Thursday, January 23, 2014

Philanthropy Growing

Being a fundraising company, we were more than happy to read that charitable giving has rose over 13% in 2013, according to Alex Daniels in his article from The Chronicle Philanthropy.   This we believe is good news! In 2004 many non-profits had to cut back on their goals, and their spending in order to compensate for the lack of donations being received.  Then the economy dropped in 2008, and we all know how that went... 

Here at Benevolenza Fundraising we were happy to hear about this increase in charitable givings!  This means more work for us, because now there are more willing people to reach out to!  At Benevolenza Fundraising, we love working towards a better world, even if it means just helping small communities or even one person at a time.  It is our goal to get everyone around us motivated to do the same thing!

Hopefully this upward trend of charitable giving continues to rise, and more and more people put effort towards helping those less fortunate.  We believe, that if every person makes it their goal to help just one other person throughout their day, our world will be a better place faster than we think.  When we say helping another person we don't just mean with monetary donations; we mean a smile to a stranger, or helping someone out when they're down.  Little things that can turn someones bad day into a good day.  
Please help us keep philanthropy growing!!

Social Media

For those of you on any other social media be sure to check of Benevolenza Fundraising on the following sites!!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BenevolenzaFundraising
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Benevolenza_ 
Our website: www.benevolenzafundraising.com

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

10 Facts about Fundraising

Here are 10 facts about fundraising you may not know!  

  • In 2010 an estimated $291 billion was raised. – Charity Navigator
  • This is an increase of 3.8% from 2009 when giving was $280.3 billion. – Charity Navigator
  • 73% came from individuals. – Charity Navigator
  • While a large majority of donations are still made by check (79 percent), online fundraising is the fastest growing donation channel. – AFP
  • Online fundraising grew 34% and raised over $20 billion dollars in 2010 – Blackbaud
  • The average 1x donation is $60.00. – eNonprofit Benchmark study.
  • Median revenue per donor for multichannel supporters was $339 compared to $88 for offline. – Blackbaud
  • First year retention for multichannel donors was 51%. – Blackbaud
  • On average fundraising responses rates range from .08% to .13% – eNonprofit Benchmark Study
  • According to non profit marketing zone 80% of the people in the United States give to non profits

Progress!


Progress is being made for The Rainbow Run! We are working really heard with recruiting sponsors for the race this year.  So far, we have been fortunate enough to receive donations from Panzica Construction, Whole Foods Market, Weston Inc., Rascal House Pizza; and from our previous sponsors, Gilmour Academy, The Ricci Family Foundation, The Murphy Family, Flight Options, and AVI Foodsystems!

We just wanted to take a moment and thank all of our sponsors, without their generosity our event would not be possible! 



The First Rainbow Run

Last summer Benevolenza Fundraising held the first annual Rainbow Run!  The event was a 5k color run, where colored powder is thrown on the runners after every kilometer they run! Our runners loved the event last year, as we got all positive comments!  The run benefitted Cleveland's University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital.  We, Benevolenza Fundraising, think that Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital works in a positive and impactful way in children's health.  

Last year we were able to raise over $14,000 for the hospital. Our donation is unspecified so the hospital can use it towards whichever project they deem necessary at the time.

We were extremely happy with our efforts and the outcome of the event. Over 440 runners participated in the race, we hosted 2 companies do provide their product, and the run was featured on the 6 o'clock news!  It was a crazy day, but we couldn't be more satisfied with how it turned out.  We were so happy with the outcome that we are planning The Second Annual Rainbow Run this summer, July 12th, 2014!  Mark your calendars! 

Monday, January 20, 2014

Meet Kennedy!




Everyone meet Kennedy!  Kennedy is a co-founder of Benevolenza Fundraising.  Kennedy is currently a freshman at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana.  Knowing that, you can probably conclude that he is the brains of the bunch!  Kennedy plans to study business, he has not decided which field specifically yet, but he is leaning towards finance.  We know he will be successful in which ever field he chooses! Kennedy specializes in the finances and the logistics of our events.  Without him there would be no events!!!

Along with planning fundraisers Kennedy is also involved with many other service projects.  Last spring Kennedy went with a group of students from his high school, Gilmour Academy, to Honduras! Spending ten days down there
Kennedy and his group worked countless hours building houses and supporting the Honduran people.  The mission trip benefitted El Sociedad Amiogs de Los NiƱos.  Kennedy was so inspired by the work him and his group accomplished that he came back in the mood to give even more back to the organization. Kennedy decided to use his company to raise money for the charity Nuevo Paraiso.  Through his Honduras Campaign Kennedy was able to raise $35,786 for the charity.  Kennedy spearheaded this campaign, making it the first campaign that Benevolenza Fundraising put on! 



Kennedy is also known for his love for traveling. Kennedy has experienced: Ireland, Spain, Italy, France, Poland, Russia, China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Bhutan, Peru, Brazil, Honduras, Mexico and Canada.  You can call him the extensive traveller!  
Fun fact about Kennedy!! Kennedy really enjoys hiking... I guess that comes in handy with all the traveling he does!


Meet Madison!



Everyone meet Madison!  Madison is a co-founder of Benevolenza Fundraising.  She is currently a freshman at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio and is studying advertising and graphic design.  Madison likes to get creative when it comes to designing and planning.  With this special talent Madison enjoys designing the advertisements for the events and getting artsy in anything she can!  Her creative eye always leads to a new idea for an event, even just a tweak in table set up!
Madison's first fundraising idea started Benevolenza Fundraising.  During her junior year Madison and Kennedy were both enrolled in a Management and Entrepreneurship class at their high school, Gilmour Academy.  Madison approached Kennedy with an idea to sell student art to raise money for Project Hope for the Homeless.  After the combined efforts and talents of both Madison and Kennedy they debuted their company in a dazzling way!  Their first event happen spring of 2012 named, Art for Hope and Help.  The event benefitted Project Hope for the Homeless and Fieldstone Farms Therapeutic Riding Center.  The first fundraiser was a success raising over $7,000 for the charities!  Thrilled with their accomplishments Madison and Kennedy decided to start planning events for non-profits!



Anyone who knows Madison could tell you that her number one passion is photography.  She started getting into the hobby when she was a freshman in high school, and the passion has escalated from there.  She has been recognized both regionally and state wide for her work.  Through this hobby Madison has become skilled with Adobe products, as she uses them to enhance her photographs.  Constantly looking at things through a camera has changed her perspective on many things.  When looking for the right framing, depth, focus and everything else that comes along with a camera Madison has been able to change her perspective on the world around her.  Who knows! Maybe her photography was what lead her to doing good works around Cleveland!


One fun fact about Madison?  Some may know and some may not... But Madison is obsessed with the Minions from the movie Despicable Me. I mean... Who couldn't love one of these cute guys?!


The First Post!



We are Benevolenza Fundraising and our mission is simple, we plan fundraisers for non-profit organizations in order to support the efforts of charitable, goodwill organizations that serve local and global communities.  We work hard at every fundraiser we put on in order to make it a success for the non-profit.  Making sure our events are a success means we have benefited that non-profit in the greatest way we can.
We work one on one with the non-profit from day one.  As a team, we work on strategies, ideas, planning, advertising, and how to thoroughly execute come event day.  It's countless hours working on every minor detail, but we know that the final product will be worth it.  The satisfaction of having a successful event, and knowing that you impacted a non-profit working for something better in this world, trumps anything one could ever feel.  The satisfaction of helping someone, even if it is indirectly, makes every hour of work worth it.  

We hope you join us in our efforts to do good.  How?  It's easy! If you're interested in one of the causes we support, attend the event! If you can't attend the event donations are always welcome, no matter how small or big.  Then if you can't do either of those we need your help with awareness.  

Awareness helps bring strangers together to support one cause.  Making more people aware of the causes we support and work for will make their missions more possible and successful.  It is really easy to make people aware too!  It is as simple as sharing this blog post on Facebook, or sending out a tweet about one of our events coming up or even talking to your friends about the work we do here at Benevolenza Fundraising.  There are so many little things to do to make your friends aware of important causes.  We hope that you can help us with this small task!