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, Audrey Hill, Anne W. Howard, and Candie Jones.

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March 2008

March 31, 2008

From the Chronicle: New Poll Shows Confidence in Charities Has Slipped

Confidence in charities has slipped since 2006 and only a quarter of Americans say nonprofit groups do a “very good” job of helping people, according to poll results to be released this month, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Food-Stamp Use Increases as Economic Woes Soar

As a growing number of Americans lose their jobs and food and fuel prices rise, experts predict that the number of people receiving food stamps will reach 28 million in the coming year, the highest level of recipients since the food aid program began in the 1960s, The New York Times reports.

Nutrition and poverty experts say food stamps are a vital safety net that has helped end the severe malnutrition seen in the United States as recently as the 1960s. But those same experts say that food stamps do not go as far as they used to, causing additional problems for impoverished people.

Anonymous Giving Is on the Rise

Wealthy philanthropists are increasingly choosing to give their charitable donations anonymously, in part to protect their privacy but also to avoid rifts among family members expecting an inheritance, reports the Los Angeles Times.

The decision among the wealthy to keep their donations secret sometimes disappoints recipient organizations that are eager for publicity.

“A couple of decades ago, charities were pushing donors to be identified, telling them they needed to be known to help the cause they were interested in,” said Dwight Burlingame, associate executive director of Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy. “Now the pendulum is swinging the opposite way.”

But while some wealthy donors decide to give anonymously to head off publicity or keep family members in the dark about how much money they actually have, others fear their philanthropy could make them targets of crime.

Last year, the La Jolla, Calif., billionaire Ernest Rady, his wife, and their housekeeper were attacked in their home with a stun gun in a home-invasion robbery. The family has contributed $60-million to what became Rady Children’s Hospital and $30-million to the Rady School of Management at the University of California at San Diego.

(See an article from The Chronicle about the rise in anonymous giving.)

Donations to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Causes Increase

More philanthropists are making substantial bequests to help support lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender causes, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

Over the last 30 years, gay nonprofit groups like the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, the Horizon Foundation, and the Pride Foundation have funneled millions of dollars into numerous HIV/AIDS treatment services, and civil-rights, social-advocacy and political campaigns. Such organizations have traditionally relied on large numbers of small donations, but that trend is changing.

According to Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues, a New York group that advises grant makers, charitable donations made by donors in New York to gay organizations nationwide increased from less than $30-million in 2002 to $65.5-million in 2006.

And according to a survey of 1,300 donors conducted by the Horizon Foundation, about 52 percent said they are “very likely” to make estate gifts to gay causes, and 87 percent said they think it is “important” and “very important” to help future generations. The foundation estimates it will receive at least $35-million in future estate gifts to its lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender endowment fund.

“The success of this vision does not depend on any assumption that LGBT people are richer than the non-LGBT population,” said Roger Doughty, executive director of the Horizon Foundation. “All our projections are based on assumptions that we are ‘average,’ except that fewer of us have children and the lives of many reaching their ‘planned giving years’ have been deeply touched by the growth, struggles, and triumphs of the LGBT movement.”

South Korean President Promises to Give His Salary to Poor People

South Korea’s new president, Lee Myung-Bak, promised on Sunday to donate his salary to the poor, reports CNN.com.

Mr. Lee is the former chief executive of an engineering and construction company and has a large personal fortune. While serving as the mayor of Seoul from 2002 to 2004, he donated his salary to the children of street cleaners and firefighters.

During the election campaign, Mr. Lee said he would donate his entire personal fortune of more than $30.2-million to the poor, and he said he would keep only a retirement house in Seoul.

A New Chronicle Column on Fund Raising Makes Its Debut

The Chronicle of Philanthropy and The Chronicle of Higher Education have joined forces to start Prospecting, a new online column dedicated to fund raising.

Journalists from both publications will be contributing regularly to this blog to offer a wide array of perspectives about fund-raising trends and techniques that are working for nonprofit organizations in the United States and around the world.

We’ll also examine what’s on the minds of the tens of thousands of people who raise money — as professionals, board members, and volunteers — for charitable causes of all kinds. And we’ll make sure you keep up-to-date with important fund-raising news.

March 28, 2008

Harvard Announces New Manager of Its Endowment

The former chief investment officer of Wellesley College, Jane Mendillo, has been selected as chief executive of Harvard Management Company, the company that manages Harvard University’s $35-billion endowment, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Ms. Mendillo oversaw an average annualized return of 13.5 percent in Wellesley’s endowment during the past five years, compared with a return of 12.3 percent for all endowments, with $1-billion or more in assets over that period. During those same years, Harvard achieved an average annualized return of 18.4 percent.

Observers say that Ms. Mendillo’s endowment-management experience, as well as her previous 15 years of work experience in Harvard Management in various positions, made her an ideal candidate to lead the staff of 175. She takes over for Mohamed El-Erian, who left the post in September to return to Allianz SE’s Pacific Investment Management Company after less than two years at Harvard.

“It sounds like Harvard came to the conclusion that they need to move to a more traditional endowment manager,” says Allen Proctor, consultant to endowments and a former Harvard chief financial officer. “The board wanted someone who sees being an effective communicator with the university constituencies as an important part of the job.”

Although Ms. Mendillo expressed enthusiasm about the job, calling it “the pinnacle of the profession,” critics of the size of recent pay packages to many of the endowment’s top money managers — as high as $35-million — will be watching closely, the newspaper said.

Ms. Mendillo’s compensation package will be tied to performance.

See The Chronicle’s most-recent survey of nonprofit endowments.

(A paid subscription is required to view the Journal article, and a paid subscription or short-term pass is required to view the Chronicle article.)

Nonprofit Groups Face Interest-Rate Spike

Nonprofit groups are beginning to feel the effects of credit-market turmoil in an explosion of high interest charges that are quickly tightening budgets and forcing some groups to cut back on services, reports The Boston Globe.

Among nonprofit groups in the New England area, the public-television organization WGBH now faces $1-million in unexpected interest charges. The station’s chief executive, Jonathan C. Abbott, says that programs the station offers could be affected as a result.

Nonprofit groups have mostly been affected by the recent credit-market crisis because of the ways in which they have traditionally borrowed money. Those that sell their debt at weekly auctions to determine the interest rate on their borrowing have been particularly vulnerable to rate fluctuations, but even organizations such as WGBH, which use variable bonds that reset every week based on certain bond indexes, have been subject to interest-rate spikes.

WGBH and other local nonprofit groups have recently persuaded the state agency, MassDevelopment, to allow them to refinance or restructure their debt into lower-cost loans with more-stable rates.

Although WGBH will attempt to complete its refinancing as soon as possible, Mr. Abbott expressed dismay at the unexpected costs now faced by so many nonprofit groups. “It’s like a virus, the way it’s infected the financial markets,” he said and added, “You’ve got a lot of relatively conservative institutions that are just dismayed.”

See The Chronicle’s article on the credit crunch facing nonprofit groups.

(Free registration is required to view the Globe article, and a paid subscription or short-term pass is required to view the Chronicle article.)

Major American Theater Awards Announced

The board of directors of the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust has announced the creation of two major playwriting awards to be given biennially, reports the Associated Press.

The first prize of $200,000 will be given this September to an established American playwright as part of the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award while the Steinberg Emerging Playwrights Award, to honor two early-career playwrights, will begin in 2009 with award stipends of $50,000.

The New York Times reports that the prize of $200,000 for established playwrights is among the largest ever given in American theater.

(Free registration is required to view the Times article.)

British Charity Manager Jailed After Stealing From Nonprofit Group

A British charity manager was sentenced to jail yesterday for two years and nine months after stealing nearly $300,000 from the nonprofit group Dorset Scope, which aids people with cerebral palsy, reports The Telegraph.

John Cunningham started cashing checks and creating false invoices six months after he was hired as a finance manager in October 2003. While at first he extracted only small amounts, Mr. Cunningham quickly began to steal up to $8,000 a month.

Paul Barnard, the chief executive of Dorset Scope, called the shock of the revelations “almost too great to bear.”

Mr. Cunningham admitted his crimes to police in January 2007 and admitted the thefts in court last month.

Opinion: How to Orchestrate a Successful Succession

While each search for a new leader has elements that set it apart from others, there are steps that help lead to a smooth transition, writes William G. Bowen, president emeritus of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

(A paid subscription or short-term pass is required to view this article.)

Coming Next Week: Fund-Raising Discussion

Join our online discussion next week about the state of fund raising for the rest of 2008 — and beyond.

Taking your questions will be Paulette V. Maehara, president of the 28,000-member Association of Fundraising Professionals.

The discussion will be held Tuesday, April 1, at 2:30 p.m. Eastern time and is open to everyone, not just Chronicle subscribers.

People who ask questions in advance have a better chance of receiving answers during the online discussion.

Coming Next Week: Fund-Raising Conference News

Reporters and editors from The Chronicle will update our Web site regularly next week with news from the annual meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

If you’re attending the meeting, please stop by our conference booth and meet our staff members. You can find The Chronicle at Booth 718. You can also submit questions for our online discussion April 1 with Paulette Maehara, the association’s president, either at the booth or by going to http://philanthropy.com/live.

From The Chronicle: Nonprofit Ethics

A study by the Ethics Resource Center, in Washington, shows that the ethical standards at charities are declining at what the report’s authors say is a disturbing rate, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

March 27, 2008

Charity Official Accused of Arranging U.S. Legislators' Trip for Iraq Spy Agency

Three American legislators went to Iraq in 2002 on a trip arranged by a charity official, who was secretly paid by Saddam Hussein’s spy agency, according to federal prosecutors, the Associated Press reports.

Muthanna Al-Hanooti was a public-relations coordinator with Life for Relief and Development, a charity in Michigan that provides aid to people in the Middle East. He was allegedly paid with 2 million barrels of oil by the Iraqi government for arranging the trip. Mr. Al-Hanooti was arrested this week and pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, illegally purchasing Iraqi oil, and lying to authorities.

The three representatives were not named in the indictment and have not been charged with any offense. The Justice Department says it has “no information whatsoever” that the legislators knew that Hussein had paid for the trips.

Gates Foundation Gives $25-Million to Study Animal and Human Diseases

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given Washington State University $25-million to help build a new school for studying infectious diseases that affect both animals and humans, reports The Seattle Times.

The grant, the largest private donation to the university, will support research on new vaccines, emerging diseases, and how to control diseases.

Texas Foundation President Arrested on Drug Charge

Scott Mitte, president of the board of the Roy F. and Joann Cole Mitte Foundation, was charged Monday with cocaine possession after he was found with about an ounce of the drug in his car, reports the Austin American-Statesman.

Mr. Mitte had been planning to work with the police as a “cooperating individual” to help them identify a drug supplier. But when he arrived at the sheriff’s department, police searched his car as a standard procedure and found the packet of drugs. The executive director of the Mitte Foundation, Cheryl Nolting, told the newspaper that the foundation had no comment.

Earlier this year, the foundation announced that it could no longer pay for several scholarships it had committed to, sending six universities scrambling to support the students, reports The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

It is not clear why the Mitte Foundation, which reported assets of $26-million in 2006, ran out of money for the scholarships. The fund says it suffered because of the stock market downturn. Scott Mitte, who is the founding couple’s son, reportedly spent money extravagantly as president of the fund.

(A paid subscription or temporary pass is required to view the Chronicle article.)

Editorial: Barack Obama's Volunteer Plan

An editorial in The Boston Globe praises Sen. Barack Obama’s plan to create a $4,000 tuition credit for student volunteers, but warns that charities would need technical support to help them track and manage volunteers.

The column points out that students are more likely to register to vote and earn better grades after volunteering and that students at state and community colleges would benefit most from the tax credit, which would support two-thirds of the average Massachusetts state college’s tuition.

“Nonprofits would have to grow to scale to train and position students where they can do the most good,” the editorial says. “There will be growing pains, but the challenge for nonprofits isn’t a lack of needs; it’s figuring out how to expand to address all the problems crying out for help. By putting college students to work as mentors, tutors, and volunteers, that challenge can be met.”

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

Opinion: Liberals Are Less Charitable Than Conservatives

Liberals are less generous than conservatives, despite their claims to hold the more compassionate viewpoint, says George F. Will in an opinion article in The Washington Post.

Mr. Will gives the example of Austin, Tex., a mostly liberal city that The Chronicle of Philanthropy ranked 48th out of America’s 50 largest cities in per capita charitable giving. He notes that Arthur C. Brooks, a professor at Syracuse University, in his book “Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism,” found that conservative families give more blood, time, and money on average.

Mr. Wills points out two causes for this: religion and views on the role of government.

“While conservatives tend to regard giving as a personal rather than governmental responsibility, some liberals consider private charity a retrograde phenomenon — a poor palliative for an inadequate welfare state and a distraction from achieving adequacy by force, by increasing taxes,” Mr. Will writes.

For more on charity’s political divide, read The Chronicle’s profile of the book by Mr. Brooks.

(Free registration is required to view the Washington Post article, and a paid subscription or temporary pass is required to view the Chronicle article.)

Give and Take, a Roundup of Nonprofit Blogs

Give and Take is a service of The Chronicle of Philanthropy that rounds up the best postings that appear on blogs about the nonprofit world.

Among the most-recent postings:

A proposal to let donors vote for charity board members.

A look at public-policy ideas and plagiarism.

You can also read previous postings on issues about philanthropic giving, fund raising, and management of nonprofit organizations.

Give and Take is updated regularly throughout the day.

From The Chronicle: Charity Fraud

Most cases of employee fraud at charities stem from a lack of proper internal controls that deter theft, according to a new study reported on by The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

March 26, 2008

Tobacco Company Paid for Lung-Cancer Research

A 2006 study that concluded that CT scans could have prevented 80 percent of lung-cancer deaths was paid for with money from a major tobacco company, according to The New York Times.

The Foundation for Lung Cancer: Early Detection, Prevention & Treatment, contributed to the research. In its review of the group’s tax records, The New York Times found that most of its budget, $3.6-million, came from the Vector Group, parent company of the Liggett Group, which makes of several brands of cigarettes.

A Vector spokesman confirmed the company’s donation to the organization but said Vector “had no control or influence over the research.”

The American Cancer Society, which gave more than $100,000 to the study’s researcher, said it never would have done so if it had known of the connection to the tobacco company. “If you’re using blood money, you need to tell people you’re using blood money,” said Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

2 Couples Donate $45-Million to Pennsylvania Trade School

Two couples are donating a combined $45-million to the Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades, which currently enrolls 250 students in Media, Pa., reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The donors, Henry M. and Lee Rowan and H. FitzGerald and Marguerite Lenfest, are philanthropists with strong ties to area businesses. The money will go to the school’s endowment. Students who attend Williamson typically receive an associate’s degree after three years and can study carpentry, masonry, power-plant technology, machine-tool technology, painting and coating technology, as well as horticulture and turf management.

The school’s president, Paul Reid, said he anticipates the investment income from the school’s endowment will now cover about two-thirds of the annual operating costs.

Yahoo Joins Google and Others in Nonprofit Technology Venture

Yahoo announced Tuesday that it would join with MySpace and Google to form the Google-initiated nonprofit organization called the OpenSocial Foundation, reports the Associated Press. The nonprofit group intends to create a common coding standard for photo-sharing and other social-network tools that work across the Web.

The companies believe that a nonprofit group overseeing the new photo-sharing platform, which will be available starting July 1, can provide maximum transparency as well as guidelines around technical and legal issues, and can ensure that intellectual-property assets remain available to everyone.

Other participants in OpenSocial include Friendster, hi5, LinkedIn, Ning, and the Google-owned Orkut and Bebo.

Monks Run Multimillion-Dollar Company to Benefit Charity

A group of monks who pray, work, and live at Our Lady of Spring Bank Abbey, in Wisconsin, began an online ink and toner business in 2002 as a way to stem dwindling income for the abbey. Today, the monks run a multimillion-dollar operation, with all profits after operating costs going to charity, reports The San Francisco Chronicle.

Bernard McCoy, a Cistercian monk and the company’s founder, receives no compensation for his role as chief executive officer. He created LaserMonks.com to sell discounted (including off-brand and remanufactured) inkjet products.

The business model has been deemed “commerce with compassion” in a recent book by Sarah Caniglia and Cindy Griffith, who now live at Our Lady of Spring Bank and manage operations for both LaserMonks.com and its two offshoots. The two women, who once ran their own marketing company, explain in their book how the monks’ model changed their views on the corporate experience.

Ms. Caniglia estimates that LaserMonks sales in 2007 totaled $4.5-million; Father Bernard estimates the group’s annual operating costs are $200,000. Beneficiaries of LaserMonks.com profits, according to the women’s book, have included “formal charities like Faith in Action, as well as not-so-formal efforts, like sending a nurse from Wisconsin to Louisiana to treat victims of Hurricane Katrina.”

As for skepticism about monks running a business, Father Bernard responds, “Enterprise and entrepreneurial spirit have always been a part of who we are.”

IBM to Send 'Fast-Track' Employees to Nonprofit Groups Abroad

Among programs that send corporate employees to work abroad, IBM’s Corporate Service Corps is particularly innovative, reports The New York Times. It provides leadership training to promising employees, while giving the company a presence in places where it does not yet do much business.

The company received more than 5,500 employee applications for the program from over 50 countries. It selected 100 workers from 33 countries. Participants will be divided into teams of 12 and will be deployed to projects in Romania, Turkey, Vietnam, the Philippines, Ghana, and Tanzania starting in July. IBM says it hopes to build the program up to 600 participants over the next three years.

During the four-week stints, the company hopes that participants will be challenged by working within another culture on unfamiliar projects. When employees return from the program, they will enter two months of intensive debriefing to discuss what they learned about leadership and the countries they visited in hopes of improving and further developing programs for the Service Corps.

“As a development tool, this is a four-for-one,” explained Allan R. Cohen, dean of the Olin Graduate School at Babson College. “It’s stretching to work in another culture, to work in a nonprofit where the measurement of accomplishment isn’t clear, to take a sabbatical from your everyday routine, and to learn to accomplish things when you can’t just bark orders.”

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

Nonprofit Groups Seek New Tactics in Anticipation of Recession

Although most nonprofit organizations appear to be weathering the latest economic downturn, uncertainty remains, reports The Boston Globe.

Smaller social-service agencies are already feeling the pinch, and even large educational and cultural institutions that typically have a hefty endowment cushion are worried about how changing financial conditions might affect their higher-end donors. In response, some groups are now seeking new ways to structure gifts.

“We need to be more creative about how we address donors, and talk with them about how they can work with financial planners or tax experts to accomplish their philanthropic goals,” Heather L. Feltman, the head of Lutheran Social Services of New England said.

While nonprofit groups can work with donors to reshape gifts or extend payment deadlines, other methods can include focusing on estate-planning tools. Nadia Yassa, director of estate and gift planning at the Boston Foundation, said that these tactics provided a “silver lining” to an uncertain economic environment, including the chance to sell depreciated assets in ways that benefit both a charity and the donor.

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

From The Chronicle: Candidate Obama's Philanthropy

The Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, gave $240,000 to charity in 2007, according to a campaign spokesman, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

March 25, 2008

Foes of Barnes Move Ask Judge to Reconsider

A group trying to block the move of the Barnes Museum from its location in suburban Philadelphia has asked a judge in Montgomery County, Pa., to reopen the court case that allowed the museum to move in the first place, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

The Barnes Foundation, which oversees the museum, wants to move the multi-billion-dollar collection of Picasso, Renoir, and Cezanne paintings to downtown Philadelphia to make the museum more financially viable. Moving the collection would flout the wishes of the museum’s founder, who died in 1951 and who asked in his will that the collection not be moved.

Judge Stanley R. Ott, however, ruled in 2004 that the museum could move. In response, a separate group, Friends of the Barnes, has tried to secure additional funds for the museum by encouraging more people to visit the museum and by seeking government bonds. Given the museum’s new financial support, the Friends feel the judge should now block the relocation.

The judge did not say when he would rule but promised a decision quickly.

Nearly All Recipients Repay Microfinance Loans

People who invest in microcredit loans to help some of the world’s poorest people are finding that nearly all of those recipients of the loans are repaying them, making such charitable giving even more attractive, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Microcredit investor David Mesenbring says giving loans as small as $50 or $100 can get a person or family out of poverty.

Meanwhile, a nonprofit Web site run by KIVA allows investors to loan $25 or more online, and after repayment, the money can be lent again. KIVA spokeswoman Fiona Ramsey says the long-term plan is for individuals to recoup interest from the borrower, the Journal reports.

“We have a perception that the poor are a [poor] credit risk, but actually they’re a very good credit risk,” Ms. Ramsey tells the paper. “The poor are highly motivated to be successful. Usually, this is their only chance for a loan.”

Girls Scouts Set to Get a Makeover

To stop declines in membership, Girl Scouts of America has hired its first chief marketing executive and will open an edgier advertising campaign aimed at reaching a new generation of girls, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The article notes the difficulty of reaching and connecting with media-savvy young girls, especially since the Girl Scouts’ image is seen as old-fashioned by many. Also, the group is now competing for girls’ free time with unorganized activities, such as hanging out at the mall, which may be difficult to convince girls to give up.

In response, the advertising campaign — which will run in popular entertainment magazines — will emphasize nonconformity. The organization is dropping requirements that older scouts wear green uniforms. (Cookie sales will continue, though.) Girl Scouts will also try to get its message out to mothers of girls and make a special effort to reach Asians, Hispanics, and members of other minority groups.

The advertising shake-up comes amid other changes at the Girl Scouts, especially efforts to cut down on the number of local chapters and streamline the organization’s operations.

Five Arts Leaders Discuss L.A. Cultural Scene

In a conversation with the Los Angeles Times, five leaders of prominent local cultural institutions discussed what attracted them to the city and how they hope to remake its arts scene.

The leaders — from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Center Theatre Group, and Getty Trust — talked about the importance of cultural-education programs and the difficulties of reaching people in a city long dominated by the pop values of Hollywood.

The five also talked about problems securing donations from individuals in Los Angeles, a cosmopolitan city whose residents long looked elsewhere for high culture. Says James N. Wood, president of the Getty Trust, “I guarantee you, Chicago is giving more per capita than L.A.”

However, they all agreed that Los Angeles has been reborn lately and that the city has a chance to grow into, if it has not already become, one of the premier cultural centers in the world.

A longer transcript of the conversation is also available.

(Free registration is required to view these articles.)

Two Former Smithsonian Leaders Die

Two prominent leaders of nonprofit groups run by the Smithsonian Institution have died this week.

Michael H. Robinson, 79, an Englishman, remade the National Zoo, in Washington, from a series of cages into a rolling campus with natural environments for animals to live in, reports The Washington Post. Mr. Robinson, a noted animal lover, led the zoo for 16 years. According to The Post, he “shar[ed] his home at various times with giant crab spiders, a crab-eating raccoon, a kinkajou, several coatimundis, an otter, an ocelot, a jaguarundi and a giant rat.” He died of pancreatic cancer on March 22.

David Challinor, 87, oversaw many scientific institutions at the Smithsonian, including the National Zoo and the National Museum of Natural History, reports The New York Times. He worked as a farmer and banker before earning a Ph.D. in biology in his 40s and was as well known for his administrative acumen as his scientific work. A champion rower, he also took up writing later in life on topics such as global warming. He died of heart failure on March 5.

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From The Chronicle: Case Foundation's Award Finalists

Nine months after opening itself up to unsolicited applications for the first time, the Case Foundation, in Washington, has announced 20 finalists for its Make It Your Own awards, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

From The Chronicle: Outlook for Charities on Capitol Hill

Read a transcript of today’s online discussion about what’s on the agenda for nonprofit groups on Capitol Hill, including the outlook for tax incentives to encourage charitable giving.

March 24, 2008

More Women Take Top Financial Roles at Nonprofit Endowments

Women now manage 10 of the 50 largest endowments and foundations in the country, reports The New York Times.

The number of women in top roles is greater than in the for-profit world, says the newspaper.

Women in the top jobs oversee more than $60-billion at organizations including the Ford Foundation and Carnegie Corporation, the paper reports. Some women seek such positions because of the mission of the organization, while others find the flexible schedules appealing.

Susan E. Manske, who says she loves investing, left Boeing’s pension fund for the top spot at the $6.5-billion MacArthur Foundation. “This married my interest with working in a culture of philanthropy,” Ms. Manske tells the Times.

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

Rockefeller Foundation Gives $500,000 to Develop 'Social' Stock Market

The Rockefeller Foundation has contributed $500,000 to studying the feasibility of a “social stock exchange” in the United Kingdom, reports The Financial Times.

The market would allow investors to trade shares in projects that seek to preserve the environment, such as clean technology, and that promote health care, aid for the poor, or other social goals.

Such a market could begin next year if a demand exists, the newspaper reports. Rockefeller’s managing director, Antony Bugg-Levine, said, “There is a new class of rich people unhappy with the old binary system of making money with one hand and giving it away with the other.”

He said the foundation chose to test the idea in Britain because it felt the government was supportive of efforts to promote businesses with social missions.

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Give $8.5-Million to Foundation

The actors and philanthropists Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie gave more than $8.5-million to their charitable foundation in 2006, reports Fox News.

Mr. Pitt provided more than $4.4-million and Ms. Jolie more than $4.1-million to the Jolie Pitt foundation, which had $27,000 in expenses, the news agency reports.

The foundation gave $1-million each to Doctors Without Borders and the Global AIDS Alliance and smaller grants to the Namibia Red Cross Action Program, the Daniel Pearl Foundation, Global Green USA, and the Epidermolysis Bullosa Medical Research Foundation, among other grantees.

Paul Allen Gives $5-Million to Fight Tuberculosis

Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, has given $5-million to the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, his first grant to a global-health cause, reports The Seattle Times.

The donation will support research into new tuberculosis drugs, and officials at the institute hope it will be the first of many such donations by Mr. Allen.

While Mr. Allen’s former business partner, Bill Gates, has given generously to global health issues, Mr. Allen’s philanthropic interests have been a bit more other-worldly, and have included support for an experimental spaceship and research into alien civilizations, the Times reports.

Mr. Allen’s grant, made by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, in part requires matching funds from other donors. With the grant money, the institute will hire a new researcher and study innovative approaches to fighting tuberculosis, the paper reports.

See a Chronicle of Philanthropy article about Mr. Allen’s giving and The Chronicle’s annual list of the donors who gave the most to charity, on which Mr. Allen ranked No. 42.

(A paid subscription or short-term pass is required to view the Chronicle article about Mr. Allen’s giving; the list of most-generous donors is free.)

From The Chronicle: Online Giving

Affluent people are increasingly likely to use the Internet to make their charitable donations, according to results of a study released today, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. But charities are turning off some of their biggest donors — people who give $1,000 or more, the survey found. Some charities send too many messages to donors who say they don’t want them, while others don’t take advantage of the interest many donors express in expanding their online interaction with nonprofit organizations, the survey found.

From The Chronicle: Muslim Charity

Muslims around the globe contribute billions of dollars to humanitarian causes a year, but their efforts are often poorly organized and not well known to the world, said participants at the inaugural meeting of a group of Islamic charities and philanthropists, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. The new organization, the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists, was formed to help Islamic donors and nonprofit groups to overcome these obstacles. It is meeting this week in Istanbul.

March 21, 2008

Charity Donors Are Happier Than Stingy People, New Research Finds

People who give away money are happier than those who do not, according to new research published today in the journal Science.

Elizabeth W. Dunn, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, started her experiment by trying to prove the ways in which accumulating money led to more happiness. She and two colleagues surveyed 632 Americans, asking about their level of happiness, personal spending habits, and how much they donate to charity, reports Forbes.

Ms. Dunn found that while people tend to think that spending money on themselves rather than giving it away will make them happier, the opposite turns out to be true. The researchers used a variety of settings and tactics to test the hypothesis that giving away money leads to more happiness, and the results held — whether on a college campus and in a corporate setting.

(Free registration is required to view this article on the Forbes site.)

Red Cross Spent Thousands on Unused Hotel Rooms During Wildfires

The American Red Cross is attempting to deflect criticism over its management practices after news broke in San Diego on Thursday that the organization spent $688,000 for hotel rooms that went unused by relief volunteers during October’s wildfires, reports The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Laura Howe, a Red Cross spokeswoman, said, “The fault in this clearly lies with us. The bottom line is our people should have recognized the unused room nights and canceled them more quickly than we did.”

The organization has been negotiating with hotel and motel operators to secure rebates and room credits and says it plans to take $688,000 from its general operating funds to reimburse its account for Southern California fire victims, many of whom were unable to find lodging during the wildfires when area lodgings were booked.

Ms. Howe said that new procedures have been adopted to make sure that situation does not happen again.

Miami Pastor Accused of Stealing Thousands From Nonprofit Group

A pastor in Miami was charged with grand theft on Wednesday for allegedly stealing more than $10,000 in cash from a local grant to a nonprofit organization, reports The Miami Herald.

The Rev. Gaston Smith, pastor of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, is accused of taking the money from the nonprofit group, Friends of MLK, which received $25,000 in 2004 from the Metro Miami Action Plan Trust, a county-affiliated anti-poverty group.

Prosecutors say that the $10,000 was taken out in ATM withdrawals over a period of three months, including a $500 withdrawal at a Las Vegas martini bar. The police are also investigating possible links from the nonprofit group and Mr. Smith’s church to a company owned by the family of a Miami city commissioner, Michelle Spence-Jones.

Michael Tein, Mr. Smith’s lawyer, said the charges were groundless. ‘‘Pastor Smith is 100 percent innocent.’‘

Ritz-Carlton Offers Guests Opportunities to Volunteer in Cities They Visit

Starting April 1, the 70 hotels worldwide that are members of the Ritz-Carlton chain will offer at least one option for guests to volunteer during their hotel stay, reports USA Today.

Billed as “Give Back Getaways,” these volunteer opportunities will include conservation activities, preparing food for the needy, and other efforts.

Although the Ritz-Carlton is a luxury hotel, Sue Stephenson, the Ritz “social responsibility” chief who proposed the program and is overseeing it, believes that guests want opportunities to help others during heir leisure time. Most programs will last a half day and cost hotel guests $50 to $100 to cover transportation and a donation to the charity or group.

Some critics and nonprofit groups have expressed concern over guests viewing the volunteer work as a kind of “zoo experience,” but David Clemmons, founder of VolunTourism.org, a clearinghouse for volunteer vacations, who consulted with Ritz-Carlton on its new effort, said he was confident about the hotel chain’s approach. “I feel what they’ve created can stand up to the scrutiny and do good,” he said.

Opinion: Give Social Entrepreneurs More Resources to Solve Problems

Innovative nonprofit leaders take a different tack from their predecessors, writes David Brooks in an opinion piece in The New York Times.

Instead of looking to government to identify social problems and develop programs to solve them, they believe thousands of private groups need to try different approaches. After they undertake sophisticated efforts to measure what works, they seek to spread ideas nationwide.

“Their problem now is scalability,” he writes. “How do the social entrepreneurs replicate successful programs so that they can be big enough to make a national difference?”

Mr. Brooks says that the group America Forward, a consortium of social entrepreneurs, may represent the future of social innovation as a network of semipublic social-investment funds. In this new approach, “the government would not operate these social-welfare programs, but it would in essence create a network of semipublic Gates Foundations that would pick winners based on stiff competition.”

He says he hopes government will put more money into efforts to help social entrepreneurs.

He writes, “These are some of the smartest and most creative people in the country. Even if we don’t know how to reduce poverty, it’s probably worth investing in these people and letting them figure it out.”

See The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s special report on efforts by nonprofit leaders to spread effective programs nationwide.

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From The Chronicle: Cellphone Campaigns for Charities

Cellphones could offer the next most-effective way to reach potential supporters, said speakers at the annual meeting this week of the Nonprofit Technology Network, in Portland, Ore., The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

March 20, 2008

Food Banks Feel Pinch in Tight Economic Times

For a number of related reasons, food banks in the United States have seen demands on food increase while their purchasing power has declined, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Rising fuel costs, a slumping housing market, and increased unemployment have pushed more people to food banks than ever before. Some groups estimate demand has risen 20 percent in just a year.

However, food banks have a hard time meeting that demand because commodity prices have increased while support from government-aid programs has not. In addition, grains such as corn that were once given away as surplus have either been turned into alternative fuels or sold oversees to shore up a weakening U.S. dollar.

Some charities have relied on food drives run by schools and other civic groups to make up for shortfalls. Others have found that trading cheap local produce with food banks in other parts of the country — like potatoes in Idaho for citrus fruits in California — has helped them provide a variety of food.

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Knight Foundation Gives $25-Million Grant to Newseum

In its largest gift from a foundation to date, the Newseum in Washington secured a $25-million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, reports The Washington Post.

The Newseum will name two broadcast booths and a conference center after the Knight brothers, who founded a newspaper chain. The article did not specify what the gift would be used for, but the Newseum’s chief executive officer said the gift “‘is going to make a huge difference in our long-term ability to focus on issues facing the media.”

The Knight Foundation’s president, Alberto Ibargüen, also sits on the Newseum’s board of directors, but to avoid a conflict of interest, a special committee at the foundation has been dealing with the Newseum.

The Newseum cost $450-million to build and is scheduled to open April 11.

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Nonprofit Organization Helps 'Homeboys' Trade Gangs for Jobs

A nonprofit group in Los Angeles has helped a number of local gang members give up their former lives by offering them steady employment in a growing business, reports The New York Times.

Homeboy Industries, founded by a priest 20 years ago, has expanded from a small tortilla plant into a $5-million-a-year business that runs a bakery, cafe, maintenance service, retail store, and silk-screen operation that prints designs on T-shirts for radio stations and college groups.

The ex-gang members receive not only steady employment but also therapy, career counseling, housing aid, and funds to remove tattoos, which are a marker of gang affiliation and can be dangerous to leave on. The men and women receive up to $10 an hour and health benefits after three months of steady work. Homeboy is looking to expand its operations, especially the bakery and silk-screen business.

Read a special package in The Chronicle about charities that run for-profit ventures.

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Small Harlem Nonprofit Group Draws High-Profile Support

A small nonprofit sports program, Harlem Youth Soccer, is suddenly finding itself sharing the spotlight with celebrities, financiers, corporations, politicians, and famous athletes, reports The New York Times.

The group had a $1,250-a-seat fund-raising event in Manhattan this week that was expected to draw former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton as honorary chairmen, famous soccer players Pelé and David Beckham, as well as representatives from major companies, including Visa and Nike.

Many people have been wondering how the organization has managed to gather so much star power for a neighborhood that has previously shown little interest in soccer and faces a shortage of playing fields.

Rahsaan Harris, the program’s chairman, explained the recent fanfare. “It’s Harlem, so it’s a cultural icon and it represents a challenging neighborhood — people think of it as a concrete jungle. Connecting a world icon like Harlem to a world sport — it’s another frontier for soccer,” he said.

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From The Chronicle: Donor Dispute

St. Bonaventure University has announced it will press on with plans to build an addition to its library, despite a major donor’s failure to meet a $2-million pledge toward the project, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Give and Take, a Roundup of Nonprofit Blogs

Give and Take is a service of The Chronicle of Philanthropy that rounds up the best postings that appear on blogs about the nonprofit world.

Among the most-recent postings is a pitch for how to combat global poverty.

You can also read previous postings on issues about philanthropic giving, fund raising, and management of nonprofit organizations.

Give and Take is updated regularly throughout the day.

Online Discussion: Curbing Charity Abuses

Join our online discussion next week about what’s on the agenda for nonprofit groups on Capitol Hill, including the outlook for tax incentives to encourage charitable giving.

Taking your questions will be Dean A. Zerbe, a former top aide to Sen. Charles E. Grassley.

The discussion will be held Tuesday, March 25, at noon Eastern time and is open to everyone, not just Chronicle subscribers.

People who ask questions in advance have a better chance of receiving answers during the online discussion.

March 19, 2008

Whitney Museum Receives $131-Million Donation

The Whitney Museum of American Art, in New York, will receive $131-million from Leonard A. Lauder, chairman of the Estée Lauder Companies and chairman of the Whitney board since 1994, The New York Times reports. The majority of the money will go toward the museum’s endowment.

With the new money, the museum’s endowment will total $195-million, according to the newspaper.

Adam D. Weinberg, the Whitney’s director, said of the donation: “It will now be the first time our endowment will be large enough so that the Whitney can maintain its commitment to living artists and to adventurous programming.”

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Detroit Rescinds Nonprofit-Board Residency Requirement

The Detroit City Council decided unanimously on Tuesday to rescind a requirement that 51 percent of a nonprofit group’s board members reside in the city in order for the group to qualify for certain federal block-grant money, reports The Detroit News. Under the requirement, more than 100 area nonprofit groups were ineligible for the funds.

Nonprofit groups throughout the city celebrated the decision, although The Detroit Free Press noted that the change is only for one year, with the council expected to revisit the matter after that.

Greg Bowens, a spokesman for Mariners Inn, a homeless shelter and substance-abuse treatment center for men, told the Free Press that the board-residency requirement would have cost his organization $158,000 in Community Development Block Grant and Neighborhood Opportunity Fund grants.

Boston Financier Practices Unusual Philanthropy by Posting Bail

The identity of an anonymous donor who posted over $200,000 in bail for 40 illegal immigrants who had been arrested in a federal factory raid in New Bedford, Mass., last year has been revealed, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Bob Hildreth, a Boston financier who runs International Bank Services, a small firm that buys and sells corporate debt, says he was spurred to make the donations after seeing televised images of the shackled immigrants being sent to a detention center in Texas without the necessary time or resources to post bail and avoid deportation. Mr. Hildreth, 57, called the incident “extremely un-American.”

Donations of bail money are considered risky and unusual in the philanthropic world, the newspaper notes. Mr. Hildreth has indeed been the object of scorn from some critics, including prominent New Bedford talk-radio host Ken Pittman, who said he would ask Mr. Hildreth “to show the same compassion for American workers displaced by these illegal aliens.”

Mr. Hildreth, who has previously made donations to improve education for immigrants and to pay for literacy and citizenship classes in the Boston area, posted bail for the immigrants by working through the legal-aid group Greater Boston Legal Services. When he was told that the money would be returned to him once the cases were resolved, Mr. Hildreth said he would set it aside as a bail fund for future cases.

Leader of Va. Charity Confesses to Embezzlement

A volunteer executive director of Santa Pal, a nonprofit group in Bristol, Va., has been charged with embezzling more than $75,000 from the charity, reports The Bristol Herald Courier.

Jimmie Clark, who ran the annual Christmas program for needy children for more than five years, admitted in a letter to the charity’s board that he took money from the organization to settle personal debts.

“For the past two years, I have not been able to sleep at night and have contemplated committing suicide on numerous occasions,” Mr. Clark wrote to the board. “I truly do love this program and cannot believe that it has come to this. I am sorry for what I have done and will accept any consequence that comes with my actions ranging from incarceration to a lifetime of community service.”

The letter arrived shortly after Santa Pal’s board questioned discrepancies in the charity’s financial records and began tracking bank transactions.

Consultants Offer Tips for New Board Members

The first 90 days after joining a nonprofit board is a critical time for new members to assess an organization’s needs, as well as its leadership and management style, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Terrie Temkin, a Florida consultant who founded the company Core Strategies for Nonprofits, says that, first and foremost, new members should be sure to attend all board-related events. These meetings provide critical face-to-face time with other members, but they also allow new members to observe the group dynamic and isolate hubs of leadership.

A “new board member has to find out where the power lies on the board and where the force of gravity is,” says Jim Kristie, editor of Directors & Boards magazine, who also serves on several nonprofit boards. “It’s like any other group. There are cliques, there are leaders, and then there are other directors who aren’t pulling their weight.”

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Lapel Pins Spark Discussion on Autism

The Autism Speaks’ lapel pin starts conversations about the neurological disorder, reports The New York Times, in a first-person account of an activist’s interactions with strangers while wearing the pin.

Mark Roithmayr, president of the national nonprofit organization Autism Speaks, in New York, sports the puzzle-shaped lapel pin to help raise awareness of the disorder, which affects an estimated 1 in every 150 children.

He recounts how people initiate conversations with him about autism upon noticing the pin. Many of them have relatives affected with the disorder or are even affected themselves with a mild form of the disorder.

“I always take off my pin and give it to someone who shares his or her story. I think of it as ‘pinning forward.’” Mr. Roithmayr tells The Times. “In fact, I have learned to take a small bag of pins with me whenever I travel because passengers and airline workers — even the security guys — regularly ask me for them.”

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From The Chronicle: Google for Nonprofit Groups

The Internet search company Google has opened a “new portal” for nonprofit groups that explains how to adopt various Google applications for charitable work, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

From The Chronicle: Charities and the War in Iraq

Military and veterans charities have grown quickly in the five years since the war in Iraq began, but their leaders say they are still not meeting all the needs, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

March 18, 2008

Deficits Force States to Slash Programs That Serve the Needy

State budget woes are causing major cuts in health insurance for the needy, as well as other safety-net programs for the elderly, disabled, and unemployed, reports the Associated Press.

An analysis of 50 states’ budgets reveals that governors and legislators are making their biggest cuts in health care programs, as many states confront their worst deficits in a decade or more.

Diane Rowland, executive director of the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, noted that since many benefits cut during the last economic downturn had not been restored, “now, the only place to cut is at the core.”

See The Chronicle’s article on the ways state budgets are affecting nonprofit organizations and the people they serve.

(Free registration is required to view the AP on the Globe site, and a paid subscription or short-term pass is required to view the Chronicle article.)

Harvard Law Waives Tuition for Public-Service Pledge

Harvard Law School today plans to announce it will offer the third year of education free to students who pledge to spend at least five years working at a nonprofit organization or for the government, reports The New York Times.

The plan is designed to increase the number of Harvard law students — roughly 10 percent over the past several years — who choose public-service careers.

“We know that debt is a big issue,” said Elena Kagan, dean of the law school, with regard to the new effort, which would save students more than $40,000 in tuition.

Many students are now graduating from law school with upwards of $100,000 in student-loan debt, which prevents them from taking the lower salaries typically offered at government or nonprofit organizations.

Joshua Marquis, district attorney in Clatsop County, Ore., and vice president of the National District Attorneys Association, said, “I have had a lot of applicants who’ve said, ‘I’d like to take the job, but I really can’t afford it.’ ”

See The Chronicle’s article on the ways loan debts are affecting whether young people who want to enter the nonprofit world.

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Opinion: Donors Should Take Active Role in Giving

As fund raisers increasingly solicit people who are affluent — not just the super rich — donors should actively choose their causes rather than just responding to requests, writes Jack Shakely, president emeritus of the California Community Foundation, in Los Angeles, in an opinion article in The New York Times.

“The people I know who give the most and get the most out of it go deep,” writes Mr. Shakely. “They pick a few causes and tithe not just their treasure but also their time and talent.”

Mr. Shakely’s article appears in a special section on wealth. In another article in the section, David Cay Johnston, a veteran Times business columnist and philanthropy reporter, advises donors to seek matching gifts that increase the value of their own donation.

“With a little knowledge and persistence, a donated dollar can instantly become two, even six,” writes Mr. Johnston.

In another article, the newspaper discusses how many wealthy people are thinking more about passing along their values to their children — and therefore thinking more about philanthropy as part of their financial planning.

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From The Chronicle: Raising Money Through Special Events

Read a transcript of the Chronicle’s discussion on how to raise money through special events.

March 17, 2008

Smithsonian Chooses University President as New Leader

G. Wayne Clough, a civil engineer and president of the Georgia Institute of Technology since 1994, will be the new secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, reinstating the tradition of hiring a scientist to lead the organization, reports The Washington Post.

The last secretary of the museum complex, Lawrence Small, a former banker, was forced out after allegations surfaced of extravagant spending and compensation. The Smithsonian is also facing $2.5-billion worth of building and improvement projects, and criticism of its fund-raising plan.

At Georgia Tech, Mr. Clough has overseen the completion of $1-billion in construction projects, as well as capital campaigns that have brought in more than $1.5-billion, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Mr. Clough will earn $490,000 at his new job — $60,000 less than he made at Georgia Tech and $410,000 less than Mr. Small was paid.

(Read more about the challenges facing the new head of the Smithsonian, in the view of a Chronicle of Philanthropy columnist.)

Lobbyists Can 'Buy' Spot on Board of Calif. Senate Charity

A charity tied to the California Senate may give some corporate lobbyists inappropriate access to legislators, reports the Los Angeles Times.

The group, California International Relations Foundation, was founded to pay the costs of entertaining delegations from outside the United States and an educational exchange between California and Japanese students. Its donors are mostly lobbyists whose groups and companies have business before the legislature, like the California Credit Union League, Chevron, Pfizer, and the Recording Industry Association of America, the Times says.

Contributors of $3,000 and up are given a seat on the Board of Directors; board members are invited to travel with Senate delegations on international trips to Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Jerusalem, and other locations. Some donors say that legislative staff members, who are paid with public money, have made hotel and flight arrangements for them, though board members pay their own way on the trips.

The international trips can be “a good opportunity to develop relationships with senators,” says George Steffes, a lobbyist for the engineering company Bechtel who has traveled on several Senate trips.

“You just can’t sell a board membership like this,” says Frances R. Hill, a University of Miami law professor and expert on nonprofit groups. She adds that since the group has legal status as a charity, the federal tax code says it cannot give “excess” benefits exclusively to board members, the newspaper reports.

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Young Donors Give Inherited Money for Social Change

Some young heirs are giving away almost all their new fortunes to small, social-change charities, reports the International Herald-Tribune.

Karen Pittelman, a singer in a punk band who inherited $3.5-million when she was 25, donated all but $15,000. Jamie Schweser gave away 75 percent of the $1-million inheritance he received at age 27, mostly to small groups like Critical Resistance, which fights the construction of new prisons; he also helped found the Gulf South Allied Funders, which aids regions hurt by the 2005 hurricanes.

Young donors are giving away large fortunes as they question how much money they really need, the newspaper says.

“When the money was suddenly in my name and I really came to grips with my privilege and class background, the denial came apart,” Mr. Schweser says. “I realized: I am literally the Man.”

Corporate Executives Make the Switch to Nonprofit Work, With a Few Bumps

While charities often try to lure executives from the business world, some former corporate executives are finding themselves drawn to nonprofit work — though there are some bumps along the way, reports The Financial Times.

Connie Duckworth, a retired advisory director at Goldman Sachs, founded Arzu Rugs, a nonprofit group that helps Afghan women sell the rugs they weave, after a visit to Afghanistan. Kelly Fiore, who worked for Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs, left the business world and created Charity Folks, an online marketplace that auctions items and events donated by public figures; though it is a business, 80 percent of donations go to charity, the newspaper reports.

“I loved the intellectual challenge, and both organizations were phenomenal to work for from a career-development standpoint,” Ms. Fiore says. “But I started wondering what I was doing every day and what effect I was having on the world.”

Business people who make the transition to nonprofit work face several hurdles: the lack of technology and other support, lower pay, and cultural differences between business and charity, for example. But executives can also contribute their business skills to nonprofit management.

John Wood, who left Microsoft to start Room to Read, a group that supports literacy and education in several countries, says: “I tell our team that we want to run Room to Read with the compassion of Mother Teresa but the focus and tenacity of a blue-chip company.”

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Inventor Sues One Laptop Per Child and Gains Victory in Nigerian Court

One Laptop Per Child, a charity that provides inexpensive computers to children in developing countries, has been sued by a company whose founder argues that the nonprofit group stole his designs for a Nigerian keyboard, reports the Associated Press.

Ade Oyegbola, an inventor who created the company, Lancor, says that One Laptop purchased two of Lancor’s specially designed Nigerian keyboards in 2006 and copied his design for its own XO computers to be sold in Nigeria.

In Nigeria, Lancor is seeking $20-million in damages from One Laptop; the charity’s request to dismiss the case was rejected last month by a federal judge there. The court also upheld a restraining order that prohibits the nonprofit group from distributing its laptops in Nigeria, the wire service reports.

In the United States, One Laptop and Lancor will face off in federal court.

A spokesman for the charity had no comment, but when Lancor’s lawsuit was first reported, One Laptop said that to its knowledge, “all of the intellectual property used in the XO laptop is either owned by OLPC or properly licensed.”

Wikipedia Looks for Income Opportunities

In its efforts to find and sustain financial support, Wikipedia’s charity arm has been criticized by some observers who are suspicious of corporate influence on the free encyclopedia, reports The New York Times.

“A surprising number of people don’t even know it is a nonprofit,” says Sue Gardner, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs the Wikipedia projects. “They say, ‘How do they make their money, anyway?’ They assumed there were ads or some other way.”

As the organization grows, it is still figuring out how to support itself without relying on ad revenue or commercial enterprises, though Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, says “there are some kinds of ways of using our brand name — a trivia game, a branded home-edition trivia game” — that may fit with Wikipedia’s mission.

“Existing on donations keeps us on a shoestring budget,” says Mr. Wales.

The group’s ties to a venture-capital company, Elevation Partners, and one of its employees, Roger McNamee, have also drawn criticism: Mr. McNamee, who describes himself as a volunteer, has helped bring in $1-million for the Wikimedia Foundation, the Times reports.

But Mr. Wales says that his group has turned down offers of commercial investment from Elevation Partners. “Certainly there can be no investment in Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a nonprofit and always will be,” he says.

See The Chronicle’s article on Wikipedia’s nonprofit status.

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Atlanta Health-Care System Receives $25-Million From Former Pilot

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta has received $25-million from Joseph H. Moss, a retired Delta pilot, to support its pediatric-transplant program, the group has announced in a press release on its Web site.

Mr. Moss, who lives in Austin, Tex., and New York, was inspired to give after reading an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about a 13-year-old boy, Edgar, who needed a new kidney. Mr. Moss donated money to the boy’s family for his medical care.

Government and Politics Watch

Among the highlights from The Chronicle’s Government and Politics Watch: is a look at how Sen. Barack Obama’s views might have been influenced by his mother’s nonprofit work.

March 14, 2008

Clinton Foundation Pushes College Students to Tackle Global Problems

The inaugural meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University, a project of the William J. Clinton Foundation, will take place this weekend in New Orleans as college students and administrators and nonprofit groups gather to encourage college students to take on global issues such as energy and climate change, human rights and peace, global health, and poverty.

The Associated Press reports that the project is similar to the original Clinton Global Initiative, which has worked with leaders in government and business since 2005.

President Clinton said the driving force behind the project was the belief that “the sheer mass of intelligence and energy and numbers of young people on our college campuses can make a real dent in the problems.”

CGI U has already received concrete project commitments from about 700 students including a Swarthmore College student working on water quality in Venezuela and a University of Arkansas student creating soccer teams for teenagers in Cameroon.

President Clinton says that he hopes to expand these efforts across the field of higher education so that ultimately “citizen service will be viewed as an integral part of college life.”

(Free registration is required to view this article on the Los Angeles Times site.)

Obama Earmark List Includes Controversial Hospital Request

While the Senate debated a bill to ban spending earmarked for home-state projects for one year — a measure that was defeated on Thursday — Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign voluntarily released the details of the $740 million in earmarked spending requests that he has made over the past three years.

The International Herald Tribune reports that although Senator Obama was able to secure only about $3 out of every $10 he requested, the list of requests included $1 million for an expansion of the University of Chicago Medical Center in 2006, where his wife, Michelle Obama, is a vice president.

The request was denied.

Senator Obama’s aides as well as officials at the hospital said his wife had nothing to do with the request.

Kelly M. Sullivan, the medical center’s vice president for communications and marketing, noted that Senator Obama had also requested money for a number of other hospitals in Illinois, and stated that, “I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that Michelle Obama was not part of our lobbying over the request, not in any way.”

Boston Ballet Shows Signs of Financial Distress

After two years of surpluses, the Boston Ballet showed signs of distress on Thursday when officials said that its main company would reduce the number of dancers next year and that its executive director would not return next season, reports The New York Times.

The Boston Ballet took a financial hit in 2004 when it lost access to the Wang Theater where it had performed “The Nutcracker” annually. Departing executive director Valerie Wilder estimates that the cut cost the company about $1.5-million a year in lost revenue.

Despite the challenges of the Wang Theater loss, the ballet ran a surplus over the past two years under Ms. Wilder’s leadership. She oversaw a three-year fund-raising campaign that yielded $35-million for the company as well as the group’s first million-dollar donations.

She said that her resignation was unrelated to the cutbacks. “I had it in my mind that this was the right amount of time,” she said. “I feel really good about what I’ve accomplished.”

Mikko Nissinen, the artistic director of the ballet, said that despite past surpluses, rising costs meant the company would have to reduce the number of dancers from 50 to 41.

“It was a necessity right now,” he said, but added that he hoped the company would return to full strength after two years.

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Opinion: Younger Generations May Unite Faiths for Social Justice

Faith may be a driving factor as more young people get involved in the quest for social justice, writes Jim Wallis, author of The Great Awakening and president of Sojourners, in an International Herald Tribune opinion piece.

Mr. Wallis believes that a new energy is awakening in young people of all faiths — not just among a new generation of “progressive evangelicals” — who consider themselves “part of a broader new and spiritually rooted progressive movement that includes the religious from many traditions, the ‘spiritual but not religious,’ and also secular youth who hunger for a moral dimension to public life.”

Online Discussion: Raising Money Though Special Events

Join our online discussion next week about how nonprofit groups can make the most of special events as fund-raising tools.

Taking your questions will be two fund-raising experts: Liz Klug, director of special events at the Y-Me National Breast Cancer Organization, in Chicago; and Harry A. Freedman, a consultant at Strategic Fundraising Initiatives, in Broomall, Pa., and the author of Black Tie Optional: A Complete Special Events Resource for Nonprofit Organizations.

The discussion will be held Tuesday, March 18, at noon Eastern time and is open to everyone, not just Chronicle subscribers.

People who ask questions in advance have a better chance of receiving answers during the online discussion.

From The Chronicle: Meaningful Jobs for Generation Y

For the most part, the looming leadership crisis in the nonprofit work force has nothing to do with the number of available and interested young people in the labor market and the competition from other employers, writes Sonya Behnke and Pilar Oberwetter in an opinion piece for The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Rather, the main problem is a “value gap” that keeps young people from dedicating themselves to a nonprofit career path, they say.

March 13, 2008

Priest Wins $1.6-Million Prize

Michael Heller, 72, a Polish Roman Catholic priest, cosmologist, and philosopher, has been awarded the $1.6-million 2008 Templeton Prize, the largest award made to an individual by a nonprofit group, reports The New York Times.

The John Templeton Foundation, which awards grants for research in science and philosophy, commended Mr. Heller for his writings on science and religion. “I always wanted to do the most important things, and what can be more important than science and religion?” said Mr. Heller, in a telephone interview. “Science gives us knowledge, and religion gives us meaning. Both are prerequisites of the decent existence.”

Mr. Heller said he plans to use the money to establish a center for the study of science and theology at the Pontifical Academy of Theology, in Krakow, Poland, where he is a faculty member. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, will award the prize on May 7 in a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace, in London.

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N.Y. Nonprofit Groups Face Increased Scrutiny

New York’s Department of Investigation is beginning an effort to catch and correct financial mismanagement at nonprofit groups that hold contracts with the city, reports City Limits Weekly.

Given that almost a quarter of the city’s $15.7-billion procurement budget went to human-services contracts last fiscal year, officials say they want to ensure that public money isn’t being improperly or criminally mismanaged. “We’re going after cases where something systemic is going on, “ said Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn. “What we’re seeing is outright misappropriation of funds, backed up by falsified invoices.”

Hundreds of nonprofit groups that hold significant government contracts in human services will soon receive a detailed questionnaire intended to expose financial flaws. The increased scrutiny comes on the heels of an inspection already under way by the Department of Investigation of more than 30 nonprofit groups that have contracts with the city and are suspected of alleged six- and seven- figure thefts.

Smithsonian Institution's Undersecretary for Art Resigns

The Smithsonian Institution’s undersecretary for art, Ned Rifkin, announced Wednesday that he is leaving his post in April to take a sabbatical, reports The Washington Post. He has held the position for the past four years.

Mr. Rifkin, 58, said his departure was part of a transition plan he had arranged with Cristián Samper, who is serving as interim head of the institution while the museum’s Board of Regents searches for a new secretary to replace Lawrence M. Small. Mr. Small resigned from the position last March amid investigations into his spending.

The museum’s general management has in the past two years undergone criticism by lawmakers for its salaries, outside income paid to top officials who served on corporate boards, secret business dealings, and lack of oversight of its operations, the newspaper says. According to a special report by the Smithsonian inspector general last year, Mr. Rifkin earned $440,000.

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Animal-Rights Groups Disagree on Treatment

While groups defending animal rights commonly agree on opposing cruelty to animals, controlling animal populations, and advocating for an end to dogfighting, they don’t agree on the treatment of abused, high-risk animals once rescued, reports The New York Times.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) typically advocates euthanizing rescued fighting dogs, while other groups, such as Best Friends Animal Society, advocates rehabilitation. PETA argues that such animals are unsafe and therefore should be destroyed. Best Friends Animal Society argues that fighting dogs are victims of forced brutality and should not receive death sentences.

The groups’ disagreement over the treatment of rescued fighting dogs came to a head in response to Michael Vick’s dogfighting case last summer, for which he is now serving a 23-month federal sentence.

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Give and Take, a Roundup of Nonprofit Blogs

Give and Take is a service of The Chronicle of Philanthropy that rounds up the best postings that appear on blogs about the nonprofit world.

Among the most-recent postings:

Is ‘philanthrocapitalism’ over-hyped?

Two Google officials’ discussion of the Internet’s impact on international development.

You can also read previous postings on issues about philanthropic giving, fund raising, and management of nonprofit organizations.

Give and Take is updated regularly throughout the day.

Online Discussion: Special-Event Fund Raising

Join our online discussion next week about how nonprofit groups can make the most of special events as fund-raising tools.

The discussion will be held Tuesday, March 18, at noon Eastern time and is open to everyone, not just Chronicle subscribers.

People who ask questions in advance have a better chance of receiving answers during the online discussion.

March 12, 2008

Coalition Protests Corporate Naming of Children's Hospital Center

In June 2006, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital of Ohio accepted a $10-million donation from the company Abercrombie & Fitch and agreed to name a new emergency department and trauma center after the retail clothing line. But with ground-breaking for the building approaching this fall, The New York Times reports that a coalition of children’s advocates is protesting the agreement.

While corporate donations to hospitals are fairly routine — Nationwide Children’s Hospital itself was renamed to acknowledge a $50-million gift from the Nationwide insurance company — the coalition, which includes 15 organizations, such as the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, and 80 individuals, says this case is fundamentally different.

Citing Abercrombie & Fitch’s notoriously racy advertising in a letter sent Tuesday to the hospital’s office, the coalition wrote, “It is troubling that a children’s hospital would name its emergency room after a company that routinely relies on highly sexualized marketing to target teens and preteens.”

The group hopes the hospital will reconsider the decision to accept the donation, although hospital officials made no comment on whether they would respond to the coalition’s concerns.

Tom Lennox, a spokesman for Abercrombie & Fitch, said on Tuesday, “We are proud of our longstanding relationship with the hospital and pleased to help secure its bright future.”

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Detroit Residency Ruling Rattles Area Nonprofit Groups

Controversy has erupted between local nonprofit groups and the Detroit City Council after more than 100 area charities were ruled ineligible to receive a certain block of federal funds due to a resolution unanimously passed by the council last July.

The Detroit Free Press reports that nonprofit groups that receive federal Community Development Block Grant allocations through the city must now have boards composed of at least 51 percent city residents.

The ruling appears to be atypical, as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees the CDBG program, requires such a residency rule only in the case of community-development organizations. HUD spokesman Brian Sullivan said, “This suggests to me that this seems to be a local interest and a local requirement.”

Nonprofit leaders such as Chad Audi, president of Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, opposed the ruling. He explained that “all of the people we service are basically Detroiters.” Other groups stressed how the people they serve would suffer if federal money was lost and stressed that their board members were unpaid volunteers.

Despite opposition, Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins stood behind the resolution. “I don’t think community block grants were created to provide jobs and salaries for people who live in the suburbs. They were created to benefit people who live in Detroit,” she said.

The city appropriates $40-million in grants to various nonprofit groups. The ruling will go into effect on July 1 for CDBG funds for fiscal year 2008-9. Nonprofit organizations ruled ineligible for CDBG funds this year because of the residency requirement will get a chance to plead their case to the council on March 19.

Museums Work to Tackle New Challenges

Museums are in a period of major change that is often coupled with uncertainty, according to a special supplement in the Arts section of The New York Times.

In the lead article of the supplement, The Times reports that as museums continue to expand and face rising costs, market research has never been more critical for their survival.

Museums today often use new software to obtain a more accurate picture of who their visitors are and to better target their efforts. Glenn D. Lowry, the director of the Museum of Modern Art, explained that his museum found through market research that “we were not drawing as many of the 20- to 30-years-olds that we hoped.” In response, the museum started the “Pop Rally” two years ago, with screenings, gallery tours, collaborations with artists, and concerts.

Under pressure to maintain a healthy base of visitors, as well as to raise capital for expansions and renovations, many museums have turned to the business world to recruit new directors. Curators, however, now are fighting back to obtain these leadership positions.

The Times says that programs such as the Center for Curatorial Leadership, a fellowship effort that provides curators with the management skills, fund-raising tips, and administrative tools to become the next generation of museum directors, is hoping to help shift museum leadership back into the hands of those with art training.

Texas Police Officers Charged With Stealing From Red Cross

Two Houston police officers are accused of stealing money given by the American Red Cross and administered by the local Urban League office, The Houston Chronicle reports.

Officers Tracie Denise Bell and Kirshondra Richardson were indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday on charges that they billed the Red Cross over $166,000 last summer to operate a two-week basketball camp for Katrina evacuees that lasted only two days. Both officers have been suspended with pay.

A lawyer for Ms. Bell said he had not seen the evidence against her but knew his client intends to fight the charges. A lawyer for Ms. Richardson could not be reached for comment, the newspaper said.

Meanwhile, a grand jury on Tuesday also heard opening arguments in the case against the former executive director, Kenneth Beatty, of the Sickle Cell Association of the Texas Gulf Coast. Mr. Beatty and his financial administrative assistant, Willie Carlean Cruse, were charged with felony theft of more than $200,000 after Mr. Beatty resigned his post in 2004.

Mr. Cruse has pleaded guilty to the theft, the newspaper says. Mr. Beatty’s lawyer did not respond to the specific charges, but said his client had been made a “scapegoat” by the local United Way as a way to justify its decision to no longer give money to the charity.

Board Games and Charity May Teach Responsibility to Wealthy Children

Financial advisers of wealthy families say that an effective way to teach successive generations to be financially and socially responsible with money is to play board games that deal with these issues and to give children a chance to allocate a meaningful amount of money to charity, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Glenn Kautt, president of the Monitor Group, a wealth-management firm, says that first- and second-generations of families who sacrifice to accumulate wealth often worry that the following generation “is the one that has the sense of entitlement.”

In response to these concerns, GenSpring Family Offices LLC, which serves 450 families whose collective worth exceeds $14-billion, created a board game called “Shirtsleeves to Shirtsleeves,” based on family-wealth issues.

Steve Barimo, chief innovation officer at GenSpring, stressed that wealthy parents should also seriously consider giving teenagers about $1,000 to donate to a charity of their choice. “The catch was that the kids had to think about three things: Who were they giving it to, why that charity, and what impact would the money have,” Mr. Barimo said.

From The Chronicle: Business-Charity Hybrid

Social-enterprise leaders gathered in Boston this week are seeking a new legal structure — the low-profit, limited liability company, or L3C — as a way to encourage investments by foundations and others in businesses with a social mission, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

March 11, 2008

Private Donors Help Naval Academy's Finances

The U.S. Naval Academy Foundation, which raised about $253-million during a fund-raising campaign that ended in 2005, is gearing up for another fund-raising drive, reports the Associated Press.

The foundation aims to augment federal funds the academy receives, not replace them, and the donations it has raised have helped with needs such as renovating the academy’s sailing center and supporting professorships, much in the way private donations to private colleges and universities have helped those institutions. Adm. Charles Larson, the former academy superintendent who created the foundation in 1996, tells the news agency that a fund-raising campaign “rejuvenates people” and can help encourage major projects to take shape.

In other Naval Academy news, the academy foundation and the Naval Academy Alumni Association are losing their leader, as George Watt plans to resign this summer from the chief-executive post, the Associated Press reports.

Mr. Watt’s resignation comes amid an ongoing lawsuit by two alumni against most of the association’s trustees, who say term-limit rules were violated in the organization’s 2006 election, the news agency reports.

(Free registration is required to view the first AP article on the Washington Post site.)

Regional Theaters See Building Boom

Construction projects of new local theaters across the country have created a nonprofit-theater building boom in recent years, with total expenditures coming close to $1-billion, reports The New York Times.

Some observers say that this building boom has been undertaken to create theaters to attract national talent, which is a move away from the traditional role regional theaters have had in their communities, the paper reports. Meanwhile, donors who gave generously to support building projects may be called upon again to help the annual funds at regional theaters, the budgets for which have swelled along with the costs associated with building projects, the Times reports.

But theater companies, often operating out of substandard facilities, are in a bind and see the new buildings as their only way to stay relevant and attractive to patrons and actors. For example, the Minneapolis Guthrie Theater moved into a new $125-million building overlooking the Mississippi River, the paper reports.

“You either grow or you die,” Joe Dowling, the Guthrie’s artistic director, tells the Times.

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From The Chronicle: Philanthropy's Leadership Gap

Read a transcript from The Chronicle’s online discussion today about what nonprofit groups can do to groom the next generation of leaders.

March 10, 2008

Foundation Creates $300-Million Program to Support Scientific Research

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute plans to announce today the creation of a $300-million program to help about 70 young scientists who are finding it increasingly difficult to get federal grants to support their research, reports The Boston Globe.

The new program at Hughes, a grant maker in Chevy Chase, Md., comes just as a consortium of universities is releasing a report showing that as the federal government has kept financing of the National Institutes of Health flat over the past five years, scientists have been forced to trim the size of their laboratories and abandon creative research in favor of safer projects.

The report also touches on concerns that young scientists, who have watched their senior colleagues struggle to get federal support, will abandon research in favor of teaching, clinical work, or the business world.

Tom Cech, a Nobel laureate and the Hughes Institute’s president, said that the current federal climate for financing scientific research is stressful and distracting for scientists.

“Here you have these people who’ve been in school for 30 years, they’ve just gotten their labs going, and instead of spending their time making discoveries in the lab or mentoring younger scientists, they spend all their time in an office writing federal grant applications. It’s not a very effective use of their talent.” Mr. Cech said.

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Politicking by Churches Raises Increased Concerns

As increasing number of religious congregations are venturing into partisan politics and possibly getting involved in illegal activities, scholars and tax experts tell The Wall Street Journal.

“There have never been more audits than in the last three or four years” involving churches, said Marcus Owens, a Washington lawyer who represents some congregations and is a former director of the IRS’s exempt-organizations division.

The Journal examines several ministers’ comments about Barack Obama, noting that the United Church of Christ, which oversees the church he attends, is under investigation by the Internal Revenue Service. The church has previously denied wrongdoing.

The IRS won’t say exactly how many congregations it is currently investigating, but the agency reported last year that it was reviewing complaints involving 44 churches and 56 other nonprofit groups related to the 2006 election cycle. It also acknowledged that it had found 26 cases of improper political activity.

What Makes Donors Give and Other Philanthropy Topics Appear in a Special Report

Two economists explore why people donate to charity in a special report on money and philanthropy in The New York Times Sunday magazine. The authors look at how effective matching gifts and challenge grants are.

Another article in the report looks at how celebrities such as the actress Natalie Portman are using their status to help nonprofit groups raise awareness and money. “I’m not particularly proud that in our country I can get a meeting with a representative more easily than the head of a nonprofit can,” says Ms. Portman.

Also in the special section is an article about whether big gifts from donors and foundations have a lasting impact.

Other articles include a transcript of a conversation with philanthropists and education experts about donating to schools and a profile of Herbert and Marion Sandler, a billionaire couple who are directing their philanthropy toward a new nonprofit organization they created to focus on investigative journalism.

See The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s article about the Sandlers’ new charity.

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California Community Colleges Step Up Fund-Raising Efforts

California’s 109 community colleges, which rarely receive big gifts, are embarking on a search for large donations from businesses, foundations, and alumni, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

Officials at community colleges throughout the state say they must seek donations much more aggressively because their enrollments are expanding faster than the amount they receive from the state government.

“It [used to be] a very mom-and-pop operation,” said Paul Lanning of the Foundation for California Community Colleges, which works for all 109 community colleges and has hired a trained fund-raising staff to kick off a $100-million campaign to build a scholarship endowment for community colleges.

The new effort to reach alumni and community members is paying off. While the state’s community colleges have a combined endowment of $266-million, only about $2.5 million each, colleges that have put an emphasis on private fund raising have seen their endowments grow rapidly.

City College of San Francisco is one example. The college used to raise money from its own faculty and staff members, but since a new foundation board was formed several years ago, the college’s endowment has grown from $1.3-million to $22.3-million, partly from donations like the $6.3-million from Paul Orfalea, the founder of Kinko’s. The college is also planning a capital campaign.

Priest Apologizes to Breast-Cancer Charity

Monsignor J. Gaston Hebert, the head of the Roman Catholic diocese in Little Rock, Ark., apologized last week for asking parishioners to withhold their donations to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a charity that fights breast cancer, the Associated Press reports.

In a letter last month, Mr. Hebert had told parishioners that giving to Komen, which makes grants to Planned Parenthood to provide breast exams and offer education to women in its clinics, would make more money available for abortions and contraceptives.

Mr. Hebert said last week that his earlier assertions about Komen “turned out not to be true. … To let that statement stand would be an act of injustice,” he said.

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From The Chronicle: Response to Home Foreclosures

As home foreclosures soar, charities and foundations are trying to figure out how they can help, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

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March 07, 2008

NPR Chief Executive Ousted After Fights With Board

The chief executive of National Public Radio has left the organization after a number of disputes with the Board of Directors, reports The Washington Post.

The board declined to renew Ken Stern’s contract yesterday, a decision that NPR did not discuss with the newspaper but that some people at NPR attribute to disputes between Mr. Stern and the board members over new and expanded programs.

Dennis L. Haarsager, the board’s chairman and general manager of Northwest Public Radio, will take over for Mr. Stern until the organization finds a permanent replacement.

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Charity Linked to Fabricated Memoir May Also Be Fake

A nonprofit group linked to Margaret Seltzer, whose memoir about growing up as a gang member in South Central Los Angeles was recently revealed to be fabricated, may also be an invention of the writer, reports The New York Times.

Ms. Seltzer said she had founded or at least worked with the International Brother/SisterHood, a group she described as trying “to reduce gang violence and mentor urban teens.” But the Internal Revenue Service has no record of the organization in Oregon, where Ms. Seltzer lives, or California. The Web site was set up and paid for by Ms. Seltzer’s literary agent. Other groups that work to end gang violence in Los Angeles have not heard of the organization or Ms. Seltzer.

“I believe if she was active, I would probably know her by name or the organization,” says Malik Spellman, of Unity T.W.O., a Los Angeles antiviolence charity.

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Fisk U. Does Not Have to Forfeit Art Collection to Museum, Judge Rules

A judge in Tennessee has ruled that Fisk University does not have to hand over a collection of art, donated by the artist Georgia O’Keeffe, even though the institution violated the terms of the gift by attempting to sell the works, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The financially shaky university has tried for years to sell the valuable artworks, most recently striking a partial-ownership sale with the Crystal Bridges Museum, in Arkansas, for $30-million. The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, which is in charge of the late artist’s estate, has successfully blocked those efforts and argued that it should take possession of the collection because the Crystal Bridges deal violated the gift’s conditions.

The museum says that Ms. O’Keeffe made the art donation with the conditions that the collection remain intact and that the pieces should be displayed. The judge ruled that Fisk can keep the artworks as long as they are taken out of storage and put on display, and the university says it has raised enough money to do so.

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Billionaire Hopes to Improve India's Olympic Chances

An Indian billionaire has so far pledged $10-million to the Mittal Champions Trust, a nonprofit group he created to burnish his home country’s unimpressive Olympic record, reports The Wall Street Journal.

“Looking at the size of Indian democracy, I think Indian athletes need much more support,” says Lakshmi Mittal, the steel magnate, who lives in London. The Indian government says that only about 50 million of about 770 million people under the age of 35 have access to any organized sport or games, and poor families are more interested in education than buying equipment, the newspaper says. At the Athens Olympics in 2004, India won one medal: a silver award for shooting.

Mr. Mittal’s sports program — which supports shooters, boxers, a swimmer, and badminton and squash players — was founded in November 2005 and provides athletes with the best available coaching and facilities, paying them about $125 to $250 a month. A total of 32 athletes are being trained, and many others have applied for a place and have been rejected.

Calif. University Receives $16.4-Million

California State University at Long Beach has received $16.4-million from the estate of Bob Cole, a real-estate entrepreneur and amateur pianist, to endow scholarships for music students, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Mr. Cole, who died in 2004, founded of Bob Cole Realty, in Long Beach. The university plans to rename the department of music the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music in honor of the donor.

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From The Chronicle: Disaster Funds

To respond to disasters more efficiently, a growing number of charities are creating funds to pay for their efforts in the early stages of an emergency, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

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March 06, 2008

Foundation Runs Out of Money, Cancels Scholarships

The Roy F. and Joann Cole Mitte Foundation, in Austin, Tex., has suddenly announced it will stop providing hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of scholarships, leaving six universities to scramble to support the dozens of students who were to receive foundation aid, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The Mitte Foundation supported mostly business students and was worth around $26-million as late as 2006. The article reports that it’s unclear why the foundation ran out of money. The foundation’s lawyer says a downturn in the stock market sank its finances, but news reports indicated that the former president, Scott Mitte, son of the founders, spent foundation money lavishly on things like travel and a custom tuxedo.

All the college officials quoted in the Chronicle article say they will not leave students in the lurch and will support them with emergency funds. Some of the universities had known about the foundation’s financial woes, but to others the collapse came as a surprise.

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Nonprofit Official Admits Losing Charity's Money in Stock-Market Gamble

The chief financial officer for a nonprofit group admits he “borrowed” $3.6-million from the organization to play the stock market, a gamble he lost, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

Greg Colley worked for the Music Community Concourse Partnership, which operates a parking garage next to a museum in San Francisco. The partnership noticed financial irregularities when a vendor called to say he had not been paid for work done on the group’s parking garage, which had been finished only recently.

When questioned by board members, Mr. Colley asked for a little time to investigate the matter, then showed up the next day with a lawyer. He explained he had intended to pay the group back, but the stock market had plummeted. The partnership immediately fired Mr. Colley, who is working with the charity to restore the money. Local officials have not decided whether to press criminal charges.

Veterans-Charity Leader Takes Former Employees to Court

The combative chief executive of a veterans’ charity has taken two former employees to court to prevent them from leaking supposedly confidential information about the group’s inner workings, reports Forbes.

Roger Chapin, head of the Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes Foundation, in Ossining, N.Y., filed the lawsuit in New York State court against Ray Clifford and his brother, John Clifford. Mr. Chapin fired the Cliffords in July 2007, and the two men, the lawsuit claims, took confidential files when they left.

Ray Clifford says he and his brother took the files to “safeguard the privacy of the individuals.” Mr. Clifford claims that Mr. Chapin recommended the coalition withhold support from the veterans named in the files because they would not provide testimonials. The Cliffords ended up giving the files to the U.S. Army, according to the lawsuit, which in turn handed them back to the charity. However, the charity still seeks damages and the return of other materials not specified in the article.

Mr. Chapin’s coalition and another veterans charity he runs, Help Hospitalized Veterans, in Winchester, Calif., have been the subject of recent probes by Congress for spending what some congressmen say is too little — just 25 percent of the money spent, in some cases — on helping veterans.

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Major Study Supports 'Housing First' Approach to Homelessness

A four-year study whose results will be announced today indicates that putting up homeless people in subsidized housing, even without focusing on other medical or behavioral problems first, saves the public money and reduces chronic homelessness, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The study, conducted by a number of hospitals and nonprofit groups, concluded that providing people with a home and a case manager at a cost of $12,000 per year saved taxpayer money because the once-homeless person spent less time in hospitals and emergency rooms.

Some homelessness experts, however, remain skeptical of the approach, especially for drug abusers and alcoholics. And the program appears to work only in conjunction with intensive follow-up by social workers. Still, the study seems likely to shift homelessness policy in the United States.

Read coverage in The Chronicle of Philanthropy of the housing-first movement and efforts to end homelessness by 2014.

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Bill Gates No Longer Tops World's-Richest List

According to Forbes magazine’s annual ranking of the world’s richest people, Microsoft founder Bill Gates — in part because of generous donations to his foundation — is no longer the world’s richest man, for the first time in 13 years.

Somewhat surprisingly, Warren Buffet, chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, moved into the top spot, with a fortune of $62-billion, up $10-billion in a year. This growth occurred despite Mr. Buffet’s pledge to give away most of his money to Mr. Gates’s foundation, a pledge he has already started to pay.

The world’s second-richest man is Mexican business mogul Carlos Slim Helú, worth $60-billion. Mr. Gates’s fortune is worth $58-billion.

Read The Chronicle’s annual list of the country’s most generous donors, including the 2007 list, which Mr. Buffett topped.

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March 05, 2008

Stock Donations Occur Just Before Price Dips, Study Finds

A new study has found that many corporate leaders who donate their company’s stock to their personal or family foundations often do so just before the company’s stock price drops, enabling them to claim big deductions on their taxes, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Conducted by David Yermack, a New York University finance professor, the study analyzed 151 gifts of more than $1-million made from mid-2003 through the end of 2005. The donations represent $728-million and a quarter of all gifts of stock made by chief executives or chairmen during that time period.

Mr. Yermack also found that in many cases, gifts of stock were made following positive earnings announcements but before negative earnings were reported.

Donating shares of stock while the stock price is high helps lessen an executive’s tax bill because the Internal Revenue Service allows a charitable deduction equal to the value of the shares on the date of the gift, the newspaper said.

“On average, the gifts have been extraordinarily well-timed to maximize the associated personal income-tax benefits,” Mr. Yermack told The New York Times. “It seems to me fairly likely that some of these people making them may be monkeying around with paper trails,” he said.

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Nation's Top Taxpayers Gave Record $7.6-Billion to Charity in 2005

The nation’s top 400 taxpayers reported record total charitable donations of $7.56-billion, or an average of $19.2-million per federal tax return, in 2005, reports The Wall Street Journal.

These top-tier taxpayers also reported a total of $85.6-billion of income — an average of $213.9-million apiece — for that same year, according to Internal Revenue Service data obtained by the newspaper. To qualify as one of the top 400 taxpayers, one had to report 2005 income of at least $100.3-million, a steep rise from the $74.5-million required in 2004.

“Those numbers are really stunning,” said Michael Graetz, a professor of law at Yale Law School and a former Treasury Department official. “One hundred million dollars is an enormous estate to be accumulated over a lifetime, and not what we think of as one year’s income for anybody.”

From The Chronicle: New Grant Program for Women Entrepreneurs

The investment firm Goldman Sachs and 16 universities around the world have announced a plan to spend $100-million providing business education to 10,000 women in developing countries, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Mass. Nonprofit Institutions Seek Permission to Bid on Bonds

To combat the ongoing credit crunch, nonprofit hospitals and universities in Massachusetts are seeking permission from Congress to bid on their own bonds, giving the organizations a way to avoid increasingly steep interest rates by participating in auctions that set rates on the groups’ securities, The Boston Globe reports.

The auctions, which have worked well until now, have faltered in recent weeks and created millions of dollars of extra borrowing costs at some of the state’s largest institutions. Scared off by the subprime-lending crisis and other economic problems, buyers have stopped bidding in the auctions, causing bonds to be reset at interest rates as high as 20 percent in some cases.

New York Democrat Senator Charles E. Schumer yesterday asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to allow the institutions to bid on their own securities without raising concerns that they are manipulating markets. The bids would allow the nonprofit institutions to avoid high interest rates that occur when auctions fail.

Speaking to reporters after a hearing in Washington yesterday, SEC chairman Christopher Cox said his agency is “looking very carefully at the investor protection aspects” of allowing such bids.

Letting borrowers bid on their own bonds could give them the chance to drive down interest rates artificially, which is why the SEC has not encouraged the practice in the past, the newspaper said.

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Woman Who Uncovered Sexual Abuse at Swiss Charity Faces Charges

A British teacher is facing up to six months in jail after being convicted of defamation for comments she made 10 years ago when she and her husband alleged sexual abuse at a Swiss children’s charity in Ethiopia, reports the Associated Press.

Jill Campbell and her husband, Gary Campbell, compiled evidence in 1999 that helped convict David Christie, the director of an Ethiopian orphanage run by Terre Des Hommes-Lausanne, a Swiss charity.

While the charity acknowledged that such abuse took place, it succeeded in bringing a defamation case against the Campbells for their claims that the charity’s senior staff covered up the scandal. Ms. Campbell will be sentenced on Friday.

The abuse scandal prompted the charity to apologize and leave Ethiopia, and in 2003 an Ethiopian court sentenced Mr. Christie to nine years of hard labor for abusing several young boys.

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March 04, 2008

Wal-Mart Foundation Revamps Its Giving

The Wal-Mart Foundation, in Bentonville, Ark., has announced plans to restructure its philanthropy, in part by giving more overseas and stepping up grants to groups that work across an entire state, reports the Financial Times.

The foundation has announced three grant-making priorities: education and training for people ages 12 to 30, environmental sustainability, and health care.

The foundation has typically made grants of a few hundred dollars to schools and local groups, but now it will award grants of at least $25,000 apiece to statewide projects. In addition, it has hired program officers to evaluate whether its grants are making a difference.

Last year, the Wal-Mart Foundation gave away more than $290-million in the United States.

For more on corporate giving, read The Chronicle’s annual survey on charitable giving at major corporations.

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Some Charities Benefit From Mortgage Crisis

Although many people and companies have been negatively affected by the subprime-mortgage crisis, some nonprofit groups have been able to take advantage of low housing and land prices to increase their services to the poor, reports National Public Radio.

For example, the Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Modesto, Calif., has purchased parcels of land in the town for $50,000, half of what they were worth just a few years ago.

The charity develops properties for needy families; it also hopes to stem the danger of too many abandoned properties being overrun by squatters and crime.

Report Criticizes Microfinance Groups' Management

A new report urges microfinance groups, organizations that make small loans to poor people, to improve their management and corporate governance, reports the Financial Times.

The report, written by the Center for the Study of Financial Innovation, a think tank, said, “Microfinance institutions tend to be dominated by ‘visionaries’ who are strong on charisma but less so on management skills and strategic flexibility.” The report was based on a survey of microfinance analysts, investors, and practitioners.

Analysts who contributed to the report were concerned about the growing number of for-profit groups offering such loans, as well as about rising costs incurred by the microfinance programs, and about the potential for them to make irresponsible loans and take on too much debt.

The number of microfinance lenders has increased by 25 percent each year from 2004 to 2006, the report says.

See The Chronicle’s report on microfinance.

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Medical-Research Groups Court High-School Students as Donors

Some high schools are raising tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to give to medical causes, reports The Wall Street Journal.

While students previously raised money to pass on to national groups such as the March of Dimes and Easter Seals, the newspaper says, now many student groups want to support research and other efforts that benefit people in their hometowns.

High schools such as the affluent Highland Park High School, in Illinois, are being courted by grant seekers due to the large amounts of money they raise. Last year, students at the school raised $180,000, an amount matched by an anonymous donor. Students then chose to give the money to a research organization created by a local family affected by Huntington’s disease, a genetic disorder.

Students in Northport, N.Y., raised $250,000 to fight ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and a New Jersey high school raised more than $30,000 for the Children’s Tumor Foundation.

Elimination of Malaria May Not Be Feasible, Experts Warn

Health experts are doubtful as to whether the lofty goal set by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in Seattle, to eradicate malaria can be achieved soon, reports The New York Times.

Hardly any experts expect malaria to be gone in the next few decades, believing that a vaccine to protect people from the disease is still a very distant reality.

Arata Kochi, chief of malaria for the World Health Organization, criticized the Gates foundation for pressuring scientists to follow its approach to fighting malaria. Dr. Kochi thinks money donated by the foundation and others would be better spent on mosquito nets, medicines, and pesticides — which, he says, could cut the number of cases by 90 percent instead of finding a vaccine.

“Eliminating the last 10 percent is a tremendous task and very expensive,” said Dr. Kochi.

One leader of an organization supported by the Gates foundation, who was quoted anonymously in the article, joked in front of a group of scientists that it was wise to support the goal of quick eradication “if you want to get funded.”

Regina Rabinovich, head of infectious diseases for the Gates foundation, said that decisions on whether to support research were not based “on whether or not people agree with public statements made by Bill and Melinda.”

See The Chronicle’s article on the controversy over the Gates Foundation and malaria research.

(Free registration is required to view the Times article, and a paid subscription or short-term pass is required to view the Chronicle article.)

'American Idol' Plans Episode to Benefit Charity

For the second year in a row, the popular American Idol television show will devote an episode to raising money for charity, reports the Associated Press.

The April 9 event will include the celebrities Bono, Brad Pitt, Miley Cyrus, and others.

Last year’s show raised $76-million to benefit poor children.

Give and Take, a Roundup of Nonprofit Blogs

Give and Take is a service of The Chronicle of Philanthropy that rounds up the best postings that appear on blogs about the nonprofit world.

Among the most-recent postings:

Are nonprofit workers underpaid?

Questions about “Oprah’s Big Give”

What the IRS’s investigation into the church that invited Obama to speak means to nonprofit groups.

You can also read previous postings on issues about philanthropic giving, fund raising, and management of nonprofit organizations.

Give and Take is updated regularly throughout the day.

March 03, 2008

Inflated Art Appraisals Cost the Government Millions of Dollars

Exaggerated estimates of the value of donated artwork have cost the U.S. government “untold millions” of dollars from tax write-offs, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Every year, donors take $1-billion in tax write-offs for donating art objects, and audits of just a few of those donations show that as many as half of the objects are overvalued by two to three times their real worth. The Internal Revenue Service investigates very few art donations, according to its inspector general, which may have enabled donors to get away with inflated appraisals for a long time.

In 2004, the Times reports, the IRS audited just seven of the 108,554 tax returns that included donations of art: Appraisers discovered that more than a third of the 184 objects claimed on those returns were overvalued, on average by more than three times their actual value.

“The government has looked the other way for many, many years,” says Sheryl Gillett, a senior member of the American Society of Appraisers. “I think we’ve reached a point where they can no longer do that.”

But museum officials are wary of changes that might deter donors from giving. “If something were to happen to the deductibility of art, it would be disastrous,” says Anita Difanis, a lobbyist for the American Association of Museum Directors.

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

Idaho Planned Parenthood Faces Controversy Over Racially Motivated Donation

The Planned Parenthood of Idaho has apologized for how an employee handled a phone call from a prospective donor, who said he wanted to support abortions for black mothers because “the less black kids out there, the better,” reports The Idaho Statesman.

The phone call was set up and recorded by The Advocate, an anti-abortion student publication at the University of California at Los Angeles, as part of a wider effort to try to demonstrate their argument that Planned Parenthood focuses much of its energy on persuading members of minority groups to have abortions.

The caller says that “I really face trouble with affirmative action, and I don’t want my kids being disadvantaged, you know, against black kids.”

The employee, Autumn Kersey, vice president of development and marketing for Planned Parenthood of Idaho, responded, “Mmhmm, absolutely.”

“A fund-raising employee violated the organization’s principles and practices when she appeared to be willing to accept a racially motivated donation,” said Rebecca Poedy, the group’s chief executive officer, in a written statement. “We apologize for the manner in which this offensive call was handled. We take full responsibility for the actions of the fund-raising staff member who created the impression that racism of any form would be tolerated at Planned Parenthood.”

Planned Parenthood of Idaho, which did not say how it punished Ms. Kersey, also rebuked the magazine’s “race-baiting tactics” in conducting the phone-call operation.

$10-Million Foundation Effort Examines How Courts Should Handle Brain Research

Bolstered by $10-million from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, legal scholars and scientists are trying to figure out how advances in neuroscience can be put to the best and fairest use in the classroom, reports The Associated Press.

The project has assembled teams to explore topics, such as drug addiction and its effects on rationality and behavior. Another group is looking at the possibility that brain defects can influence behavior attributed to poor moral character, the new service reports.

Still, some experts are worried that some scientific developments — such as brain scans that show abnormalities of a defendant — are not yet ready to be weighed as evidence in a courtroom trial.

“There is a danger here that the cart can get ahead of the horse if we’re not careful,” says Marcus E. Raichle, a researcher of neurology and radiology at the Washington University School of Medicine, in St. Louis. “As a general statement, we are probably not ready to have this in front of a jury.”

(Free registration is required to view this article on the Washington Post site.)

Toys for Tots Will Seek to Increase Literacy

The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, a nonprofit group run by the U.S. Marines that brings toys to poor children during the holidays, will begin a new year-round literacy program today, reports The Washington Post.

The group said it hoped that by focusing on literacy, it could help children from poor families escape the trap of poverty.

The charity will raise money to buy and deliver books to the country’s poorest children and will support literacy programs at schools, libraries, and other organizations, reports the Post. At UPS Store franchises, Toys for Tots will collect $1 donations, which will be used locally. Scholastic, a children’s book publisher, will sell books to the charity for $1 each, and the UPS Store, in San Diego, will pay overhead costs.

Marines Toys for Tots is one of the nation’s biggest charities, ranking No. 66 on The Chronicle’s annual list of the 400 charities that raise the most from private sources.

(Free registration is required to view the Post article, and a paid subscription or short-term pass is required to view the Chronicle article.)

Opinion: Philanthropy Stock Markets Will Be Common in the Next 25 Years

Twenty-five years from now, grant makers will seek out grantees — rather than the other way around — and base their decisions on extensive information that is widely shared, predicts Sean Stannard-Stockton, a principal and director of tactical philanthropy at Ensemble Capital Management, in a Financial Times column.

Grant makers will exchange information through social stock exchanges that resemble the financial markets, he writes. Looking back from the perspective of the year 2033, he says, “As funders became comfortable with the idea that sharing information with other donors provided greater social impact, a sense of community and camaraderie developed that set the social exchanges apart from the traditional financial markets.”

He also predicts that most Americans, even those with moderate means, will open donor-advised funds — in 2033, they will be available through bank accounts linked to checking accounts.

From The Chronicle: CEO Job Doesn't Appeal to Many Potential Nonprofit Leaders, Study Finds

A study released today shows that many potential charity managers are not inclined to pursue leadership posts, demonstrating how hard it could be to replace the baby boomers now retiring from top nonprofit jobs, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.