In what may be a sign of increasing scrutiny of nonprofit salaries during the recession, the gossip blog Gawker is taking aim at the pay of Laura Walker, chief executive of New York’s public radio station, WNYC.

The Web site’s “investigations” writer, John Cook, says Ms. Walker earned $486,688 in annual compensation and benefits as of June 2007. In 2008 she earned $508,520, according to WNYC.

Since the station recently announced it is laying off four people and eliminating 11 unfilled positions, Mr. Cook is asking whether Ms. Walker’s pay is justified. “Just remember where the money is going the next time WNYC begs you to support the important work that they’re doing,” he writes.

In response, Herb Scannell, chairman of the WNYC’s Board of Trustees, defends Ms. Walker’s compensation.

“Laura Walker’s leadership over the last 13 years has been exemplary, as she transformed the...

With the economy in a downturn, wealthy people are taking a closer look at what charities will benefit from their bequests, writes Betsy Brill, president of Strategic Philanthropy, a Chicago company that advises people about their giving.

“They are taking a hard look at the charitable designations named in their estate plans, which, for many, is a long overdue exercise, since interests, intent, and financial circumstances will have changed since the estate plan was first drafted,” she writes on Forbes magazine’s Web site

She is advising her clients to consider several questions as they review beneficiaries of their future estate gifts. They include:

• “Are the values of this organization aligned with mine?”

• “Does the organization have an operating strategic plan and is it regularly revisited? Does it have an evaluation plan and methodology that captures real outcomes?”

To make sure journalism continues to serve as democracy’s watchdog while the newspaper industry makes difficult changes, an organization similar to Teach for America is needed to recruit, train, and deploy a new generation of reporters, writes Ken Doctor, the former managing editor of St. Paul’s Pioneer Press, in Minnesota.

On his blog about journalism, Content Bridges, he suggests that big foundations establish a “News Corps” that would support 1,000 young reporters, who would earn $35,000 a year.

“That’s a tab of $35-million a year, a paltry sum by many measures and one that could be funded by a consortium of foundations to keep it free of government taint. News organizations, start-up and legacy, could apply for positions, promising mentorship, learning, and engagement,” he writes.

The group would seek to get college graduates as excited about journalism as Teach for...

Two experts in foreign aid are debating how to best help poor people in Africa and developing regions of the world — and the public spat is turning more personal.

Jeffrey D. Sachs, director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute, and William Easterly, a professor of economics at New York University, have been butting heads for several years and recently exchanged barbs on The Huffington Post, an online newspaper.

Speaking about Mr. Easterly and another aid critic, Mr. Sachs writes: “Before peddling their simplistic concoction of free markets and self-help, they and we should think about the realities of life, in which all of us need help at some time or other and in countless ways, and even more importantly we should think about the life-and-death consequences for impoverished people who are denied that help.”

Mr. Easterly returns fire, calling Mr. Sachs “the world’s leading a...

Is philanthropy the moral voice of society? Should foundations hold governments accountable to the public?

Bradford K. Smith, president of the Foundation Center, a research group in New York, said he and colleagues pondered these questions at the recent European Foundation Centre meeting in Italy.

On the center’s blog, Philantopic, he writes that there was a slight transatlantic difference of opinion on the propositions. But, he adds, the conference offered a good example of when foundations should stand up and speak out.

In response to controversial immigration policies in Italy, European grant makers issued a statement emphasizing the need for nations to respect the human rights of immigrants. (Read The Chronicle’s article about the decision.)

Mr. Smith applauded the move.

“Alarmed by growing xenophobia in Europe, they chose to take a stand that was both moral and...

While the economic times are tough and the rich should be concerned about flaunting their wealth, they should not think making large philanthropic gifts is “gauche,” writes Robert Frank, author of The Wealth Report blog for The Wall Street Journal.

He was responding to a Chronicle study that showed an uptick of large anonymous gifts during the past 10 months. Fund raisers have speculated that some wealthy donors are preferring to keep their giving quiet because it may look unseemly during a recession.

“To me, this seems like wealth shame run amok,” writes Mr. Frank. “Gold toilets on a private jumbo jet is gauche. Giving to the community isn’t. If the rich can’t feel good about giving to charity during a time of national need, what can they feel they feel good about?”

Mr. Frank echoed other observers who have said that philanthropists should announce their big gifts publicly to...

National Public Radio needs to do a better job of avoiding an appearance of a conflict of interest with its sponsors, writes Alicia C. Shepard, the nonprofit radio organization’s ombudsman.

In her blog, Ms. Shepard writes that listeners may have had concerns about NPR’s relationship with a movie studio. Morning Edition and All Things Considered, NPR’s morning and evening shows respectively, recently dedicated 19 minutes of programming to the movie The Soloist, and Dreamworks Pictures, which produced the movie, also bought airtime, known as “credits,” to promote the film.

NPR requires that credits do not air near a story that mentions a sponsor. Morning Edition moved the Dreamworks promotions away from The Soloist stories, but All Things Considered did not. The show’s executive producer said he didn’t move the credit because he never saw the list of sponsors.

Ms. Shepard writes ...

While some may celebrate that more big donors are giving quietly, there are downsides to this new trend, writes Judith H. Dobrzynski on Forbes magazine’s Web site.

Citing a Chronicle study that showed an uptick of large anonymous gifts during the past 10 months, she welcomed a decline in donations that would require buildings or other facilities be named after the contributors.

“Naming gifts,” she writes, “have proliferated like swine flu.”

But if this does mark a decline in what she calls conspicuous philanthropy, it could mean hard times for fund raising.

“The best givers are those who’ve already given, and perusing lists of gifts is a big way that fund raisers find prospects,” she says. “If anonymous gifts grow, development officers will have a tougher time finding new supporters: Where will they go for clues if donors go underground to avoid new solicitations?”

“So the a...

Hispanic charities are growing rapidly in America and raising an increasingly large amount of money, according to the latest issue of HispanicBusiness Magazine.

“Hispanic nonprofit organizations in particular have thrived in their efforts to assist minority communities in obtaining a greater share of public dollars to support the rising social needs of the communities they serve,” says the article.

The magazine lists 25 leading Hispanic charities, ranked by their expenditures. Altamed Health Services Corporation, in Los Angeles, topped the list, spending $93.6-million last year.

The magazine also explores efforts to get foundations to give more to minority groups — an issue that has roiled the nonprofit world. It includes a profile of Al Pina of the Florida Minority Community Reinvestment Coalition, who has pushed grant makers in his state to support black, Hispanic, and other ...

Give2Asia and the pharmaceutical company Novartis last month gathered Chinese 60 government officials, business people, and charity leaders to discuss the growth of philanthropy in China.

On its blog, Give2Asia, a charity in San Francisco that connects donors to Asian causes, writes that speakers discussed a variety of topics including that giving and volunteerism is growing in part due to the response of last year’s earthquake in central China and that some 500 foundations are operating in China.

One problem that seemed to come up more than once was the lack of well-trained nonprofit workers.

According to the blog, Jeffrey Li, president of Novartis China, said that corporations want to support Chinese charities, but are concerned the groups are not open enough about their finances and operations and lack competent staff members.

Read The Chronicle’s recent article about...