The majority of nonprofits struggle to raise money. And they often don't understand why it seems so difficult. What many organizations don't realize is that they can use existing donor information to gain valuable insights to improve their fundraising efforts. Powerful analytic technology, such as data mining and predictive modeling, can be applied to help nonprofits:

• Understand the key variables that increase donations
• Predict which donors are likely to increase their support
• Focus fundraising efforts cost-effectively 

Join us on Thursday, May 23rd at 1pm Eastern for a webinar lead by TCC Group's David Schwartz.  Joining David will be Lawrence Henze, a fundraising expert at Target Analytics, a Blackbaud company, and Ira Schwartz, Chief Executive Officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. Lawrence will share his experience successfully mining donor databases for nonprofits across the country. Ira will discuss how data mining can complement fundraising best practices.

This webinar will help fundraising professionals and nonprofit leaders better understand what makes predictive modeling so valuable to the sector. Participants will also learn how to assess whether their current donor databases are ready to be mined.  Click here to register. 

TCC's Director of Corporate Services Tom Knowlton and Senior Consultant Nadia Gomes recently presented a webinar that explored the essential elements of successful corporate citizenship.  Tom and Nadia highlighted a new framework and discussed questions such as:

• What does it mean to be an effective corporate citizen?
• What elements are linked to the achievements of leading companies?
• How can you assess your situation and determine the best path forward? 

How does a family foundation set strategic goals?

TCC's Associate Director of Philanthropic Services Ashley Blanchard says that family foundations tend to have three related goals: creating social impact, encouraging family unity, and providing a rewarding experience for individual trustees. "Depending on priorities, family philanthropy can look very different. A foundation with a narrow focus on a particular issue has very different management and governance structure than a foundation with broad programmatic goals, where giving is based on trustees' personal interests," says Ashley. "The question is really one of balance: what is the right mix for each family at a particular point in time."

How do family foundations strike that balance?

"Foundation trustees too often see a false dichotomy: social impact on one hand and family engagement on the other. There's a perception that if you want the family to be involved you have to let them make gifts to the organizations they personally care about as opposed to identifying issues where people can work collaboratively. In my experience, the most effective family philanthropy  occurs when trustees are personally rewarded by the experience of working together to learn about and support effective programs -- where they see the impact they are making. So, joint learning and development takes place across multiple generations." Read more about family foundation strategies. 

TCC Group is proud to sponsor the consulting award for nonprofits in the "early growth" category at the 2013 Social Impact Exchange Business Plan Competition. The prize recognizes social sector scaling initiatives and supports them with financial and consulting awards. This year's competition will take place on June 17 in New York City, where finalists will present their plans before a panel of judges, including TCC's Senior Partner Paul Connolly. Register here.