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The Sacramento area’s first 24-hour online giving drive for arts groups raised more than $400,000.

The online Day of Giving raised $411,907, according to Arts Day of Giving website. A total of 3,460 gifts were received.

In exchange for donations, donors got discounts from 27 different restaurants and businesses…

Independent Sector’s latest annual calculation of the value of volunteers’ time is out. For 2012, the value of an average American’s one hour of volunteer time was $22.14.

After donating to a local Japanese drumming troupe, Donna Reedy was feeling upbeat.

And frankly, a little hungry.

The state employee was standing in line at the Drewski’s Hot Rod food truck Monday afternoon, donation receipt in hand, about to cash in on a $1 discount from the mobile eatery…

Nonprofits in Yuba-Sutter are struggling financially due to economic constraints, and volunteers are working even harder to keep programs alive.

The Nonprofit Resource Center in Sacramento, which supports 18 counties including Yuba and Sutter, said organizations these days are expected to do more with less…

Interesting, isn’t it, how sequestration has faded from public debate? It may be that the sequester was overplayed by the White House and its Republican opponents in Congress, with the White House hinting at dire consequences for the nation’s fragile economic recovery and the Republicans suggesting that cutting government funding would actually boost economic activity. We know where the sequester has had its impact: on services to the poor and people in need, of the kind typically delivered by nonprofits acting solo or in partnership with governmental agencies.

The nation’s leading nonprofits accomplish their missions by sharing leadership with their volunteers, a practice that consultants Leslie R. Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant chronicle in their book “Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits.”

Grant will share all six practices on May 8 at The California Museum, 1020 O St., in Sacramento. Monday, in an interview, she spoke about the importance of nurturing nonprofit networks and inspiring volunteers, or evangelists as the authors call them…

A recent study by the Fairfield County Community Foundation in Connecticut focuses on collaboration and mergers among local nonprofits.The survey drew a 30 percent response rate, and of the 104 Fairfield County nonprofits surveyed, eight percent have merged and 21 percent have considered a merger.Those organizations that merged reported that the primary benefit was not cost savings, but higher quality and quantity of services available to the community. Those who have considered a merger but did not complete one stated that the primary reasons included cultural differences, personnel considerations, and the questionable financial return on investment. The results of this study are consistent with David La Piana’s argument that mergers don’t always lead to better financial returns.

The study goes on to note that although 57 percent of respondents have program-level partnerships with other nonprofits, only 10 percent of respondents have engaged in back office sharing, a strategy that was reported to offer significant cost savings by most of the participants. Thus, the collaboration story mirrors the merger story: partnerships are less about cost savings and more about increasing the quality and scope of services. –Michelle Shumate

In an effort to help Sacramento elementary school kids with reading and learning, Vision To Learn will expand its free services through the five school districts serving the city.

Philanthropy needs to step up its efforts to influence policy if it expects to produce big changes on pressing issues like poverty, criminal justice, health care, the environment, and education, government officials told an audience of grant makers, nonprofit leaders, and scholars this week at an event on philanthropy and politics.

Affluent young donors say they are more focused than their parents and grandparents on producing a measurable impact with their giving, according to a study released today.  What’s more, some of them say they care more about advancing a cause than helping an institution, the reverse of how they see the philanthropy of their elders. “Heartstrings don’t do much for us,” says Jaimie Mayer Phinney, a 29-year-old trustee of the Nathan Cummings Foundation, established by her great-grandfather.

There’s a new flavor in the Big Tomato: pride in this city’s farms, food and restaurants.  Fed by a homegrown generation of chefs and farmers working collaboratively, this formerly beleaguered bastion of blah has blossomed into a vibrant village feasting on fresh, locally grown produce, meat and fish.

Twenty-eight local nonprofit groups will receive a combined total of $741,206 in grant funding from Dignity Health, which operates eight hospitals in the region including its Mercy and Methodist affiliates.

In the Washington Post, Vanessa Small and Sarah Halzack write about William Hanbury’s time at the helm of the United Way of the National Capital Area, during which he righted the ship after some devastatingly embarrassing financial management scandals. Interestingly, they report that a “most critical” component of his strategy for resurrecting the damaged United Way was “a shift away from the workplace-oriented giving campaigns that have long been the lifeblood of the organization.”

Congress averted the so-called fiscal cliff for the time being, passing legislation under the cover of darkness last night. While the measure avoids one of three federal fiscal deadlines, it has an important impact on donors and employees at nonprofits.

Are there some fields that would be better served by removing the profit motive, where, in other words, nonprofits should be the preferable provider? It seems so if we care about the quality of care provided to the sick and elderly and if we care about out of control medical costs.

Many nonprofits are trying to figure out the big picture on social media and many are focusing on how to use it to reel in big fish donors. But the Naperville Area Humane Society may be doing more to engage its friends and followers by thinking really small. The organization has successfully used a sign on a well-traveled road to alert people to its immediate needs, such as a dwindling supply of kitty litter. Now its social media staff is doing the same thing on Facebook and Twitter, posting timely pleas for help.

As we are in the end-of-year period when people traditionally think about making charitable contributions to nonprofit organizations and causes, we recognize that there are almost as many reasons to give as there are donors. But what donors give to and what they should expect to see from their gift has been a fairly hot topic, particularly with the growing emphasis on outcomes in the sector. As one article in NPQ has reported, there have been many studies and much investment in looking at what donors want. With no firm conclusions to be had, there are nonetheless legions of advocates who are wed to the idea that even if metrics are not what donors want as deciders in their giving, they should be. Now, in a blog on the New York Times website, Tina Rosenberg writes about a researcher from Oxford University, Toby Ord, who suggests that donors should give to those organizations that are the most effective in having an impact on the most significant issues (by the way, if you read this blog posting, do open up the comments section, as there have been some very interesting and intelligent responses posted there from around the world)…

Senior Obama administration officials invited nonprofit leaders to the White House this week to enlist them to push for increased taxes on the wealthy, a request that went unheeded as charity officials from across the country spent Wednesday lobbying Congress to preserve the charitable tax deduction during deficit-reduction negotiations.

A collaborative effort between Conaway growers, Yolo County and the Food Bank of Yolo County is providing 160,000 pounds of rice to those in need, the county announced Friday…

After losing Sunshine, her beloved dog, to old age nearly 25 years ago, Gail Catlin and her children started searching for a canine companion who would attempt to one day walk in Sunshine’s footsteps.

“I looked at puppies wherever I went,” said Catlin, currently the  Executive Director at the Sacramento-based Nonprofit Resource  Center. “One day I found myself at a local pet store and fell in love  with what I thought was a purebred Golden Retriever. Before I know it, I was driving home with a little ball of fluff that we named Poppy.”

Just a couple of months after joining the Catlin family, Poppy began to limp, favoring one of her hind legs. It was determined that, at just seven months of age, Poppy was suffering from severe hip dysplasia and would require surgery…