When will things start looking up? How will you know?

So there's lots of chatter about hints of recovery in many economic indicators. Maybe we've reached a turning point?

Let's look at some of the data.

• New home sales up 9.6% between June and July. (Sales of existing homes also up, 7.2%)
  
• Consumer confidence, especially expectation of where we'll be in six months, rose in August to the highest level since December 2007.
  
• Orders of durable goods rose for third time in four months in July (up 4.9%), beating consensus estimates
  
• Last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke told a financial conference that the economy is on the verge of growing again.
  
• Second quarter Gross Domestic Product declined "only" one percent, much less than expected
  
• First-time filings for state unemployment benefits fell by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 570,000 last week, marking the first drop in initial claims in awhile

Many scoff at this optimism, and for every positive data point it's easy to produce one to show the glass is half-empty. Caution is completely understandable and warranted.

But what does this mean for philanthropy? For your organization, in particular: How will you know when it's over? What indicators are you looking for? Average gift creeping back up? Direct response rates returning to "normal"? Corporate contacts no longer ducking your calls and interested in talking to you about sponsorships? Top investors willing to visit? To stay ahead of the curve, what signs are you monitoring to know when recovery is at hand? Or will you miss those signals?

To challenge you, I ask: What will you do first when you see those early indicators? What new practices will you roll out? What new initiatives will you pursue?

And then I will pose the most challenging question: What are you waiting for?

If you have a plan in mind for when things get better, what really is preventing you from going ahead and making those intentions a reality now? If that idea or strategy or tactic will be a good idea at some future "better time," I can almost guarantee you that it's a great idea now.

If there's any way to do so, get ahead of the curve. Implement those plans now.

Cool tool to visualize grantmakers and grants

I love maps. Something about them makes life understandable, helping me to know where I am and helping me to navigate how to get where I want to go. So, when I saw this, I knew I had to check it out.

The Foundation Center has just unveiled a nifty tool that maps data on grants and grant-makers. It's called Philanthropy In/Sight.

This interactive mapping tool was developed for grantmakers, policymakers, researchers, and others interested in the impact of philanthropy around the world today. It mashes up all the Foundation Center's rich data with the familiar Google maps interface. Clicking around reveals patterns of giving, funding relationships, areas where philanthropy has made an impact, and areas where opportunities exist to fill critical needs. Zoom out to see the data mapped internationally. Zoom in to see it displayed in a country, state, or county, or city.

Two databases feed this tool, with comprehensive information on:

97,000+ U.S. foundations and grantmaking charities, that can be filtered by:

Fields of Interest
Grantmaker Type
Total Assets
Total Giving
Establishment Year

1.6 million+ grants, filterable by:

Grant Subjects
Grant Amount
Grant Year
Grantmaker Type
Grantmaker Total Assets
Grantmaker Total Giving
Grantmaker Establishment Year
Grantmaker Name

Choose your filters, and data is displayed on a map. Then you can click-and-drill down for more specific information. You can also save or print your map to share with others.

All of this data, of course, is available in other formats and always has been. Prospect researchers have relied on this information for years, sifting through and looking for that needle-in-the-haystack -- the grantmaker perfectly suited to approach for their cause or project. But, for those of us who just think more visually, this is a boon.

Many people like tons of data. But, if you're the sort of person who gets a thick computer printout and skips past the details to the last page to see the bottom line, you'll love this. Me -- I'm one who sees the forest and doesn't so much like getting lost in the minutiae of the trees (or branches or leaves!) I really appreciated it.

A free trial is available, as is a brief tour . I've played with it, and might just have to subscribe myself. I certainly wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to a client organization who depends on foundation revenue.

Mid-Year's Eve

So, June 30. Hmmm. The year is half gone.

Remember those resolutions you made six months ago? How has your work on those been going?

I'll bet this sums up how you are feeling these days: you've been working too hard, worrying too much, feeling overwhelmed by all of it.

As a coach, I can help you focus more. If you'd like that kind of help, let me know. We can talk about what kind of support will benefit you.

Charitable giving drops in 2008, Giving USA report shows

Every year about this time, Giving USA releases its report on charitable giving for the previous year. Results for 2008 came out today.

Giving in the worst economic climate since the Great Depression exceeded $300 billion for the second year in a row, $307.65 billion to be precise.

The 2008 number is the first decline in giving in current dollars since 1987 and the second since Giving USA began publishing annual reports in 1956. Adjusted for inflation, total giving was down 5.7 percent.

Two-thirds of public charities receiving donations saw decreases in 2008.

Charitable giving being down when the economy has been down is not news, really. Who would expect any different? The good news: Charitable giving is still more than 2 percent of the US Gross Domestic Product. Meaning: Giving is as strong historically as it’s ever been. Relatively speaking.

As always, giving from individuals (vs. corporate or foundations) was by far the largest slice of all contributions, 75 percent of the total, in 2008. Interestingly, individual's giving was only down 2.7 percent.

Conclusions:

It could have been worse. People could have chosen to pull back on giving.

They didn't (relatively).

Individuals and families remain the best source for seeking support.

Want to know more details? Go here for a Giving Institute news release.

Finding time to focus on Real Results: Review what you're doing and ...

We seldom take the time to re-evaluate what we're doing to be successful. Over time, our behavior can drift from what we should be focusing on. Here's a powerful but quite short eye-opening exercise. Ask yourself:

What can I do to ...

1. Start doing more of what I'm already doing that produces results? Well, of course, that's self-evident.


2. Stop doing something. Eliminate from your daily habit some low-impact activity (or activities). Look at things that used to serve you well, that you've ingrained in your routine, but that have outlived their usefulness. Time-suckers in this category could very well be little stuff that adds up to a lot of time. Or, maybe it's major, like routinely setting aside your own critical priorities to help someone else with their non-emergency tasks (simply motivated from wanting to be liked or be helpful).


3. Start doing something else? Think of what you're not doing, but have intended to do, filtering in those things that could be make a significant contribution to getting better results.


4. Start doing less of what is proving to be quesitonable? (If you can't stop doing it, at least do less of it.)

It helps to spend about an hour in reflection on these four points, at least twice a year (better yet, quarterly). If you can't remember when you've spent some time pondering these four quesitons, then schedule an hour within the next three days. Turn off the phone and email, and think about this.

Then, settle on at least four things you'll do differently. More of. Stop doing. Start doing. Less of.

I'd love to hear any stories from you about actually doing this!