Ideas for getting started on Web 2.0

If nonprofits are serious about reaching a newer and younger audience (read: donors), they should become familiar with a little thing called Web 2.0. The phrase is commonly used to describe the next generation of Web-based communities and services, such as social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, as well as other programs that help users share content.
But what does this do for nonprofits? Nonprofits can use social networks to gain access to new donors and advocates, said Marc Sirkin, chief marking officer at the New York City-based International Rescue Committee (IRC), during a recent direct marketing conference.

Social networks can drive donations, petition signatures and increase newsletter subscribers. While it may be hard to get any type of data to measure success of some Web 2.0 efforts, he said, a nonprofit can track referral traffic, as well as specific conversions, whether it's through donations, petition signatures or newsletter sign-up.

For nonprofits just getting started in Web 2.0, Sirkin offered some best practices for beginners:

• First, jump right in and get started, what are you waiting for? Feel free to learn on your own and set up your own profile.
• Don't worry too much about tracking at first.
• Start with re-posting some of your existing content on the Web to your social network page, such as images and video.

Are Your Automated Web Processes Working For You?

By Heather Fignar

Recently, I've been inundated with mail from a now defunct email box. In addition to all the email newsletters and feeds that I subscribe to, I have had my inbox cluttered with someone else's subscription choices.

In an ideal world, the former owner of the box would have changed all the subscription to a new email address. However, this exercise gave me an in-depth look into hundreds of subscription processes. It wasn't pretty. Here are some general observations on the good, bad and ugly -- not necessarily in that order.

• In more than 90 percent of cases, the landing pages were so non-descript that the organizational affiliation was unclear.
• In particular, Lyris applications displayed a page that says: "Your email address will be removed" and then asks, "Are you sure?" But the page, question, font and Yes button were so bland that I missed them the first couple times and had to repeat the process.
• Some unsubscribe pages were also non-descript, non-personalized forms that required me to enter the email address. Lance Armstrong Foundation was one of the few organizations that had personalized the page with a header. Others had no identifying copy at all.
• Several groups require an account login before allowing me to unsubscribe.
• Some landed me on a page with the organizations header that simply said, "You have been unsubscribed. Thank you." Some provided a more in-depth customized form that allows the subscriber to differentiate between the topic and all organizational emails.
• One of Howard Dean's emails had a sentence that read, "Click here to unsubscribe from this mailing list." But, it wasn't linked.
• FeedBlitz was the only unsubscribe page that readily gave me an option to change my email address without unsubscribing and re-subscribing

The saddest finding was the lack of effort put in by more organizations to customize these crucial relational pages. Unfortunately, most signup processes are just as generic. We would recommend that organizations spend the time and energy to customize the process. If constituents want to leave the list, make sure it isn't hard, but also provide a compelling reason for them to stay. At the very least, identify yourself.


***Heather Fignar is a managing partner with NPAdvisors in Warrenton, Va. Her email is heather@npadvisors.com. The organization's Web site is www.npadvisors.com
This article is from NPT TechnoBuzz, a publication of The NonProfit Times. Subscribe to NPT TechnoBuzz or any of our other enewsletters and get the latest nonprofit news and stories delivered to your inbox.

About Face at FaceBook Is A Good Thing

By Holly Ross
There was a lot of hoopla over the recent announcement by Facebook about its Social Ads program, called Beacon. And by hoopla, I mean near hysteria-level complaining.

The blogosphere was aghast at the idea of the opt-out based advertising scheme. Apparently, the fine folks at FaceBook have seen the error of their ways. Mark Zuckerberg posted to the FaceBook blog:

About a month ago, we released a new feature called Beacon to try to help people share information with their friends about things they do on the web. We've made a lot of mistakes building this feature, but we've made even more with how we've handled them. We simply did a bad job with this release, and I apologize for it.

In response, they are implementing a couple of interesting changes:

• First, you will have to opt-in to display any Beacon advertising in your news stream, etc., instead of having to opt-out. Additionally, if you fail to respond to the opt-in request that is generated when you interact with a Beacon site, the system does not display the advertising. This is a significant and good change.
• Second, you can opt-out of the dang thing to begin with. Just go to your FaceBook privacy settings and click on the link for External Web sites.

***This item is from the blog of Holly Ross, executive director of NTEN, a technology support organization. It was edited slightly. Email her at holly@nptimes.com. The Web site is www.nten.org

This article is from NPT TechnoBuzz, a publication of The NonProfit Times. Subscribe to NPT TechnoBuzz or any of our other enewsletters and get the latest nonprofit news and stories delivered to your inbox.

Salvation Army Scammers To Serve Time

By Marla E. Nobles
The federal government sent another ringing message to charity scammers thinking about taking advantage of public goodwill during times of disaster: you scam, you serve.

Two Houston brothers each were sentenced last month to more than eight years for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft as a result of fraudulently operating a Web site that claimed to raise money on behalf of the Salvation Army for Hurricane Katrina victims. The fraudulent Web site, prosecutors said, collected more than $48,000 before anyone caught on.

U.S. District Judge David Hittner sentenced Steven Stephens, 24, to serve a total of 111 months. Bartholomew Stephens, 27, will serve a total of 105 months. A jury convicted the pair after a four-day trial in June.

The Stephens case is just one example of the more than 2,400 Katrina relief Web sites believed by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to be fraudulent.

More recently, as Southern California burned this past October criminals began setting up bogus Web sites and soliciting donations. According to the FBI, in the days following the California wildfires fraudsters flooded the Internet with fake charity sites.

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When in London...

When picturing an upscale dinner party, an underwater breathing apparatus doesn't usually come to mind.

That wasn't the case at a recent London Fundraiser, where celebrities, including British Actor Nigel Havers (Empire of the Sun) and rugby player Matt "Daws" Dawson, joined 500 others at a West London swimming pool to raise money for charity -- and to break the Guinness world record for the world's largest formal underwater dinner party.

In groups of 20, diners sat down to a NASA-style meal of smoked salmon, crap and hazelnut praline, all jellied so as to not disintegrate in the water. To eat the ice cube-sized portions, explained The Park Club in West London, "...remove the aqua lung from your mouth, pop in the space food from NASA, replace the aqua lung in your mouth and press the button on the aqua lung to purge away the water in your mouth and start breathing again: as simple as that!"

The record-breaking attempt -- the previous record was 100, set in 1991 -- raised more that $400,000 for six charities, including Save the Children, Wooden Spoon, and The Shooting Star Children's Hospice.

- Marla E. Nobles

Finding a Cure: Fox works to find the cure for Parkinson's Disease

Actor Michael J. Fox - best known for his long-standing role as Alex P. Keaton on the hit sitcom "Family Ties" - kept his Parkinson's Disease a secret from the public for almost seven years. But after disclosing his condition in 1998, he knew he needed to take an active role in beating the disease.

"After I went public, people began to have conversation about Parkinson's," he said. "I started to go online and people were really talking about this. I realized I had become a student of this disease and truly had a responsibility to engage in this community."

Fox decided to form his own foundation to fund research of Parkinson's and educate others about what they can do to fight the disease. "With Parkinson's, the science is ahead of the money, and the idea of pursuing the science became very compelling to me."

But although Fox's foundation has made a huge impact on Parkinson's research (the foundation has given some $100 million to research), he still wonders why more isn't being done. "Who's in charge of finding a cure? There is $100 billion pt [into medical research]... you'd think there would be a Department of Cures or a Secretary of Cures."

In the meantime, Fox will continue his work in hopes of finding a cure. "We need to climb more mountains," he said. "My hope is that we find ways to link the academic world with the business world. That's what our foundation is doing and will continue to do."

Recommendations from New Orleans to you

Any nonprofit can face a difficult struggle when trying to bring relief to, or even cope with, a site of widespread devastation. The World Wide Web can be an extremely useful resource.

Rick Christ, managing partner of NPAdvisors.com, visited New Orleans. The city is still far from recovery, but Christ offered recommendations for utilizing the Web to stay operational that were presented to New Orleans nonprofits but that could have universal application.

The recommendations are:

• Think cheap and quick. There are plenty of free Web tools, but don't use any that take too long to learn.
• The Web was created for man, not man for the Web. A small nonprofit with no budget or tech staff that is literally digging itself out of the mud needs only to "do" online what produces real and immediate benefits. If there is no short-term gain online, don't do it.
• Get the fundamentals right, forget the rest. Focus on usability, on value to the Web user and on fundraising. Integration is only a problem if you have a lot of data.
• Web must follow mission. Only do online what furthers your mission (this week). If your mission is advocacy, the Web can help. If it is bringing people together, think chat rooms.
• Everyone wants to help. Ask. This can be true primarily along the Gulf Coast, but to an extent it's true among all nonprofits.

This article was posted in The NonProfit Times, Instant Fundraising. If you would like to read more articles like this one, signup for our free weekly eNewsletter here.

NPT/Mobile Cause -News on Your Cell Phone

The NonProfit Times has partnered with MobileCause to provide headlines and news when they happen directly on your cell phone.

You can now receive alerts every Tuesday, and when new breaks, on your cell phone by sending the word NPTIMES to 85944. Your normal text messages fee will apply.

MobileCause has been in the social sphere for more than 15 years. It is focused on cause and social marketing. It's in-house technology and developers connect to large, world-wide partners that insure everything is best in class.

The NonProfit Times has been a trusted news and comment provider for more than 20 years.

MobileCause utilizes servers in seven locations in the United states and two in Europe. Through this it has a large capacity to sustain large mobile initiatives o the scale of 64 million votes of American Idol. (Most mobile agencies are agency only and do not have in-house technology.) Also, the MobileCause team is filled with people who have Fortune 100 experience in all levels of interactive marketing and cause marketing experience.

When news breaks, you're just a ring tone away from being ahead of the game.

Sex Scandal Clean-up Continues At American Red Cross

By Paul Clolery

The American Red Cross (ARC) is undertaking a forensic audit of money spent by deposed Chief Executive Officer Mark Everson to determine if any of the charity’s money was used inappropriately as he romanced a married female subordinate who is now reportedly pregnant.

Everson, whose salary was $500,000, will receive nothing from the organization in terms of termination pay, said Carrie Martin, an ARC spokesman. “There is no severance package. The board has offered Mr. Everson a contribution (under $10K) to assist with medical insurance costs,” Martin responded via email to questions from The NonProfit Times.

The organization just started the review, according to sources. “The board members are livid,” said one ARC staffer with direct knowledge of the situation. “If he spent a dime, or bought a dinner, they are going to want it back.”

According to Martin, “As a matter of due diligence, the Red Cross has been reviewing sources that may potentially unearth evidence of financial or other impropriety. No evidence to suggest this has been found. … Therefore, we cannot speculate as to what actions the organization would take if any were found.”

Everson, 53, married with two adopted children, resigned Nov. 27 during a conference call with the ARC board. He had been on the job just six months. A senior staff member brought the situation to the board nine days earlier. The investigation was not initiated because of a complaint from the female subordinate.

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5 reasons YOU should be on the "tube"

With the explosion of YouTube -- and everyone else and their uncle jumping on the video bandwagon -- the use of video can now be an inexpensive tool for nonprofits to promote their causes. Michael Hoffman, of See3 Communications, which creates media for nonprofits, offers the following advice for nonprofits looking to dip a toe into the world of online broadcast:

1. Video is more important than ever and it's here to stay. As the Web and television come together, your Web site is becoming a channel and the need to have engaging video content is becoming an organizational imperative. Imagine being given television time and using it to put up a PDF.
2. There are so many ways to use video these days, that the "Dinner Video" model no longer makes sense. Instead, document what your organization does on a regular basis, and make sure to check the calendar so you don't miss the most interesting moments. Create a library of content, which you can go back and reuse and repurpose over time. As this library grows, so do your story options.
3. Not everything has to be done professionally. Depending on your organization, staffing and interest, a certain level of self-sufficiency can be brought in-house. The model now is that you still do the high-value post-production, but that organizations will be more nimble in both gathering new material and in getting certain pieces out the door quickly.
4. YouTube is important. But counting views is not usually a nonprofit's goal. Lots of views on YouTube don't necessarily translate into clicks, emails or donations. In fact, they usually don't. That might change with YouTube's Nonprofit Program, but that's yet to be seen.
5. It is very early in terms of direct response Internet video. There aren't good metrics yet on where/how this works well. So for now, the main focus is on video as engaging content that complements campaigns and works well in a social networking context.

Keep Your Writing Readable On The Web

By Jamie Holaday
Considering people's ever-shortening attention spans and given the shocking lack of grammar taught in public schools, it's important to keep your writing straightforward to keep your readers on track. I didn't do such a great job in that first sentence. We'll have to see if I can reign in my verbose tendencies.

This item post is really to provide some top tips for writing for the Web. There are a few quirks when writing for the Web that are important to keep in mind.

• Consider your audience. You have people of all backgrounds and experiences surfing as equals. To accommodate this wide-spread audience, you're going to want to write at about a ninth grade reading level or less. Newspapers generally follow this principle. They want their work to be as accessible as possible and so should you.
  
• Think about attention span. (again) As we continue on in our sound-byte driven, media overload world, people's attention spans seem to shrink at a rate equivalent to the speed with which new toys for them to play with are developed. Not to be cynical or anything. What I'm trying to say is that you need to get to your point quickly. If you don't capture attention quickly, your reader might surf on.
  
• Think about the mechanics of reading on screen. Depending on the machine a person is using, the screen size and thus the amount of text seen can vary widely. This is one of the reasons that long Faulkner-esque paragraphs don't work well. Also, it's really hard to follow visually as you scroll. Keep paragraphs shorter with a decent amount of space in between them.

***

Jamie Holaday is the internal communications coordinator at Blackbaud. Her email is Jamie.holaday@blackbaud.com

***

This article is from NPT TechnoBuzz, a publication of The NonProfit Times. Subscribe to NPT TechnoBuzz or any of our other enewsletters and get the latest nonprofit news and stories delivered to your inbox.

It's never too late to get started

There's never a perfect time to begin a planned giving program at your nonprofit, but you have to start somewhere.

Viken D. Mikaelian, president of VirtualGiving, Inc. in Valley Forge, Pa., suggests getting down to business: Go into the office on a Saturday and start planning. But don't make a dramatic announcement to your boss on Monday morning. Play it cool and don't make him/her nervous, just highlight the fact that "everybody else is grabbing these gifts, it's time we got in line too."

Start with thanking those donors who already have put your organization in their will.

Mikaelian, who led a session on marketing planned giving programs during this year's National Conference on Planned Giving conference in Grapevine, Texas, recommends drafting a letter about how important the endowment is to your organization -- "not bequests, not planned gifts, but the endowment." Here are elements of the letter:

• Be sure to include specifics about dollar amounts, who's investing it, and how it helps your organization reach its goals every year. A board member or CEO should sign the letter and mail it to everyone who has given $100 or more for the past three years.
• Create a tag line to every annual-fund acknowledgement, such as, "Make a gift that costs nothing during your lifetime."
• During some down time, schedule a letter to consistent donors asking them if they have included your nonprofit in their wills, and including sample bequest language if they want to do so now.

This article is from NPT Weekly eNewsletter, a publication of The NonProfit Times. Subscribe to NPT Weekly or any of our other enewsletters and get the latest nonprofit news and stories delivered to your inbox.

Getting good at finding funds

Some boards are good at fundraising. Some could use a little extra help. Still others aren't at all comfortable with fundraising or don't consider it part of their job as board members.

At a fundraising conference earlier this year, Don Crocker, CEO of the Support Center for Nonprofit Management, suggested ways to help your board be more successful when it comes to fundraising. The New York City-based center offers consulting, transition management and training for nonprofits and philanthropic organizations.

Crocker presented a sample description of the duties of a nonprofit's Board Development Committee:

• Ensure the board and staff create a vision of the organization's financial future and understand the financial implications for fundraising and financial development.
• Codify the short- and long-term funding imperatives of the organization with the help of the full board and executive director.
• Research approaches used by similar nonprofits to meet their goals and present them to the board.
• Coordinate role-playing opportunities and training for board members on such approaches to fundraising as corporate solicitation, foundation giving, proposal development, etc., as appropriate to the situation.
• Involve the entire board in fundraising and organize fundraising activities that take into consideration each board member's unique talents.
• Review progress on fundraising goals and motivate board members in their fundraising efforts.
• Make personal donations and ensure that fellow board members do as well.
• Identify, cultivate and enlist community leaders to serve on the development committee.

This article is from NPT Weekly eNewsletter, a publication of The NonProfit Times. Subscribe to NPT Weekly or any of our other enewsletters and get the latest nonprofit news and stories delivered to your inbox.

Nonprofits' Data Breached Yet Again In Software Attack

By Mark Hrywna
Salesforce.com is the second software vendor to nonprofits this week to announce a data breach. The firm alerted its clients of phishing attempts and the security breach. The most recent phishing attempts included malware, software that secretly installs viruses or key loggers.

Salesforce.com sent security alerts to customers regarding two recent phishing emails: one titled "FTC" on Oct. 29 and the other "We want to make a order with..." on Nov. 6. The San Francisco-based company refused comment, except for a letter to clients that indicated “a rise in phishing attempts directed at salesforce.com customers over the past few months. The firm has more than 30,000 clients, fewer than 10 percent of which are nonprofits. The firm offers small organizations licenses for up to 10 users at no cost.

The announcement came three days after Convio announced it had a security breach with at least 92 clients, as previously reported on http://www.nptimes.com/.

“When we first saw signs of this sudden rise, we conducted a thorough analysis,” according to the salesforce.com announcement....

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92 Convio Clients Hit In Security Breach

Firm says no financial data was accessed

By Mark Hrywna

Nearly 100 clients of nonprofit software provider Convio had their data breached after an unauthorized third party was able to access email addresses and in some cases passwords.

Only clients on the GetActive platform were affected -- none on Convio’s platform – with unauthorized downloads of email addresses and passwords against 92 clients, about 7 percent of the company’s 1,300 clients, almost half of which use GetActive. Convio acquired GetActive earlier this year.

Downloads were made against another 62 clients but were not executed and did not result in data loss. Email addresses and passwords could be used for phishing scams and if combinations match access information, possibly online service providers like PayPal.

Convio declined to identify the organizations breached. The NonProfit Times uses the system to deploy e-letters but was not breached.

The attack was discovered late in the day on Nov. 1 and occurred sometime after Oct. 23. “It was a very sophisticated attack. It took us longer than we would have liked to recognize,” said Convio CEO Gene Austin. Some of the tasks the intruder performed were routine, as if it was an administrator on the system, he said.

The intruder attempted to harm a donation page for a site “and that obviously is a nonstandard process very different from normal. Once that happened, we clearly knew something was wrong and caught them,” Austin said. The intruder began the attack by being routine, and now “we’re watching those standard routines much, much more closely,” he said.

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Where fraud is occurring at nonprofits

It is a sad fact that fraud has taken place at nonprofit organizations, just as it has out in the for-profit and bureaucratic world.

At the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Not-For-Profit Industry Conference, Gerard M. Zack, president of Zack Accounting and Consulting and founder of the Nonprofit Resource Center Inc., outlined the recent trends that are showing up in nonprofit fraud.

According to Zack, a 2006 study showed that private companies had 36.9 percent of fraud cases, public companies 31.7 percent, government agencies 17.6 percent and nonprofits 13.9 percent. The median loss was $100,000.

He noted that while traditional check tampering and disbursements continue to be prevalent, certain varieties within those areas have become apparent.

They are:

• A significant increase in cases involving corruption, including kickbacks, bribes and undisclosed conflicts of interest;
• An increase in cases involving electronic access to or theft of data, sometimes while employees are working off site, hacking into networks, etc.;
• An increase in external attempts at check tampering and electronictransfers from NPO accounts;
• An increase in cases in which a nonprofit is held liable for fraudsperpetrated by its employees or agents against others; for example, an employee steals credit card information of a member of the organization; and,
• An increase in the use of sham or impersonator charities.

This article is from NPT Weekly eNewsletter, a publication of The NonProfit Times. Subscribe to NPT Weekly or any of our other enewsletters and get the latest nonprofit news and stories delivered to your inbox.

Protecting your domain name and identity

The likelihood of someone grabbing an expired domain name and testing it for profitability has increased so much that experts advise several precautions to prevent the crime or actions to take if it has happened.
One option is to not let the domain expire at all. If it is done, however, you can take steps to rescue it. Here are some things to think about:

• There are more than 200 registrars to choose from, so do your homework. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) must accredit all registrants.
• Verify that you or an authorized representative of your organization has been selected as the registrant. Go to WHOIS database at the Web site of Public Interest Registry (PIR) and view the name of the registrar, administrative contact and technical contact for your .org domain(s).
• Check that email contact is valid.
• Consolidate .org domains.
• For a national organization, centralize your portfolio of affiliate domain names by giving it to national.
• Register your domain names for the maximum amount of time.

For organizations that unintentionally let their domains expire.

• The redemption grace period that ICANN has put in place provides actual and constructive notice that something's wrong.
• Look up the new owner's information on WHOIS and send a demand letter. Seek the advice of knowledgeable counsel.
• Contact your ISP and alert it of fraud.
• File a proceeding under the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy.
• File an action in federal court under the Anticybersquatting Act, which is part of the Lanham Act.

EXEMPT MAGAZINE IS EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THE LAUNCH OF ITS REDESIGNED WEBSITE!

Exempt Magazine, the premier source for financial information in the nonprofit world, is pleased to annouce the launch of its redesigned website, www.exemptmagazine.com; upgraded to serve as a primary information portal for financial executives within the nonprofit world.

So, what's new at www.exemptmagazine.com?

• Ease of navigation. You will be able to get the latest news, view our media kit, subscribe to the magazine, and more. All this and more is easily accessible on our new site.
• Exempt e-newsletter – receive the latest financial news affecting the nonprofit world, delivered right to your e-doorstep! (InBox, actually). The first issue will be sent out the week of December 9. Click here to make sure you are on the list to receive this inaugural issue!
• Exempt Job Board. Are you looking for a financial job in the nonprofit industry, or searching for a few good candidates? The Exempt Job Board will launch in January, but we are taking inquiries now. Click here for more information.

Click here to visit the new Exempt website now!

New Face. New Content. Still the Premier Source For Financial Information In The Nonprofit World

This new website is just another step in the launching of the new Exempt. As mentioned previously, Exempt magazine is getting a complete makeover – new website, new magazine, new e-newsletter, and more!

The next issue of Exempt magazine you receive will have a facelift. Beginning with our December 2007/January 2008 issue, Exempt will have an improved look and feel, but still contain information vital to financial executives in the nonprofit world. If you are unfamiliar with us, now is a great time to learn how you can take advantage of some great advertising opportunities. If you have worked with us in the past, we can’t wait to talk to you about the changes at Exempt and the new opportunities we have to offer. Using a combination of print, electronic, and events, we are on track to quickly becoming the only source you need for reaching your marketing goals.

To learn more about the opportunities Exempt has to offer, click here to download our 2008 Media Kit. For additional questions or to get started, contact Harry Dolan, Publisher at 973-401-0202 x212, harry@exemptmagazine.com

Workaholics inebriate everyone in the office

There's being committed to the job, and then there's being a workaholic. It might sound like a polite euphemism for someone who puts maybe a little too much time into work or seems a little too dedicated.

But according to Bryan Robinson, a retired psychology professor, workaholism is an addiction, a serious one that harms not only the addict but also everyone around the person. In fact, it also does a disservice to the group, company or organization to which the workaholic belongs.
Being a workaholic has been linked to sleep disorders, heart attacks and strokes.

In his book "Chained to the Desk," Robinson identifies 12 symptoms that are signs of being a workaholic. While none of these signs alone points to pathology, taken together they indicate a serious problem.
The 12 signs are:

• Rarely delegating or asking for help;
• Showing impatience with others' work;
• Often doing two, three or more tasks at one time;
• Committing to work; biting off more than one can chew;
• Feeling guilty and/or lost when not at work;
• Focusing on results, not the task;
• Focusing on planning, ignoring the here and now;
• Continuing to work after others quit;
• Imposing pressure-filled deadlines;
• Seldom relaxing;
• Attending more to work than to relationships; and,
• Lacking hobbies and social interests.

$1 Billion In Storm Relief From Foundations, Business

Foundations and corporations in the United States committed more than $1 billion in cash and in-kind giving for relief, recovery and rebuilding in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, according to a report by the Foundation Center.

Contributions by corporate giving programs and corporate foundations accounted for the majority of institutional giving, according to the report, at nearly $520 million or 57 percent of total giving. Moreover, corporate giving focused more on immediate relief, while foundations focused more on recovery and rebuilding.

The report, Giving in the Aftermath of Gulf Coast Hurricanes, is based on an analysis of interviews with 10 of the top 25 independent foundations that responded to the disaster. They include David and Lucile Packard Foundation (Calif.), Ford Foundation (N.Y.), Robert W. Woodruff Foundation (Ga.), Open Society Institute (N.Y.), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Wash.), Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (N.J.), Lilly Endowment (Ind.), Rockefeller Foundation (N.Y.), Charles Stewart Mott Foundation (Mich.), and Walton Family Foundation (Arkansas). Additionally, the report provides a comprehensive record of the resources institutional donors provided.

The overwhelming destruction wrought by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the failure of the levee system in New Orleans, and the widely criticized government response all served to engage foundations across the country, according to the report.
In fact, of the estimated $6.5 billion (GivingUSA) for the relief effort through June 2007, giving from institutional donors accounted for more than $900 million in cash donations, and more than $100 million in-kind.

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