Sharpe Blog

Over our 60+ year history, Sharpe Group has worked with thousands of nonprofit organizations of all sizes and across a multitude of missions. One thing is constant: The Sharpe team is committed to making our world a better place through our work. It is often said there is strength in numbers, and we’ve found that …Read More

In the last few years, Americans’ household wealth has continued to grow, reaching record highs driven primarily by increases in the value of corporate stock. According to Federal Reserve reports, the majority of American families have stock holdings directly or indirectly in individual stock shares or other arrangements like IRAs, 401(k)s and 403(b)s. Between 2010 …Read More

The numbers give us some direction: Nearly one out of every six Americans is over age 65, compared with one out of 20 in the previous century. Experts predict that in 2035 those over 65 will outnumber those under 18 for the first time in U.S. history. Every day, there are 10,000 people turning 60, …Read More

While the final months of the year are often the busiest for charities from a fundraising perspective, this year there’s going to be another focus (a presidential election) that will at best fill up your donors’ voicemail, inbox and mailbox with campaign messages and at worst distract them from making their gifts. We continue to …Read More

SmartAsset’s ad reads, “We’re 62 years old with $950K in IRAs. Is it too late to convert to a Roth IRA?”  The debate relates to the individual’s income tax liability when converted and whether there is enough time to grow the account prior to potential income needs arising. How many of your donors may be …Read More

We would all agree that marketing is critical to planned giving. In the for-profit realm, marketing is the outbound reach to promote and sell. However, this is only 25% of the “marketing mix.” Philip Kotler, known as the “Father of Modern Marketing,” is the author of the widely accepted practice of the “4 P’s of …Read More

Senior VP and Senior Consultant Joe Chickey, draws on interactions with his own parents, who are in their 90s, turning these experiences into teachable planned giving moments. Here, he explores lessons in appreciated stock. After much heartfelt discussion and thoughtful debate, my parents recently decided it was time to leave their home of 32 years …Read More

At Sharpe Group, we have found there are many tools and methods used in the for-profit world that can be applied successfully to nonprofit organizations. One of these is SWOT analysis, whose creation is generally attributed to Albert Humphrey in the 1960s at the Stanford Research Institute. to identify why corporate planning consistently failed. SWOT …Read More

Growing up, I watched my father (who just celebrated his 93rd birthday) give blood to the Red Cross, deliver food to the local food bank and take leadership roles in our church. Through his actions, I learned the importance of philanthropy, which led me to my career in fundraising. Another important lesson I learned from …Read More

When it comes to charitable gift annuity programs, the past several decades have been difficult ones. Like a perfect storm, lower interest rates combined with a smaller group of Silent Generation donors who had aged into the 75+ age range, causing the long-popular split-interest gift plan to lose some of its appeal. But now things …Read More