Charity Spring Patch Digest: Pubs for charity are opening across the country

Patch Tips!

Shakespeare on the Sound shows a good example of how a nonprofit can use The Patch to share its news and stories.

Fairfield County Funding Opportunities

HOW ABOUT OPENING PUB FOR YOUR CAUSE? Has your charity ever wondered about creating a revenue stream by other means than a thrift store? Or have you ever wanted to open a pub and still work for a cause? A new PhilanthropPub opened its doors to the public today in Washington DC with all profits going charity. Called Cause, it is the brainchild of two friends who met in graduate school and came up with the idea while sharing a beer in a restaurant. One partner had worked for both AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps and the other spent much of his career in academia. But it is not the first. The Oregon Public House in Portland was the first, opening its doors last summer. Here is a good video about their undertaking. 

BILLIONAIRE DEVOTES FULL-TIME TO PHILANTHROPY: Reuters reports that Farallon Capital hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer, 54, is leaving his $20-billion financial firm to devote himself to full-time to philanthropy and politics. The 55-year-old investor and his wife, Kat Taylor, signed the Giving Pledge in 2010 and ranked 33rdon the Philanthropy 400 list of 2011’s biggest donors. They gave been major donors to Yale, which gives them a Connecticut connection, but more importantly other billionaires in Fairfield County have signed the Giving Pledge and they are more likely prospects for your cause.

GIVING CIRCLES: Here is a New Ventures in Philanthropy Giving Together report on the movement of giving circles and shared giving.

Fairfield County Charity & Donor News

CHANGES COMING TO NPR: CEO Gary Knell discusses in this video and article how NPR needs to “smash together the digital and so-called audio journalists,” acknowledging the digital transformation underway.

PRO BONO PARTNERSHIP: The Pro Bono Partnership just announced to a sold-out crowd of 800 corporate and legal leaders attending its 15thanniversary gala that it had raised $1.5 million to support free business legal assistance to hundreds of nonprofit organizations in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The Partnership mobilizes more than 900 attorneys each year to help nonprofits improve governance and management practices and advise them on business decisions so they can effectively serve their own clients, tens of thousands of individuals across the tri-state area.

Donor Relations

YOUR FUNDRAISING PLAN: Nell Edgington at Social Velocity always has it right as she does today wit her post: 7 Mistakes in Your Fundraising Plan.

SPECIAL EVENTS: Make your events better by making them fun. Here is a post on the subject from the leader at Network for Good.

CRISIS MANAGEMENT: The Lance Armstrong Effect, a very thoughtful and balanced assessment of the scandal and how LiveStrong can best manage the crisis. And here the LA Times observes how some donors are wanting their money back.

Corporate Social Responsibility 

CSR GROWING PAINS: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is feeling its growing pains. Those responsible for CSR are forever challenged to justify the expense and concern of this corporate priority. This week in New York the CSR industry has its 20th Annual Conference and the theme is Fast Forward. They want change and fast. Here is a Forbes article about the upcoming conference.

GREAT CAUSE MARKETING EXAMPLE: H&M just launched its All for Children campaign for UNICEF, an especially well organized and communicated corporate alliance with a cause.

Media Tips

HUFFINGTON POST: If your aim is for a story about your charity go viral, Poytner reports on how Huffington Post leads news sites with the most viral stories on Facebook.

NEW PEW REPORT: 62% of older adults read news daily, 40% of people under age 30 regularly do so.

PR TRENDS: 4 trends that are affecting PR success.

Social Media Tips

20 MYTHS ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA: Hubspot has a great blog and this is a typical astute analysis on the state of social media.

Thought for the Day

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF HOLDING A PARADOX: For whatever reason you joined your cause, you likely stay for reasons of the heart. When you connect who you are with what you do in the name of a cause, disappointment, a breach, confusion, injury, exhaustion, and toxic systems can cause suffering. When identity is forged in solitude and in the company of others, when integrity is fit together by an undivided life amid forces of fragmentation, learning to hold a paradox helps not to lose heart. Perspective clarifies and heals, which is one of the aims of this Patch Digest on philanthropy.

Charity Spring

See what nearly 3,000 people around the world are reading at Charity Spring (live since October 4th). For many additional links to help you build financial support and awareness for your Fairfield County cause see the Charity Spring Patch Digest homepage.

Please comment here to let us know what news and opportunities you want us to find for you or to simply let us know what you think.