We try to get around to everything, but it isn't always possible. So, as July begins, here are links to some important research studies from the month of June.

• Johns Hopkins University released a study earlier this week about the unprecedented financial stress experienced by 80% of nonprofits during this recession. However, the report also remarks on the resiliency of nonprofits as well, with more than two-thirds of the nonprofits studied reporting that they are successful or very successful in coping with that stress.
• Giving by women and to benefit women is on the rise, according to a report by the Foundation Center and the Women's Funding Network. The press release said, "Foundation giving specifically targeted to benefit women and girls has surpassed the rate of overall foundation giving in recent years, and women's funds are a rapidly growing and influential force within philanthropy...."
• Is Florida a microcosm for the nation? A recent study found that male nonprofit executives in that state earn nearly 30% more than their female counterparts. Unfortunately, those results are in line with a national study from Guidestar last year that found, at the largest organizations, female executive directors earned 34.8% less than male CEOs.

If you thought national service was just for young people, Civic Ventures has proven you very wrong.

Civic Ventures is a San Francisco nonprofit, founded by Marc Freedman, author of Encore: Finding Work that Matters in the Second Half of Life. The organization's mission is to help older Americans find meaning during the second half of their lives through public service.

Yesterday, President Obama showcased several Civic Ventures Purpose Prize awardees, and their social ventures, in a special program at the White House when he announced how the $50 million innovation fund that was included in the Serve America Act would be used. The President said:

"We're going to use this fund to find the most promising non-profits in America. We'll examine their data and rigorously evaluate their outcomes. We'll invest in those with the best results that are most likely to provide a good return on our taxpayer dollars. And we'll require that they get matching investments from the private sector -- from businesses and foundations and philanthropists -- to make those taxpayer dollars go even further."

To illustrate the kind of programs the innovation fund would seek out, the President brought representatives of a number of social programs to the White House. Among them were Civic Ventures Purpose Prize winners Robert Chambers, who founded an organization that provides car loans at low-interest rates to low income people; and Gary Maxworthy, founder of Farm to Family that connects fruit and vegetable growers directly to food banks.

Civic Ventures provides a number of programs that actively encourage older adults who are retired or nearing retirement age to get involved in work that gives back to their nation and communities. It has been leading that charge for a number of years, but has really come into its own, and received well-deserved attention, since President Obama took office and turned his interest in the voluntary sector into public policy.

Here are some ways Civic Ventures has been involved with encouraging thousands of older Americans take up employment or volunteer work that benefits civic causes:

• Civic Ventures and the MetLife Foundation have awarded eight $25,000 grants to community colleges that support programs for retraining experienced adults for "encore" jobs. "Encore" is a term Civic Ventures uses to describe jobs for people either late in their careers or during their retirement years. The emphasis is on jobs that serve a social purpose.
• The Purpose Prize awards up to $100,000 to social innovators over the age of 60 who create new ways to solve social issues. The nominations for the 2009 awards are in, and the winners will be announced in the fall. Reading through the bios of past winners of this award can be inspiring to older people who want to create meaningful activities in their later years.
• Encore Fellowships were funded by the Serve America Act earlier this year. The program will name 10 Encore Fellows in each state, to be matched with qualifying organizations, who will serve in one-year management and leadership positions. The fellows receive training and a stipend for their service. The first fellows will be announced in 2010.
• The Next Chapter aids organizations that help people in the second half of their lives to transition to public service.
• Encore Opportunity Awards helps organizations that are building a vibrant older workforce.
• Experience Corps was founded by Marc Freedman in 1995 to show that older adults could address some of our country's serious social issues. ExperienceCorps places older volunteers in public schools throughout the U.S. to help teach young children how to read. It has been immensely successful, not only for the children and teachers, but also in showing the value positive volunteer experiences have on older people.

For more information see:

• Obama Meets Purpose Prize Winners at the White House
• Remarks by the President On Community Solutions Agenda
• National Service Makes a Comeback

We often think of Facebook and Twitter when we hear the word "viral." But while you're mastering social media, don't neglect the simple, old fashioned word-of-mouth things you can do.

Here are three ways to facilitate face-to-face, phone-to-phone, and email-to-email transmission of information about your cause...More...

Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years this morning, but his fraudulent investment scheme is still unraveling, snaring many nonprofits who both won and lost as a result of the Madoff crimes.

The New York Times reports that many charities made money from foundations and investors that were reaping large profits from investments with Bernie Madoff's fraudulent fund. These funds came through charitable donations from foundations that invested with Madoff, such as the Picower Foundation, the Chais Family Foundation, and The Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation. The Times says, in its article:

"The bottom line is that there were net winners in the Bernie Madoff scandal, and many charities received money that was at best tainted by Mr. Madoff, and at worst directly attributable to his crime. In the coming months, many of the people who benefited from Mr. Madoff, inappropriately or otherwise, are going to be sued or otherwise asked to return the money they received."

The questions are: is that money tainted even though it went to good causes? Can it be traced? Should it be given back to reimburse the victims in this mess?

• 14 Easy Ways to Grow Your Email List
  Kivi Leroux Miller provides the basics about collecting email addresses and keeping your list clean.
• Assessing America's Giving Challenge
  Allison Fine summarizes the findings of the report on the America's Giving Challenge from last year. Terrific reinforcement for what works in peer-to-peer fundraising and the not-so-surprising success of small nonprofits.
• Wanted: Powerful Nonprofit Taglines -- Enter 2009 Tagline Awards Today
  Nancy Schwartz of the Getting Attention blog invites you to submit your tagline to the second annual tagline competition. Don't know a tagline from a fishing line? Download Nancy's free report.

Brush up, learn new skills, get new ideas at some of the terrific webinars available this summer. Here are some that look too good to pass up:

• Entrepreneurship: Is It for Me?
  July 9, 12 pm - 1 pm ET. This free webinar is about social entrepreneurship by Geri Stengel, whose list of accomplishments is very long in this field. What does it take to be an entrepreneur? To start a social enterprise? To start a business with a heart?

• Planned Giving: Here's What It Is - Here's What It Takes
  July 21, 1 - 2 pm. ET. Free webinar by Lorri M. Greif, CFRE, President of Breakthrough Philanthropy. All nonprofits need to have a planned giving program. Learn about how to do it or how to improve yours.

• Branding Beyond the Logo
  July 29, 1 - 2:30 pm, ET. Free webinar by Larry Checco, branding expert and author. Get practical, cost-effective branding strategies that you can integrate into your organization's everyday business activities. Any organization can build a great brand.

• How to Use Online Video to Raise Money, Serve Stakeholders and Improve Organizational Efficiency and Effectiveness.
  July 15, 1 pm ET. This is a lot to pack into a 1-hour webinar, but Marc Osten promises to provide some ideas that will get you going in the right direction. Sponsored by Charityhowto.com.

• Content Creation Stratiegies: Making the Most of Your Writing, Photos, and More
  July 23, 1 pm ET. Free webinar by nonprofit marketing guru Kivi LeRoux Miller. Learn about editorial calendars, where to get ideas for new content, recycling what you create, and more.

Last week, Ruth McCambridge, editor of The Nonprofit Quarterly, said that the recession for nonprofits will likely last longer than we thought.

McCambridge said, in a speech at the Clinton School for Public Service, that the assets of foundations have fallen precipitously, and that nonprofits will have to turn to other sources for funding. She urged nonprofits to become "creative" in their approach to filling the gap between foundation funding and their ongoing needs.
Source: Forbes.com

In a related article, TheNonProfitTimes reports on a Bridgespan report that reveals five things nonprofits are doing to survive the hard times.

Related:

• Six Ways to Manage Your Donations to Charity Right Now
• Nonprofit Survival Course: Lessons from the Recession
• Giving USA Report Yields Insights Into What Fundraisers Can Do Now
• Avoiding a Madoff: Protecting Your Charitable Donation

Whoa...The number of High Net worth Individuals (HNIs) has gone down by 15%, falling to 8.6 million globally. This is the 2008 number, reported by Merrill Lynch and a French company, Capgemini.

The numbers are even worse among ultra-HNIs, those people with assets of $30 million or more. The number of those individuals has fallen by 25%. According the report, the HNI group has lost two years of growth and is back to the levels of 2005.

North America lost the most millionaires--19% in the number of people who have assets of at least $1 million, excluding their primary residence.

At the same time, for most of us, buying decreased and the savings rate increased. Even though our income increased about 0.5%, consumption decreased by about 0.1%. Our personal savings rate increased to 5.7% in April, the highest in 14 years.

What are the implications for philanthropy and charitable giving? It won't be good, but it may be that the middle class, or merely "well off," will be able to do more, while the largest philanthropists are likely to keep giving, albeit at lower levels. According to Giving USA, charitable giving in 2008 was down substantially, but it could have been worse. The pullback in charitable contributions has not reached the levels of the Great Depression, and probably won't.

What is the outlook for your organization? Are things getting worse or better?

Recently I wrote about how to optimize your website through posting keyword-rich press releases on your website. Another quick way to get your website into the search engines is through a blog.

Britt Bravo has written a wonderful post (while guesting on Beth Kanter's blog) detailing eight benefits for nonprofits that blog. Those benefits include:

• quick communication with supporters
• the ability to use blog content for other communication pieces such as your e-newsletter, Twitter and Facebook feeds, etc.
• improvement of the search ranking of your website in a relatively short time.
• it's fun!

Read all eight reasons to blog, in Britt's own great style.

The nonprofit world suffers losses when celebrities that have been spokespeople and supporters die.

This week is shaping up to be devastating. We lost Farrah Fawcett, who was active with the National Domestic Violence Hotline and the American Cancer Society, among other activities. Her final gift was a moving documentary, "Farrahs's Story," that followed her courageous battle with cancer.

Fawcett's death had been expected for some time, but the world was shocked by the sudden death of Michael Jackson.

Whatever the problems of this iconic star in recent years, he will be remembered for his deeply moving and vastly influential song, "We Are The World," written with Lionel Richie to raise funds for Africa during the mid-1980s.

Over the years, Jackson supported a multitude of causes ranging from AIDS to Juvenile Diabetes to Sickle Cell Research.

We welcome your comments about celebrity and causes, and how those causes are affected by celebrity deaths.

Related:

• Michael Jackson and Philanthropy - Chronicle of Philanthropy
• Michael Jackson, Charity & Social Enterprise - Uncivil Society Blog

Michael Jackson at World Music Awards in 2006 (Photo by MJ Kim/Getty Images)