Author Archive
The Powerball Winner: Sharing in Good Fortune
Posted by JBA in JBA News & Notes, Uncategorized on January 30th, 2012
By Jennifer Furla
Executive Vice President
Recently, a convenience store customer in Minnesota won the Powerball – at $229 million. While the lucky winner had not yet revealed himself, accompanying the story was the ubiquitous security cam picture of the transaction that suggests it was a 30-something male. The winner has one year to present him/herself and can take the winnings in installments over a 30-year period, or take a lump sum of $123 million.
As fundraisers, we often dream of finding that lottery winner among our donor prospect pool. With strong values of giving, I suspect that many of us dream of what we would do if we were to purchase that winning ticket? In our house, we’ve talked about it as a family. Give to our favorite causes. In my case, possibly help complete a campaign goal for a lucky client?
For this week’s winner, $123 million after taxes — even invested in simple CDs at 1.55% — will generate some $600,000-plus per year.
I met a lottery winner not long ago. Sitting on the wharf outside our hotel for the Giving Institute and International AFP Conference in Baltimore, I struck up a conversation with a gentleman who sidled up to me with his family, all dressed in matching athletic suits. Turns out they were in town for the man to receive medical treatment for a highly complex medical condition at Johns Hopkins University.
He talked about winning $150 million in the Canadian Lottery. He was from Ottawa, on the western side of the country and was among the First Nations peoples of Canada – the native, aboriginal peoples, akin to the American Indian.
He talked about how it changed his life and his family’s. In Canada, he said, all winnings are immediately paid out, lump sum and tax free to the winner. He purchased a new home for his family. He paid to fix up the homes of near relatives. Of course, took a couple of once-in-a-lifetime, memory-making trips (to Disneyworld in Orlando, if I recall correctly). His good fortune was paying for the trip and treatment at Johns Hopkins.
Then there was charity. He built schools for the children of his Indian Nation and endowed those schools so they could maintain the new buildings and populate them with programs and staff. He established a Trust that will provide scholarships for the youth of the Nation. He made a large gift to the Tribal Council to help families in need.
At the hotel, he became interested in another conference that was taking place there – for families of children of autism. “How could he help, he asked?” He understood what was “enough” for his family and him and wanted to share his good fortune.
I do not know if the connections he made that day resulted in support for the autism group, but can only imagine the number of causes this man and his family have since sought to help – and will in the future. For us in the profession, this lottery winner serves as an example of unselfish philanthropy – love of brother.
As my son would say, “Now, those are real heroes. People like that.”
The Time is Ripe: Clean Off The Shelf And Start Planning For Your Senior Living Community
Posted by JBA in Campaign Planning & Management, Capacity Building, Fundraising in a Recession, Uncategorized on January 20th, 2012
By Jean G. Bacon
Partner
3B Fund Development Group
Following more than two years of fear, paralysis and “tread water” management, senior living communities may once again be in the position to dip their toes into the development waters. It may need to be done gingerly, and most certainly will require courage on the part of administrators and boards willing to take risks, but the signs are there and developments are moving again.
The earliest signs of the bond market freeze began to appear in late spring of 2008. In the intervening three years, many a plan was put on the shelf, gathering dust as leaders struggled to cope with economic realities that were part of the overall recession.
Interest rates were all over the map and very little new construction began. Sure, there was money out there to be had, but only for those who didn’t need it. Those who did need financing, found the financial gurus – the bond underwriters and the financial feasibility consultants – were retrenching and unwilling to invest in expansions. There was some refinancing of older communities, but this was mostly done in an effort to cut monthly bond payments.
Communities that were fortunate to have a large percentage of “healthy” residents in independent living saw that their census remained relatively stable. However, new sales were a challenge given the housing crisis and how difficult it was for older people to sell their homes. Older adults who had always imagined that they would choose to move to a senior living community reversed course. They sought help in their homes for their health and support needs and settled into a “wait-and-see” mode, continuing to live in the family home with the hope that the economy would turn around. This same population, unfamiliar with the real costs of in-home healthcare, worried with stock market declines that if they were able to move they lacked the resources to live out their lives in the type of community they’d always wanted.
In an industry which requires continuous upkeep and updating, it was hard to identify cash for projects that did not immediately show revenue returns. Given the overall climate and all these conditions, there was no desire to take risks. This created an interesting dynamic in an industry that had always taken risks to improve products and services for their residents.
And, now, the pendulum is swinging. The housing crisis is easing and older adults who have adjusted to the “new normal” in resale values are showing signs that they are willing to sell their homes for less than they could have two years ago, especially when they aren’t carrying hefty mortgages.
Economic indicators are encouraging bond underwriters and financial feasibility consultants to cautiously advise communities to begin planning for the future. Projects that were in a holding pattern largely since 2009 are now moving forward and new construction is on the horizon. Management teams and Board members realize that a deteriorating physical plant will not compete successfully in the market place, and if they want to preserve their identity and market share, they are going to need to spend money to update.
For those who are willing to venture into the visioning and planning cycle, the time — and the environment – may be ripe to clean off that shelf and get those plans that have been gathering dust the past two years into action. But those same leaders are wise to keep in mind that those are two, maybe three years old, and should ask how the environment has changed and whether those plans may need re-tooling post-recession. Beyond that, smart senior living leaders will not only ask whether the plans meet current and near-term needs, but will once again start that longer range process of master planning for the resident of tomorrow.
When You Have the Chance, Make Each Throw Count
Posted by JBA in Organizational & Personal Development on December 23rd, 2011
Make each throw count. That was the tribute and the message my friend wanted to impart. The nave was packed with friends, family, former law partners, classmates of the couple’s three incredible children. An extraordinary person, one said, who believed in an ordinary life well lived.
School had just let out for the holidays and I found myself thinking that this gathering should not have been for such an occasion. He’d only moved to our town five or six brief years ago and look how many he’d touched. As I read the memorial leaflet, I realized that although my husband and I had very much enjoyed the company of the gentleman who’d so suddenly left this earth, I had not an inkling of the depth of this man.
My friend continued: They had together coached baseball for their sons’ grade school teams for five years. My friend had not known that this modest, yet extraordinary person had played in the minor leagues before an injury led him to attend law school. He learned over the years, there was much more to this man.
For five seasons, each practice, 15 games a season, the advice was always the same: Make each throw count. What he now understood, my friend said, was that this advice was much more a life lesson than simple, direct advice before a little league baseball game. To all of us sitting in the nave, to the boys who were part of this man’s little league team, the advice resonated and was clear: Each time you throw, each time you’re up at bat, each time life gives you an opportunity … Make it count.
I wonder: How often is it that you were up at bat, had the ball, had the opportunity, and wished that you’d made it count?
There’s a lesson here for me and I will share it with you. Now that this modest, yet extraordinary gentleman is gone, I wish I had known him in a much more intimate way. I did not know of his youth, his schooling, his passion for history and baseball. I knew of the love he showed for his wife of six years and her three children. I’d seen it first-hand and for that I admired him greatly. I had sensed his professional stature, but this modest man never boasted about his successes as a trial lawyer. He never impressed with his scholarly intellect. Instead, he was much more interested in the person he was with, to learn about them. It was said that he often observed that it was important to truly see another person, because most likely that person, like you, is trying their best and trying to do the right thing.
Now that he is gone, I wish I’d taken in each aspect of this extraordinary individual. I wish I’d made it count.
To you, I declare: In this profession we are so incredibly privileged to become acquainted with modest, humble, yet extraordinary people who believe in an ordinary life well lived. They are the donors, volunteers, and others who are passionate about changing lives through the good works they support.
When you have the chance to sit down with them — to truly get to know them, their interests, their history, their passions — seize the opportunity. Make it count.
Obesity Rates Continue To Rise, Opportunity for Collaborations?
Posted by JBA in Major Gift Solicitation on July 7th, 2011
For those nonprofit organizations who deal with adult and childhood obesity the negative societal trend continues to expand. This article “Obesity Rate Up in PA” in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette today shows the current data for Pennsylvania which mirrors the rest of the nation. More and more people through all walks of life are realizing the enormity of the problem. Organizations like the YMCA are trying to deal with this epidemic head on.
This is one of the hot issues in terms of case development today. We are seeing increasing support and contributions from donors to do something about it. Seeing that this issue is directly correlated to health care costs, increasing diabetes, etc., nonprofit organizations have a greater opportunity to collaborate with other organizations to address this in their local communities. At JB&A we specialize in public/private partnerships and collaborations.
“Why Don’t Board Members Do What They Are Supposed To Do?”
Posted by JBA in Boards & Leadership, Major Gift Solicitation, Prospect Research, Stewardship, Workshops & Learning Opportunities on July 7th, 2011
In May and June of this year, I facilitated a webinar nationally, titled “Why Don’t Board Members Do What They Are Supposed To Do?” The webinar topic turned out to be very popular and relevant. I am including the link to the recording (voice and power point together). If you were not one of the nonprofit organizaitons who had the opportunity to participate in the webinar, this is a great way to do it. I would recommend this as a resource for anyone who works with boards on financial development. To access the link, please click here: Webinar Recording 6-30-11, then wait a few moments for the connection from Webex.com to bring up the recorded webinar. It is 52 minutes in length.