GIVING Stories

Sometimes, I hear my mother’s voice in my head. As a child, I would receive a birthday card from my grandma every year with crisp five-dollar bills enclosed. My mother would sit me down with a pen and a fancy notecard to write grandma a thank you note. Her rules were that it had to start with “thank you” and then explain exactly how I spent the money.

COVER STORY
We asked, you answered: How do you show donors gratitude? From simple gestures to thoughtful gifts, here's how savvy fundraisers all over the country are making donors feel like they're part of the mission—not like part of a checkbook. Because gratitude isn’t just good manners. It’s not an afterthought. And it’s definitely not something to check off once the gift comes in. Gratitude is a strategy.

COVER STORY
While parts of the economy boom, millions of Americans remain locked out of opportunity. In particular, young adults who are out of school and out of work, often called “disconnected youth,” are bearing the brunt of structural inequality. According to Measure of America, nearly 1 in 9 youth aged 16 to 24 are disconnected, a status linked to lower lifetime earnings, poorer health, and higher risk of long-term poverty.

If you’ve ever run a marathon or know someone who has, you know they take preparation and stamina. Running a marathon and implementing a capital or comprehensive campaign have much in common. You wouldn’t show up at the starting line for either without putting in the necessary early work. And you wouldn’t start celebrating success at mile 17 when there’s still a long way to go. Here’s how the phases of a campaign compare to training for and completing a marathon.

The Philanthropy 50 – The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s list of America’s biggest donors – was recently released for 2024. The headline? America’s top donors gave more than $16.2 billion. The full report is worth a read, with an analysis of giving trends and forward-looking predictions.

The concern? Our rush to save time with AI might come at the cost of core skills.Although nonprofit leaders are stretched thin, today's shortcuts may undermine the strategic thinking their organizations need tomorrow. We risk becoming "AI passengers" in a driverless taxi rather than "AI drivers" who actively navigate working with AI tools.