Here in Minnesota, we benefit from a strong and vibrant tradition of engaged and philanthropically minded citizens. According to the Minnesota Council on Foundation’s Giving in Minnesota, 2009 Edition, charitable giving in Minnesota has increased by 67 percent over the last decade, totaling over $4 billion from individuals last year. Findings from the Charities Review Council’s Public Trust Survey show that one important way to nurture and strengthen Minnesotans’ generosity is by helping donors feel confident in their giving decisions.

Many of us have experienced first-hand the convenience and opportunity for community-building offered by GiveMN’s first-of-its-kind online giving platform. We at the Charities Review Councilare pleased to partner with GiveMN to provide some additional tools to help generous Minnesotans learn more about charities they are interested in supporting.

First, you can check out our profile on GiveMN to see all the organizations that have participated in our Accountability Wizard review process. You can also find links to objective review reports for these charities directly from their profiles.

The review process is based on the Accountability Standards - basic expectations of donors in the areas of Public Disclosure, Governance, Financial Activity, and Fundraising. You can find out more about the benefits of the Accountability Wizard review process, as well as how a nonprofit can get started here. As always, our friendly staff will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

When you see the Meets Standards seal on charities’ GiveMN profiles, in their newsletters, websites and other communications, you know the organization has demonstrated a clear commitment to accountability.

We’ll also be providing timely information about giving as questions and trends arise. See our recent post, Tips for Giving in Response to the Earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. Together with GiveMN and many others, we’re working to improve the way Minnesotans experience giving. The result will be stronger relationships between donors and nonprofits, and a stronger Minnesota.

Please let us know if you have questions or suggestions for additional tools to help you be an informed donor.

Kelly Rowan is the Outreach & Resource Manager at the Charities Review Council of Minnesota. Reach Kelly at krowan@smartgivers.org, or (651)224-7030, ext. 12.

I hope many of you have been following the March Goodness brackets.   I picked Kansas in the real deal so I have no chance - now I am cheering for MN Small Dog Rescue in the Razoo NIT - they are currently in third place and as an owner of Chihuahuas I can’t help but love their cause as a no-kill rescue program run by volunteers.  I encourage you to pick a favorite, make a $10 gift and cheer ‘em on through the Final Four!

March has been an incredible month for GiveMN.  MN Council on Nonprofits and MAP for Nonprofits hosted nearly 800 nonprofits this week at the 2010 Tech Conference.  We were extremely flattered to be a Dot.org award recipient and have a table on “Winner’s Row!”  Kudos to the other organizations who were honored:

District 202 - Virtual Reality Award
TC Bicycle Club - Going the Extra Mile Award
Morrison County Historical Society - Nifty and Thrifty Award
Wellstone Action! - E-Organizing Award
Metro Meals on Wheels - Fundraising and Friendraising Award

Thanks to all of you who stopped by to chat at our table - it is OK if you haven’t looked at your page since last year’s Give to the Max Day!  Now is a great time to dust off your GiveMN pages and think about how you can integrate your GiveMN pages into your multi-channel development strategies...

GiveMN.org home page policy statement

We've had many inquiries about our selection process for projects and fundraisers that get featured on our home page, so we're posting our home page policy statement here on our blog for clarity.

We take the following criteria into consideration:

Geographical representation. We want to highlight nonprofits form across the state.

Size of organization. We want to highlight nonprofits of all sizes.

Organization type. We want to highlight a broad range of arts, education, environment, social service and other organizations.

Complete Profiles. Qualifications for featured projects and fundraisers include being registered with the Minnesota Attorney General’s office*. Featured projects and fundraisers must contain complete profiles, including photos or video, organizational logo anda profile picture of the person creating the fundraiser.

GiveMN also solicits input from our funding partners. Funding partners have the opportunity to choose organizations to highlight once a year. GiveMN may also react to local, national and international crisis by featuring response efforts of various organizations.

If you have an interesting fundraiser or project you would like featured on the homepage, contact us at info@givemn.org.

*(If you solicit more than $25,000 per year.)

When you make a one time gift on GiveMN.org to your favorite nonprofits you’re making a valuable contribution. But setting up regular deductions is a great way to continue to support your causes in a way that is extremely convenient. And by using GiveMN.org you’ll have a one stop website for tracking all your charitable giving. Here’s how to set up electronic deductions from your credit card or bank account using GiveMN.org.

• Start by finding your nonprofit or cause to support
• In the donate box, type amount you wish to have deducted each time the recurrence takes place (i.e. $10 can recur monthly for a total of $120 per year)
• You will then have the option to set the recurrence rate of weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually

That’s it! It’s that simple.

Our friends at Smartgivers.org have posted a few wonderful tips on finding safe charitable giving opportunities in response to the earthquakes in Chile and Haiti.

The impact of Chile’s 8.8 magnitude earthquake on Saturday and the ongoing devastation from Haiti’s earthquake continue to yield tragic loss of lives, thousands of missing people and widespread destruction in affected areas.  

The Charities Review Council offers the following tips on smart giving during disasters and how to exercise caution when responding to disaster-relief appeals:

• Types of support: The best assistance is a financial donation to a relief organization already operating in the affected area.  Do not send goods to an organization unless specifically requested.
• When researching where to send a gift, consider the following:
  • Is the organization legitimate? If an organization is calling you, be wary. Established disaster-relief organizations are often too busy to implement a direct phone campaign during times of disaster.  Don’t be afraid to say “no” over the phone and then contact the organization directly yourself. 
  • Are you confident the organization has the infrastructure and capacity to put your donation to good use?
  • Check out organizations at the Charities Review Council online Giving Guide.

...Read the full post at www.smartgivers.org.

We’ve been scouring the GiveMN pages and are excited about how nonprofits and individual fundraisers are tweaking their GiveMN page to make it look its best. Here’s a brief checklist for sprucing up your page to make sure it represents you and your organization well...

Here in Minnesota, we benefit from a strong and vibrant tradition of engaged and philanthropically minded citizens. According to the Minnesota Council on Foundation’s Giving in Minnesota, 2009 Edition, charitable giving in Minnesota has increased by 67 percent over the last decade, totaling over $4 billion from individuals last year. Findings from the Charities Review Council’s Public Trust Survey show that one important way to nurture and strengthen Minnesotans’ generosity is by helping donors feel confident in their giving decisions.

Many of us have experienced first-hand the convenience and opportunity for community-building offered by GiveMN’s first-of-its-kind online giving platform. We at the Charities Review Councilare pleased to partner with GiveMN to provide some additional tools to help generous Minnesotans learn more about charities they are interested in supporting.

First, you can check out our profile on GiveMN to see all the organizations that have participated in our Accountability Wizard review process. You can also find links to objective review reports for these charities directly from their profiles.

The review process is based on the Accountability Standards - basic expectations of donors in the areas of Public Disclosure, Governance, Financial Activity, and Fundraising. You can find out more about the benefits of the Accountability Wizard review process, as well as how a nonprofit can get started here. As always, our friendly staff will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

When you see the Meets Standards seal on charities’ GiveMN profiles, in their newsletters, websites and other communications, you know the organization has demonstrated a clear commitment to accountability.

We’ll also be providing timely information about giving as questions and trends arise. See our recent post, Tips for Giving in Response to the Earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. Together with GiveMN and many others, we’re working to improve the way Minnesotans experience giving. The result will be stronger relationships between donors and nonprofits, and a stronger Minnesota.

Please let us know if you have questions or suggestions for additional tools to help you be an informed donor.

Kelly Rowan is the Outreach & Resource Manager at the Charities Review Council of Minnesota. Reach Kelly at krowan@smartgivers.org, or (651)224-7030, ext. 12.

I hope many of you have been following the March Goodness brackets.   I picked Kansas in the real deal so I have no chance - now I am cheering for MN Small Dog Rescue in the Razoo NIT - they are currently in third place and as an owner of Chihuahuas I can’t help but love their cause as a no-kill rescue program run by volunteers.  I encourage you to pick a favorite, make a $10 gift and cheer ‘em on through the Final Four!

March has been an incredible month for GiveMN.  MN Council on Nonprofits and MAP for Nonprofits hosted nearly 800 nonprofits this week at the 2010 Tech Conference.  We were extremely flattered to be a Dot.org award recipient and have a table on “Winner’s Row!”  Kudos to the other organizations who were honored:

District 202 - Virtual Reality Award
TC Bicycle Club - Going the Extra Mile Award
Morrison County Historical Society - Nifty and Thrifty Award
Wellstone Action! - E-Organizing Award
Metro Meals on Wheels - Fundraising and Friendraising Award

Thanks to all of you who stopped by to chat at our table - it is OK if you haven’t looked at your page since last year’s Give to the Max Day!  Now is a great time to dust off your GiveMN pages and think about how you can integrate your GiveMN pages into your multi-channel development strategies...

GiveMN.org home page policy statement

We've had many inquiries about our selection process for projects and fundraisers that get featured on our home page, so we're posting our home page policy statement here on our blog for clarity.

We take the following criteria into consideration:

Geographical representation. We want to highlight nonprofits form across the state.

Size of organization. We want to highlight nonprofits of all sizes.

Organization type. We want to highlight a broad range of arts, education, environment, social service and other organizations.

Complete Profiles. Qualifications for featured projects and fundraisers include being registered with the Minnesota Attorney General’s office*. Featured projects and fundraisers must contain complete profiles, including photos or video, organizational logo anda profile picture of the person creating the fundraiser.

GiveMN also solicits input from our funding partners. Funding partners have the opportunity to choose organizations to highlight once a year. GiveMN may also react to local, national and international crisis by featuring response efforts of various organizations.

If you have an interesting fundraiser or project you would like featured on the homepage, contact us at info@givemn.org.

*(If you solicit more than $25,000 per year.)

When you make a one time gift on GiveMN.org to your favorite nonprofits you’re making a valuable contribution. But setting up regular deductions is a great way to continue to support your causes in a way that is extremely convenient. And by using GiveMN.org you’ll have a one stop website for tracking all your charitable giving. Here’s how to set up electronic deductions from your credit card or bank account using GiveMN.org.

• Start by finding your nonprofit or cause to support
• In the donate box, type amount you wish to have deducted each time the recurrence takes place (i.e. $10 can recur monthly for a total of $120 per year)
• You will then have the option to set the recurrence rate of weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually

That’s it! It’s that simple.

Our friends at Smartgivers.org have posted a few wonderful tips on finding safe charitable giving opportunities in response to the earthquakes in Chile and Haiti.

The impact of Chile’s 8.8 magnitude earthquake on Saturday and the ongoing devastation from Haiti’s earthquake continue to yield tragic loss of lives, thousands of missing people and widespread destruction in affected areas.  

The Charities Review Council offers the following tips on smart giving during disasters and how to exercise caution when responding to disaster-relief appeals:

• Types of support: The best assistance is a financial donation to a relief organization already operating in the affected area.  Do not send goods to an organization unless specifically requested.
• When researching where to send a gift, consider the following:
  • Is the organization legitimate? If an organization is calling you, be wary. Established disaster-relief organizations are often too busy to implement a direct phone campaign during times of disaster.  Don’t be afraid to say “no” over the phone and then contact the organization directly yourself. 
  • Are you confident the organization has the infrastructure and capacity to put your donation to good use?
  • Check out organizations at the Charities Review Council online Giving Guide.

...Read the full post at www.smartgivers.org.

We’ve been scouring the GiveMN pages and are excited about how nonprofits and individual fundraisers are tweaking their GiveMN page to make it look its best. Here’s a brief checklist for sprucing up your page to make sure it represents you and your organization well...