Thursday, March 28, 2013

Big Retailers Are Backing Internet Tax Bill

Change is in the wind for Internet sales. Major retailers are applauding recent Senate passage of a bill to impose sales taxes on all online orders in the United State, arguing that it is needed to "level the playing field" between brick-and-mortar and online retailers. The appeal to cash-strapped governments is clear: The bill's sponsors claim states collectively lose $23 billion a year by not taxing online purchases. The House has its own bill to allow states to levy taxes on online orders from major retailers (sparing small sellers), but the Senate bill would cover all online sellers. The Senate bill is backed by the National Retail Federation and Retail Industry Leaders Association, representing major businesses such as Best Buy, Target, and Wal-Mart. It is opposed by Internet giants like eBay, which argues that the Senate act would unfairly hamper small businesses. The Senate bill has some caveats that might initially ease the fears of small online retailers: It would be non-binding, so states could choose to simply not enact it. But opponents argue that this loophole is just a ruse to woo basic support for a more stringent Senate bill in the wings, dubbed the “Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013.” For more, see the news report at http://ivn.us/2013/03/28/major-retailers-want-internet-tax-law-to-level-playing-field/

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Time to Spring-Clean Fundraising Databases

Spring has officially arrived, and it's time to clear the cobwebs from your database, fundraisers. We ran across a timely reminder of this in a NonProfit Quarterly article. Here's a quick synopsis of the three steps to a clean and profitable database. Step 1: Assess the data you need to meet your fundraising goals and then the data you have and when it was last updated. Ideally, your database should be updated and scrubbed annually. Step 2: Verify the accuracy of your data to remove bad addresses, deceased, duplicates, and lapsed contacts. Remember that 15% of households move each year, and 70% of business data is out of date within a year. Step 3: Decide on the value of your names in terms of past and potential donations, and determine an appropriate contact strategy in terms of frequency and channels. If you rely on a broad base of small donors acquired through direct mail, your road to cost-effective fundraising can mean long-term value calculations and modeling, ranking-scoring for propensity to give. Overwhelmed by the task? AccuList USA is among the various third-party vendors that can help. The one thing you can't afford to do is let your database gather dust. As an apt quote from Shannon Duffy, vice president of marketing for Salesforce's Data.com, reminds: "Data is the DNA and the lifeblood of organizations." For the complete article go to http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/management/21985-spring-cleaning-time-for-your-organization-s-fundraising-database.html