A Good Little Article on Planned Giving

Here's a quick read with some helpful thoughts about planned giving...

Plan Ahead for Planned Giving
By Margaret Battistelli, editor in chief, FundRaising Success

Most organizations experience a marked decrease in annual gifts from longtime donors once they enter their retirement years. In response, many organizations pay less attention to their older donors, often "writing them off" and opting instead to focus on acquiring new, younger donors with more disposable income.

The approach seems to make sense, on the surface, but ignoring older donors can severely hinder your planned-giving efforts and alienate a potential gold mine of future gifts, cautions Robert F. Sharpe, president of The Sharpe Group, a philanthropic-planning company with offices in Memphis, Tenn. and Bowie, Md.

Sharpe, speaking recently at a luncheon hosted by the Direct Marketing Fundraisers Association in New York City, urged nonprofit organizations to take special care of their elderly donors. But it's not as easy as simply keeping them on your files to receive every mailing that goes out. Sharpe recommends strategically reducing current gift appeals to long-term donors of smaller amounts.

"One of the most successful organizations in both mass-oriented current giving and planned gifts reduces renewals from eight times a year to four for those over age 75 who have never given more than $15 in one year," Sharpe said. "The resources that are saved through this approach are redirected to programs designed to encourage bequests."

It's also important to acknowledge every gift from older donors, regardless of the size of the gift, he said, citing studies that show "there is absolutely no correlation between lifetime giving amounts and the size of bequests."

Your $25-a-year donor could surprise you just as easily with a large bequest as your $1000-a-year donor, Sharpe said, mainly because folks nearing the end of their lives don't have to worry as much about making ends meet or saving for the future. Because of that, they often feel free to make the kind of large donation they might have wanted to make earlier in life but couldn't afford.

Sharpe also stressed that organizations should recognize donors based on the longevity of their giving. Basically, ... let them know that you know--and appreciate--how long they've been loyal supporters.

RE: Sobering Article

Check out this BBC article with photos about an amazing new form of ultrasound. It has shown that 12-week-old fetuses yawn, and "walk," stretch, and kick. And that from 26 weeks, they display a wide range of emotions including smiling and crying.

RE: TV on Your Cell Phone?

I saw a demonstration of this a few months ago. I was with H|S client, GOD TV, in Washington D.C. when one of the GOD TV staff members dialed in a live feed of the GOD Channel on his mobile phone. It was very cool.

TV on Your Cell Phone? Norwegians Are Doing It.

The future of mobile phones means faster internet, better photography, and more...television? Yup, that's right. Television for your cell phone is closer than you think.

The Norwegians are currently testing out the capabilities of TV for cell phones, and so far the results are optimistic.

Read more - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3829343.stm

Sobering Article

Whenever I hear statistics regarding the number of abortions that have been performed in America I am usually floored.

The WSJ has an interesting article, which measures the impact that over 40 million abortions have had on our country.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110005277

Another Microsoft Vulnerability

An article from This is London is alerting web users about a "gaping hole" in Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

The Scob Outbreak, created by hackers, lets criminals take control of a PC; allowing them to steal valuable data.

The threat of infection is high, from the virus, because a code to exploit the attack has been placed on many popular websites.

Microsoft has yet to release a patch.

More on Avoiding the Scent of Spam

Check out this news update re: the war on spam.

FTC Rejects Do-Not-Spam List in Favor of Authentication
By Hallie Mummert, Editor in Chief, Target Marketing and Inside Direct Mail

After a six month period of review, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last Wednesday returned its opinion that the creation and implementation of a do-not-spam registry not only would be impossible to enforce but would do little to decrease the flow of spam received by consumers.

Instead, the federal agency recommended that anti-spam efforts will be best supported by an "e-mail authentication system that would prevent spammers from hiding their tracks and thereby evading Internet service providers' anti-spam filters and law enforcement."

As mandated by the Can Spam Act passed in December 2003, the FTC studied the possible implementation of three types of e-mail registries: a registry of individual e-mail addresses; a registry of domain names that would like to block spam; and a registry of individual e-mail addresses that would be used as a suppression file by independent third parties who could send unsolicited messages to e-mail addresses not registered.

With feedback from the e-mail marketing industry, Internet service providers, database marketing firms, consumer groups, anti-spam advocates and three of the nation's top computer scientists, among others, the FTC concluded that none of the three registry types could be enforced effectively. In addition, the agency determined that a registry of individual e-mail addresses would be open to security and privacy risks that could result in more unwanted mail from spammers.

Noting that e-mail authentication systems might render a do-not-e-mail registry unnecessary, the FTC also announced that it will hold an Authentication Summit this fall to help advance authentication solutions in the fight to give consumers more control over their e-mail inboxes.

Fine Tuning Your E-Newsletter Strategy

Email is a powerful tool, but in the post-"Can Spam" world, we need to be hyper-vigilant in avoiding the appearance of spam-ularity. These following tips come from the Direct Markting Association...

? Use customer preferences in targeting relevant content. Don't ask for preferences you don't intend to use.

? Re-examine the cadence of communications. Provide for customer choice on frequency.

? Review personalization tactics. Try to be personal without being too personal.

? Provide customer feedback mechanisms, such as surveys, to gauge relevancy.

? Allow your customers to manage their newsletter subscriptions. Give them control of what they receive and how often.

I Want One

The OQO ultra personal computer (uPC) is a powerful, pocket-sized goody any gadget guru would love to have. Expect to see them this fall at an electronics dealer near you.

Click here to watch a video about OQO.

World's Longest Blog Post

Yes Jon, the Reagan quiz post was spectacularly long for a blog. I hereby reserve the right, once per quarter, to post a mind-numblingly long entry. But only if the cause is just, like, say, defending the honor of the leader of the free world.

Reagan-Bush Quiz Answers

Every single quote referenced in my earlier post was about President Reagan. But they certainly sound familair don't they? (Attribution below.)

1) Michael Mandelbaum, Foreign Affairs, ?America and the World 1985?
2) Mary McGrory, Washington Post, June 10, 1982
3) New York Times, May 9, 1982
4) US News & World Report, December 20, 1982
5) James M. Markham, New York Times, October 23, 1983
6)Los Angeles Times headline, December 4, 1986
7) United Press International, June 11, 1985
8) Anthony Lewis, New York Times, March 24, 1986
9) John B. Oakes, former senior editor, New York Times, November 1, 1981
10) Don Oberdorfer, Washington Post, November 20, 1983
11) Tom Morganthau, Newsweek, August 27, 1984
12) Editorial, Los Angeles Times, August 7, 1985
13) Robert Kaiser, Washington Post, October 30, 1983
14) John B. Oakes, New York Times, March 7, 1986
15) Anthony Lewis, New York Times, March 10, 1983
16) Anthony Lewis, New York Times, March 10, 1983
17) Tom Wicker, New York Times, March 15, 1983
18) Haynes Johnson, Washington Post, January 29, 1984
19) The Associated Press, January 30, 1984
20) Dom Bonafede, The National Journal, May 5, 1984

RE: Ad Skippers Notice Ads

Let me just say for the record that I consider Tivo to be the greatest quality-of-life-enhancing invention since the pillow.

A Quiz: Is it Reagan or Bush?

20 Quotes: Were these actual press quotes referring to President Reagan or President Bush? (Answers later today.)

1)?European discomfort with the President, however, goes beyond the political differences that preceded and will outlast his presidency. It has, as well, a personal basis. He appears to Europeans to be ill equipped for the responsibility that he bears, a kind of cowboy figure, bellicose, ignorant, with a simplistic view of the world?

2)?[The President] came to Europe to persuade people that he is not the shallow, nuclear cowboy of certain unkind assessments. Said [a] White House spokesman ? on the eve of departure, ?Some in Europe do not know or understand him.? But now that the president has been among them? Europeans may think they got him right the first time.?

3)?For many Europeans? America has become paranoid? [which has] led them to take their distance from us? Mutual recrimination becomes political action. Both sides of the Atlantic, writes ? an editor of the influential Hamburg weekly Die Zeit, are ?losing interest in each other.? ? The estrangement has not come naturally. The communality of heritage and beliefs between the United States and Europe is old and powerful and has withstood frequent vicissitudes. However, an accumulation of events and developments has built up enough discord to threaten the most solid of foundations.?

4)?The anti-American theme, a popular subject for campaigning politicians, is aimed mostly at U.S. policy and the [U.S.] administration. This country is pictured as a French David standing up to an American Goliath. [The French foreign minister] warned during the ? controversy: ?There is a progressive divorce between Washington and Europe ?. The U.S. seems totally indifferent to our problems.??

5)?In a day of protests across Western Europe, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated against the [American policy]? The protest organizers said about 1.2 million people took part in the demonstrations?. Hundreds of thousands jammed central London in what was said to be the largest protest of its kind in British history. In Rome, an estimated 350,000 marchers paraded through the center of the city.?

6) ?Europe Sees U.S. Foreign Policy As Out Of Control? ? Los Angeles Times headline

7) ?Speaking to members of the American Stock Exchange, [Senator Edward] Kennedy said, ?Our present course is taking the United States toward unilateral intervention ? toward a war, whether we want it or not, whether we like it or not, (that) will inevitably involve American forces in combat. But surely, an American invasion? would plunge us into the most unwanted, unnecessary and unjustified war in our history,? Kennedy said?. Kennedy said Congress must propose ?an alternative policy with a real prospect of success.? ?So, as a first step, we must call off the dogs of war,? he said.?

8)?[W]e have a President who is obsessed by the subject. [Nicaragua for Ronald Reagan ? or Iraq for George W. Bush] is his Moby Dick. Like a political Ahab, he pursues it beyond reason, beyond humanity, beyond safety. In his frustration, he spews out rage and hate, fear and falsehood.?

9) ?[The President] has substituted a mindless militarism for a foreign policy? frightening our friends? Already, the cost of [the President?s] policies is devastating to our country in economic strength, in diplomatic influence, in national security, in moral stature.?

10) ??This has been a foreign policy without a guiding star,? said? a former official in Republican administrations? ?It has been the most ideological administration of U.S foreign relations I've seen and the least conceptual, in terms of a clear vision of what the world ought to be like and what we would do to get there.??

11)?The tangible achievements of his first term have been relatively modest. His economic program, in the judgment of many experts, has succeeded almost in spite of itself ? and the current recovery is built on record deficits that will burden the nation for a generation. His foreign policy has lacked coherence??

12) ?Unilateral intervention by a truculent and trigger-happy Uncle Sam might delight some U.S. citizens ? frustrated by events, eager for easy answers ? but elsewhere? it would only serve to reaffirm the worst fears??

13) ?The United States has a myopic, ideological foreign policy that really isn't a policy at all, but a collection of maneuvers produced by prejudice and instinct. The men responsible for American diplomacy, it seems, often fail to grasp they have put us into grave trouble around the world?. [The President] has angered and undermined his closest ally in Europe, [the British Prime Minister], and he has aggravated the gravest problem facing the United States, a problem symbolized by the largest protest demonstrations in Europe since World War II...?

14)?To win that vote [congressional vote to authorize support for its foreign policy goals], the Administration is now reduced to McCarthyite tactics: the insinuation that foes of its ? policy are ? stooges or worse. Can Congress be whipped by these tactics into a policy of such moral, military and political degradation??

15)?When a politician claims that God favors his programs, alarm bells should ring? If there is anything that should be illegitimate in the American system, it is such use of sectarian religiosity to sell a political program. And this was done not by some fringe figure, but by the President of the United States.?

16)?What is the world to think when the greatest of powers is led by a man who applies to the most difficult human problem a simplistic theology ? one in fact rejected by most theologians?... What must the leaders of Western Europe think of such a speech? ? The exaggeration and the simplicities are there not only in the rhetoric but in the process by which he makes decisions.?

17)?Perhaps even more dangerous, [the President?s] smug view, if further inculcated in Americans, will preclude self-examination, humility, a willingness to concede error. Are we so clearly a God-directed, chosen people that we have no need to question our virtue, or the evil of our rivals? If [the President] really thinks so, he has shaken off the strongest restraints on human conduct ? doubt and fear.?

18) "[Pollster Lou Harris] believes that [the President] is polarizing the country more than any president since Franklin D. Roosevelt and that, when such strong political polarization occurs, it tends to lead to a greater voter turnout. That would benefit the Democrats?"

19) "'[The President] has been a divider, not a uniter? The American people will reject four more years of danger, four more years of pain,? [a leading congressional Democrat] said."

20) "[One state Democratic chairman] said: '[The President] has a lot of problems. The less he does, the better he does; the more he does, the worse he does. He keeps polarizing the voters, and the Republican Party is not big enough to allow that. An incumbent President must unite the country, not divide it. It?s unbelievably bad strategy on their part.'"

Who Reads Blogs?

The brilliance of our decision to start this blog has been affirmed. A recent study shows that blog readers are:

"...older, wealthier and click on blog ads.

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/3656.asp

HDTV Calling

HDTV over your phone line? Texas Instruments claims their technology will increase capacity of digital subscriber lines (DSL) and make it more competitive with cable-modem service.

This signals yet another important step toward wider broadband distribution, increased competition and faster streaming opportunities for Internet broadcasters.

Click here to read the article.

Ad Skippers Notice Ads

Don't blame TiVo for the demise of spot advertising just yet. According to one study, DVR (Digital Video Recorder) use just may help advertisers... a little. At least, that is what one study seems to indicate.

Click here to read the article.

The British are Searching! The British are Searching!

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/3635.asp

A Flag a Day

My father (a WW2 veteran) sent a letter to the editor of the Tampa Tribune. It's a clear and simple reminder about the reality of the flag, our fighting forces, and our nation. Take a moment to read all about it.

Read the article

A Salute and a Wave Goodbye

America pauses to remember and honor President Ronald Reagan. Let us remember to take a moment to pray for his family and for our nation. May we not forget those things he did (or as he would say, "we did") to serve, protect and defend this country.

Thank you, Mr. President and goodbye for now. We look forward to meeting you when we are united through the Resurrection Power of our Lord Jesus Christ.

May God continue to bless the United States of America.

TiVo Attempts to Connect Internet and TV

The NY Times released an article that spotlights new services TiVo is implementing into its latest digital video recorder (DVR). TiVo's use of Internet technologies gives viewers the possibility of bypassing traditional cable and satellite services.

We are still a ways off from a truly seamless Internet/TV experience; however my prediction is that we will see more and more companies attempting to combine these technologies.

Read the NYT Article

Goodbye Analog TV

Media ministries need to be ready with strategies that accomodate and anticipate the coming changes in the television marktetplace. NRB says...

"FCC Media Bureau Chief Ken Ferree seems to have gained the favor of the House Commerce Committee before whom he pitched an accelerated date for the analog channel give-back. This would in turn speed up the nation's total conversion to digital television, a discussion that has some broadcasters concerned. Ferree proposed January 1, 2009, as the new give-back date."

Free Career/Investment Advice

Remember the famous scene from "The Graduate" in which Dustin Hoffman gets career advice at a cocktail party? "One word...plastics."

Well having just returned from a vacation where beaches and swimming pools were involved, I now know where to invest my money over the next 10-20 years. Two words... "tattoo removal."

A Checklist for Ministry Websites

Is your website making any of these ten marketing mistakes? I know ours isn't because we don't have it up yet! (But it's coming!)

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/3547.asp