Share your “top reasons” for a chance to claim or gift a complimentary AFP Membership

By Margaret Holman, AFP-NYC Board Member and President of Holman Consulting, and Sarah Weatherley, AFP-NYC Member

An AFP-NYC chapter membership is so much more than an event discount: it is opportunity, it is access to a network of fellow fundraisers working together to activate philanthropy for change, it is a show of professionalism and belonging to a group of dedicated change-makers, and it is being a part of a community. Especially throughout this challenging year we have faced together in NYC and across the globe during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, AFP-NYC members have come together to lift each other up, to innovate, and to evolve as we navigate the “new normal” in life and in fundraising.

We want to hear what this community means to you! Read on to see how you can join the conversation for a chance to win a complimentary AFP membership that you can claim yourself or gift to anyone of your choosing. To inspire you as you consider your “top reasons”, we are featuring a note from Margaret Holman, long time AFP member and board member, on what she most values about being a member of AFP-NYC. She also shares this year’s “10 Reasons” to become an AFP member.

It wasn’t a hard decision for me to join the New York Chapter of AFP when I moved from California to New York City in 1981.  I didn’t know anyone professionally and was eager to find a job.  I’d heard about the Association (then called the National Society of Fund Raising Executives) from some of the interviews I did.  I joined within a couple of months and found the group welcoming, with bountiful opportunities for networking and education.  I joined a committee about 18 months later, and within two years found myself on the board and involved with Fundraising Day in New York. 

Perhaps you’ll remember that I’ve been delivering the Top Ten List at FRDNY for more than 20 years now – and using the top ten list from the national AFP office, I’m delighted to offer up the Top Ten Reasons to join AFP-NYC today:

 

10. Proclaim your professionalism.
Adding your name to the ranks of over 30,000 fundraising professionals nationwide declares your pride in the profession you have chosen.

9. Advertise your integrity.
AFP-NYC has a reputation for upholding high standards. Since every AFP-NYC member signs his/her adherence to the Code of Ethical Principles and Standards every year, you align yourself with like-minded practitioners of ethical fundraising.

8. Advance your career.
Every AFP-NYC member enjoys educational opportunities designed to increase knowledge and keep up with the newest trends in fundraising, both on the international and local levels.

7. Further your cause.
The more that you learn about the latest methods in fundraising, the better equipped you are to further the cause of the organization you represent.

6. Network with others who do what you do.
Making connections is an important part of fundraising for the cause you represent. Meet others who can help you make those connections.

5. Advocate for your profession.
Serious-minded professionals know that serving the profession means responding to calls for action from those who represent the profession.

4. Serve your profession.
Opportunities abound for individuals to serve on international and local committees that work on a variety of issues from building the core body of fundraising knowledge to building the public trust in the philanthropic process.

3. Don't reinvent the wheel – use available resources.
AFP-NYC's Resources Tab can provide you with the resources you need to do your job well.

2. Play a part in elevating the status of the fundraising profession.
Your membership in AFP-NYC and your dedication to the ethical principles that guide the fundraising process elevates the entire profession.

1. Do it for YOURSELF!
It's all about YOU, the fundraising professional. AFP-NYC's educational, networking, and career planning programs will take you where you want to go!

Calling all NYC-AFP members: we want to hear from you! Share your top reason(s) for being an AFP member on Facebook, Twitter and/or LinkedIn with #AFPNYCTop10 for a chance to be featured on AFP social channels and to win a complimentary AFP NYC Chapter Professional Membership. You can use the membership yourself to renew OR pay forward the gift of membership to a friend of your choosing. Post before PhilanthroCon on May 18, 2021 for a chance to win the complimentary membership! The drawing and announcement of the winner will occur on May 20th.

Thank you for being a part of our community.

Chapter Leadership Brief 04.23.21

By Steve Jacobson, AFP-NYC President and CEO, JCA, Inc.

Next week, April 26 – 30, is AFP Lobby Week.  It’s the time when AFP Global and AFP chapters around the country make concerted efforts to inform and educate our lawmakers on the importance of the nonprofit sector.  And, of course, part of our efforts are focused on supporting legislation that benefits nonprofits and, by extension, our varied constituencies.  Given that we are still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Lobby Week will be held virtually.  As of this writing, the AFP NYC chapter has at least five Zoom calls scheduled with our New York Representatives and Senators.

So, what are we going to talk about?  In addition to educating lawmakers on the impact of nonprofits in our area, there are three issues for which we want to see some legislative action:

Universal Charitable Deduction

Section 2204 of the CARES Act, signed into law in March 2020, permitted eligible individuals who do not itemize deductions to deduct $300 of qualified charitable contributions throughout 2020. In December 2020, Congress extended the universal charitable deduction availability through 2021 and increased the cap to $600 for joint filers. While this provided our sector with a short-term win, we really need to increase the amount that can be deducted and make it permanent.

To meet this end, a bipartisan group of senators has introduced S. 618 while a bipartisan group of representatives have introduced HR 1704.  Titled the “Universal Giving Pandemic Response and Recovery Act,” these near-identical bills call for an increase in the cap to roughly $4,000 for individuals and $8,000 for joint filers and extend the availability of the deduction through 2022.  We hope to encourage lawmakers to support the increased cap, and also to make this universal charitable deduction permanent.

Charitable IRA Rollover

Currently, individuals age 72 and above must take required minimum distributions (RMDs) from their individual retirement accounts (IRAs). And when they do, these distributions are fully taxed as income.

In 2015, Congress passed the PATH Act, which included the IRA Charitable Rollover provision that allowed individuals to make direct tax-free gifts of up to $100,000 annually to charities from their IRA starting at age 70 ½, without counting the distributions as income.

This is a great start, but AFP is working to expand the Charitable IRA Rollover and create even more giving opportunities for donors by lobbying for the IRA Legacy Act. The bill expands the IRA Charitable Rollover by allowing seniors starting at age 65 to make tax-free IRA rollovers of up to $400,000 annually to charities through a charitable gift annuity or a charitable remainder trust.

The Joint Committee on Taxation has estimated the cost to the federal government of the IRA Legacy Act at just $38 million per year. The cost is minimal because the income on any life income gift is fully taxable at ordinary income levels. However, planned giving experts have projected that the IRA Legacy Act could raise up to $1 billion each year for charities – a huge return on investment.

Postage Rate Increases/Postal Reform

Is there a more hot-button issue to nonprofits than postal reform and postage rate increases?  Actually, we’ve seen our share of hot-button issues over the past year, but mail is super-important.  Back in 2006, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 was signed into law, and it limited nonprofit postal rate increases to the rate of inflation.  Not so anymore. In December 2020, the Postage Rate Commission removed the CPI-based cap and gave new ratemaking authority without limits to the USPS. Mailers now face a new, much more challenging environment of substantially larger rate increases year after year.

The Postal Service is expected to announce rate increases of 6.0% to 8.5%, depending on the class of mail, that will be implemented in the summer or fall. This pending rate increase is in addition to the 1.5% rate increase that just took effect on January 24, 2021. The long-range consequence of the new rate-making authority and the Postal Service’s financial condition could mean crushing increases over the next 4-5 years.  We need Congress to legislate an acceptable and sustainable solution to postal rate increases.

by Pinky Vincent, Member, AFP-NYC Board of Directors

Equal pay for equal work is not yet a reality. Even with similar education and experience, people of color and women still earn less than white men.

To address this persistent wage gap and to reinforce our chapter’s commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (IDEA), we will be requiring all Career Center job postings to list salary ranges, starting May 1st.

From a practical standpoint, we can all appreciate as job seekers, recruiters, or hiring managers that mentioning salary ranges saves time. It’s no secret that most positions have a budget and most organizations will not substantially alter that number, especially for entry and mid-level roles. If we let go of the “negotiation dance,” candidates and organizations can ideally focus their conversations on skills, values, and goals.

Our reasons as a chapter, however, have everything to do with advancing equity and transparency.

While New York City bans salary history on job applications, women and people of color can still be at a disadvantage. By not sharing salary ranges, we prolong wage gaps for people of color, women, and other marginalized communities for similar positions and responsibilities.

And speaking of speaking up, research has shown that women are penalized – for BOTH failing to negotiate AND when they choose to negotiate as a result of social bias.

As fundraisers, we seek to persuade donors to create long-lasting impact for current and future generations. Mentioning salary ranges on job postings will not solve all racial and gender biases that we experience or witness every day. But it is a step closer to taking care that nonprofits themselves don’t perpetuate persistent gender and racial wage gaps.

Please let us know on Twitter and LinkedIn what you think of our stance on salary equity and transparency. Please also share how this issue affects you and/or your organization.

And thank you for being a member of AFP-NYC. We appreciate you.

Chapter Leadership Brief 4.08.21

By Craig H. Shelley, CFRE, Chapter Treasurer & Managing Director, Orr Group

As the weather warms up it’s making me think of all those Friday afternoons in June, we’ve spent together at the Marriott Marquis for Fundraising Day in New York.  It was always a great place to reconnect with the people and ideas that make our work so special as fundraisers.  Heaped upon all the sadness of the last year is the fact that Fundraising Day won’t happen this year. Again.

Thankfully the chapter is going to replicate as much of the experience as we can virtually with PhilanthroCon.  This two-half day conference will feature 2 keynotes, 12 sessions, 23 speakers, 21 small-group break-out rooms and all the info and most of the camaraderie we’ve come to expect from Fundraising Day.  I’s the first conference I’ve been involved in that is really being designed specifically for the environment we’re in.  The structure and the content are literally meeting us where we are to ensure a first-rate experience.

You can find more details and register here.  Don’t miss it.  You don’t want to end up a few months from now vaccinated, once again hanging out with your friends and being the only one who wasn’t at PhilanthroCon!

by Vikki Jones, CFRE and Victoria Shadle / AFP-NYC Government Relations Committee

AFP-NYC’s Government Relations Committee has been traveling to Albany and Washington, DC for years for Advocacy Days. Advocacy Days are essentially a state-wide coalition of fundraising professionals that annually meets with our elected officials to discuss matters of importance in our profession, the nonprofit sector, and the communities we serve. 

In each meeting elected officials and their trusted advisors have been impressed, even amazed, to hear the impact and reach of the nonprofit sector in New York State. They are surprised to hear that 30,000 registered nonprofits in NY account for nearly two million jobs and $190,000,000,000 in revenue. (Yes, that’s $190 Billion in revenue for the state, along with $33 Billion in payroll benefits for NY residents.) We reiterate the importance of the nonprofit sector in NY by sharing that it is the largest provider of hospital services and healthcare, childcare and daycare, affordable housing, youth development programs, mental health services, services to the aged, and drug counseling, treatment, and prevention programs.

They are always interested in learning more about what we do as fundraisers and how we do it. We speak to elected officials about the impact resulting from the dollars we raise, but also the ways we hold ourselves accountable through AFP’s Code of Ethics and Donor Bill of Rights. And we’ve learned through these lobbying events that if our elected officials are not hearing from us on important issues that matter to our field, then they’re going to assume we don’t have an opinion. If we’re not actively bringing to them our priorities and positions on key legislation we’re giving up our right to a seat at the table. 

Right now we have three priorities and key pieces of legislation we will be actively promoting during our upcoming Virtual Lobby Week -- the virtual version of our annual in-person Advocacy Days.

1. The Universal Charitable Deduction: This important legislation would incentivize giving at all levels as it would allow American donors to take a deduction for their charitable donations, even if they don’t itemize their taxes.
    
2. Postage Rates: The Postal Board of Governors is expected to announce a huge postal rate increase of 6-8.5%, depending on class of mail, while the inflation rate is only 2%. This would have a significant impact on nonprofits that reach out to their constituents through the mail for fundraising, communications, and programming. 
    
3. Pandemic Relief: AFP and the Charitable Giving Coalition were key to congress’s decision to include the nonprofit sector in the multiple pandemic relief acts that have rolled out over the last year, including prioritizing access for PPP loans, the shuttered venues operators grants, and more. During Lobby Week, we’ll continue to voice the need for putting the nonprofit sector at the forefront of financial security in continued supports to get our nation and economy back in prime condition.

Now is an exciting time to get involved in the work of the Government Relations Committee -- no matter how long you’ve been in the field you have the right to raise your voice through advocacy work that benefits our field and our profession. Whether you’ve been a fundraiser for 20 years or 2 years, we encourage you to reach out to learn more about this important work. For Emerging Leaders members in particular, this is an excellent opportunity to take advantage of your membership to learn how to advocate and begin building the blocks of an impactful career advancing not only your organization’s mission, but the work of the nonprofit field across the state. 

To get started, join us on Wednesday, April 21 at 11am as we begin our advocacy training in preparation for Virtual Lobby Week during April 26-30. And if you’re interested but cannot join, let us know and we’ll send a recording to you afterwards. In addition, as lawmakers continue to discuss tax reform, financial reporting requirements, donor disclosures, and more, we encourage everyone to reach out to their senators and representatives to add your insights on how proposed legislation may impact our industry. 

Please contact our committee chair, Kerry Watterson at Kerry@FundraisingWell.com, if you’d like to participate in our Virtual Lobby Week efforts, and to share any issues that you think our legislators need to know about nonprofits and our practices.

AFP-NYC Cohort Series

By Jennifer Moore, AFP-NYC Board Member, Co-Chair Professional Advancement Committee
Vice President of Development, SIFMA Foundation for Investor Education, Inc.

Year after year, our members tell us that the education and networking opportunities from AFP NYC are invaluable, and I couldn’t agree more. As a result, the Professional Advancement Committee spends months planning our programming and networking opportunities for fellow fundraisers to improve their skills and build their networks. However, we felt that we could do even more for our colleagues.

Last spring, we created a series of workshops designed specifically for the Fundraiser leading a small development shop. 15 fundraisers met monthly to learn from both subject matter experts and their cohort peers at a time when connections to colleagues meant more than ever. Together cohort members navigated the transition to virtual galas, managing staff remotely and scaling fundraising techniques for success with a small team.

This year AFP-NYC will be offering two mini-series workshops—Small Shops Think Tank: Take ‎Your Fundraising to the Next Level and Advanced Fundraising: Accelerating Your Path to ‎Senior Management. Both sessions have ‎been curated to provide participants with niche skill-building and peer learning. At the end of ‎the sessions, cohort members will have built a network for information sharing and problem ‎solving, gained tools for managing their department as well as finding time for fundraising and ‎understand how to put fundraising theory into practice for their organization. 

Both mini-series have limited slots, so register now! More details here:

Small Shops Think Tank: Take Your Fundraising to the Next Level

Advanced Fundraising: Accelerating Your Path to Senior Management

Chapter Leadership Brief 3.24.2021

By Michele Hall-Duncan, AFP-NYC Secretary, CEO and President of enCourage Kids Foundation 

As the vaccination effort intensifies and there is a sense of Spring and optimism in the air, I find myself reflecting on the past year. At my foundation, we lost revenue, laid off staff, and restricted programming just like many others. It was a year of loss, both personally and professionally and the lessons learned will stay with me for quite some time.

Cancelling both our 35^th and 36^th anniversary galas required an internal overhaul of how we relied on these large events, as well as a blind trust in our donors that they would be there for us - even without the opportunity to network with colleagues. This required that we lean on storytelling like never before. We told the much-loved story of healthcare heroes through the lens of pediatrics – and it worked! Our donors were moved and are standing by us and the children we serve. We helped donors understand that long standing issues for medically challenged children will remain and new ones will manifest. We will help tackle them all.

I hope that you are all finding light at the end of the tunnel, and that we continue to share ideas, plan events both hybrid and in-person, and hone our stewardship skills even more.

Know that your AFP chapter is here for you to provide support, education, and a sense of community. Be sure to register for the two-day AFP-NYC PhilanthroCon. If you register by April 15^th you can take advantage of early bird pricing. It is sure to be an amazing opportunity to learn from our fundraising peers and move forward with purpose.

Thank you all for all that you do!

Warmly,

Michele

Chapter Leadership Brief 3.12.2021

By Jill Scibilia, CFRE, AFP-NYC President-Elect
Vice President, Development
Phelps Hospital, Northwell Health 

March 11, 2021 was the one-year anniversary of when the World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 was a global pandemic.

I will never forget those early days of the pandemic.  There was an energy fueled by a mix of adrenaline, courage, fear, grit and heart—especially heart.  There are a few moments that will always stand out to me from those days.

First…On my drive to the hospital where I work, I realized my car was the only one on what was suddenly an eerily quiet road.  

Next…Words from frontline colleagues in the hospital shortly after non-essential workers were asked to stay home and work remotely…“I’m frightened, but I’m here,” one said to me.  Another said, “I cry every day, but I’m here.”  

Then…the first Pivot…Hearing how these courageous colleagues were coming to work despite their fear and despite their sadness over what they were facing caring for patients still brings chills to me.  This was when I knew we needed to pivot our fundraising efforts to focus on the COVID-19 response.  I needed to share the stories of these colleagues with a boldness that matched their bravery. 

It has been and continues to be a great honor to work along-side them and share their stories with our community.  The pivot was just the first in a series of a year of “pivots,” which will undoubtedly continue. 

Do you remember when you first understood the significance of COVID-19?  What are the lessons you learned over the past year?  What changed for you?  What is still an unknown?

Our sector has had to pivot and innovate. We are grappling with what will be a temporary changes versus permanent ones.  We are seeking to address these very questions at AFP-NYC.  If you are not already engaged in AFP-NYC, I want to encourage you to get involved and add your voice to the conversation.  AFP-NYC helps to convene our community to help us address these questions and share best practices while we make connections and support one another.

Wondering how you might become engaged?  Here are two immediate suggestions:

1. Join us next Wednesday, March 17^th for “Stewardship Ideas in the COVID age.”  Click here to learn more and register. 
2. Registration is now open for PhilanthroCon a two-day virtual event that will give you the opportunity to build relationships and connections with professionals from across the country and world. Remember, virtual means we are not limited by geography.  Click here to register.  

I believe we are still very much in the midst of this crisis and have yet to fully understand what our new normal will be.  I also know that our work as professional fundraisers has never been more important or needed than today. Philanthropy has the power to make the world a better place. Our missions and all those we serve are counting on us to help facilitate this. 

Thank you for your leadership and commitment to professional fundraising—and for all you do to make the world a better place.

With gratitude,

Jill

Chapter Leadership Brief 2.25.2021

By Steve Jacobson, AFP-NYC President and CEO, JCA, Inc.

This past Wednesday, the AFP-NYC Chapter signed onto an amicus brief prepared by our friends at the Nonprofit Alliance for two cases now in front of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) addressing some states' overreach to obtain donors' private information.  New York is one of those states (California and New Jersey are the other two), thanks to requirements tucked into the 2020-21 state budget legislation by Governor Cuomo last spring during the onset of the pandemic and economic crisis. 

This legal battle has been brewing for the past five years, going back to California compelling nonprofits to provide the state with donor information on the organization’s Schedule B on the Form 990 tax return.  Schedule B requires listing sensitive information, including name, address, and gift amounts for all donors giving $5,000 or more in the reporting year. Three nonprofits sued the state of California, but a federal appellate court ruled against them.  These nonprofits then appealed their cases to the SCOTUS, where two of the cases were consolidated before the Court.  Oral arguments are scheduled for some time in April.

The concern here is around protecting donors' information and preventing infringement upon the First Amendment right to free speech.  With no evidence to support why additional filing and disclosure is necessary, and no protections like what the IRS has to regulate and enforce the confidentiality of our donors' information, this state-by-state requirement has the potential to dramatically impact the health of the nonprofit sector at a time when our services are needed more than ever.  And, while the states may argue that this disclosure would help them police self-dealing or determine whether the organization is truly engaged in a charitable purpose, they have many other avenues and tools at their disposal to achieve these purposes.

AFP-NYC strongly believes that such mandatory disclosure singles out our charitable sector for unfair treatment.  In fact, the federal government no longer requires advocacy groups (501(c)(4) organizations) to complete the Schedule B because they don’t see any need for the information – and that the information could be misused, as was alleged during the IRS Tea Party scandals. This leaves 501(c)(3) charities as the only entities that would still have to report this donor information. 

On a practical level, compelled disclosure of donor information would likely result in fewer donations. Those donors who normally choose to give anonymously may no longer do so.  Furthermore, those donors who fund organizations with controversial missions may not want to have their names publicized for fear of retribution.  This would play the same way for the Heritage Foundation as it would for Planned Parenthood.  In this case, bad policy is just bad policy.

While it may be too late to sign onto the Nonprofit Alliance’s amicus brief, AFP-NYC welcomes your support.  If you would like to help us magnify the impact of our advocacy work on behalf of the fundraising profession and nonprofit sector, we hope you'll join us for the upcoming virtual lobby week, April 26-30.  You can access our virtual lobby week FAQ here.  Please notify our Government Relations Committee Chair, Kerry Watterson at Kerry@FundraisingWell.com before April 2nd if you'd like to join us in our efforts to promote and protect charitable giving.

The time for action is now.  Please join us!

Chapter Leadership Brief 2.12.2021

By Craig H. Shelley, CFRE, Chapter Treasurer & Managing Director, Orr Group

It’s a cliché to say the world is different than it was a year ago.  The funny thing about clichés is that they are true, so here we are in a very different world.  As we all adapt every facet of our lives to this difference, the organizers of the conference that was historically Fundraising Day in New York had a realization. Trying to recreate this iconic annual event, which has drawn nearly 2,000 fundraisers together for a day of learning and networking each June, in our current environment was a fool’s errand.  Fundraising Day in New York will return when we’re all back to gathering in large groups and complaining about hotel chicken (what I wouldn’t kill for a mass-produced hotel meal right now!). That won’t be June of 2021.

Freed from the constraints of taking an icon virtual, the Fundraising Day in New York committee was able to step back and think about what our community really wants and what our AFP-NYC Chapter can still deliver.  We all still very much want and need the exchange of great ideas that has always accompanied the fellowship of Fundraising Day in New York. Our chapter is still the best organization to design and deliver that content. With that, PhilanthroCon was born.

With half-day sessions planned for May 18 and May 19, PhilanthroCon promises to be the go-to event for the most creative and current ideas in fundraising.  Each day will be headlined by a keynote speaker – Caryl Stern, Executive Director of the Walton Family Foundation, will join us on May 18 and Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America, will join us on May 19 – and offer a variety of high-impact information in interactive 45-minute sessions.

More details will be available in the weeks ahead but registration is now open! Sign up now to save up to $70 and make sure you don't miss a thing!