Good morning, Washington! I hope that November is treating you well. Just wanted to share a couple interesting articles with you, plus a couple great news items from our non-profits!

Donations by the Wealthy Dropped – Yesterday, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported that “gifts to charities from wealthy Americans plummeted by an average of nearly 35 percent from 2007 to 2009.” That said, the decline in the economy is a much more likely cause than a decline in interest or investment, as the study “found an uptick in volunteering among wealthy Americans. More than 3/4 of the wealthy donors volunteered at least some time last year the average number of volunteer hours rose from 241 to 307.” The article also has some cool insight into why donors give when and how they do. Check it out right here.

Financing Not Fundraising: The Message of Social Impact – Stop by Social Velocity for this ongoing blog series. In the latest part, they discuss “how to move fundraising messaging away from organizational needs and toward social impact.” The piece goes on to say that a nonprofit is actually “an intermediary between a donor and social impact … the donor is not investing in a nonprofit organization, rather they are investing in the social impact the nonprofit creates.” What do you think? Certainly an intriguing way to frame the development process!

Social-Media Manager Profile: Jennifer Roccanti — Also stop by the Chronicle’s website to see their profile of the development associate at Miriam’s Kitchen! Jennifer has raised “$10,000 for the organization through DC Twestival, a Twitter event.” As @miriamskitchen, she has over 3,200 followers. We’re following her and you should too!

Congratulations to J. Reilly Lewis – At its 50th anniversary celebration yesterday evening, The Washington Chorus honored twelve of our capital city’s great chorus founders. Among them was J. Reilly Lewis, the founder and director of Washington Bach Consort. Three Catalogue cheers!