodness.
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From Chicago, we headed to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina for the Penland School of Crafts 23rd Annual Benefit Auction. This series of events celebrates the tremendous crafts traditions of this community. Our hosts – Andrew Glasgow, executive director of the American Craft Council, and Jim Hackney of Atlanta's Alexander Haas – guided us through two action-packed days of events. This successful annual fundraiser supports Penland, considered one of thei world's leading school of crafts. We were delighted to join this community as they celebrated the 10th anniversary of their outstanding director, Jean McLauglin.
Bill Heard Chevrolet gifts will be missed
Theater, police laud auto dealer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution| 09/27/2008
By JENNIFER BRETT
Del Martin, managing partner and chairman of Atlanta fund-raising consulting firm Alexander Haas, said corporate participation in a fund-raising effort can motivate individuals or other businesses to give as well.
“It sort of rallies them,” said Martin, who also is chairman of the Giving USA Foundation. “Of the three sources for philanthropic funds — individuals, foundations and corporations — corporations generally are the smallest piece of that pie. However, a corporation can play a more major role because of their ability to play a leadership role.
Report: Religious giving tops $100 billion in 2007
The Salt Lake Tribune | 07/05/2008
Giving to religious charities and congregations passed the$100 billion mark for the first time in 2007, according to a recent report by the Giving USA Foundation. Giving to religious groups increased 4.7 percent, bringing the total to $102.32 billion. Overall giving to charitable causes reached $306.39 billion in 2007, a 3.9 percent increase from 2006.
The report, released June 23, shows that donations to religious causes accounted for half of all individual charitable giving. Three-quarters of all giving in the U.S. came from individual donations to charity, the report said. Del Martin, chair of the Giving USA Foundation, said, ''And what you can't forget is that the 'little guys,' the families most affected by the economy, kept on giving despite any worries they might have about their personal situations.''
Charitable giving consistently represents 2.3 percent of the average American's disposable income year-to-year, a figure that held up in 2007, according to the report.
Americans donated $306 billion to charities in 2007, as U.S. philanthropic giving rose to a record level despite a downturn in the national economy, a survey being released today has found.
Del Martin, chairwoman of the Giving USA Foundation, which compiles the annual report, said the modest growth encouraged her. But she said many charities surveyed, particularly those with small endowments, were worried about this year's fundraising totals.
By Mike Spector
June 23, 2008; Page A3
Americans gave a record amount to charity in 2007, topping $300 billion for the first time, despite mounting economic worries.
Still, there are indications that slowing growth is taking a toll on giving. The 3.9% increase in donations last year was far less than spikes of roughly 10% and 13% in 2004 and 2005, respectively. In addition, researchers revised 2006's giving increase downward to a meager 0.4% from 4.2.
Arts, culture and humanities organizations received $13.67 billion, a 7.8% increase. That followed a similar increase in 2006 after those groups had struggled in 2005. The rebound is attributable to increased wealth and focused capital fund-raising campaigns from the likes of museums and symphonies, said Del Martin, Giving USA's chair.
