I read an article in the Austin Business Journal a couple of Thursdays ago, late one afternoon at work, about a new campaign to increase charitable giving locally. The campaign is called I Live Here, I Give Here, and its focus is to increase the amount of charitable giving Austinites do every year.
How are they going to do this? By raising awareness about local issues and needs. And by implementing a grassroots campaign to train connected people to share this information with their contacts, friends, coworkers, fellow church members... everyone they know. This approach - having Austinites encouraged to give by their trusted friends - is the absolute best way to increase philanthropy in Austin.
But how do you measure this? Tough to do. The campaign will mark where we are now in philanthropic giving and mark again a few years later. Not the most scientific metrics, but it can show growth.
The hardest part for the campaign will be in maintaing momentum. The project's off to a strong start - at least everyone I've talked to has heard about it. But how to you maintain and even grow this? I'll be very interested to see how this goes.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Statesman's Story About Why Austin Doesn't Give
"When the nation's top 50 cities are ranked for charitable giving, Austin ranks 48th."
This from the Austin American-Statesman referring to research conducted by The Chronicle of Philanthropy in 2003, which found that, of the 50 largest cities in the United States, Austin ranked 48th in the percentage of discretionary income Austinites donate to local charities.
48th in giving, 3rd in volunteering, according to a separate study, results released earlier this year.
Is it that Austinites don't want to part with their money? That we'd rather show up and pack grocery bags or bring cupcakes then take out our checkbooks?
"One theory is that Austin doesn't give because it isn't used to it."
The article reports the median age of Austin is 28.5, which is really young, when you think about it. At 28.5 years old, I sure wasn't making enough to give much to charity. I probably ran five charity 5K races a year, gave $25 to some breast cancer charity, threw singles and fives in the basket at church... that's about it. But I was volunteering at adult literacy classes, helping students with their work a couple of hours a week. So this makes sense to me.
And the idea that charitable giving has to be part of a city's culture makes sense, also. The article refers to other big Texas cities like Dallas and Houston (and I believe it's true of San Antonio, too) where long-time philanthropists lead the way. We have so few people like that here in Austin. At least I don't hear about them.
I can think of the Dells, Lance Armstrong, the Longs.... but these people don't run in my circles. I can't think of any one of my friends or colleagues who makes a habit of giving big. Again, I never hear about it.
Which is the paradox of charitable giving, I guess. Maybe I do have contemporaries that give big and give locally, but they're certainly not talking about it. That would be rude and bragging, and typically people with big hearts and big wallets don't toot their own horns much.
WHICH IS WHY I love the idea of GoodCause magazine. Let us toot your horn, Austin.
This from the Austin American-Statesman referring to research conducted by The Chronicle of Philanthropy in 2003, which found that, of the 50 largest cities in the United States, Austin ranked 48th in the percentage of discretionary income Austinites donate to local charities.
48th in giving, 3rd in volunteering, according to a separate study, results released earlier this year.
Is it that Austinites don't want to part with their money? That we'd rather show up and pack grocery bags or bring cupcakes then take out our checkbooks?
"One theory is that Austin doesn't give because it isn't used to it."
The article reports the median age of Austin is 28.5, which is really young, when you think about it. At 28.5 years old, I sure wasn't making enough to give much to charity. I probably ran five charity 5K races a year, gave $25 to some breast cancer charity, threw singles and fives in the basket at church... that's about it. But I was volunteering at adult literacy classes, helping students with their work a couple of hours a week. So this makes sense to me.
And the idea that charitable giving has to be part of a city's culture makes sense, also. The article refers to other big Texas cities like Dallas and Houston (and I believe it's true of San Antonio, too) where long-time philanthropists lead the way. We have so few people like that here in Austin. At least I don't hear about them.
I can think of the Dells, Lance Armstrong, the Longs.... but these people don't run in my circles. I can't think of any one of my friends or colleagues who makes a habit of giving big. Again, I never hear about it.
Which is the paradox of charitable giving, I guess. Maybe I do have contemporaries that give big and give locally, but they're certainly not talking about it. That would be rude and bragging, and typically people with big hearts and big wallets don't toot their own horns much.
WHICH IS WHY I love the idea of GoodCause magazine. Let us toot your horn, Austin.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
HandsOn Kick-Off
This past Friday, I went to the the kick-off of the HandsOn Central Texas workshop on volunteer management. There was so much good news, so much excitement, so much positivity. And the room was jam-packed. It was a complete sell out. October is proud to have helped out with our tiny contribution, and we hope we can do more in the future.
But back to the good news. First off, many of us heard for the first time that Austin ranks third in the nation for its high rate of volunteerism. Third!
The report, called "Volunteering in America: 2007 City Trends and Rankings" is the first-ever conducted by the Corporation for National and Community Service. It ranks America's 50 largest cities using U.S. Census data from 2006 to 2006 (which apparently draws some skepticism, but... third!) and compares volunteerism rates, the organizations they volunteer through, the main activities, hours per year, and other data.
You'd think the people who made this all happen - volunteer coordinators at every level - would have known about it, and I was surprised by how many of them didn't. It's huge cause for celebration and a pat on the back. And I guess it's the kind of thing that keeps us going on this long, slow path to a magazine about volunteers and for volunteers.
At the kick-off, the woman sitting next to me worked for the IRS. And so you're thinking... what is the IRS doing here? Well, the IRS runs a Volunteer Return Preparation Program (VRPP) in the Austin area, which in our area is called the Community Tax Center.
Want to hear about an impact a bunch of volunteer tax-preparers can make?
In 2007, the Community Tax Center's VRPP prepared more than 13,500 tax returns for low-income residents for free. Those tax returns garnered almost $17 million for those families, which means lots of tax-return income we otherwise never would have seen went back into our local economy.
This took 340 Austinites willing to go through hours and hours of training, take a test for certification, and - and here's the part where you start to believe these people aren't human - prepare someone else's taxes for free.
Congratulations and thank you to the 340 Austinites and Central Texans who went through hours of tax codes to pump back $17 million into our little town.
These were volunteers, people. Preparing tax returns. It's unbelievable to me how deep and wide the level of volunteering in Austin really is. There are untold number of agencies and organizations out there just giving and not asking for anything in return.
Well, these people were asking for something in return. A fat check.
But not for themselves. For working families who probably saw that check as a huge blessing. Think of the feeling those volunteers must have had. After filling out dozens of blank forms, walking people through their W-2s, their child credits, their write-offs, and their FICAs... then to show them that number at the bottom of the 1040... telling them that's how much they were going to get back.
Don't you think that, on the drive home, those volunteers were thinking... I helped someone find their own money. And they were pretty excited about it. Wow.
More good news from the HandsOn kick-off later.
But back to the good news. First off, many of us heard for the first time that Austin ranks third in the nation for its high rate of volunteerism. Third!
The report, called "Volunteering in America: 2007 City Trends and Rankings" is the first-ever conducted by the Corporation for National and Community Service. It ranks America's 50 largest cities using U.S. Census data from 2006 to 2006 (which apparently draws some skepticism, but... third!) and compares volunteerism rates, the organizations they volunteer through, the main activities, hours per year, and other data.
You'd think the people who made this all happen - volunteer coordinators at every level - would have known about it, and I was surprised by how many of them didn't. It's huge cause for celebration and a pat on the back. And I guess it's the kind of thing that keeps us going on this long, slow path to a magazine about volunteers and for volunteers.
At the kick-off, the woman sitting next to me worked for the IRS. And so you're thinking... what is the IRS doing here? Well, the IRS runs a Volunteer Return Preparation Program (VRPP) in the Austin area, which in our area is called the Community Tax Center.Want to hear about an impact a bunch of volunteer tax-preparers can make?
In 2007, the Community Tax Center's VRPP prepared more than 13,500 tax returns for low-income residents for free. Those tax returns garnered almost $17 million for those families, which means lots of tax-return income we otherwise never would have seen went back into our local economy.
This took 340 Austinites willing to go through hours and hours of training, take a test for certification, and - and here's the part where you start to believe these people aren't human - prepare someone else's taxes for free.
Congratulations and thank you to the 340 Austinites and Central Texans who went through hours of tax codes to pump back $17 million into our little town.
These were volunteers, people. Preparing tax returns. It's unbelievable to me how deep and wide the level of volunteering in Austin really is. There are untold number of agencies and organizations out there just giving and not asking for anything in return.
Well, these people were asking for something in return. A fat check.
But not for themselves. For working families who probably saw that check as a huge blessing. Think of the feeling those volunteers must have had. After filling out dozens of blank forms, walking people through their W-2s, their child credits, their write-offs, and their FICAs... then to show them that number at the bottom of the 1040... telling them that's how much they were going to get back.
Don't you think that, on the drive home, those volunteers were thinking... I helped someone find their own money. And they were pretty excited about it. Wow.
More good news from the HandsOn kick-off later.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Partying with Leadership Austin
Torquil and I attend Leadership Austin's Best Party Ever this year to get a gander at all the movers and shakers in town. We recognized plenty of people - either from past jobs or from the pages of Austin Monthly where Torquil was art director. We even spoke to a few! (Though admittedly, we weren't as social as we wanted to be.)
One person I did speak to was Luke Ellis, a young lawyer I met through my time at Austin Bar Association. When I met him, Luke was just starting his Common Law column in the Austin Chronicle, and he was already looking for help from other lawyers who might respond to the dozens of legal questions he got every day. We locked on to Luke early on, getting him involved in People's Law School and other Bar committees. He's since started a regular appearance on News 8 Austin giving out Common Law-type advice. Luke's been with Jackson Walker for a number of years now, which is amazing considering how often young lawyers change jobs. Guess they figure he's worth holding on to. He's a credit to the community, that's for sure.
We talked to Luke about GoodCause magazine, and it sounded like he approved of the idea. So far we've gotten lots of approvals from people we've talked to, which is important feedback. I'm trying to spread the word about it to the exact people who would be its audience. Their feedback - and involvement - is extremely important since the focus of the magazine is on the volunteer community. Now if only one of them would lend us a couple hundred thousand dollars to get started...
One person I did speak to was Luke Ellis, a young lawyer I met through my time at Austin Bar Association. When I met him, Luke was just starting his Common Law column in the Austin Chronicle, and he was already looking for help from other lawyers who might respond to the dozens of legal questions he got every day. We locked on to Luke early on, getting him involved in People's Law School and other Bar committees. He's since started a regular appearance on News 8 Austin giving out Common Law-type advice. Luke's been with Jackson Walker for a number of years now, which is amazing considering how often young lawyers change jobs. Guess they figure he's worth holding on to. He's a credit to the community, that's for sure.
We talked to Luke about GoodCause magazine, and it sounded like he approved of the idea. So far we've gotten lots of approvals from people we've talked to, which is important feedback. I'm trying to spread the word about it to the exact people who would be its audience. Their feedback - and involvement - is extremely important since the focus of the magazine is on the volunteer community. Now if only one of them would lend us a couple hundred thousand dollars to get started...
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