Born July 7, 1934 in Livermore, CA to Melvin Jacob and Dorothy Grace Waggoner, Mel graduated from St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, CA with a BA in Philosophy. He married the former Emogene Patten of Napa, and then joined the US Navy, serving as a member of the Explosives Ordinance Disposal team from 1957 to 1960.

After an early career in advertising, he joined public television station KCPQ in Tacoma. He chaired the Bicentennial Commission of Steilacoom and the Save Our Steilacoom committee, which saved dozens of historic homes from demolition and preserved the town’s waterfront from industrial development.

The Waggoners moved to Lake Oswego in 1980, and Mel joined Oregon Public Broadcasting as its grant writer in 1983. In 1988, he established OPB’s planned giving program and was named Director of Gift Planning in 1993.

Over the next nineteen years, until his retirement in 2007, OPB’s endowment rose from an initial gift of $186,000 to $14.5 million. During his tenure, OPB won the PBS Development Award for Planned Giving a record five times. In 2004, he was named PBS Development Professional of the Year, the first and so far only planned giving officer to earn that distinction.

He was well known to OPB radio and television audiences for his passionate delivery of fundraising appeals, but public stations throughout the country knew him for his advocacy of planned giving and pro bono station consulting, which has helped them raise millions of dollars.

He also volunteered his expertise to such local organizations as Three Rivers Land Conservancy and the Lake Oswego School District Foundation and served as MC and auctioneer at many fundraising events. He served as a board member of Northwest Photography Archive and Friends of the Lake Oswego Library, reflecting his passion for contemporary fiction to which he devoted his post-retirement years, establishing his own business, First Choice Books.

Mel is survived by the love of his life, Emogene, sons Steve and wife Tonya of Ohio, John and wife Kathy of Illinois, Tom and wife Jennifer of West Linn, and daughter Caren and husband Tony Moritz of Washington, seven grandchildren (Matt, Ruth, Sarah, Andrew, Amy, Nathan and Brian) who regarded “Naps” as their special pal, a sister, Diane Abate, and a brother, James Waggoner, both of Napa. His sister Carol Richied preceded him in death as did his little princess granddaughter, Emily.

A family burial was held at Riverview Cemetery.  A celebration of Mel’s life will occur on Saturday, September 11, 3:00 pm at Oregon Public Broadcasting 7140 SW Macadam Avenue, Portland, Oregon.

The Family has requested that in lieu of flowers, Mel’s life be honored through memorial contributions to Oregon Public Broadcasting.

That’s the official word. Now a word from me:

I worked with Mel for nineteen years. Public broadcasting’s first major gift site, pg-now.org, was his inspiration. From the site came CPB’s majorgivingnow.org, which incorporates the planned giving material and more, growing out of Public TV’s Major Giving Initiative and Public Radio’s Leadership for Philanthropy.

Those who didn’t know Mel well, but have seen him at conferences, immediately mention the “passion” that he brought to his job. That’s the right word. But Mel was passionate about life and those he knew. Your successes were his successes, and he shared your disappointments and family tragedies.

Mel was one of a kind, and all who knew him will miss him. My best to Emmy and his wonderful kids and grandkids.

I’ve seen this before. During the New England recession of 1989-1991, a multitude of small gifts helped to offset drops in corporate funding and large major gifts.  Well-rounded organizations have individual giving programs that provide a wide range of giving opportunities.

If you know of something similar going on in your community, please let me know.

Index revenue declined a median -1.1% from the first three quarters of 2007 to the first three quarters of 2008. This continues a pattern of decline that began in the last edition of the index in Q2 2008, when revenue declined -2.4% from the first half of 2007 to the first half of 2008.

Relief and animal welfare causes gained ground. Target Analytics provides the most contemporary data on direct marketing results among major non profit organizations. (Full disclosure: our firm does the back-end analysis for Target’s public radio and most public television clients, but we are not involved in the National Index.)

My own view is that it is a short term savings to reduce support for those you can still employ. It is better to fully invest in fewer employees than short change and antagonize many.

When I managed an organization during a recession, we quickly learned to get the bad news out of the way, reduce staff, and assure those who remained that it was our expectation that they would continue to have a job. The steady drip-drip-drip of bad news sets up uncertainty throughout the organization, damages morale, and virtually guarantees that you will lose your best people-those you most need during the bad period.

• Foundations will focus on those with whom they have a relationship.
• Not all organizations will be affected in the same way, and many donors continue to give generously.
• Donations that depend on stock gifts will lag improvement in the market.

Also included, some great tips on strategies to survive and present your case.

On Sunday, the New York Times reported that the Picower Foundation, ranked 71st-largest in the nation by the Council on Foundations, has joined the JEHT Foundation in being forced out of business by the Madoff scam. A number of Jewish charities, including Yashiva University, have been affected by the loss of promised grants.

Both had significant funds invested with Bernard L. Madoff, who was arrested by federal agents on December 12 and charged with running a $50 billion fraud scheme.