Revenues in the nonprofit sector increased more than 60% in the decade 1994-2004, according to The Nonprofit Sector in Brief: Facts and Figures from The Nonprofit Almanac, 2007. Outpacing growth of the nation's gross domestic product, which grew by 36.6% over the same period, the nonprofit sector reported revenues of $1.36 trillion, expenses of $1.26 trillion, and assets of $2.97 trillion. The report was issued by the Urban Institute's National Center for Charitable Statistics in Washington, D.C.

A Special Foundation Center 50th Anniversary Event will be held next month in the Dayton area.

Building for Philanthropy’s Future: Honoring the Past, Responding to the Present, Anticipating the Future

2006 is the 50th anniversary of the Foundation Center and we invite you to join us in celebrating the contributions the Center has made to organized philanthropy and grantseeking nonprofits during its last half-century of service to the field. Honoring past achievement sets the stage for a timely and provocative discussion about philanthropy’s future. You are invited to join in the discussion and to explore with distinguished presenters themes that are critical to the success of the sector, specifically, how to:

Innovate new solutions to old problems with increasingly scarce resources
Blend business, nonprofit, and public perspectives to create real value for real people
Bridge gaps in organizational structures through creative alliances
Demonstrate the value of organized philanthropy in a changing world

Confirmed presenters include:

Janet S. Greenlee, Associate Professor, University of Dayton

Michael Parks, President, The Dayton Foundation

Judith M. Thompson, Executive Director, The Kettering Fund

When: Wednesday, October 18, 2006, 12:30 - 2:30pm

Where: Centerville Library, 111 Spring Valley Road, Centerville, OH 45458

A light lunch will be served. The program is free, but registration is required. You may register online, in person at the Foundation Center-Cleveland reference desk, or by calling (216) 861-1934, x25.

Public interest groups, foundations, and progressive businesses that want to reach people more effectively should investigate free-range thinking. It's a monthly newsletter of best practices and resources published by Andy Goodman, a Los Angeles communications consultant, on his website. Employees of nonprofits and foundations in the United States and Canada are eligible to receive a complimentary printed copy in the mail, by filling out an online form. If you do not qualify, or if you don't want to receive more paper, you may download a free PDF version of the newsletter as it's posted each month. Back issues, dating to August 1999, are archived on the site.

Two web-based databases from The Foundation Center are now available for use in the Main Library. Foundation Directory Online Professional and Foundation Grants to Individuals Online can be accessed by signing up for internet access at the Computer Services Desk on the first floor. Users with a valid Dayton Metro Library card are entitled to 3 hours/day of internet searching; those signing in as guests are eligible for 1 hour/day.

Foundation Directory Online Professional provides “top-tier intelligence on grantmakers and their grants,” in 80,000 funder profiles, half a million grant descriptions, and 360,000+ fully-indexed trustee, officer, and donor names. Funder profiles can include links to 990s, RFPs, key staff affiliations, funder news, and grant distribution charts. Foundation Directory Online Professional is updated weekly.

Foundation Grants to Individuals Online features descriptions of more than 6,000 foundation funding sources that support education, research, artistic endeavors, and special needs. It’s updated quarterly with new data and new foundation entries.

These newly-available databases replace FC Search: The Foundation Center’s Database on CD-ROM. Information on these resources will be incorporated into the monthly Grants Information Center Orientation and other programming. If you would like to schedule an individual or small-group instructional session on either database, please contact Virginia Palmer, Grants Specialist, at 937-227-9500, ext. 322, or vpalmer@daytonmetrolibrary.org.

Ever wonder what it's like to sit on the other side of the grant application process? Grantreview.net is dedicated to recruiting qualified subject matter experts in the areas of health, wellness, justice, education, community development, the environment, science, housing and family domestic violence. Aspiring grant reviewers can click on "Register to become a reviewer," and fill out an application. Based on program-specific requirements, reviewers meeting the specified criteria (area of expertise, education, availability, etc.) are selected to review proposals for Federal and State government agencies and for the private sector.

Volunteering in America: State Trends and Rankings was released by the Corporation for National & Community Service on Monday, June 12, 2006. This powerful new tool is designed to assist organizations in developing strategies and setting goals internally and to build the national service and volunteer infrastructure in their states. It includes national and regional profiles, state rankings of volunteering, state profiles, a value of volunteering spreadsheet, key volunteer statistics, technical notes, tips for volunteering for youth, boomers, college students, and families, and tips for nonprofits who want to use volunteers.

Congratulations to The Dayton Foundation!

The Ohio Association of Nonprofit Organizations has bestowed its Ohio Nonprofit Excellence Award on the Dayton Foundation in recognition of the latter's Legacy Partnership Program.
The award honors the creativity, execution, achievement, and overall excellence of a specific project or program by an Ohio nonprofit. Since its inception in 2002, the Dayton Foundation's Legacy Partnership Program has identified more than six hundred new deferred gifts with a combined value of more than $24 million earmarked for the endowment funds of local charities.
The program is designed to assist Greater Miami Valley nonprofits in starting or invigorating an endowment program as a way of ensuring the long-term stability of services and programs in the area. Currently, forty-six area nonprofits participate in the program, which has been replicated by two other community foundations, one in California and another in Alberta, Canada.
"We're very proud to receive this prestigious award and to help fill the legacy fundraising gap for local not-for-profit organizations," said foundation president Michael M. Parks. "The net result is that more money will be going to these organizations for the benefit of our community."

In How to Land More Corporate Gifts, Frank Monti, a Rhode Island CPA, offers some very sound and creative tips for nonprofit organizations. I especially like his advice to "Look beyond the buck" and his suggestions for increasing donations from a corporation by offering your organization's services and expertise to them.

This material came to my email today in the Wednesday Report, emailed free each week by massnonprofit.org. While the site's primary mission is to provide "news and information about the nonprofit sector in Massachusetts," there's plenty there of use to nonprofit readers in other states.

May is Funding for Health Month at The Foundation Center. Are you seeking up-to-date information on foundation funding in the field of health? Are you a staff member, volunteer, or board member of a nonprofit organization active in a health-related area? Do you want to learn more about the latest trends in giving for health, meet some key grantmakers in the field, or network with colleagues?

Then this month-long event is for you!

At the Foundation Center web site, you'll find a wealth of content (with convenient links) designed to educate and inform nonprofits in the health field. Visit often during the month to take advantage of the full itinerary of events, special features, and links to resources on the web!

Last FUNd Brownbag Lunch before summer recess:

Wednesday, May 10, 2006 – “The New Foundation Center Website,” with Virginia E. Palmer, Grants Specialist, Dayton Metro Library. In celebration of its 50th anniversary the Foundation Center has embarked on a bold new strategic plan, “Building for Philanthropy’s Future: Next-Generation Services for the Field,” to address challenges facing the philanthropic sector in the 21st century. A new visual brand, tagline—Knowledge to build on—and web site create a fresh platform for extending the breadth and accessibility of its information, research, and educational services to its varied stakeholders. Join us for a cybertour of the new website and one last chance to network with nonprofit colleagues before FUNd takes a summer vacation!

Networking will begin at 11:45am, announcements and introductions at 12:10, and the speaker at 12:20, all in the Auditorium on the second floor of the Main Library. As usual, you’re invited to bring your own lunch and we’ll serve beverages and dessert. Please register by calling the Information Services Desk at 937-227-9500, ext. 251, or emailing me at vpalmer@daytonmetrolibrary.org.

As one of more than 240 Cooperating Collections designated by The Foundation Center, Dayton Metro Library’s Grants Information Center (GIC) provides print and electronic resources useful to staff, board members, volunteers, friends, and funders of nonprofit organizations. Supplemental programming and outreach activities connect the collection with the community of grantseekers and grantmakers at the local, state, regional, and national levels.

The basis for the collection is the Core List for Cooperating Collections, shipped automatically to the Library throughout the year by The Foundation Center. The major print items in this collection include:

Foundation Directory; Foundation Directory, Part 2; Foundation Directory, Supplement
Guide to U. S. Foundations, Their Trustees, Officers, and Donors
National Guide to Corporate Giving
Foundation 1000
Guide to Funding for International and Foreign Programs
National Guide to Funding for the Environment and Animal Welfare
National Guide to Funding in Arts and Culture
Foundation Center’s Guide to Proposal Writing

Foundation Center's Guide to Winning Proposals; Guide to Winning Proposals II
Foundation Fundamentals

These items are the core of the GIC Reference Collection and are supplemented by titles purchased from other vendors, such as The Taft Group; Research Grants Guides, Inc.; Oryx Press, etc. Most of these items are directories of potential funding sources for nonprofit organizations. Grantseekers can search electronically for potential funders using FC Search: The Foundation Center’s Database on CD-ROM, also provided as part of the Cooperating Collection subscription. FC Search is available in the Magazine Room, along with several periodicals from the field of philanthropy, such as The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Foundation News & Commentary, Grassroots Fundraising Journal, Nonprofit Management and Leadership, and NonProfit Times.

In the summer of 2004, books of interest to the nonprofit community were gathered from throughout the library collection to become the circulating segment of the Grants Information Center. Coming predominantly from the Dewey classes 361 (general social problems & welfare) and 658 (general management), these materials cover such topics as:

Board development
Fund raising
Legal and tax information
Marketing and public relations
Nonprofit management and evaluation
Proposal writing
Volunteers

The Grants Information Center has a presence on Dayton Metro Library’s website at: www.daytonmetrolibrary.org/default/Subjects/SubjectGuide.cfm?Subject=grantsvep_a.

A free, 3-hour orientation to the Grants Information Center is presented once a month, covering: what you need to have in place before you seek a grant, what you need to know about the world of philanthropy, how you identify funding partners, and how you can use Dayton Metro Library’s Grants Information Center for your grantseeking efforts. A nonprofit networking brownbag lunch is held on the second Wednesday of February, March, April, May, September, October, and November, and occasional stand-alone workshops are held at the Library or at an off-site location. The Grants Specialist regularly participates in professional organizations of grantseekers and grantmakers, and, in 2004, became a member of the Advisory Board of The Foundation Center-Cleveland.