A Year-End Note
by Jeffrey D. Byrne
President & CEO
As Nonprofit Executives and Development Professionals you are called on to juggle multiple issues all the time within your nonprofit organizations. Additionally, you have to keep abreast of what happens around your local communities, regionally and around the globe. Just think about a few issues these past few weeks . . .
President Obama is re-elected and immediately Congress and the President begin talks around the “fiscal cliff”. Negotiations between the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and the Democratic-controlled Senate and President Obama continue this week as the nation watches, wondering if taxes will go up January 1, 2013 for all Americans, and severe budget cuts through the sequester, slashing government spending and possibly sending the American economy into a tail-spin and another recession.
Last Friday, a 20-year old young man enters an elementary school and kills 20 children, ages 6 and 7, and six adults with high-powered guns in Newtown, Connecticut, setting off once again a national mourning around senseless gun violence and a national debate around gun rights.
These are issues that Americans discuss around the dinner table, at the coffee shop and in shopping malls. They frustrate us and many times we can’t do anything about them.
Now, here are a few items that impact your organization and can make a difference in what you do now and into 2013.
We all know about Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Over the 3-day period beginning on Black Friday Americans spent nearly $56 Billion on consumer goods, a 6% increase over 2011. Consumer confidence is back! A new date is on the holiday calendar this year and its inauguration was Tuesday, November 27 – now known as #GivingTuesday. Conceived early this year at the 92nd Street Y, #GivingTuesday’s idea was to get 100 organizations to identify the Tuesday after Thanksgiving as a day to recognize the value of giving – not just money, but of time and talent through social media and other forms of publicity. More than 2,000 organizations took part. And last week, online donations were 42% over the same period last year.
According to research from Giving USA the year after a Presidential Election historically philanthropic giving goes up. In 2011, giving was up in real dollars 4.0% to $298.42 billion in contributions from individuals, bequests, corporations and foundations. The DOW closed at 13,235.39 yesterday and if President Obama and Congressional Leaders can resolve fiscal issues before the year-end, the markets historically rally. In June 2013 we’ll know how Americans felt about charitable giving in 2013, but if consumer spending during the long Holiday shopping is any indicator we might be pleasingly surprised.
As you end the year, it is our hope at Jeffrey Byrne & Associates that you will be blessed with safety and peace and that those you touch throughout the year will have comfort and joy.
Happy Holidays!
Jeffrey Byrne & Associates Inc. Achieves Giving Institute Re-Qualification
We are very pleased to report that The Giving Institute has announced that Jeffrey Byrne & Associates, Inc. has successfully achieved membership re-qualification. JB&A was one of several firms that successfully met the rigorous requalification requirements. “We are proud of the results that reflect your company’s ethical practice in the philanthropy field and are pleased to work alongside other like-minded professionals, like you, who advance the causes of the non-profits we serve so successfully” stated Wendy McGrady, Membership Co-chair for the Giving Institute.
The Giving Institute was founded in 1935 to promote the need for professional and ethical standards of practice and to influence the creation of laws governing philanthropy. It has been involved in many milestones of philanthropy – developing the widely accepted Standards of Professional Conduct; helping to fund the start-up of the United Way; working with the New York State Legislature to develop and enact the Charity Registration Act, the basis for a nationwide model; creating the Giving USA Foundation™; and initiating GIVING USA, an annual publication that is the longest running, most comprehensive report on philanthropy in America.
Giving Institute membership currently consists of fundraising consulting and service companies that assist not-for-profit organizations. Members are professionally and geographically diverse, annually raising billions of dollars for and providing invaluable types of counsel and services to philanthropic institutions. To become a member of Giving Institute, a firm must meet certain ethical standards as well as undergo an extensive client review process. In addition, once it has become a member of Giving Institute, a member firm must be re-qualified every five years to maintain its membership in good standing.
“I am delighted and deeply grateful to the Giving Institute for granting our firm membership re-qualification. Being awarded continuing membership is not only an accomplishment, but a real honor as well. We look forward to upholding the principles of the Giving Institute by providing our clients with the highest levels of integrity and passion” stated President & CEO Jeffrey Byrne.
If you would like to know more about The Giving Institute, please contact us and we will be happy to provide you with information.
Rooney Named Associate Dean of Indiana University School of Philanthropy
National expert will oversee all academic and
research programs for world’s first school dedicated to philanthropy
Patrick M. Rooney, Ph.D., has been named the associate dean of the Indiana University School of Philanthropy.
Rooney has been the executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, the precursor to the School of Philanthropy, since 2008. As associate dean for academic affairs and research, he will direct all of the new School’s academic, degree and research programs and activities. His appointment is effective January 1, 2013.
“With the transformation of the Center on Philanthropy into the world’s first School of Philanthropy and the maturation and recognition of this field of study, our associate dean must be exceptionally well qualified to guide the School in its most central roles,” said Gene Tempel, founding dean of the School.
“Patrick is a highly respected national leader in philanthropy and the nonprofit sector, and he has sterling academic credentials and world-class expertise in philanthropy research,” Tempel said. “He is the perfect person to lead the academic and research aspects of our work, which are the heart of the School of Philanthropy.”
Rooney will oversee the School’s bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. degree programs in Philanthropic Studies, as well as recruitment and services for its students. A professor of Philanthropic Studies and Economics and a member of Indiana University’s interdisciplinary Philanthropic Studies Faculty since 1998, Rooney will be responsible for developing and expanding the faculty, including recruiting several new faculty members who will teach and conduct research in the School.
As associate dean, Rooney will ensure that the School of Philanthropy’s foundation in the humanities and social sciences remains central to its academic and research programs. He will work with faculty and staff of the IU School of Liberal Arts at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI and in Bloomington, and other university colleagues who focus on understanding and teaching about philanthropy and the nonprofit sector.
“Patrick Rooney is one of the nation’s foremost leaders of philanthropic studies, and a great partner of ours from the Center on Philanthropy with the Giving Institute. It has been my pleasure to work with Patrick over the last seven years in expanding thinking around philanthropy,” remarks Jeffrey Byrne. “And I want to congratulate Patrick on his appointment with America’s premier institute of philanthropic education and research.”
About the School of Philanthropy
The Indiana University School of Philanthropy is dedicated to improving philanthropy by educating and empowering students, professionals and philanthropists to be innovators and leaders who create positive and lasting change in the world. Learn more by clicking here.
