As I reflect on the remarks offered during the keynote panel at the Annual Conference and on the articles featured in the last issue of Connections, I am struck by vast changes in philanthropy and fundraising and APRA’s role in this new dynamic. There is a heightened sense of inclusiveness, diversity and measuring the impact of philanthropy as individuals at all income levels, backgrounds and interests are asked to participate in charitable giving.

Elizabeth_Crabtree

With this Winter issue, I assume the interim editorship of Connections. I do so gratitude and appreciation for the extraordinary effort that Lisa Howley, assisted by the dedicated group of volunteers, has made over the last three years to revive Connections and to return it to its position as the premiere publication for prospect research. I know how delighted I was to read it again, and how I now anticipate each information-packed number.

David Eberly

APRA Educational Schedule

• Symposium Schedule
• APRA Virtual Seminar Series

APRA/MARC Partnership

2008 APRA International Conference

NOZA Announces Free Foundation Grant Searching

“A thousand men, say, go searchin’ for gold. After six months, one of them’s lucky: one out of a thousand. His find represents not only his own labor, but that of nine hundred and ninety-nine others to boot. That’s six thousand months, five hundred years, scramblin’ over a mountain, goin’ hungry and thirsty. An ounce of gold, mister, is worth what it is because of the human labor that went into the findin’ and the gettin’ of it.” — Howard, "The Treasure of Sierra Madre" (1948, Warner Bros. Pictures)

Cecilia Hogan

By now, everyone has heard about the huge amount of wealth (estimated at between $41 trillion and $136 trillion) that will be transferred over the next 50 years, as members of both the World War II and Baby Boomer generations die. Because this transfer will include a sizeable number of charitable bequests, planned giving has received considerable attention in recent years. The skills and knowledge researchers bring to the process of identifying potential planned giving prospects can help to establish and sustain highly successful estate giving efforts.

Kelly_Sachse,_CFP

Stewardship has been a stated process and core function in the donor solicitation cycle since its inception. However, the task remains an effort to which most fundraising operations have played little more than lip service. The directive of the function is very clear — “show gratitude to those who have provided generous support and shown an interest in your cause.” Yet over the last decade, many organizations have sacrificed sound stewardship practices in favor of more aggressive donor acquisition and an endless cycle of solicitation.

Napoleon_Hendrix_III

The research team at Stanford works with the Parents Program in the Office of Development each summer to analyze the parents of the new student population. We have developed a successful partnership that has enhanced the engagement of Stanford parents as volunteers and as donors. In this article, I will discuss in detail how we built the partnership and the methodologies that we employ to analyze the parent population.

Sarah_Conner-Smith

Prospect researchers are uniquely positioned to assist in the identification, recruitment and ongoing support of volunteers who offer the right scope of attributes for an organization’s Advancement efforts. Because supporting volunteers is an office-wide endeavor, researchers have the opportunity to work closely with colleagues throughout the organization and can influence critical decision-making, particularly where the governing board is concerned.

Diane_Crane

I’ve recently made a discovery that altered everything I thought I knew about research and advancement services. For the past decade, I have thought of myself and my research team as information managers — knowledge managers — embedded in a relationship management organization. Recently, however, I’ve come to believe that researchers are fundamentally in the relationship management business too.

Shelby_McClintock

Every now and then, life provides instructive moments where the backward-seeming, down-rooting, stasis-craving tug of the present butts uncomfortably against the bullish, push-and-pull force of the future.

Welcome to a new column in Connections that will focus on ethics. Below you will find the APRA Ethics Committee’s mission statement and a list of the members. In addition to our column, we are posting information on the APRA Web site in the Discussion Forums where we hope to have conversations about ethics topics. As a member of the revived APRA Ethics Committee, I am pleased to write our first column and present the background and history of donor privacy at the Iowa State University Foundation.