If you are a director, officer or friend of a nonprofit, what are the best ways to go about raising money for the organization? Donations can come from different sources.

According to “Giving USA 2024: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2023,” Americans gave $557.16 billion in 2023, with the largest source of giving coming from individuals ($374.40 billion) (tinyurl.com/2evmjh6v). The next largest source for giving was foundations, at $103.53 billion. The report is published by the Giving USA Foundation, which is a public-service initiative of The Giving Institute.

Among the top recipients of charitable giving, according to the report, were religion ($145.81 billion), human services ($88.84 billion) and education ($87.69 billion).

As for individual donors, curated charitable giving statistics found at the National Philanthropic Trust (NPT) website indicated that the average yearly charitable donation given by middle-income earners is $3,296, and the average charitable donor in the U.S. is 64 years old (tinyurl.com/jkd9szna).

There is competition for those dollars, as IRS statistics indicated there were more than 1.8 million recognized 501(c) charitable organizations in the U.S as of 2023 (tinyurl.com/37b6pbx3).

As for strategies for raising funds, there are a wealth of options –- and resources. For example, Kindful.com (tinyurl.com/3jfrfw66) offers 14 online fundraising ideas for nonprofits, from virtual events and pledge drives to social media contests and corporate partnerships.

The Double the Donation website provides 22 ideas, including direct mail donations, matching gifts, recurring donations and corporate grants (tinyurl.com/9k2bm43y).

Bloomerang, which creates donor management software, presents a discussion of donor segmentation, which it describes as “the process of separating your nonprofit supporters into groups based on common qualities and characteristics they share” (tinyurl.com/nh9st8rx). Among the suggested segments are frequency, type (how people are donating) and interest (what topics are they most interested in).

If you are seeking help for your nonprofit, one avenue could involve receiving grants. NerdWallet provides a list of possible options in its article “Grants for Nonprofits: How to Get Free Funding in 2025” (tinyurl.com/4btfte5p). Among the options listed (with links) are Grants.gov, the Walmart Foundation, Amazon and Google Ad Grants.

Double the Donation also gives insight into corporate philanthropy trends for 2025 (tinyurl.com/3tba7epc), as well as corporate giving and matching gift statistics (tinyurl.com/3mvee9cj).

Nonprofit Megaphone offers a list of more than 77 donation opportunities for nonprofits along with how to apply at tinyurl.com/yjsrzky5.

Nonprofit consultants may also be of help. You can check out Prosper Strategies (which provides tips on how to find a nonprofit consultant, along with a list of consultants at tinyurl.com/2k6sspn5) and Management Consulted (which lists the top 10 nonprofit consulting firms at tinyurl.com/45n96t4n).

You’ll also want to look at what other nonprofits are doing. For example, the Commonbond.org website offers a guide to the types of donations made to nonprofits (tinyurl.com/sd9bedan). Meanwhile, the IRS has a charitable contributions webpage (tinyurl.com/344nu83w) that includes helpful information.

Among other things, individuals can write a check or give money online, donate goods or stock, or name the nonprofit in their wills or beneficiary designations of their retirement accounts. Or they can even use IRA money to donate, if they are over age 70 1/2, through a Qualified Charitable Donation (QCD).

On that note, if you are working on fundraising for your nonprofit and you’d like to know more about QCDs, I’m doing a short interactive discussion on the subject next week (March 19) in Greenwich, Connecticut. The topic is “Non-Profit Insight: Raising Funds Using QCDs.” There is no cost for the event, but space is limited. See tinyurl.com/57zn6dce to reserve your spot. Full disclosure: Neither I nor my firm are compensated for this pro bono financial literacy event.

DISTRIBUTED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

A question often considered in financial literacy circles is: "What makes people vulnerable to being scammed?"

A new financial capability study recently released by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation (which included researchers from the University of Minnesota and RTI International, a nonprofit research institute) addressed this question. The study sought to get a better understanding of "which social and behavioral factors are tied to fraud victimization," especially when it involves scammers who target older adults (tinyurl.com/36ffub2x).

For the study, researchers used data on 905 known fraud victims (mean age of 75) identified by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

The victims were asked about mass-marketing solicitations that involved "promises of positive financial opportunities or social rewards." These are known as opportunity-based scams (as opposed to threat-based scams). Forty-nine percent of the victims self-reported a prize or grant fraud, 43% reported a product or services fraud, and 31% reported an investment fraud.

The study found that "engaging in activities that increase fraud exposure -- such as opening junk mail, entering sweepstakes drawings to win prizes, answering unknown calls and interacting with telemarketers -- was tied to a greater number of different fraud victimization experiences."

The study used the Routine Activities Theory (RAT), an approach to analyzing crime that involves "likely offenders, suitable targets and the absence of capable guardians against crime," as detailed in a paper published by the American Sociological Review in August 1979 (tinyurl.com/2nkwc94p).

What makes a target "suitable"? The FINRA study focused on several possible characteristics and behaviors:

-- Older age.

-- Risky activities (things like entering sweepstakes drawings, not hanging up on telemarketers and answering unknown calls).

-- Financial risk preferences and behaviors (such as playing lottery games).

-- Loneliness (those who might have "unmet needs for social stimulation, emotional validation and companionship").

-- Financial fragility (people who indicated they would struggle to cover a $2,000 emergency expense).

There were two surprises discovered during the study: "[E]ngaging in more regular online activity (e.g., active internet use, online shopping and social media use) was associated with a lower number of unique fraud victimization incidents." Also, "Unlike the theoretical framework of RAT, the absence of capable guardians was unrelated to the number of victimization incidents." In both cases, FINRA concluded that more research in these areas was needed.

As for combating elderly fraud efforts, the results "indicate that certain factors might make individuals more susceptible to financial predators who use persuasive messages promising to address unmet needs," adding that consumer education programs "may want to focus on certain risk factors and characteristics, as scammers often exploit these vulnerabilities with promises of financial gains, social connection or emotional support."

FINRA recommended these educational topics:

-- Address loneliness.

-- Enhance financial knowledge so that older individuals know "how to make informed financial decisions and identify scam messages."

-- Provide education to reduce exposure to pitches contained in telemarketing offers and junk mail.

-- Assist older people with budgeting and debt management.

-- Reduce risky financial behaviors. "Educational efforts should teach consumers how to distinguish between legitimate and fake lotteries and sweepstakes and highlight the risks of entering competitions and prize drawings, particularly those that involve an upfront fee or that collect personal information."

Fraud won't be eradicated. Consumers reported losing more than $10 billion to fraud in 2023, according to Federal Trade Commission data based on reports from 2.6 million consumers (tinyurl.com/ydx5r3es). The monetary loss was a 14% increase over the previous year and the first time that fraud losses reached that benchmark. The top two categories for financial loss were investment scams (more than $4.6 billion) and imposter scams (nearly $2.7 billion).

Can fraud be controlled or lessened? Education is essential, and resources are available.

The Office for Victims of Crime, part of the U.S. Department of Justice, has a section on elder fraud and abuse at tinyurl.com/mr25dxrs. Among the resources is the National Elder Fraud Hotline (833-372-8311), which is available Monday through Friday.

The FBI's elder fraud section (tinyurl.com/55yzyswe) lists common elder fraud schemes and provides a link for filing reports about elder fraud to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.

In the end, it's all about awareness of potential traps.

DISTRIBUTED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

It is nearing the end of February, and you'd like to file your tax return, but you're missing a few forms you need to do your taxes. What should you do?

This is not an unusual situation, but waiting is probably not a good idea. It's better to reach out to the entity or person responsible for the missing form (1099 or W-2).

Many Form 1099s are scheduled to be sent out by the end of January, but not all. As an example, the website for Fidelity Investments includes a Tax Form Schedule with the "approximate availability of tax forms" (tinyurl.com/2s49x58z). Form 1099-R has a Jan. 31, 2025, reporting deadline, while Form 1099-DIV and Form 1099-B each have a reporting deadline of Feb. 17, 2025.

The issuer may have an extension beyond these dates. The website for Merrill, an investment and wealth management division of Bank of America, notes it has a "regulatory due date with extension," along with an explanation that "Merrill requests an extension with the IRS so that we can validate the information that we're providing. Due dates shown reflect the regulatory deadline as a result of this extension" (tinyurl.com/564rf3wm). For Form 1099-R, it is March 3, while the Consolidated 1099 Tax Statement has a deadline of March 20.

Also, the 2024 Tax Guide for BNY Pershing, a financial services company, indicates that Form 1099-DIV and Form 1099-MISC are due to the recipient on Feb. 15, adding that the due date applies when "the forms are included in a 'composite form recipient statement' as defined by the IRS" (tinyurl.com/2ks3swrt).

What's behind the various dates? An IRS spokesperson explained that payors "can and sometimes do request extensions of time to furnish statements to recipients, but extensions are not automatic and, when granted, are normally for no more than 30 days."

The spokesperson noted that the deadline for items such as brokerage statements, "especially where the payor has elected consolidated reporting," was Feb. 15, although this year, with Feb. 15 falling on a Saturday, followed by the Presidents Day holiday on Feb. 17, the deadline was Tuesday, Feb. 18.

If you are expecting Schedule K-1s from trusts, estates, partnerships and S corporations, the wait will likely be longer, and for good reason. "These respective pass-through entities need to prepare their own returns before they can properly determine what to put on the K-1," the IRS spokesperson explained.

In short, there is some variation to when the forms will arrive. That's a good reason to start with contacting the firm issuing the form.

If, after contacting the firm, you still do not receive a copy of the needed form by the end of February, you can reach out to the IRS for help by calling 800-829-1040 (tinyurl.com/4eezy4dd). You will need to provide your name, address (including ZIP code) and taxpayer identification number (for example, your Social Security number or individual taxpayer identification number). In addition, you will also need the employer's or payor's name and address (including ZIP code).

The IRS will contact the payor to request the missing (or corrected) form.

The IRS will also send you Form 4852, which has the lengthy title of "Substitute for Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, or Form 1099-R, Distributions From Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, etc." (tinyurl.com/mpfbmeu2). In addition, there will be a letter that contains instructions on how to use the form to provide the IRS with an estimate that will allow you to file your tax return before April 15 (or Oct. 15, if you request and receive an extension -- see tinyurl.com/yuud33y6).

Note that if you do receive the missing or corrected form after filing your return and the information is different from your estimated numbers, you will need to file Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return (tinyurl.com/52rut8ts).

A final caution from the IRS spokesperson: "Even after getting any of these forms, check them over carefully. If there are errors or if something doesn't seem right, contact the payor and get it corrected.

"Correcting mistakes up front can help avoid possible IRS correspondence down the road, or the need to possibly file an amended return later."

DISTRIBUTED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION