The Comeback of Cause-Marketing and Local Giving.

Donations given to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti topped $528 million.And the latest statistics are predicting that charitable giving by individuals could reach a whopping $227 billion this year, a 4.5 percent increase from 2009’s donation totals.

When I was asked to draft a blog posting for Vivanista on how and why donors should get involved with charities on a local level, I jumped at the chance. Since 2001 I’ve worked in fundraising with small nonprofit organizations, usually with annual budgets of under $1 million a year, and I well understand the challenges of doing it all — fundraising, marketing, public relations — with very limited resources.