Digital communications, software and similar resources are as necessary to business today as was carbon paper when the Sharpe Group was founded in 1963. Today’s world runs on technology. When you depend on it in your day-to-day work, it can all too often seem like everyone else does as well. However, one major exception should be of special …Read More
Sharpe Insights Articles

Archive for March, 2013
Managing the “Donor Downgrade”
If you are responsible for building and maintaining a strong donor base, what should you do when long- term donors suddenly cut back or stop their giving? Even donors who have been giving regularly for many years normally “downgrade” at some point later in life as they attempt to balance increased living expenses with what …Read More
Sharpe Celebrates 50 Years – With a Look Back at the 1980s
The ’80s were the decade of big hair, big shoulder pads (for women), Rubik’s cube, the Jamaican bobsled team, Game Boy and Pac-Man, the birth of music videos and MTV, the death of John Lennon and the fall of the Berlin Wall. As the Sharpe Group celebrates a half-century of providing consulting, training and creative services exclusively for America’s nonprofits, …Read More
Recapping Appraisal Rules
With the April 15 tax-filing date right around the corner, what do your donors need to know about appraisals for non-cash gifts they made in 2012? A donor needs a qualified appraisal to sustain a claim of an income tax charitable deduction of non-cash property if the claimed value or the aggregate claimed value of gifts of similar property made during …Read More
Golden Geese, White Elephants and Gifts of Personal Property
Editor’s note: In this month’s installment of our nine-part series, we look at gift acceptance policies for gifts of tangible personal property. When formulating policies to guide your organization in deciding which properties to encourage and accept as gifts, one of the most important areas you will want to examine is gifts of tangible personal property. A …Read More