Message from a new marketing group that’s looking to do pro bono work for area nonprofits:

The “Unemployed” Marketers Group is a local organization of marketing professionals with a mission to provide pro bono marketing services to non-profits in the Nashville area. If your organization has a marketing need, tap in to this amazing resource and submit a Request for Marketing Services application. The deadline for this round of applications is Dec. 31st, so hurry to get yours turned in! For more information, please visit www.unemployedmarketers.com

In case you are planning on sending out an e-newsletter over the holidays, make sure you include a link to donate! From the NY Times:

For charities that solicit donations online, Dec. 31 is more than New Year’s Eve — it is the most lucrative day of the year.

New data from Convio, a software company, shows that charitable donors that use Convio’s online giving systems made 13.2 times more gifts last Dec. 31 than the daily average for the rest of 2008, and that the charities raised 22.5 times more money than they did on an average day.

Convio, which estimates that as much as 10 percent of online giving moves over its systems, also found that in the last week of 2008, the average gift size was 57 percent larger than the weekly average for the rest of the year.

“The bottom line is that the last week of the year and, in particular, the last day of the year, is huge for online fund-raising,” said Gene Austin, Convio’s chief executive.

From the Nashville City Paper:

After a busy fall semester, Homework Hotline is closing for the holidays, giving its tutors and volunteers a chance to catch their breaths.

The Middle Tennessee telephone tutoring service says it answered 13,103 calls from more than 4,400 unduplicated callers. With most of them — including those from parents — problems were resolved, according to summary reports released this week.

Homework Hotline provides one-on-one free tutoring by phone to Middle Tennessee students and parents — helping students acheive, one assignment at a time. With Homework Hotline, students tackle new concepts, complete challenging assignments, and gain academic skills.

From today’s Tennessean:

Friday is delivery day at the Martha O’Bryan Center, Nashville’s largest emergency food distribution center. That’s when the Second Harvest truck arrives, carrying canned goods, cereal, pasta and produce. The shelves are restocked, and the doors open to waiting crowds that sometimes stretch around the building.

“The truck comes on Friday. By Tuesday, we’re running short,” said Gregory Reynolds, who runs the center’s food bank.

At the Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, the goal was to collect enough food to provide 361 agencies in 46 counties with enough food to last through January — some 7 million meals.

So far, Second Harvest is 4 million meals short of its goal and facing the very real possibility of running out of food in January.

“We’re in a very critical position right now,” said Tasha Kennard, director of marketing and communication for Second Harvest of Middle Tennessee. “We are way behind.”

Nashville’s Young Nonprofit Professionals Group helped sort food last night at Second Harvest. Special thanks to Lisa Davis, Josh Corlew and Meghan Markie for putting together the event! For more information on how to donate to Second Harvest, visit http://www.secondharvestmidtn.org/.

Check out video of the event from Nancy Van Reece. Thanks Nancy for sending!

In light of the recent news involving an Alive Hospice employee,  Gail Kerr discusses the importance of the work of Alive Hospice and their stellar 34 year record of service.

The Tennessean reports on the screening policies for recipients of the Salvation Army Angel Tree program. Update on reader response in Tuesday’s Tennessean.

Ms. Cheap announces the results of the Holiday Penny Drive for Second Harvest Food Bank.

Red Cross volunteers sort 6,000 Holiday cards for troops.

From WPLN:

Starting January 1st, the National Kidney Foundation of Middle Tennessee will part ways with its parent organization. The local chapter is the latest to splinter from the national group.

The National Kidney Foundation is consolidating administrative functions in *New York City. Teresa Davidson runs the local chapter and says the push to streamline would give her far less autonomy.

“If we’d gone with the division model, 100% of our funds would have gone to the national office. Our board would have become an advisory board instead of a fiduciary board.”

The local board has voted to form a new, independent entity called the Tennessee Kidney Foundation. Davidson says the move guarantees that local funding will be used to help dialysis patients here instead of other parts of the country.

Chapters in Mississippi and Nebraska have also broken ties with National Kidney Foundation.

The National Kidney Foundation says it will start another chapter in Middle Tennessee. Davidson says there’s room for two.

“I think we can continue the work we’re doing because it’s not necessarily work they’re going to do.”

Davidson says she’s noticed the national focus drifting toward research, while her agency specializes in direct aid. Last year the group raised $650,000 and provided 350 dialysis patients with medication, transportation and utility bill assistance.

 The Tennessee Foreign Language Institute is offering a special discount for CNM Members that want to learn a foreign language in the new year:

SPRING 2010 TERM: January 25th – April 24th EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT ONLY $325! (REGISTER BY DECEMBER 25)

After December 25th, Tuition prices for 12 weeks:

New student: $400
Returning student: $375
Current/Retired Federal and Metro employees, Seniors (65+) and 501c3 (non-profit) employees: $350
State employees(FT): Free with State Fee Waiver

LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE IN A NEW YEAR

Visit www.TFLI.org to view the schedule and enroll.

The Tennessean reports on how nonprofits in Middle TN are facing the challenges brought on by the recession:

Another challenged nonprofit is Junior Achievement of Middle Tennessee, which teaches children business skills designed to help them develop careers, said Beth Torres, vice president for events and funding development.

“We’re still feeling the effects of the recession,” Torres said. “We don’t have a large base of individual donors, and our corporate giving is down enough that it makes a difference.”

Still, she said the number of volunteers working directly with kids is up, and that helps. “Now, if we could get our funding up, we could supply all of the demands,” Torres said.

Arts groups fare better

Some arts organizations appear to be weathering the recession better than social services groups, perhaps through skillful marketing.

At the Nashville Symphony, for instance, season ticket sales are up somewhat from last year, said Chief Executive Alan Valentine.

“Things have certainly eased up a bit from the crunch we experienced when this first happened,” Valentine said. “But we’re not anywhere close to things being back to where they were. Nor do we expect them to be anytime soon; that’s just the new fact of life. Contributions are still off, and are maybe worse this year than last.”

As with other local arts nonprofits, the symphony made significant budget cuts this year, while “trying to keep the quality of our programs high,” Valentine said.

“We can’t retreat from our core missions,” he added. “And we have to remember that even the Great Depression ended.”

Tuesday - Friday from 9:00am to 3:00pm for this week only,  TRICOR is having warehouse sale. Items available include:

• Desks
• Bookcases
• File Cabinets
• Tables
• Wastebaskets, and much more.

 The warehouse  is located in Metro Center area, 240 Great Circle Drive, Suite 310, Nashville, TN. Please feel free to contact  Customer Service Mangers @ 615/741-5705, ext.# 200, or 800/958-7426 for more information.

Is your nonprofit board functioning smoothly? Or are there some rough edges?

The Center for Nonprofit Management is prepared to help you smooth out those rough edges through a program designed just for you. Our expert consultants are now prepared to spend forty-five minutes with your board- at its meeting-at your location. After a brief preliminary needs assessment, the consultant will address your agency’s needs through one of the following topics:

• The roles of your board and its members;
• How board meetings should flow;
• How a board should be organized to move your agency forward;
• The board’s role in fundraising;
• How to recruit strong and effective board members;
• How to create strategic alliances with other nonprofits.

In a fast-paced world, this is the most effective way to impart new skills to your board and your agency.

The cost for this refresher is an affordable $195.

If you want additional information about this opportunity, please contact Lisa Pote at 259-0100 (lisa@cnm.org).

We look forward to helping you make a difference in the effectiveness of your governance-and in the operation of your nonprofit.