Special Note: The Heritage Advantage is intended to be a clearinghouse to share fundraising and marketing success stories from the 47 state programs that The Heritage Company presently has the privilege and honor to represent. Please submit any feature stories or development programs that might help your colleagues generate more success for their programs across the nation to our editor.

Be one of the first ten people to answer this month’s question to be entered in the drawing for the Brownie Prize Package!

Question: What is the top state for giving, based on income?

Know the answer?

Heritage continues to celebrate our 50th Anniversary this year! One way we are celebrating is by putting together some memories we have built since 1958. One of those is how we used to have locations near state lines in several states. In those days, long distance cost more when the call crossed from one state to another. To take advantage of those rules, we had teams that would move from one call center to another one just across the state line to call for different campaigns. We certainly have come a long way!

In a brief look at the number of individuals EXPRESSING interest about estate planning over the past six months, scores of leads have been sent out. While time often does not permit fast follow up, and some leads may not pan out…on the other hand, the Multi-Trillion Dollar Transfer of Wealth is happening nationwide! These leads are excellent starting points for your organization to use, and so far this year, our campaigns have produced 64 for our Special Olympics partners. These donors have asked for someone to contact them and it is essential that a courtesy follow-up call be made. Information about such requests is on the Call to Action Reports that our Account Executives send you each month. We hope that you review those closely—there is some great information about your campaign in them!

In a piece regarding the political pressures put on US Surgeons General in recent decades, the New York Times delivered some high praise to the organization of Special Olympics. The reference came in a discussion regarding the contributions of the Kennedy family to the cause, describing it as ”one of the nation’s premiere charitable organizations”. The article's entirety can be viewed at nytimes.com

For a recent direct mail campaign, Heritage was recognized by Fundraising Success as the first runner-up in the 50,000-pieces-and-under category. We are proud of our direct mail team, and have our sights set on the top spot next year!

Several Heritage team members recently attended the 2007 Bridge Conference, where one of the featured speakers was Mal Warwick. Among his guidance for fundraisers:

• Use the word “you” often—fundraising works best when it is one person talking to one person
• Use emotion, but choose the emotion carefully
• Do not use emergency appeals unless there really is one
• Ask for money, not “support”

These tips apply to campaigns by phone, web, mail, email, and in person. Heritage campaigns use them frequently, as well, with a lot of success.

California and New York are the nation’s top states for wealth and gross donations to charities, but how do the states rank when it comes to giving compared to incomes? A New Tithing study found that it was the people of Utah, Oklahoma, and Nebraska—all states in the lower half of income rankings—who gave the highest portion of their income to charities. The top ten is listed below.

There is a wonderful story being shared about a speech made by a student at Fremd High School in Wheeling, Illinois recently. It deals powerfully with how society treats the mentally challenged.

As this space has mentioned previously, celebrity endorsements and appearances can be a mixed blessing for a nonprofit. However, there are a number of pro athletes who have established charitable foundations that have served many good causes well in recent years. This trend is a counter-current to the tales of ill-behaved sports stars. Given their natural inclination to connect with great causes, these foundations may be sources of financial support for your organization. Some of the biggest include:

• Tiger Woods Foundation
• Lance Armstrong Foundation
• Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation
• Peyton Manning’s Peyback Foundation
• Brett Favre Fourward Foundation

Another Bridge Conference session addressed the role of board members in fundraising and marketing. The presenter held that board members should be active contributors to the organization, in terms of both efforts and money. Organizations can set fundraising goals for their board members, both for donation and fundraising purposes. The giving of board members can be important to certain grant-makers, as well. Remember, people serve on board for many reasons, but you need them to be there serving your cause.

The father in the world’s most famous triathlete pair, Dick and Rick Hoyt, spoke at the Special Olympics Washington Breakfast with Champions recently. This major fundraising special event drew 1300 corporate guests and community leaders, who were inspired by the Hoyts’ story, as well as by those of some Special Olympics athletes.

The athletes who competed in the Special Olympics Virginia Summer Games will never forget that event! Now, thanks to the work of Charolette McPherson—the mother of one of the athletes—we can all share that experience. SOVA has developed a slideshow of her pictures from the Games and posted them on their website for the whole world to share—what a gift!

Charitable giving in the US reached a new high of $295 billion in 2006, according to Giving USA. Roughly three-fifths of nonprofit organizations received increased donations from 2005, while a third saw their gifts decline. Giving from individuals continued to make up the lion’s share of this giving, rising 4.4 percent to $223 billion.

Since a number of our partners have shared concerns about how their costs are allocated for SOP 98-2 purposes, we have compiled some information about that vital issue.