There’s a great blog called Don’t tell the donor!  www.donttellthedonor.blogspot.com  I found my very own Don’t tell the donor today in the Boston Globe - and the donor is the USA.  President Chavez of Venezuela is pledging $8.8 bn in global aid, more than the USA according to The Globe:
http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2007/08/27/chvez_
pledging_88b_in_global_aid/

Yesterday, visiting a university, I got additional support for perhaps the most significant aspect of my Anonymous Gifts post on 6 August.  The university I was visiting had received a donation of nearly $10 million from a donor who wished to remain anonymous.  The donor said that s/he wished the focus to be on a particular aspect of the university’s work to encourage more donations.  “But the press aren’t interested” the university representative said, “it’s not a story”.  It’s true; the story of a major gift is the story of the donor.

William Cotter is the former president of the Oak Foundation and of the Africa-American Institute.  He has lived and worked in Africa and Latin American.  In tomorrow’s Chronicle of Philanthropy www.philanthropy.com he is reminding readers of the billions of dollars wasted in international aid and assistance in the 20th century and warning that the same may happen again because there is no effective evaluation. 

William Cotter, while praising the inspirational leadership of Jeffrey Sachs, uses as an example Sach’s Earth Institute at Columbia University.  Along with Bill Clinton, President George W. Bush, Bill Gates and Bono, government agencies and private donors from wealthy countries are pouring in money in an effort to transform the developing world.

Who evaluates the work of the Earth Institute?  The Earth Institute does, it is self-evaluation!

“Those who care about closing the “evaluation gap” of the last century” Cotter writes ”are properly critical of that traditional system, where project managers reported the results of their work without outside validation.  The natural tendency to emphasize only the good news is too great for most project leaders.  Moreover, most evaluation efforts are too short term to know whether the gains are sustainable after the outside resources are withdrawn.”

He recommends third party evaluation of randomly selected beneficiaries with evaluation over a number of years to demonstrate the improvements are self-sustaining.

Of course, these are important issues for fundraisers and the donor community  Even more important for those living on less than a dollar a day and potential recipients of aid. 

The full article will be found at http://philanthropy.com/premium/articles/v19/i21/21004901.htm Subscription/registration is required.

Catching up on some older emails I came across Philanthropy UK Newsletter for June.  (This is a terrible warning that I know to be true from the statistics on our e-information service Grants & Resources - it takes up to 6 months for material to be read if it is read at all!)  Nothing directly about international or cross border giving in this edition of Philanthropy UK, but fascinating statistics and other information that could be invaluable to the fundraiser outside the UK researching UK prospects.  And I very much like the strap line “Inspiring Giving” - I wish I’d thought of that.  You’ll find the June edition and other material on their website http://www.philanthropyuk.org/newsletters.asp

I can’t resist a new fundraising idea that might be replicable internationally and this one could be extended to philanthropically minded clients.  It was reported in the New York Times, with thanks to Ken Ristine in Tacoma who sent it to me via www.CharityChannel.com  

Big New York law firms employ summer law associates - paid work experience for lawyers in training.  Fancy lunches in top restuarants are a perk.  Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett has a “Chow for Charity” program.  Summer Associates who go to lunch with a staff lawyer have a budget of $60 each.  If they spend $15 or less the firm donates $45 to a non-profit legal organization.

Last summer Simpson Thatcher raised $49,700 via the program up from $27,000 in 2005.  And the lawyers like having lunch with a Summer Associate because it means a faster meal, not the typical one and a half hours spent lunching with a client, Mr Ziman, a partner, is reported as saying.

These efforts are part of an emerging trend to add a touch of social conscience to lavish recruiting practices for top students in a competitive markets, said James G. Leipold, executive director of thre National Association of Legal Placement, a trade association that serves law firm recruiters and law schools. 

By the way, a Summer Associate a Simpson makes $3,080 a week.

Last Friday I met a UK performing arts venue with a highly successful capital campaign.  They told me that they have received a number of gifts where the donors requested anonymity.  By chance that same day the US Chronicle of Philanthropy reported that US university fundraisers are finding more donors giving large sums anonymously.  Over the last 20 months, it is reported, colleges have received $725 million anonymously including a $100 million gift to support scholarships at Washington and Lee University.

Donors have revealed they asked for anonymity because they fear for their safety and that of their families if people discover the extent of their wealth, so they are determined to protect their privacy at all costs.  Other donors say they want to focus media attention on the recipient institution and not on the donor.

But in response fundraisers say it’s hard to get media coverage for a gift, even of millions of dollars, without an exciting and rewarding human interest story.  This was the message I got from my meeting on Friday too.

Technological issues that have kept me quiet for over a week, but they are all resolved and, amongst other things, I now know how many visit this blog each day.  How I admire those who blog in isolation, without visitors and without comments.  I’m getting comments - but most are incomprehensible.  Now for some serious blogging.