http://www.msnbc.com/ reported on a study that as many 129 million Americans at risk of being rejected for insurance coverage or having to pay more.
As many as 129 million Americans under age 65 have medical problems putting them at risk of being rejected by insurance companies or having to pay more for coverage, according to a U.S. government study reported by the Washington Post on Tuesday.
The Department of Health and Human Services is scheduled to release the study on Tuesday, the Post said, the same day the House of Representatives is expected to begin considering a Republican bill to repeal President Barack Obama's healthcare overall.
Health highlights fda.gov Online diet pills often contain dangerous ingredients
More and more, weight loss products are being "adulterated" with potentially dangerous ingredients by their manufacturers.
.Bummed out? 'Blue Monday' is here. (Or is it?)
Updated 117 minutes ago 1/18/2011 1:54:52 PM +00:00 Giffords doing well after two surgeries over weekend
Bullet to the head can be overcome, survivors say
Don't choke! Students write off test anxiety
..The report is part of the Obama administration's effort to convince the public of the advantages of the law, which contains insurance protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions.
"Americans living with pre-existing conditions are being freed from discrimination in order to get the health coverage they need," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement to be released Tuesday, the Post reported.
The study found that one-fifth to one-half of non-elderly people in the United States have conditions that trigger rejection or higher prices in the individual insurance market, the Post said. They range from cancer to chronic illnesses such as heart disease, asthma and high blood pressure.
A Republican House aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because the report was not yet public, told the Post: "When a new analysis is released on the eve of a vote in Congress, it's hard to view it as anything but politics and public relations."
The repeal vote would fulfil a campaign promise of Republicans who won control of the House in November elections. But the measure will likely die in the Senate, where Democrats held on to their majority.
Showing posts with label Study. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Study. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Monday, November 29, 2010
Charities Seeing Slight Recovery in Giving, But Not Enough to Keep Up with Demand or Budget Cuts
Nonprofit organizations have seen a slight turnaround in giving so far this year that mirrors the slow economic recovery, a new survey from the Nonprofit Research Collaborative (NRC) finds. But the small rebound hasn't been enough to help many nonprofits that are grappling with staff and service cuts even as demand for their services has increased.
The national survey showed that 36 percent of charities reported an increase in donations in the first nine months of 2010, compared with only 23 percent in the same period of 2009.
Thirty-seven percent of charities reported a decrease in giving, a dramatic change from 2009's 51 percent. Among those experiencing a decline in giving, the main reason cited was fewer individual donations and smaller amounts. Lower amounts received from foundations and corporations also contributed to the overall lower giving amounts at these charities. Giving remained unchanged at 26 percent of nonprofits in 2010 vs. 25 percent in 2009.
"We are beginning to see some positive signs, but despite that giving still has a long way to go to return to the levels it was at three or four years ago," said Patrick M. Rooney, executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, which spearheaded the collaboration. "One-fifth of charities in the survey said their budgets for 2011 will be lower than for 2010, forcing many of them to look at cuts in services, salaries and staff."
Among the 20 percent of nonprofits anticipating reduced budgets next year, 66 percent say they will have to reduce programs, services or operating hours, 59 percent expect to cut or freeze staff salaries or benefits, and 49 percent are planning layoffs or hiring freezes.
"The Nonprofit Fundraising Survey: November 2010" is the first product of a collaboration involving six organizations that serve the nonprofit sector: the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Blackbaud, the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, the Foundation Center, GuideStar USA Inc., and the Urban Institute's National Center for Charitable Statistics.
"For the first time in two years, there is cause for cautious optimism about the nonprofit sector in this economy," said Bob Ottenhoff, president and CEO of GuideStar. "Nonetheless, in this latest study, as in all prior years, nonprofits also are reporting increased demand for their services. Even as giving increases, philanthropic dollars fall short of the amounts needed to help people in our country and abroad."
Demand for services increased at 78 percent of human service nonprofits and 68 percent of charities overall in 2010. Charities will be hard-pressed in 2011 to secure funding for growing needs, especially as individual and foundation donors are cautious about boosting support and other sources of funding — including government contracts for services — are cut.
"Younger, less well-established nonprofits have been especially hard hit by the recession," noted Lawrence T. McGill, vice president for research at the Foundation Center. "Many foundations, seeking to maximize more limited resources, have steered their grantmaking toward organizations they believe have the best chance to weather the economic storm."
Other Key NRC Survey Findings:
- In four of eight subsectors, the share of organizations reporting an increase in contributions was about the same as the share reporting a decrease. The four with nearly equal percentages of organizations with giving up and giving down are: arts, education, environment/animals, and human services.
- International organizations were the most likely to report an increase in contributions, reflecting donations made for disaster relief.
- In three subsectors — health, public-society benefit, and religion — a larger share of the organizations reported declines than reported increases.
- The larger an organization's annual expenditures, the more likely it reported an increase in charitable receipts in the first nine months of 2010 compared with the same period in 2009.
- Most organizations were guardedly optimistic about 2011. Forty-seven percent plan budget increases, 33 percent expect to maintain their current level of expenditures, and 20 percent anticipate a lower budget for 2011.
By working together, the Nonprofit Research Collaborative can reduce the number of surveys nonprofits are asked to complete, collect information more efficiently, and analyze it in more useful ways to create the benchmarks and trends that nonprofits and grant makers use to guide their work. Each partner has at least a decade of direct experience collecting information from nonprofits on charitable receipts, fundraising practices, and/or grantmaking activities. Survey participants will form a panel over time, allowing for trend comparisons among the same organizations. This approach provides more useful benchmarking information than repeated cross-sectional studies.
The first NRC survey, based on questions that GuideStar used for its annual economic surveys, was fielded between October 19 and November 3, 2010. It received 2,513 responses. More than 2,350 charities completed the questions, as did 163 foundations. The analysis for grant makers includes responses from charities that make grants but that are not foundations. These include United Ways, Jewish federations, congregations, and a number of other types of organizations. There were responses from 386 grant makers.
The respondents form a convenience sample. There is no margin of error or measure of statistical significance using this sampling technique, as it is not a random sample of the population studied. However, given the long-running nature of GuideStar's economic surveys and the strong relationship between findings in those studies in prior years and actual results once tax data about charitable giving are available, the method employed here is a useful barometer of what charities experience and what total giving will look like. In the future, the NRC surveys are expected to occur in early winter, spring, and fall every year.
"The Nonprofit Fundraising Survey: November 2010" (PDF), which includes responses broken down by types of nonprofits and budget size, can be downloaded at no charge from the Gain Knowledge area of the Foundation Center's web site.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
New Donor Study Offers New Insight
Russ Reid "Heart of the Donor™: Insights into Donor Motivation and Behavior for the 21st Century" Research Finds Surprising Answers to Those and Other Questions
NEW YORK, Aug. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- A new research study was released Tuesday that may change the way many nonprofits approach their fundraising budgets. The report, Heart of the Donor, Insights into Donor Motivation and Behavior for the 21st Century, uncovers valuable insights on donor behavior and preferences as well as insight into age, demographic and other factors.
The report will be unveiled at the Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation conference at the Sheraton New York City. The research was commissioned and created by Russ Reid and conducted by Grey Matter Research & Consulting. The survey took place in June of this year.
As many would expect, the study finds that today's most valuable donors – boomers and older donors – primarily give through the mail. But those in the 25-54 age range tended to give both online and through the mail. "One thing we find interesting is this nexus in the 25-54 year old group," said Lisa McIntyre, Russ Reid Senior Vice President, Strategy Development. "The donors who will be most important to us in the coming decade seem equally facile with both mail and online."
But according to the study, older donors are more generous.
"The point is this: if the goal of a nonprofit is to effectively target today's best donors, then they should focus significant and smart attention on the donors giving the most money – seniors and boomers," said McIntyre. "For example, the number of donors in the 18-24 group and 70-plus are comparable, but the 70-plus donor gives three times as much."
"Does that mean nonprofits should turn a blind eye to the younger segments?" McIntyre continued. "Of course not. Their value will likely increase as they age. But fundraising expenditures must be weighted according to a strategy that maximizes those who are giving now."
The report suggests that fundraisers should focus their money on the channels that perform the best. While social media is an exciting means of reaching the younger community, the report indicated those who are active there don't use it for donations.
Another striking result of the survey shows that people want to give to charities that spend money on good management. Given a choice, the respondents preferred organizations that hire top-quality managers, even with higher salaries, over hiring less experienced managers and spending fewer dollars on salaries. An even greater percentage would rather support an organization that spends more on fundraising and brings in more money to help the cause than would support an organization that spends little on fundraising but raises less money. "Only 28 percent would opt for efficiency over effectiveness," said McIntyre.
"Nonprofits are under relentless scrutiny for their fundraising costs," said McIntyre. "The questions on costs tell us that what donors want more than anything else is value for their money. Spending money on salaries is fine, as long as your leaders are effective. If you spend more on fundraising, it's fine as long as it effectively raises more money for the work."
The report also focused on the impact of the disaster in Haiti on nonprofit fundraising. 38 percent of Americans gave to help Haiti. 52 percent of active donors – those who regularly give to nonprofits – donated. Very surprisingly, nearly 30 percent of Haiti donors say they did not support any nonprofits in the last year, including 16 percent of fairly determined non donors. Most likely to give to Haiti were African Americans (51 percent), Latinos (53 percent), Asians (59 percent) as were people not born in the US (59 percent).
Four out of ten donors said that if they had not given to the Haiti disaster, the money would have gone elsewhere. Still, 58 percent of donors believe that what they gave to Haiti was unique – it was over and above what they normally give. Haiti was a first-time giving impetus for 3 percent of all Americans, 6.7 million people.
Haiti donations saw massive channel donation differences, with text-to-give having a big impact. While 32 percent of donors said they gave to nonprofits working in Haiti through places of worship, another 22 percent gave online, and 19 percent through texting. Questioned if the limits on text donations resulted in lower donations, 90 percent of text donors claim they would have donated through another channel had texting not been provided.
"The Haiti experience reminds us that emergency donors and everyday donors are different," said McIntyre. "And the best donors will give over and above what they normally do, not instead of what they typically give."
DMANF participants were able to review portions of the study at the conference, and more elements of the study will be released in the coming months.
More than two-thousand respondents participated in the study. It was conducted both by phone and through a pre-recruited online research panel. The study was also conducted in English and Spanish.
Russ Reid, founded in 1964, is part of Omnicom Group, Inc. (NYSE: OMC). Omnicom is a leading global marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom's branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and other specialty communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries.
Grey Matter Research is a market research firm specializing in serving non-profit organizations, offering sophisticated qualitative and quantitative techniques to uncover details that make a tangible difference for clients.
Interviews are available with McIntyre, Russ Reid President and CEO Tom Harrison, Executive Vice President Alan Hall, and Ron Sellers of Grey Matter. To schedule, contact Steve Ruppe or Alison Rienas at the numbers above. Go to http://www.heartofthedonor.com/, for additional information.
NEW YORK, Aug. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- A new research study was released Tuesday that may change the way many nonprofits approach their fundraising budgets. The report, Heart of the Donor, Insights into Donor Motivation and Behavior for the 21st Century, uncovers valuable insights on donor behavior and preferences as well as insight into age, demographic and other factors.
The report will be unveiled at the Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation conference at the Sheraton New York City. The research was commissioned and created by Russ Reid and conducted by Grey Matter Research & Consulting. The survey took place in June of this year.
As many would expect, the study finds that today's most valuable donors – boomers and older donors – primarily give through the mail. But those in the 25-54 age range tended to give both online and through the mail. "One thing we find interesting is this nexus in the 25-54 year old group," said Lisa McIntyre, Russ Reid Senior Vice President, Strategy Development. "The donors who will be most important to us in the coming decade seem equally facile with both mail and online."
But according to the study, older donors are more generous.
"The point is this: if the goal of a nonprofit is to effectively target today's best donors, then they should focus significant and smart attention on the donors giving the most money – seniors and boomers," said McIntyre. "For example, the number of donors in the 18-24 group and 70-plus are comparable, but the 70-plus donor gives three times as much."
"Does that mean nonprofits should turn a blind eye to the younger segments?" McIntyre continued. "Of course not. Their value will likely increase as they age. But fundraising expenditures must be weighted according to a strategy that maximizes those who are giving now."
The report suggests that fundraisers should focus their money on the channels that perform the best. While social media is an exciting means of reaching the younger community, the report indicated those who are active there don't use it for donations.
Another striking result of the survey shows that people want to give to charities that spend money on good management. Given a choice, the respondents preferred organizations that hire top-quality managers, even with higher salaries, over hiring less experienced managers and spending fewer dollars on salaries. An even greater percentage would rather support an organization that spends more on fundraising and brings in more money to help the cause than would support an organization that spends little on fundraising but raises less money. "Only 28 percent would opt for efficiency over effectiveness," said McIntyre.
"Nonprofits are under relentless scrutiny for their fundraising costs," said McIntyre. "The questions on costs tell us that what donors want more than anything else is value for their money. Spending money on salaries is fine, as long as your leaders are effective. If you spend more on fundraising, it's fine as long as it effectively raises more money for the work."
The report also focused on the impact of the disaster in Haiti on nonprofit fundraising. 38 percent of Americans gave to help Haiti. 52 percent of active donors – those who regularly give to nonprofits – donated. Very surprisingly, nearly 30 percent of Haiti donors say they did not support any nonprofits in the last year, including 16 percent of fairly determined non donors. Most likely to give to Haiti were African Americans (51 percent), Latinos (53 percent), Asians (59 percent) as were people not born in the US (59 percent).
Four out of ten donors said that if they had not given to the Haiti disaster, the money would have gone elsewhere. Still, 58 percent of donors believe that what they gave to Haiti was unique – it was over and above what they normally give. Haiti was a first-time giving impetus for 3 percent of all Americans, 6.7 million people.
Haiti donations saw massive channel donation differences, with text-to-give having a big impact. While 32 percent of donors said they gave to nonprofits working in Haiti through places of worship, another 22 percent gave online, and 19 percent through texting. Questioned if the limits on text donations resulted in lower donations, 90 percent of text donors claim they would have donated through another channel had texting not been provided.
"The Haiti experience reminds us that emergency donors and everyday donors are different," said McIntyre. "And the best donors will give over and above what they normally do, not instead of what they typically give."
DMANF participants were able to review portions of the study at the conference, and more elements of the study will be released in the coming months.
More than two-thousand respondents participated in the study. It was conducted both by phone and through a pre-recruited online research panel. The study was also conducted in English and Spanish.
Russ Reid, founded in 1964, is part of Omnicom Group, Inc. (NYSE: OMC). Omnicom is a leading global marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom's branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and other specialty communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries.
Grey Matter Research is a market research firm specializing in serving non-profit organizations, offering sophisticated qualitative and quantitative techniques to uncover details that make a tangible difference for clients.
Interviews are available with McIntyre, Russ Reid President and CEO Tom Harrison, Executive Vice President Alan Hall, and Ron Sellers of Grey Matter. To schedule, contact Steve Ruppe or Alison Rienas at the numbers above. Go to http://www.heartofthedonor.com/, for additional information.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Are Virtual Meetings Effective?
Take a look at this recent examination by The Goodman Center of teleconferences, videoconferences, and webinars instead of in-person meetings.
The Goodman Center invited public interest professionals from across North America to answer that question. More than 1,200 people completed our online survey, providing a clearer picture of the potential downsides of “meeting without meeting.” Download the free report, Dialing In, Logging On, Nodding Off: The True Costs of Teleconferences, Videoconferences and Webinars, here.
The Goodman Center invited public interest professionals from across North America to answer that question. More than 1,200 people completed our online survey, providing a clearer picture of the potential downsides of “meeting without meeting.” Download the free report, Dialing In, Logging On, Nodding Off: The True Costs of Teleconferences, Videoconferences and Webinars, here.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Nonprofit Report Announced by NYCON
Standards for Common Sense: A Practical Guide to Basic Accountability Standards for New York Nonprofits, published by NYCON, was supported by Council Services Plus and the Dyson Foundation. This booklet, available to download for free here, is a practical guide for the average nonprofit seeking a reasonable understanding of what accountability standards are, who is promoting them, what related state laws say, and how to think about the choices presented. NYCON has selected eight of the most basic issues involving governance structure and practice, i.e. board size, board compensation, conflict of interest policies, board member independence, term limits, frequency of meetings, audit requirements and the creation of audit committees. The booklet outlines each issue, compares and discusses the standards set by laws or regulations and five different standards setting bodies - the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance, the Standards for Excellence Institute, the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector, the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability and the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits.
In this 2nd Edition, NYCON has also added a section on Standards of Financial Accountability. This section explores guidelines for percentage of expenditures on program and fundraising activities along with the level of net assets relative to annual spending. Download your copy now.
In this 2nd Edition, NYCON has also added a section on Standards of Financial Accountability. This section explores guidelines for percentage of expenditures on program and fundraising activities along with the level of net assets relative to annual spending. Download your copy now.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Study Reveals Potential Donors Can't Find Info on Websites They Want
Robert Weiner of TechSoup made the following post, Jakob Nielsen Thinks Your Web Site Sucks, that many nonprofit EDs will find helpful:
Well, maybe it doesn't exactly suck, but potential donors can't figure it out. In a recent study of nonprofit Web sites, usability guru Jakob Nielsen asked participants "what information they want to see on nonprofit Web sites before they decide whether to donate?" The most heavily requested information was:
He also looked at the "turn-off factors" that caused charities to lose out on donations and found that:
Well, maybe it doesn't exactly suck, but potential donors can't figure it out. In a recent study of nonprofit Web sites, usability guru Jakob Nielsen asked participants "what information they want to see on nonprofit Web sites before they decide whether to donate?" The most heavily requested information was:
- The organization's mission, goals, objectives, and work.
- How it uses donations and contributions.
He also looked at the "turn-off factors" that caused charities to lose out on donations and found that:
- 47% had usability problems relating to page and site design, including unintuitive information architecture, cluttered pages, and confusing workflow.
- On 17% of the sites, users couldn't find where to make a donation.
- 53% had content issues related to writing for the Web, including unclear or missing information and confusing terms.
The good news is that "once people had decided to make a donation and found the donation button it was fairly easy for them to proceed through the workflow and donate."
I think Nielsen is making a big assumption: that potential donors visit a nonprofits' Web site without knowing what the nonprofit does, and then look for this information before donating. But his point about the difficulty of finding the donation button on some sites is a well taken point.
You can read the whole study here.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Online Giving Continues to Increase
The Philanthropy Journal offered this info on a new study about the increase in online giving. As a new study relates, even as the economy began to slide in 2008, online giving continued to grow.
Among a group of 12 organizations, online donors increased by a median 39 percent from 2007 to 2008, compared with a decline of 3 percent among offline donors over the same period.
At the same time, online giving still remains a small share of giving overall, accounting for only about one in 10 dollars donated, says the 2008 donorCentrics Internet Giving Benchmarking Analysis from Target Analytics, a Blackbaud company.
Online donors tend to be younger, with a median of 11 percent of donors under age 35, compared to a median of three percent in that age group among offline donors.
They also are newer donors to the organizations they support, with about half of all online donors being new each year.
Online donors to the companies surveyed gave a median single gift that was $27 higher than offline donors during 2008, the survey says, and the gap was even larger for donors who had been giving for more than one year.
However, online donors are harder to retain, with retention rates for online donors falling slightly below those for offline, and new online donors being harder to keep than veterans.
But online donors likely are worth the effort over the long term, given that their average lifetime revenue-per-donor was a median $237, compared to $86 for offline donors.
Among a group of 12 organizations, online donors increased by a median 39 percent from 2007 to 2008, compared with a decline of 3 percent among offline donors over the same period.
At the same time, online giving still remains a small share of giving overall, accounting for only about one in 10 dollars donated, says the 2008 donorCentrics Internet Giving Benchmarking Analysis from Target Analytics, a Blackbaud company.
Online donors tend to be younger, with a median of 11 percent of donors under age 35, compared to a median of three percent in that age group among offline donors.
They also are newer donors to the organizations they support, with about half of all online donors being new each year.
Online donors to the companies surveyed gave a median single gift that was $27 higher than offline donors during 2008, the survey says, and the gap was even larger for donors who had been giving for more than one year.
However, online donors are harder to retain, with retention rates for online donors falling slightly below those for offline, and new online donors being harder to keep than veterans.
But online donors likely are worth the effort over the long term, given that their average lifetime revenue-per-donor was a median $237, compared to $86 for offline donors.
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