I don’t know how many of you are old enough to remember Steve Martin in the movie “The Jerk” but there is a really funny scene where he explodes into exuberant jubilation when he realizes his name has “made” the phone book—he dances around and says, “The new phone book is here, I’m somebody now!”. I kind of get that same feeling when we publish the most generous cities list every year. I wait impatiently like a kid on Christmas to see who’s coming out on top.

This year’s winner, Seattle, has a long tradition on our list, but never in the pole position. Ironically, as I was flying earlier this month there was a big article in the Airline magazine about the “philanthropy web” in Seattle—mostly rooted in , yes, you guessed it, former (and a few current) Microsoft employees. So what makes Seattle (and neighboring Bellevue at #9) our big winner?

Well, it isn’t more philanthropic in general. The Washington DC metro area far outpaces them in terms of overall philanthropy (online and otherwise). Salt Lake City, UT outpaces every other city in America with a whopping 68% of households that give.

So what is Seattle’s secret?

It’s one of the most wired cities in America.  And although it fell from its 2009 #1 Wired position to #3 in 2010, it still ranks #1 in two of three categories:

1. It has the highest percentage of homes that are accessing the internet via high speed broadband at 4%
2. It has the highest number of broadband service providers at 13 (apparently they like choice in their broadband providers in Seattle)

In the final category, highest number of wi-fi spots per capita, Seattle ranks 3rd at 7 per person. After losing its #1 ranking in 2009, I am sure they are throwing up new Starbucks locations like crazy.  In order to catch Atlanta in this ranking, they will need to get to 16 wi-fi hot spots per person.  That’s a lot of Starbucks.

While our ranking doesn’t exactly map to America’s Most Wired Cities, there is definitely correlation.  The Washington DC metro area makes both rankings with DC, Alexandria and Arlington on our list, as does the San Francisco Bay Area with Berkeley and San Francisco, also both on our list. These communities may not give more in total, but they definitely give more on line.  Perhaps it’s their “wired” nature?  I suspect these same places also pay more bills online and buy more goods and services over the internet, but I haven’t seen those statistics.

Can’t quite figure out how St. Louis, Missouri snuck in there, but I’ll have to ask Gene Austin, our CEO who hails from there.  I am sure he has a theory on that. 

Getting people to respond to surveys is a hard nut to crack. Surveys, specifically online, get lost in the deluge of work and personal email, texts, Facebook updates, RSS feeds etc. And, honestly the surveyors don’t always give good and simple reasons to participate. People want to know...why is it important and what’s in it for them?

Well, here's a survey you should take as a nonprofit professional and a few good (and simple) reasons why you should participate.

1. You want to know how other organizations fundraising programs performed in 2011.
2. You want to see where your organization stacks up in terms of goals for 2012.
3. You want to know how other organization’s boards are engaged in fundraising.

If you answered YES to any of the questions above, you should take the The 2012 Nonprofit Fundraising Survey conducted by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative (NRC). The report that will come out in early April will give you statistically significant and comprehensive findings that you can leverage to make informed decisions for your organization. Will your organization ever have the budget to conduct a national study to look at how boards are engaged in fundraising? Probably not – so take advantage of a group that will do it for you. The only thing we are asking in return is for you to take survey! The survey is open through January 28 and takes just 10 to 20 minutes.  To make things easy, the questions do not ask for any specific amounts or values.

About the NRC
The NRC and the 2012 Nonprofit Fundraising Survey is a joint project between The National Center for Charitable Statistics, The Association of Fundraising Professionals, Campbell Rinker, Indiana University Center on Philanthropy, Convio, Blackbaud, and Giving USA Foundation. It measures the impact of economic conditions within the community on fundraising efforts for nonprofit organizations and private institutions, compared to previous years. The seven participating organizations each have, at a minimum, a decade of direct experience collecting information from nonprofits concerning charitable receipts, fundraising practices and/or grantmaking activities.

The other morning I was watching Bill Gates on various news programmes talking about his annual State of the World letter. In one interview, he made reference to how good he feels about helping those in need.  A simple point but one that we shouldn’t forget as fundraisers.

A similar point was made at the Institute of Fundraising London Conference last year by fundraising trainer Rob Woods . In his working life he was often asked about how the most successful fundraisers did it? How did they get round that deep rooted embarrassment (especially among us reserved Brits!) about asking someone else, particularly wealthy donors, for money? He cited the example of one top fundraiser who answered that he implicitly believed that it would improve that person’s wellbeing if they donated money, therefore it wasn’t an issue and as a result they were more convincing in their ‘asks’. The donor would feel better, so he was doing them a favour.

I’m sure we can all come up with a few examples where we’ve done something good and got that warm, fuzzy feeling inside. There are many UK TV programmes honing in on that – The Secret Millionaire, DIY SOS, to name just a couple.

Embracing the feel good factor, late last year the Samaritans launched their Feel Good Friday workplace fundraising day which takes place next Friday 3 February, where employees can take part in feel good activities while raising money.

So how can we, as charities, make the most of that warm glow?

• Remind people of how they are helping.  Whether via social media channels, emails, direct mail, show them how their money has been used and how it has made a difference.
• Don’t forget to remind people of the need. It is important to get that balance right between trying to make people feel good and therefore only focusing on the positive, and focusing too exclusively on the need, which makes people feel bad. The former can lead to the donor not feeling needed; the latter to feeling they can’t make a difference.  There’s an interesting blog on this out there by Jeff Brooks.
• Create a good welcome. When people have taken that all-important first step of choosing to support your organisation, make their first experience a positive one. Reassure them they’ve made a good decision and show why they should continue to reinvest. Have a look at the Fundraising Detective blog for their top 5 tips on what makes a good donor welcome pack.
• And remember to say thank you! Sounds so simple but still astonishes me how many times I hear stories of friends who have signed up for direct debits to charities and not even received a simple acknowledgement, leaving them wondering if the payment has even gone through and less keen to renew the following year.

So go on, help spread the glow!

Almost every day I see some sort of “These cities made the top 10 because … they are the greatest places to live, they have the most active lifestyles for singles, they raise the most organic chickens,” and so on. If your city makes one of these lists, that is great and good reason to celebrate! Unless, of course, you live in Austin, TX like I do and are seeing the floods of people moving here because of all the “our city is so great” lists we’ve been making as of late. Oh well, the natural ebb of all things great... it’s hard to keep them a secret in today’s cyber world!

On the complete flip side, if your city made the top 10 because of the “worst places to buy shoes” or “worst places for BBQ,” then it takes on a whole different twist. Typically people in those cities aren’t pounding their chests and shouting “we’re so great” from the rooftops.

So what’s the point? When you’re in a city of great, be proud! If you’re not, do something! 

Today we announced our 4th annual ranking of most generous online U.S. cities. Not surprisingly, the top 10 cities didn’t change much year over year from 2010 to 2011. Economic influences have been consistent over the past couple of years, and the online giving numbers stay true to the course.

However there were a few moves of note: Seattle, WA climbed the ladder three spots to be this year’s #1 and also showing northwest corner pride, Bellevue, WA made it back into the top 10 at #9 after slipping to #11 in 2010. Cambridge, MA fell three to #5 and Minneapolis, MN fell out of the top 10 for the first time into the #14 spot.

Our report ranks the 273 cities with total population of more than 100,000 based on per capita online giving and total amount donated through Convio’s online marketing and fundraising suites. The average gift size remained steady in 2011 compared to 2010 at $65, as more than $435 million was donated by people who reside in these major cities. Signs of consumer confidence rising and bank accounts opening, the donors in these cities increased their total online contributions by more than 11 percent over 2010!

As for the bottom 10 cities, similar to the top, there wasn’t a ton of movement, but one surprise is Newark, NJ that slid 18 spots to #267. Bottoming out? Brownsville, TX. After some upward momentum in 2010, they regained their ‘low man on the totem pole’ ranking for 3 out of the 4 years we’ve been reporting this data.

And here’s my challenge to you. Make a difference! While we’re often limited in having a profound influence on outcomes, nonprofits and causes of all kinds are counting on us for every bit we can contribute, whether it’s our time or our dollars. Make your city proud and be proud, no matter where your city ranked in 2011. It’s a new year and you have an opportunity to upwardly influence your city’s 2012 ranking. And since we’re talking about online giving here, I know where you’re reading this so, you are in a perfect position to get started on the right foot with a right mouse click while the year is still young.

As for Austin, the city of all things great, we didn’t make it into the top 10 most generous online U.S. cities. We came in at #12, 3 spots better than 2010 and certainly not too shabby, but that’s not good enough. I, for one, am going to do something about that!

Where did your city land? Check out the complete large city ranking at: www.convio.com/onlinecities.

Sandy Schmieder

For the first podcast interview of 2012, I'm excited to have a chance to share a conversation I had with Sandy Schmieder, a Senior Project Manager on Convio's Services team. While Sandy has only been at Convio for about a year and a half, she is already one of our most valued project managers and has made huge contributions to our team. She was recently honored at our annual party by receiving a Convio Star award for Client Focus. This award is given each year to Convio employees who have been nominated by their peers and reviewed by the Executive team. Sandy definitely deserves the recognition!

Connection Cafe Podcast 5 - Sandy Schmieder

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