4 Ways Of Finding Society Donors

Nonprofits will gladly accept a donation of any size but when it comes down to it receiving a gift from higher-priced donors are much more helpful in the fundraising enterprise.

The most sought after gifts come from what are called Society Donors. These individuals tend to make the biggest donations and, as such, are the biggest catch for any fundraiser. During the 2013 Blackbaud Conference for Nonprofits, George Durney and Page Bullington of Marquette University discussed the best ways to secure a gift from a Society Donor. The process should involve a careful, dedicated program of cultivation.

Based on surveys taken at 12 institutions of higher learning over a 20-year period, Durney and Bullington offered the following reminders when going after Society Donors:

• Have patience. On average, it took 13.2 years for a donor to make their first $1,000 gift.
• Keep donors engaged and giving. Those who gave $1,000 in fiscal year 2009 gave in about 73 percent of the years they were on file.
• Have a cultivation plan. Some 57 percent of donors made a first gift of less than $100.
• Establish donor potential. The higher the first gift, the quicker they became a higher-level donor/

5 Donor Problems For Nonprofits

Nonprofits exist to solve problems. Yet as many nonprofit managers will attest, they are much happier solving problems that exist outside the organization. One thing is for sure: Any organization that has problems with its donors has problems.

Wayne Elsey, founder and CEO of Soles4Souls, wrote in his book "Almost Isn't Good Enough" that there are at least five issues that nonprofits encounter from donors. Solving these problems, Elsey wrote, can help an organization increase its footprint and success.

The five problems are:

• “I can’t find you online.” Update the Website every 30 days (or 10). Hire or contract with someone who knows digital Web design. “If I can’t find you on Google, then you don’t exist.”
• “I don’t understand what you do.” A good rule of thumb is if you can’t recite the mission of your organization, then you have no hope of spreading the message and funding your work.
• “It’s difficult to get more information.” Donors want to know something about the organization before they are asked their vital statistics, including address.
• “It’s impossible for me to get involved beyond giving money.” Leaders should be asking how they can get more people involved so they can see the pain in the lives of those in need.
• “I never hear from you except when you want me to give.” A relationship based on one party asking and the other giving isn’t much of a relationship.

Mercersburg Academy Alum Donates $100 Million

In what was the second-largest gift ever given to an independent school in the U.S., Mercersburg Academy announced Thursday that it had received a gift of nearly $100 million from alumna Deborah J. Simon and her foundation.

The donation, which Simon said was made out of gratitude for her two years at the Mercersburg, Pa.-based institution, is the leading gift so far in the school's "Daring to Lead" $300 million capital campaign. When combined with recent campaign gifts that include support for a new student center, Simon and the Deborah Joy Simon Foundation have pledged nearly $107 million to Mercersburg Academy.

"We are thrilled beyond words for this transformational gift and the confidence that Deborah and her foundation have placed in us," said Douglas Hale, head of school. "Because of their vision and generosity, young men and women from all walks of life will have access to an extraordinary education that will allow them to realize their potential."

Simon, who is a member of the Mercersburg Academy Board of Regents, praised Hale for his "vision" for the school. "This is a place where faculty are encouraged to experiment with new ideas and technologies to engage students more fully in their education," she said.

According to a press release announcing the donation, Simon's gift will help Mercersburg Academy achieve its goal of ensuring its education is affordable for its students. Currently, 32 percent of students receive need-based financial aid, and 49 percent receive a combination of merit and need-based scholarships toward tuition. The Academy accepts students in grades 9-12.

Previous gifts to U.S. independent schools that equaled or surpassed Simon's gift include a $128 million donation to the Newtown, Pa.-based George School in 2007 and $100 million to the Hightstown, N.J.-based Peddie School in 1993. The previous high donation to the Mercersburg Academy came in 2000 by alumnus and former President of the Board of Regents H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, who donated $35 million.

Making The Switch To Monthly Giving

Monthly giving programs are on fundraisers' radars these days as some nonprofits have found it to be a great source of revenue and engagement. That doesn't mean it's easy to switch to it when your nonprofit is already practicing annual giving.

During Fundraising Day in New York 2013, sponsored by the New York City chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), Valerie Arganbright of Appleby Arganbright and Jason Lott of Human Rights Campaign, discussed the challenges organizations can face when switching from annual to monthly giving. They warned that adopting a new fundraising method means learning a new way of doing business, which means you should learn the following rules:

• Asking, who is the business owner for the monthly giving?
• Deciding how and when revenue will be recognized.
• A decision about monthly giving as the number one ask and one-time giving as the only other option.
• Consistent branding.

Arganbright and Lott also said that nonprofits should make the following considerations when evaluating the pros and cons of a monthly giving campaign:

• Monthly activation rates, particularly by channel;
• Decline and attrition rates;
• Average gift of new monthly donors by channel; and,
• Actual performance against budget.

5 Ways To Keep In Touch With Monthly Giving Donors

Your work is done just because you got a donor to join your monthly giving program. Far from it; in fact, as fundraising consultant Pamela Grow explains, your work is just beginning.

Grow says that it's up to you as a fundraising professional to make sure your monthly donors are made to feel special. As a member of an exclusive club, these individuals are going to be expecting world-class treatment. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to keep in constant contact with them.

In her e-book, "The Lifetime Donor Attraction System," Grow shared five tips on how to keep in contact with your monthly donors:

• Don’t stop communicating. Keep sending emails, as well as offers to upgrade their monthly commitments. These donors are also excellent prospects for planned giving, having demonstrated dedication to your nonprofit.
• Send monthly donors special versions of your regular communications. Make sure they reference the donor’s membership in your monthly giving program.
• Give them special opportunities, such as events, guided tours and access to your organization’s executives. Make sure they know the opportunity is exclusive to monthly givers.
• Send special thank-yous. Think about including premiums in your thank-you correspondence with monthly donors.
• Don’t neglect your regular correspondence. Follow up if a monthly sustainer’s renewal lapses or if she suspends payments.

The Donor Research Checklist For Small Nonprofits

What's the best way to ensure a successful fundraising campaign? Some would argue that donor research should be on the top of that list, and they would have a point. More information about donors means your fundraisers will have a better idea about how to approach them.

While large nonprofits usually have full-time researcher on-staff, it can be a little bit harder for smaller organizations to find room in their budget for donor research. That's why Ann Rosenfield, executive director of The WoodGreen Foundation, offered some tips to help these organizations reap the benefits of this research without breaking the bank. 

She wrote the following checklist in the Winter 2013 edition of Advancing Philanthropy:

• Hire a researcher, even if just for a while: This will enable managers to focus on the technical aspects of fundraising while research crunches the numbers.
• Pay for a research database service: This allows for quick look-ups of prospective donors recommended by the board, events, and potential board members.
• Remember that information on foundations is free: This information is easily accessible online on such sites as Foundation Center.
• If possible, use data analytics: This allows the organization to see how analytics work and keep track of these findings on a spreadsheet.
• Identify new prospects: Having a researcher means being able to seek out new prospective clients who will give.
• Don’t forget that the organization’s small size is actually a strength: The small size of is an asset in that it allows research to be done on a more personal level.

5 Questions About Donors

What makes donors tick? That's a question that some fundraisers don't necessarily feel the need to answer; if they're giving money who cares, right? To keep them giving, however, it is good to get a better idea of what donors are thinking.

Understanding what donors are thinking will give you a better idea of how to cultivate them and, in turn, allow your organization to have enough money to complete its mission. In his book, “The Eight Principles of Sustainable Fundraising,” Larry C. Johnson poses several questions that he believes nonprofits should be asking about their donors. Those questions are:

• Why are donors’ values important? When organizations come to terms with the fact that donors are people just like nonprofit employees -- and act upon this certainty -- they have made the single most important step toward success in fundraising.
• What is philanthropy ultimately about? It is about giving and receiving. Donors want to be engaged, not enticed.
• How can an organization engage donors? Engaging people by first learning who they are and what is important to them allows a charity to fashion messages that will be understood, acted upon and appreciated.
• What do donors want? First and foremost, donors want to be seen for what they are -- investors.
• What is the difference between program focus and donor focus? It is important to remember that people give to people. Programming is merely the vehicle to enriching the lives and meeting the needs of human beings.

Major Donor Traits

What makes a major donor? The obvious answer is a substantial amount of money, but these individuals also have different belief systems. Fundraisers must learn to understand these beliefs if they are to be successful at cultivating these types of donors.

As Kent E. Dove, Alan M. Spears, and Thomas W. Herbert wrote in their book “Conducting a Successful Major Gifts & Planned Giving Program,” major gifts aren't just going to appear to an organization; they have to be cultivated from major donors by fundraisers. In order to achieve the proper success, it's important to understand what makes these individuals tick.

Dove, Spears, and Herbert explained that while major donors have many characteristics, understanding the following three will lead to the best results in procuring a major gift:

• Major donors typically have strong values and deep beliefs. They believe in people and have great respect for knowledge.
• They know someone in or something about the nonprofit organization they are supporting.
• They view giving as an investment, and through such investments they desire to solve a problem or issue and to express themselves (to attain self-actualization).

Payment Processing Basics

Credit cards have been around for a relatively long time, so you would think that payment processing wouldn't be that complicated. You would be wrong.

Processing credit card payments is far from the easiest thing to do precisely because the technology has been around for a while. There are many different ways to accept payments, all of which might require different types of hardware, software, and relationships. It's not realistic to shell out money for every single piece of technology out there, so the burning question out there is which are the best methods?

According to Laura S. Quinn, founder and executive director of Idealware, weighing your options requires a basic understanding of how credit card processing works. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as the information getting sent to you once the user swipes their card; it's a multi-step process that often involves a number of different vendors and entities.

Here are the three basic steps:

• Collect and enter credit card information. To process any payment, you'll obviously need to collect the credit card information from the person making the payment and transfer it -- whether electronically or manually -- to a service that can actually process the payment. This can involve anything from writing down the card information and mailing it to your bank, to typing it into an online system, to swiping the card through a specific kind of hardware.
•  Authorize and commit the charge. Once the payment information has been entered, it is transferred electronically to a payment processor, who checks to see that the credit card account exists and has enough money to cover the charge -- a process called "authorizing" -- and then actually charges the card.
• Deposit money to bank account. Once the card has been charged, you get to a critical step: actually receiving the money. The payment processor always deposits the money in a special kind of bank account called a merchant account. For most of the methods discussed in this article, you'll need to open your own merchant account, either through your own bank or one recommended by your payment processor.  

Now that you understand the basics of payment processing, you can start to figure out which methods work best for your nonprofit.

First Year Fundraising Campaign Goals

Fundraising campaigns are rarely completed in just a single year. The nature of a long-term campaign means the number the organization wants to reach will be quite high, meaning the time-frame can be as long as five years. All of the years are important in a campaign but, as M. Jane Williams explained, the first year carries the most weight.

Williams wrote in her book, "Big Gifts," that the first year of a fundraising campaign can determine the overall success of the project. A rousing first year will boost the morale of your fundraisers, whereas a lackluster performance will cause concern. To ensure you get off to a good start, Williams recommended making use of schedules. These will help organize your campaign so you know by when you need to accomplish certain goals (i.e., X amount of dollars should have been raised by X date).

For the first year of your campaign, Russell V. Kohr wrote in the “Handbook of Institutional Advancement” that the following goals should be accomplished:

• Complete the first draft of the long-range plan;
• Share plan with trustees and selected potential benefactors;
• Revise plan as necessary;
• Trustees approve plan and campaign goal;
• Development office prepares statement of gift opportunities;
• Development office drafts case statement that is then shared with key people in the organization, trustees, and selected friends;
• Survey various constituencies intensively;
• Research prospective donors of major gifts;
• Begin solicitation of major gift, corporate, and foundation prospects;
• Increase annual giving solicitation;
• A group -- such as the president, chairman of the board of trustees, and the chairman of the trustee committee on development -- enlists a national campaign chairman and members of the major gifts committees;
• Role of the president and other administrative officials in the campaign is determined; and,
• Begin solicitation of trustees.

Mini Horse A Hit With Wisc. Salvation Army

Holiday season in the United States brings a lot of familiar sights, though none may be as iconic as the Salvation Army's Red Kettle campaign. Volunteers from the charity stand outside shops ringing bells and soliciting donations. This practice is the same all across the country except in a town in Wisconsin, where an unexpected volunteer is leading the way: A miniature horse.

Named Tinker, the horse and other more traditional volunteers set up shop in West Bend, Wisc., according to an article in The Associated Press. He uses his mouth to hold and ring the standard red bell and holds a sign that says "Thank You Merry Christmas." He can also bow, give kisses and, most importantly of all to the Salvation Army, he raises 10 times the amount of money than a normal bell ringer.

Salvation Army commander Major Roger Ross told The Post that Tinker, who is 13-years old, has been known to bring in around $2,500 in a day, while a human ringer typically raises $250 in the same time period.

Carol Takacs, one of Tinker's owners, bought the horse 12 years ago with her husband while looking at a property. She fell in love with the mini horse and asked the owner that he be a part of the deal. She got the idea to use Tinker as a bell ringer after seeing one of the Salvation Army volunteers a few years ago, and she thought the horse could help make the standard Red Kettle campaign more interesting.

Before a typical appearance, Takacs spends a half-hour vacuuming Tinker's mane and fur and puts glitter on his hooves, a bell on his tail, and a Santa hat on his head. A pin with the horse's likeness is also given to donors who contribute at least $5.

You can read the full story in The Associated Press.

California Judge Tentatively Allows Investigation Of PAC's Donors

A judge from the Sacramento Superior Court tentatively ruled Tuesday that the California's campaign finance watchdog agency could investigate an Arizona Political Action Committee's (PAC) $11 million donation.

Judge Shellyanne Chang said that citizens of California would suffer "irreparable harm" if contributions to Americans for Responsible Leadership were not investigated by the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), according to The San Jose Mercury News. The small business PAC has run campaigns against two propositions on the state's ballot, Proposition 30, a tax-hike proposal, and Proposition 32, which would stop unions from collecting dues for political purposes.

Judge Chang will oversee a hearing on the matter Wednesday before she makes her final decision.

California Gov. Jerry Brown praised the tentative ruling, telling the Associated Press that "This is the biggest campaign violation ever since the FPPC became operative in 1975, and it is heartening that the FPPC is going to court."

"We believe that the state has not proven its case and that the FPPC does not have the authority to issue an audit in advance of the election," said Americans for Responsible Leadership spokesman Matt Ross in a statement. "Depending upon tomorrow's final outcome, there is a high likelihood that Americans for Responsible Leadership will appeal."

Although 501(c)(4) groups are not required to disclose their donors under Internal Revenue Service (IRS) codes, California requires disclosure, and Gov. Brown has been campaigning hard to have PACs operating in the state to follow those rules. The pressure for Americans for Responsible Leadership to reveal its donations increased after the group received the $11 million meant to help it fight the two ballot propositions.

You can read the full story in The San Jose Mercury News.

Study: Planned Giving Donors In Unlikely Places

A new study by the Stelter Company in Des Moines, Iowa revealed that nonprofits may need to reinvent the way they go searching for planned giving donors.

The report 2012 Stelter Donor Insight Report, revealed that of the 401 individuals surveyed, one-fifth say they had never donated to the nonprofit at the time of their planned gift. Another 20 percent said they had been donating to the nonprofit for less than five years. This seems to indicate that a significant portion of donors are defying the traditional loyalty model ascribed to planned givers.

"This was one of the findings that we think is key to unlocking success for nonprofits," said Bev Hutney, Stelter's director of innovation and research, in a press release. "For example, just introducing the topic of planned giving much earlier in the conversation and targeting a wider group of people than what they do currently could really make a significant difference for a charitable organization,”

Another surprising aspect of the Stelter Study was the revelation that the individuals who are most likely to make a planned gift are adults aged 40 to 49. Specifically, 40 percent of Americans in that age range say they will "definitely or probably" make a planned gift, while only 10 percent of those aged 70 and older say the same.

Below are additional findings that came from the Study:

• The South has emerged as an increasingly lucrative market for nonprofits, with 29 percent of best prospects and 20 percent of current planned givers.
• In terms of political leanings, a greater percentage of planned givers are registered Republicans (39 percent) than Democrats (25 percent). But of the best prospects, 33 percent are Democrats while only 24 percent are Republicans.
• Never-married singles make up only 13 percent of current planned givers, but they represent 23 percent of best prospects.

You can download the full version of the 2012 Donor Insight Report on Stelter's website.

Boosting The Effectiveness Of Your Nonprofit's Annual Funds

There is no question that annual giving from donors is the lifeblood of a nonprofit's fiscal health, so it would seem to make no sense to try and improve on it. But according to Aileen Meyer, there are plenty of ways you can boost the effectiveness of an organization's annual funds.

Speaking at the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) International Conference in Chicago, Meyer, director of development at Lourdes College, recommended three tips that will take your annual funds to the next level:

• Using data and analytics, nonprofits can help you tangibly understand where to focus the efforts of your annual fund program. Some key areas to focus in are, your return on investment (ROI), donor segment trends, retention trends, gifting levels, gift source and stewardship.
• Increasing the size of your annual fund would not be possible without acquisition efforts. Costly as it might be, doing acquisition is a surefire way to take your annual fund to the next level. When locating acquisition donors, Meyer said that your organization should pinpoint who to ask, locate the correct solicitation method, estimate an appropriate entry-level ask amount and use giving likelihood scores to indentify the best prospects for donor acquisition. 
• Finally, to convert these donors to repeat donors nonprofits should steward creatively by reporting the use of their gift immediately and enrolling them in a First Time Donor Program. By building on these interests and connections, nonprofits can form a relationship with these donors and fold them into their annual funding file. 

7 Ways To Engage Religious Donors

Religious donors are anything but a one-trick pony. As a study by The NonProfit Times and InfoGroup last year showed, these individuals will also give to a select number of secular groups as well as their favorite religious groups. In fact, they are almost three times as likely to donate to other groups than those who do not give to religious institutions.

As with any strategy to reach new donors, one marketing strategy doesn't fit all. This is especially true with religious donors. It's one thing to just reach out to them; it's another thing entirely to convince them that your cause aligns with their morals.

In “Nonprofit Management 101,” Jennie Winton and Zach Hochstadt, two partners at Mission Minded, identified seven tactics you can follow to get religious groups to appeal on your behalf:

• Tactic 1: Identify local religious organizations;
• Tactic 2: Create a brochure that explains the benefits of supporting your nonprofit;
• Tactic 3: Mail an introductory letter and brochure about the nonprofit to each group;
• Tactic 4: Schedule and make follow-up phone calls;
• Tactic 5: Create introductory packets for organizations that agree to raise money for the nonprofit;
• Tactic 6: Create fundraising templates for religious institutions that agree to appeal for money on your behalf; and,
• Tactic 7: Follow up with all partners monthly.

Giving USA Numbers A Cause For Optimism

For more than 50 years Giving USA has given what amounts to an annual state of the nonprofit sector. With the uncertain economy we have been living through, the 2012 report was even more anticipated. It was with great relief, then, that giving numbers were found to be pretty healthy last year.

The NonProfit Times analyzed the numbers in this year's report in an exclusive piece online. According to the piece, giving in the U.S. reached an estimated $298.42 billion in 2011, an increase of around 4 percent from 2010 (when giving was estimated at around $290 billion). Individual giving represented the biggest contributions, at 73 percent or $217.79 billion?

The smallest contributors? Corporations. Corporate giving represented just 5 percent of total giving in the country, or $14.55 billion. This shouldn't come as too big of a surprise, as a report by the Council on Foundations last month showed that corporate philanthropy had fallen among large companies like Starbucks, Dove, and Cisco.

Of the different sub-sectors of giving, human services and religious giving came out on top. In fact, religiong retained its spot from last year as the largest recipient of giving, at 32 percent or $95.88 billion. Yet, interestingly enough, that number was actually a decline of 1.7 percent when measured in current dollars.

“Viewed another way, giving to religion, along with membership in certain mainline Protestant denominations, is declining, while the American population grows, on average, 1.0 percent every year,” said Thomas W. Mesaros, CFRE, Chair, The Giving Institute and president and CEO, The Alford Group.

Here is the complete breakdown of giving to each sector:

• Religion, $95.88 billion or 32 percent;
• Education, $38.87 billion or 13 percent;
• Human Services, $35.39 billion or 12 percent;
• Foundations, $25.83 billion or 9 percent;
• Health, $24.75 billion or 8 percent;
• International Affairs, $22.68 billion or 8 percent;
• Public-Benefit Society, $21.37 billion or 7 percent;
• Arts, Culture and Humanities, $13.12 billion or 4 percent;
• Environment/animals, $7.81 billion or 3 percent;
• Individuals, $3.75 billion or 1 percent;
• Unallocated giving was $8.97 billion or 3 percent.

Want to read more about the Giving USA numbers for 2012? Head on over to our website for more analysis, and be sure to keep an eye out for our July 1 issue for even more details on this important report.

How To Calm An Angry Donor

Billy Joel once sang that "You're only human/You're allowed to make your share of mistakes." In the nonprofit sector, those mistakes can be costly, especially when you are dealing with donors.

An angry donor is a nonprofit's worst nightmare. Even organizations with the best of intentions can make a mistake that will lead to a long, and often loud, phone call. The phrase "the customer is always right" applies in these situations, even if you think the individual is the one in the wrong. The fact of the matter is this person invested money into your organization, and it's in your best interest to him/her happy.

So how do you calm down a donor who is losing it? In their book "Being Buddha at Work," Franz Metcalf and B.J. Gallagher outlined 10 steps to take to both calm the individual down and to solve the problem. The steps are:

• First, be compassionate. The donor is frustrated, angry, disappointed, and upset. Do not meet anger with anger. Meet anger with compassion.
• Thank the donor for bringing the problem to you. Your mission is service and you cannot be of service if there are no problems to fix.
• Listen carefully to what the donor is telling you. As you listen, sift through the words and sort out facts from feelings.
• Take notes, if it is appropriate, explaining that you want to make sure you have the information correct.
• Emphasize what you can do, not what you cannot do.
• Get help from others if you need it.
• Explain and educate the donor as you continue to interact with the person.
• Commit to what you can do. Be clear about what the individual can expect and when.
• Thank the donor again for the opportunity to help turn around a negative situation.
• Follow up. Keep your commitments, and keep the donor informed if anything changes.

Want to learn more about donors? Check out our articles on this subject on our website.

Study: D.C. Nonprofits Could See Better Days This Year

Washington, D.C.-area nonprofits, which received fewer dollars in 2011, are bracing for better times this year, according to a new study by the Center for Nonprofit Advancement (CNA).

The study, as reported on by The Washington Post, showed that nearly half of the organizations surveyed report that their donors plan to maintain or increase contributions in 2012. This is in contrast to only 27 percent last year, and 15 percent in 2009. The CNA study canvassed nonprofits in D.C., Northern Virginia, and Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland.

Another huge problem for D.C.-area organizations in 2011 was the amount of "rainy-day" reserves they had to use up as a result of the declined contributions. This practice appears to be fading in 2012, ad the CNA study found that the number of nonprofits dipping into reserves fell from 46 percent to 31 percent. In addition, organizations reporting a decline in revenue dropped from 48 percent to 40 percent.

Glen O'Glvie, CNA's chief executive, told The Washington Post that the reason for this comeback in giving appears to come from individual donors. He noted that it's much easier for one person to donate than for foundations and corporations. This notion appears to be validated because, as was reported in The NonProfit Times, corporate philanthropy is experiencing a sharp decline, according to a new study from the Council on Foundations.

Although the decline in donations seems to be slowing, CNA warns that it's not enough to quell the increasing demand for nonprofit services. 53 percent of respondents reported a higher demand for their services last year as a direct result of the economic downturn.

You can read the full story in The Washington Post.

Why Do Donors Give?

For years, fundraisers have been searching for the answer to a question that is the nonprofit equivalent of the Holy Grail: Why do donors give?

This is one of those questions that truly doesn't have a single right answer. Every donor who you talk to will likely give you a different reason for they decided to give money or other gifts to an organization. That doesn't mean people have given up trying to come up with a concrete answer to the question. Larry C. Johnson, author of "The Eight Principles of Sustainable Fundraising," thinks he has the answer: People give because they want to.

It may not be the profound answer that some in fundraising are looking for, but it does have some weight behind it. There is no denying that you can't force someone to give if they don't want to. 

In a study by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, “Understanding Donors' Motivations,” the five most frequently occurring motivations for philanthropy were listed. They are:

• To meet critical, basic needs;
• To give back to society by making the community a better place;
• A belief that those with more should help those with less;
• To bring about a desired impact or result; and,
• A request for money was made.

These reasons are sure to spark debate among fundraisers. Let us know what your thoughts are, and whether you have found a different answer to this intriguing question.

National Museum Of Natural History Gets Major Donation

David H. Koch, executive vice president of Koch Industries, has made his mark on National Museum of Natural History by donating $35 million to the Washington, D.C.-based museum.

The major gift, which was announced by the Smithsonian Institute last Thursday, will be used to build a new dinosaur hall, according to a report in The Washington Post. It is the largest single donation the museum has ever received, and the fifth largest in Smithsonian history.

Koch, who might be best known for his support of conservative causes, has been a member of the museum's advisory board for the past 15 years. He told The Post that he made the donation because he believes the institution's current dinosaur hall is "obsolete." Many of the specimens included in the current dinosaur exhibit have been there since the museum first opened 100 years ago.

This is certainly not Koch's first experience with philanthropy related to dinosaur exhibits. He donated $20 million to the dinosaur hall in New York City's American Museum of Natural History in 2006. He also gave $100 million to the renovation project for the State Theater of New York at Lincoln Center.

The National Museum of Natural History's current dinosaur exhibit will close in 2014, with the renovated hall scheduled for completion in 2019. The total cost of the work is estimated at $45 million.

You can read more about this story in The Washington Post.