12/2/09 - President Lorie Slutsky Gives Advice to Donors Giving in Tough Times
President Lorie Slutsky is quoted in a 12/2/09 Wall Street Journal article, "Donors Are Feeling Pinched—and So Are Charities; Ways to Make a Difference."
The article is excerpted below:
"Here is some advice from giving professionals on making this year's giving meaningful and effective:
• Think like a foundation. Teresa Bonner, a principal at Family Philanthropy Advisors, a Minneapolis firm that advises family foundations, says that this year's tough choices may give families a chance to think more strategically about their donations, in the same way that foundations define their missions and their objectives.
She suggests pulling the family together to ask the question: Where would we like to make a difference?
"There's no shortage of need—that's one thing about this year," she adds. Involving everyone can make for a valuable discussion about what the family really cares about.
And there's a teachable moment, too: In a post-Madoff world, looking into your giving options provides opportunities to research exactly what charities do and to evaluate which ones do a good job and which ones don't. You can use resources such as the Better Business Bureau's www.bbb.org/charity, www.charitynavigator.org or www.guidestar.org.
• Make your list. Many of us are committed to religious organizations, our alma mater and certain favorites among the roughly two dozen organizations to which the average person gives each year. Lorie Slutsky, president and chief executive officer of the New York Community Trust, says the donors she has talked with are, for the most part, giving the same number of grants this year, but making them smaller.
"There's a certain kind of tentativeness, even among very generous people," she says. Less common, she says, is reducing the number of grants, and giving larger donations to select groups.
She suggests defining your giving goals first, and then perhaps breaking your gifts into tiers—your $50 groups, $500 gifts, $1,000, $5,000 or more..."
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