It may be only five numbers long, but a zip code can say a lot about a person. Like if they have rich neighbors, for example. Of 29,000 zip codes examined by the Internal Revenue Service, only three had an average yearly income of one million dollars or more, based on recently released data from 2008 (h/t Tax.com). But the average income per year for all of the top ten richest zip codes exceeds $700,000, according to IRS data, a staggering sum compared to the average American taxpayer's income of just $49,000 in 2009.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/23/richest-zip-codes-in-america_n_1297611.html

Philanthropy, in simple words, signifies acts done for the welfare of mankind. Every religion has philanthropic components to it. Islam is no exception; in fact, Islamic injunctions make acts of charity obligatory.

http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/24/philanthropy-in-islam.html

For the environment and climate change movements to regain momentum and win important legislative and regulatory battles, more money needs to go towards grassroots organizing and advocacy, according to the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. In a report released today, the D.C.-based watchdog organization noted that philanthropy's current over-reliance on large national advocacy groups has failed to address the growing environmental and climate crises we confront.

http://www.bradenton.com/2012/02/23/3896657/new-report-philanthropy-must-fund.html

Hong Kong’s richest have been some of the world’s biggest beneficiaries from the economic rise of China in the past three decades. Now that the mainland is getting pinched by the global slowdown and tighter interest rates to tame inflation, Hong Kong’s wealthiest are feeling the squeeze.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/russellflannery/2012/01/05/hong-kongs-richest-catch-a-cold/

This chart shows the share of all contributions given by the top ten donors to each of the 12 largest super PACs, through Jan. 31. Some corporations are affiliated with individual donors, such as the Contran Corporation, which is owned by Harold Simmons. Some donors, such as Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, Yasmin and Oren Lukatz, and Sivan Ochshorn gave individually but are all members of a single family. Hover over each super PAC's name to see the total raised by its top ten donors, and hover over each donor to see how much they gave:

http://projects.propublica.org/pactrack/contributions/tree

Two days after the Federal Reserve Board approved Capital One Financial Corp.'s $9 billion purchase of Netherlands-based ING Groep NV's U.S. online banking division, an advocacy group is calling for tougher standards for considering a banking organization's charitable donations toward its compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act and with new public interest requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act.

http://www.thedeal.com/content/regulatory/ing-merger-foes-want-bank-philanthropy-standards.php

As the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation recently discovered, mixing mission and politics can cost an organization both credibility and dollars. Susan G. Komen, dedicated to the least controversial cause imaginable, eradicating breast cancer, lost the support of many core donors over its (since reversed) decision to end its relationship with Planned Parenthood, a national organization that provides women’s health care, family planning, and, incidentally, abortion services.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1817692/better-ways-to-give-it-away-philanthropy-20

Andrew Pole had just started working as a statistician for Target in 2002, when two colleagues from the marketing department stopped by his desk to ask an odd question: “If we wanted to figure out if a customer is pregnant, even if she didn’t want us to know, can you do that?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

When I was a major gifts officer, I was given goals so that my vice president could measure multiple levels of my effectiveness.  One measure of course was dollars raised, but other metrics were number of face-to-face visits with individual prospects, number of proposals submitted, number of prospects moved from one category to another (from cultivation to solicitation).  But I am asked often how long should it take to research and confirm a prospect?

http://www.prospectresearch.com/prospect-research/metrics-in-prospect-research.htm

Despite many challenges, nonprofits retain a sense of optimism about the next six months according to the survey results cited in the State of Grantseeking 2011 (published in November 2011). And it gets particularly interesting when you start looking at the responses from arts, culture, and humanities groups.

http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/community/b/tsblog/archive/2012/01/23/arts-culture-amp-humanities-what-is-the-current-state-of-grantseeking.aspx