Sharpe Blog

Some former crises: 1974: OPEC surfaces…gasoline jumps to $1 per gallon…people start stealing food. 1976: Swine flu…the virus crisis that wasn’t. 1987: A 20% one-day drop in the Dow. The painful crises of the 1970s and 1980s are mostly forgotten. The current crisis, I expect, is going to have long-lasting effects, like the Great Depression. …Read More

Sharpe clients are asking about planned giving marketing efforts. Asking if they should hold off and delay until the COVID-19 crisis has passed. We are not in as uncharted territory as some might think. A recent article in Financial Advisor IQ reports that attorneys are being inundated with requests to prepare wills, trusts and other …Read More

I’m starting with the man in the mirror I’m asking him to change his ways And no message could have been any clearer If you want to make the world a better place Take a look at yourself, and then make a change — Michael Jackson (Man in the Mirror) There are precious few times …Read More

If direct personal contact with your donors is impossible, consider increasing your communications with other methods. For example, if one of your family members was hurting or isolated, abandoning all communications might add hurt or panic. But with a call, a letter or a personal note, you might offer calm assurance and hope in a …Read More

Working in the national office of an organization with charitable gift annuity (CGA) donors and annuitants throughout the country, I befriended donors who didn’t have gift planners located in their geographic areas. My desk was basically a call center. And calls about gift annuities came regularly, enough that the organization maintained around 5,000 contracts and …Read More

Virtually every fundraising professional with whom I have been in contact recently would agree that it is not business—or philanthropy—as usual. Since the emergence of a “flu-like” virus in China late last year developed into the COVID-19 coronavirus and a global pandemic, our personal and professional lives have been disrupted in ways that most of …Read More

By Professor Christopher Woehrle, Chair & Professor of Tax & Estate Planning Department, College for Financial Planning, Centennial, Colorado Among the over 100 provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act are two directly related to charitable giving. The first is an above-the-line deduction against gross income in the amount of $300 for …Read More

By Jon Tidd I was going to discuss the differences between men and women as donors in this week’s blog. Coronavirus intervened. Today, few if any charity gift planners are going to meet face-to-face with prospective donors. But that’s not the problem. The problem is, as history shows, that in times of great uncertainty, prospective …Read More

By Aviva Shiff Boedecker, Sharpe Group Senior Consultant A big question on the minds of development officers during this Pandemic Pause is whether to go ahead with scheduled planned giving mailings. Their concerns fall into two categories: Would the mailing be in good taste? Is it safe; can germs be transmitted on paper? I will …Read More

In times like these, we can all benefit by following the advice of Mr. Rogers. When he was scared, his mother would tell him to “look for the helpers.” We too, can look for the helpers—our nonprofits, volunteers and donors—as examples of how we can also be of service. The one thing we know is …Read More