A bill that would offer rebates to Prince George’s County, Maryland, residents who buy surveillance cameras has passed unanimously, after the council heard from the parents of a teen shot last year whose killer is still on the loose.

The bill was named after 13-year-old Jayz Agnew, who was shot while raking leaves in front of his Temple Hills home last November. His friends and family were the only ones to testify about the measure.

“We would have been able to, by now, have some leads,” said Agnew’s mother, Juanita. “At this time, four months later, there’s no arrests or no leads in the case. And it’s difficult to think that would have been the same” if someone on her block had cameras, she told the council.

“I was the last person to see Jayz alive,” his father Antoine Agnew said. “I wish I had some kind of cameras.”

He said he felt “so, so safe” when he moved to the neighborhood seven years ago.

“Think about your own children,” he went on. “Just as my son was just raking leaves in the yard and got killed, just think about your child possibly in the same situation — that you can turn your back and a life can be taken from you within the blink of an eye.”

The legislation provides rebates up to $200 for camera purchases, and $100 for subscription costs to store the footage.

District 2 Council member Wanika Fisher said the cameras at her home helped police arrest someone earlier this month.

“I recently had an armed robbery happen right in front of my door,” she told her colleagues, saying she was able to send footage right from her phone.

“It’s absolutely constant,” she added. “It’s very constant and present in District 2 and the officers used all the camera footage that I had around my property.”

But while the law was enacted by the council, providing the funding for it is a different matter. The council is currently in the budget process and still has to determine how much money to ultimately allocate for the program.

Last week, when County Executive Angela Alsobrooks unveiled her budget for the upcoming year, she warned money was tight and that there wasn’t a lot of room for new spending, since over 80% of the budget was already accounted for with education and public safety spending.

At a council committee hearing about the bill earlier last month, the bill’s main sponsor, Krystal Oriadha, said she hoped to keep it within about $100,000 to $250,000 in the first year of the program, something council chair Tom Dernoga called “eminently doable.”

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Only 1.2% of .Org domains globally have implemented measures to prevent email phishing, spoofing, and ransomware attacks. This figure rises to only 20% among the top 100 US non-profits .Org domains by traffic.

New research from email security provider EasyDMARC reviewed a dataset of 9,935,024 verified .Org email domains. EasyDMARC found that only 376,497 (3.8%) domains had implemented the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) security standard.

The DMARC standard enables the automatic flagging and removal of receiving emails which are impersonating senders’ domains, which is a crucial way to prevent outbound phishing and spoofing attempts. Despite the standard being over a decade old, this research indicates a widespread under-adoption of the standard among non-profits.

While there is a greater degree of DMARC adoption among the 100 most popular US non-profits by traffic, one in four still has not deployed the standard. Further, only 20% of the top 100 US .org domains have both deployed DMARC and implemented a ‘reject’ policy that automatically rejected emails impersonating a legitimate domain.

The research also signals a failure by the global non-profit sector to adequately configure DMARC when implemented. Among the small minority of the global .Org domains tested that employ DMARC, 171,486 (45.6%) had incorrectly configured it. As a result, these organisations lacked visibility into any impersonating emails they received or blocked.

Globally among non-profit domains using DMARC, only 121,290 (32.2%) had implemented a ‘reject’ policy that automatically rejected emails impersonating a legitimate domain. Most domains employing DMARC had configured it to do nothing about impersonating emails, with 218,777 (58.1%) domains having no policy. 55,281 (14.7%) had configured DMARC to send impersonating emails into quarantine.

Gerasim Hovhannisyan, EasyDMARC CEO and co-founder, says: “Impersonating email domains is one of the main tools used in successful phishing, spoofing, and ransomware attacks. That’s why it’s so worrying to see our research indicate that only 1.2% of global non-profits have implemented domain authentication via DMARC, which remains the best way to curb this threat.

“With phishing and ransomware attacks rising dramatically, a widespread lack of domain authentication leaves the non-profit sector incredibly vulnerable to cyber-criminals. Without taking steps to rectify this, many charitable and philanthropic organizations are at risk of significant disruption and financial losses.”

Source: EasyDMARC

The preceding press release was provided by a company unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of NonProfit PRO.

Donors don’t just give to any organization. They do their research. I’ve seen statistics showing anywhere from one-third to three-quarters of prospective donors go to the organization’s website or check out charities’ backgrounds, missions and ratings on watchdog sites, like Candid (formerly known as Guidestar), Charity Navigator and Charity Watch. 

I reached out to Charity Navigator after seeing some stats on gifts made on Giving Tuesday. As you know, I’m always looking for statistics on recurring gifts, so I was really excited to interview Kevin Scally, chief relationship officer at Charity Navigator. 

With his background in fundraising and digital campaigns, including recurring gifts at Smile Train, Kevin gets nonprofits and thus knew exactly what I was seeking. 

He shared that with a shrinking donor population, recurring gifts can both democratize philanthropy and lower the barriers for giving. 

I was of course most interested in drilling down on the recurring giving trends. 

• The average one-time gift was $125 versus an average $36 monthly gift (annualized $432 per year). 
• Of those donors, some 55% of gifts are one-time gifts, and 45% recurring gifts. That’s a substantial percentage, and I’m personally really excited about this.   
• If you look at the trends, from January to February of 2022, there were 1,356 active monthly plans with 3,392 total gifts. During the same time period in 2023, there are 3,383 active monthly plans with 8,398 total gifts. Growing for sure! 

Scally indicated that the biggest days for giving are Giving Tuesday, as well as Dec. 30 and 31 — no surprise there. Charity Navigator collected data from donors who provided insights into how much they planned to give in November and December 2022 compared to the prior year, and how much they actually gave year over year. From that, 46.6% of survey respondents indicated they planned on giving the same amount, and 41.1% planned on giving more. 

Charity Navigator saw some 11 million donors visit its site in 2022. Donors can donate to the organization they’re researching via a donate button right below the charity’s star rating. That button brings the donor to the Giving Basket where the donor can give up to $100,000 via a one-time or monthly gift via credit card, bank account or digital wallet, such as PayPal and Google Pay. Giving Basket launched in 2015. Give Lively has powered the Giving Basket since 2021 and delivers the funds to organizations without any extra fees. The donor can also choose to provide limited or all personal information to the nonprofit.

Credit: Charity Navigator

This offering increased donations through Charity Navigator from $32 million to $40 million. That amount has been increasing year over year. 

“Some donors use this tool to teach their kids about philanthropy,” Scally said. “Together parents and kids do the research and then make the gift together. This is where this $1 a month [minimum donation] is helpful.”

On Giving Tuesday 2022, Charity Navigator’s Giving Basket donations results increased in four categories: 

• $1,141,451 raised (up 6% from Giving Tuesday 2021)
• 9,679 total gifts (up 16% from Giving Tuesday 2021) 
• 3,518 total charities (up 9% from Giving Tuesday 2021) 
• 2,059 total donors (up 5% from Giving Tuesday 2021)

Plus, Giving Basket donations were up 20% over the course of the year, in comparison to 2021. Only 2% of donors who visit the site to check out an organization make a gift using the Giving Basket, which signals most donors give directly to the nonprofit after conducting their research. 

Charity Navigator is continually working to enhance the donor and nonprofit experience. The team is in the process of actively surveying donors to better understand the timing of giving, reasons to give, reasons to use the Charity Navigator Giving Basket and which information donors are most comfortable sharing with nonprofits.  

“Recurring giving encourages donors to think about how much they can give — often more than one-time gifts — and to which causes, with the added benefit that nonprofits receive a steady stream of dependable funding,” Scally said “This empowers nonprofits to plan and innovate with their programs. As a nonprofit ourselves, we’re always looking to break down barriers for donors and nonprofits alike.”

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Matt Kuchar has a chance to break at least one record belonging to Tiger Woods, and the Dell Technologies Match Play will be his last chance.

That’s because this is the last edition of the Match Play. And for starters, Kuchar feels lucky just to be part of the 64-man field at Austin Country Club.

At stake: He needs to win three matches to set the record for most matches won in a tournament that dates to 1999. Kuchar is guaranteed three matches, starting Wednesday, in the group format.

Kuchar has reached the Final Four four times, winning the championship in 2013, losing to Kevin Kisner in 2019 and twice losing in the semifinals. His career mark is 34-11-4. Woods, the only three-time winner of Match Play, has a 36-12 mark.

“This is an event I love, an event that’s been really good to me,” Kuchar said Tuesday as he ducked inside from a steady drizzle. “It’s something I had my eye on and had to do some asking around, ‘Hey, how do I look to get in this thing?’ I’m awfully excited it worked out.”

Match Play was the most unusual of the World Golf Championships when the series began in 1999, and it was the last of them to go.

The WGC at Firestone moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 2019 and then was converted two years later to a FedEx Cup playoff event.

The WGC that initially alternated between the U.S. and Europe moved to Doral (and absorbed a regular PGA Tour event), and then headed to Mexico City when a sponsor could not be found for the Donald Trump-owned course, and then was shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The HSBC Champions in Shanghai hasn’t been played since 2019 due to the pandemic, and the China Golf Association hasn’t allowed it to resume. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan doesn’t expect that event to continue with the move toward so many elevated events in the new schedule.

And now the Dell Match Play is done after this year, a blow for fans who enjoy the most unpredictable nature of 18-hole matches and for Austin, which will be without the highest level of golf.

It ends with a 64-man field that had to dip down to No. 77 in the world ranking to fill the field, and another sign of these divisive times in golf.

That means 11 players would not be in Austin if not for LIV Golf, including Kuchar.

“I guess I’m grateful for LIV for a lot of things,” Kuchar said with a laugh, a reference to the $20 million purse this week, which was part of the PGA Tour’s response to the Saudi-funded threat of LIV.

Kuchar can break Woods’ record by sweeping his three matches in group play, but that’s never easy — no matter the opponents. Kuchar is the No. 59 seed and faces Viktor Hovland, Chris Kirk and Si Woo Kim — all of whom have won tournaments in the last four months.

Kuchar isn’t sure why he thrives in match play, though there is one adage about this format that doesn’t get a lot of attention.

“Good form is the most important thing to success,” he said.

Scottie Scheffler has a little of both. The No. 1 player in the world already has two wins this year, the most recent two weeks ago at The Players Championship. Scheffler made his debut in the Match Play in 2021 by reaching the championship match and losing to Billy Horschel, and then he won the Match Play last year over Kisner.

Woods is the only player to have won Match Play in consecutive years.

“Match play is a little bit different,” Scheffler said. “But I think the guys playing the best golf do what they have to do to win the match and win the tournament and I think it’s a good format. It’s a little funky, but a change of pace.”

Scheffler won last year as the No. 5 seed, and only three top seeds in the previous 23 years have won the Match Play — Rory McIlroy in 2015, Dustin Johnson in 2017 and Woods three times (2003, 2004 and 2008). Two players in his group, Tom Kim and Davis Riley, are playing for the first time.

Jon Rahm reached the championship match in 2017 in his debut. He is coming off a stomach virus bad enough to knock him out of The Players Championship after one round.

The Spaniard would love to see the format return to the PGA Tour schedule at some point.

“It’s really the only time throughout the year, besides maybe the Ryder Cup, where you’re playing truly against the person in front of you, which is much more relatable to every sport we play in the world,” Rahm said.

“It’s fun. It’s a lot more aggressive. You see more birdies. You see a lot of things happen.”

___

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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© 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A report issued on the eve of the first major U.N. conference on water in over 45 years says 26% of the world’s population doesn’t have access to safe drinking water and 46% lacks access to basic sanitation.

The U.N. World Water Development Report 2023, released Tuesday, painted a stark picture of the huge gap that needs to be filled to meet U.N. goals to ensure all people have access to clean water and sanitation by 2030.

Richard Connor, editor-in-chief of the report, told a news conference that the estimated cost of meeting the goals is between $600 billion and $1 trillion a year.

But equally important, Connor said, is forging partnerships with investors, financiers, governments and climate change communities to ensure that money is invested in ways to sustain the environment and provide potable water to the 2 billion people who don’t have it and sanitation to the 3.6 million in need.

According to the report, water use has been increasing globally by roughly 1% per year over the last 40 years “and is expected to grow at a similar rate through to 2050, driven by a combination of population growth, socio-economic development and changing consumption patterns.”

Connor said that actual increase in demand is happening in developing countries and emerging economies where it is driven by industrial growth and especially the rapid increase in the population of cities. It is in these urban areas “that you’re having a real big increase in demand,” he said.

With agriculture using 70% of all water globally, Connor said, irrigation for crops has to be more efficient — as it is in some countries that now use drip irrigation, which saves water. “That allows water to be available to cities,” he said.

As a result of climate change, the report said, “seasonal water scarcity will increase in regions where it is currently abundant — such as Central Africa, East Asia and parts of South America — and worsen in regions where water is already in short supply, such as the Middle East and the Sahara in Africa.”

On average, “10% of the global population lives in countries with high or critical water stress” — and up to 3.5 billion people live under conditions of water stress at least one month a year, said the report issued by UNESCO, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Since 2000, floods in the tropics have quadrupled while floods in the north mid-latitudes have increased 2.5-fold, the report said. Trends in droughts are more difficult to establish, it said, “although an increase in intensity or frequency of droughts and ‘heat extremes’ can be expected in most regions as a direct result of climate change.”

As for water pollution, Connor said, the biggest source of pollution is untreated wastewater.

“Globally, 80% of wastewater is released to the environment without any treatment,” he said, “and in many developing countries it’s pretty much 99%.”

These and other issues including protecting aquatic ecosystems, improving management of water resources, increasing water reuse and promoting cooperation across borders on water use will be discussed during the three-day U.N. Water Conference co-chaired by King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon opening Wednesday.

There are 171 countries, including over 100 ministers, on the speakers list along with more than 20 organizations. The meeting will also include five “interactive dialogues” and dozens of side events.

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© 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) has announced $660 million in funding to the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) to help reverse the loss of wetlands along Louisiana’s coast.

The largest single conservation investment in the history of NFWF was awarded from its Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund (GEBF), which received more than $2.5 billion from BP and Transocean in settlement of federal criminal environmental charges brought by the United States related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. Under the settlements, GEBF funding allocated to projects in the State of Louisiana—a total of $1.272 billion—must be used to support barrier island restoration and river diversion projects.

The commitment will support construction of the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion (MBSD), the first and most significant of two planned sediment diversions in Louisiana that over 50 years are expected to build or sustain approximately 20 square miles of additional land. MBSD will improve the sustainability of other projects in the vicinity, providing sediment that will help those areas maintain their wetlands and buffering communities against storm surges. As required by the terms of the settlement documents, as the project was developed, NFWF consulted with CPRA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and NOAA.

“This award of $660 million…will help reverse the historic loss of wetlands along the Louisiana coast,” said NFWF executive director and CEO Jeff Trandahl. “The wetlands in the vicinity of the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion were among the most heavily oiled as a result of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and we are pleased to support CPRA’s efforts to continue restoring these vital resources.”

“The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion is an innovative, first-of-its-kind project that will bring unprecedented strength to Louisiana’s coastal program,” said Chip Kline, executive assistant to the governor of Louisiana for coastal activities. “The project will restore areas experiencing some of the highest rates of land loss in the world for decades to come through sustainable land building. Moving forward with this project is a monumental milestone…one that would not have been possible without NFWF. We’re grateful for their continued collaboration and support throughout project development. This award represents a significant investment in conserving Louisiana’s coast and furthers NFWF’s support of CPRA and Louisiana’s coastal program.”

(Getty Images/Jaime Tuchman)