"Tomorrow's Philanthropy Today "

was the theme of the Executive Round Table, an initiative of the South Carolian Association of Non Profit Organizations (SCANPO) that was sponsored by Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A. in Greenville, SC on October 15 and 16.

The Executive Round Table had been cancelled in 2008 as the crippled economy made it difficult for any organization to think about much more than its own existence. The 2009 Executive Round Table had 80 people registered. Mason Hardy, President and CEO of SCANPO said this was the largest crowd that has participated in this invitation-only event. There was a great deal of interesting information shared among the participants and, as most can imagine, the primary topic of concern was the economy.

Dr. Donald Schunk
Dr. Schunk is a Research Economist at Coastal Carolina University and though he wanted to deliver a Good News/Bad News presentation on the state of the economy, the ultimate conclusion is that while technically he agrees the recession is over, realistically it is going to be another year and, perhaps two, before it feels like it is over for most people.

Here are a couple of interesting bullet points from this presentation:
** This is very likely to be a jobless recovery.
** The government stimulus probably kept us from a more severe recession or even depression but, as an economist, he is ambivalent on the governmental actions
** South Carolina has the second highest level of home ownership in the United States and he said, I believe, that West Virginia is first. The mobile home was one of the reasons given.
** His discussion on job creation was very interesting because it showed just how devastating the job losses have been in this current recession. That was important information for this audience because many of the non-profit organizations in the room depend on contributions from individuals for their life blood of funds.
** A portion of the good news of his presentation was that the Dow had gone over 10,000 but he tempered that good news with the caution that the market might not yet be in a steady upward climb. This was of importance to many in the audience, like the Foundations, whose finances have taken hits in the 23 to 33 percent range over the past couple of years and some upward movement of the Dow feels very good.

Will end this blog here to keep it readable and post more about the Round Table in subsequent notes.