Philanthropy Today - Philanthropy.com

These are items on other Web sites that are of interest to the nonprofit world. The Chronicle has no control over their content or availability. To reach the Philanthropy Today staff, send an e-mail message to daily.news@philanthropy.com

Compiled by Noelle Barton, Caroline Bermudez, Maria Di Mento, Candie Jones, and Cassie Moore.

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September 05, 2008

University Offers Bonuses for Professors

To improve its status, retention rate, and fund raising, Kent State University is paying cash bonuses to faculty members if the university exceeds its goals in those areas, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The bonuses are built into a contract, approved last month, that covers 864 full-time, tenure-track faculty members who teach and do research on any of the university’s eight campuses.

The message behind the institutional-performance bonuses, which are much more common in private industry and for university presidents than for professors, is that faculty members should benefit from the work they do that influences a university’s success, said Lester A. Lefton, Kent State’s president.

The “success bonus pool” will be divided among faculty members if the Ohio institution improves retention rates for first-year students and increases the research dollars it generates and the amount of private money raised through its foundation.

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United Way Board Chairman Resigns Amid Investigation of Former CEO's Pay

Graham Denton, the chairman of the board of the United Way in Charlotte, N.C., has stepped down after a local news investigation revealed a $2-million retirement package paid to the charity’s former chief executive, Gloria Pace King, reports WCNC.

Mr. Denton was a member of the executive committee that approved Ms. King’s multimillion-dollar retirement package. Since a board meeting last week, at least three United Way board members have resigned, including Anne Caulkins, publisher of The Charlotte Observer. Carlos Evans, Wachovia’s Executive Vice President, will take over as chairman.

A story in The Charlotte Observer reported earlier this week that local United Way board members are concerned that the retirement package they approved for Ms. King might be a violation of Internal Revenue Service rules that regulate compensation for charity leaders.

Watchdog Groups Monitor Convention Partying

To better monitor social functions sponsored by companies and lobbyists for public officials at political conventions, watchdog groups deployed staff members to crash parties held during the Democratic convention in Denver last week and the Republican convention in St. Paul this week, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Before the conventions began, activists from several nonpartisan government-watchdog groups agreed to collaborate to look for violations of rules established by Congress last year that restrict corporate-sponsored socializing in Washington and at the political conventions.

“The parties, frankly, are where a lot of the action is,” said Nancy Watzman, who works for the Sunlight Foundation, a Washington charity that aims to make the business of governing more transparent. “I’ve seen every single example of all the loopholes in the ethics law here.”

New Charity's Founder Draws Scrutiny

The self-described “nonprofit entrepreneur” Roger Chapin has drawn Congressional scrutiny with his newest charity, the Make America Safe Foundation, which includes among its goals efforts to “wake up the country to the grave peril posed by radical Islamists,” reports Forbes.

Paperwork filed by the organization states that Mr. Chapin’s San Diego home will serve as the headquarters for the new group, which was incorporated last fall in Washington and has received tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service.

Mr. Chapin, who will serve as the group’s unpaid president, did not respond to a request for comment, the magazine said.

In addition to the new group, Mr. Chapin operates the charities Help Hospitalized Veterans, in Winchester, Calif., and the Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes Foundation, in Ossining, N.Y. Earlier this year, Mr. Chapin testified before a U.S. House committee and received criticism for how much of the groups’ incomes were spent on fund-raising and direct mail.

Rival News Anchors Team Up to Raise Funds for Cancer Research

CBS evening news anchor Katie Couric will be joined by ABC anchor Charles Gibson and NBC anchor Brian Williams on a commercial-free special tonight called Stand Up to Cancer that will air on all three networks to raise money for cancer research, reports the Los Angeles Times.

All three anchors have lost family members to cancer and will use tonight’s program to report on research efforts and raise support for new cancer therapies. The special is part of an ongoing public-awareness campaign by Ms. Couric, whose husband, Jay Monahan, died of colon cancer.

“It’s all about collaboration,” said Ms. Couric. “Collaboration among the networks, collaboration among cancer researchers all around the country. And ultimately, the collaboration of the American people, who can unite behind a single cause that affects so many people.”

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Government and Politics Watch: Charities Protest Remark by Gov. Palin

A civil-rights group and others are protesting Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s jab at community organizers during her speech at the Republican National Convention, reports Government and Politics Watch, a Chronicle online column.

Plus: The Republican platform includes a plank for ‘faith-based’ groups.

Online Discussion Next Week: Creating a Better Annual Report

Mark your calendar for our online discussion next Tuesday on how to create a better annual report.

Too often, groups waste valuable time and money producing reports that aren’t read and that fail to meet even their most basic goals.

As a result, some marketing experts are advising charities to rethink the way they produce annual reports. And with the growth of online marketing, some groups are finding new and creative ways to communicate with their supporters without producing costly, bulky reports.

How can your organization get more mileage out of its annual report? What are some creative ways to present it to donors and supporters? How can your organization use online tools to present its annual report in new ways?

Experts will be available to answer these and other questions about how to create a better annual report. More information about the discussion, to be held Tuesday, Sept. 9, at noon U.S. Eastern time, is available at http://philanthropy.com/live.

From The Chronicle: Updates on Storm-Related Relief Efforts

As disaster-relief groups prepare for hurricanes and tropical storms that could reach U.S. coastal areas next week, many are concerned that donations will fall far short of the cost of relief operations, based on anemic contributions so far, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Meanwhile, relief workers in the most-damaged parts of Southern Louisiana say the need for food and shelter there could stretch on for weeks after Hurricane Gustav, and some residents are being told to expect no electricity until October.

From The Chronicle: The McCains Urge Americans to Seek Out Service Roles

In their speeches at the Republican National Convention Thursday night, Sen. John McCain and his wife, Cindy, made strong appeals for Americans to get involved in charity work and public service, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

September 04, 2008

Economy Causing Older Donors to Cut Back Gifts, Study Finds

The troubled economy is causing more older donors to cut back their giving this fall, while younger people plan to step up their giving, finds a new study by the Grizzard Communications Group, a direct-marketing firm that works with nonprofit organizations. The results of the study were distributed on Business Wire.

The company said its study found that donors ages 25 to 34 are more likely to increase their giving to charitable organizations this fall while those over the age of 65 were more likely to say they will give less.

Of all respondents, 44 percent say they will contribute the same amount to charity compared to what they gave last fall. Almost 30 percent of all respondents say they plan to give less to charitable efforts, and about a quarter say they plan to stop giving altogether.