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, and Anne W. Howard.

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April 2008

April 30, 2008

Montana Court Says Museum Board Failed in Duties

The board of the Charles M. Bair Family Museum, in Martinsdale, Mont., which closed the facility in 2002, is being ordered by the state Supreme Court to reconvene within six months after a ruling in which the court found the board breached its fiduciary duties by closing the museum, reports The New York Times.

In a case that the Times says has been followed closely in the nonprofit world, the court said the board did not spend enough money to establish and maintain the museum. As a result of the court’s ruling, the museum’s trustee, U.S. Bank, was ordered to create a new board, the paper reports.

The museum was established after the death of Alberta M. Bair, the heiress to a family fortune her father had built through his work in minerals, finance, and sheep. It was home to European antiques, works of art, and Native American artifacts, the paper reports.

“It’s great news,” said Mike McGrath, Montana’s attorney general. “The Montana Supreme Court said the board does not have unfettered discretion.”

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Aid Groups Help Create Prosperity in Sudanese Town

The influx of United Nations agencies and private charities into the North Darfur capital of El Fasher in the past several years has created a boom for the town in ways most of the region is not experiencing, reports the Los Angeles Times.

El Fasher has new office buildings under construction, new rental homes costing as much as $5,000 a month, and paved streets instead of the former sand roads, the paper reports. Its population has nearly doubled since 2003 as the city has attracted refugees from the humanitarian crisis in Darfur as well as aid workers who have made the town their base for operations.

“People are beginning to think in a more business-minded way,” Adam Ahmed Sliman, an economics analyst in El Fasher, tells the Times. “And for the first time, really, there is an opportunity for people to make some money rather than just getting by day to day.”

But while the “aid boom” seems to be benefiting most corners of the town’s population, some observers wonder what the long-term prospects are for the town, especially after the crisis in Darfur ends.

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Charities Ask Taxpayers to Donate Rebates

Some charities see an opportunity this week with the government’s mailing of rebate checks to taxpayers and are planning to ask people to donate of some or all of those rebates, reports The New York Times.

Among these groups is the VFW National Home for Children, in Eaton Rapids, Mich., which is sending postcards to ask people to donate part of their rebates, the Times reports.

“For us, a few hundred thousand dollars raised this way would be extremely helpful,” said Tim Smith, the organization’s development director. “It’s too big an opportunity to ignore.”

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Global Food Crisis Presents Mounting Challenges for Aid Groups

The sudden increase in food prices around the world is challenging aid groups, which have had to reduce the number of people they feed, reports The Seattle Times.

While donations to charities such as Mercy Corps and World Vision remain steady, higher food prices have meant fewer people can be helped. Among the causes of the higher food prices are higher fuel prices, more corn being grown for fuel, more demand for grains and meat in China and India, and droughts in Australia and Russia, the paper reports.

“What’s surprising is how severe it’s become all at once,” Penelope Anderson, director of food security for Mercy Corps, tells the Times. “The level of need and the quickness with which it’s arisen has kind of swamped us.”

Ms. Anderson says the food crisis has affected other programs as well. “You can’t talk to someone about economic-development programs when suddenly their family is hungry,” she says.

For more on how the global food crisis is affecting charities and their work, see articles in the International Herald Tribune and The Sun, in Baltimore. Also see the Chronicle’s coverage of the issue.

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

Wall Street's Woes Hit Charities

New York charities, long dependent on steady donations from New Yorkers who earn big salaries on Wall Street, are starting to feel the strain of the uncertain economic times, reports the Los Angeles Times.

The collapse of Bear Stearns, for example, is causing the charity Citymeals-on-Wheels to look elsewhere for the half million dollars in support it counted on last year from Bear Stearns employees, the paper reports. At the same time, the demand for assistance from such charities is on the rise.

Michael Nilsen, spokesman for the Association of Fundraising Professionals, tells the Times it is too early to know exactly how the economic downturn will affect donations. “There’s definitely a sense, particularly in the first quarter of this year, that [fundraising] is going to be challenging,” he says.

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From The Chronicle: Charity Auctions Losing Steam?

Bob Levey writes in a fund-raising column in The Chronicle of Philanthropy that he revels in being an auctioneer but believes charity auctions are starting to fade as big money makers.

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Correction: Naming Gifts

Yesterday’s Philanthropy Today linked to a Financial Times article about gifts to business schools that misstated the title of Angel Cabrera. He is president of Thunderbird School of Global Management.

April 29, 2008

National Civil-Liberties Group Takes Over Its South Carolina Affiliate

For the first time in its history, the American Civil Liberties Union has voted to take over one of its state affiliates, reports The New York Times.

The organization voted to take over management of the South Carolina affiliate, which has been plagued by poor management. Its last executive director stole money; it has relied on the financial support of the national organization; and its board is marked by tension.

Some people allege that other ACLU affiliates are also in bad shape but that the South Carolina branch is being unfairly singled out for its criticism of the national organization.

The branch’s representative on the national board, David F. Kennison, fought with Anthony D. Romero, the national organization’s executive director. Furthermore, it was the only affiliate that attached its name to a Web site that is highly critical of the national ACLU, based in New York.

Robert B. Remar, vice president of the ACLU and a lawyer in Atlanta, defended the national group’s decision to supervise the South Carolina affiliate. He said, “South Carolina as a state has a tremendous amount of civil-liberties challenges, and our goal is to make sure there is a strong and viable affiliate to deal with those issues.”

Neil Caesar, president of the South Carolina affiliate’s board, said, “I believe this will truly be harmful to the ACLU and how it is perceived in the state by both our friends and our enemies.”

Previously, two other local affiliates in Texas and Mississippi have agreed to voluntary control by the national ACLU.

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Volunteer Opportunities Help Companies Attract Young Workers

More companies are offering employees the option to volunteer for charity while receiving a company salary, as a way to build employees’ skills and attract young workers, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Instead of encouraging employees to volunteer to do basic tasks – like feeding the homeless or cleaning up parks – many companies are now lending their employees to nonprofit organizations with the condition that the charities find ways to use the professional skills of the employee volunteers.

After these volunteer work assignments, employees “come back with more substantial leadership skills and a better strategic sense of how to navigate in different types of environments,” says Robert Mallett, a senior vice president at Pfizer, in New York, and president of the pharmaceutical giant’s corporate foundation.

Many young employees say that corporate volunteer programs can be a crucial selling point for a job. A 2006 survey of adolescents and young adults by Cone, a marketing company in Boston, found that 79 percent want their employers to demonstrate a commitment to society. Major companies, looking to the retirement of the baby-boom generation, are using corporate volunteer programs as a way to respond to those needs and attract and keep young workers.

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Naming Gifts Attract Business-School Alumni

In the past several years, a number of alumni have made major donations to U.S. business schools — often with naming conditions, reports The Financial Times.

These gifts include an $85-million gift to the Wisconsin School of Business at Madison from a small group of alumni that required the school’s name to stay the same for at least 20 years; a $30-million gift to California State University’s business college, in Fullerton, in January; and $25-million to the University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

“There’s much less resistance within university systems to having business schools named than with other schools,” says Carolyn Woo, the dean of the Mendoza College of Business, at the University of Notre Dame.

However, “not every gift is a good gift,” says Angel Cabrera, president of the Thunderbird School of Global Management, in Glendale, Ariz., citing an example in which a gift offered to Thunderbird had so many conditions, it had to be turned down by the institution.

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Public Radio Seeks to Broaden Reach

Although public radio drew its largest audience last year, it is aggressively seeking to broaden the programs it offers in the hopes of drawing a larger and more diverse number of listeners, reports The New York Times.

On Monday, Public Radio International, supported by a $2-million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, in Miami, introduced a new live morning program, “The Takeaway,” to serve as an alternative to National Public Radio’s popular “Morning Edition.”

Besides “The Takeaway,” public radio stations have started Web-radio hybrid programs, online searches for new and less conventional hosts, and other, more interactive features. When it comes to drawing new listeners, Tom Thomas, co-chief executive officer of the Station Resource Group, says, “Everything is on the table.”

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New York City Council's Charity Support Under Scrutiny

A New York City Council member supplied more than $400,000 in city money to a nonprofit organization with sloppy financial records that was run at times by his current or former employees, reports The New York Times.

The organization, Libre, did not file a tax return for the past two years, never registered as a charity with the state office, as required by law, and was headed in recent years by two women who had worked for the council member Hiram Monserrate as chief of staff and director of constituent services.

The Libre situation came to light as a result of a wide examination of the nonprofit organizations that the City Council supports, itself sparked by last month’s revelation that the council used the names of fictitious groups to stow money to spend later without undergoing a normal budget review. Now auditors from the city comptroller’s office, federal investigators, and lawyers at the city’s Department of Investigation are examining the millions of dollars in discretionary funds that council members have given to community groups.

At Libre, a group created to help immigrants and others in Queens, the current director, Rodolfo Herrera, calls the organization “a mess.”

Mr. Monserrate has said that he had no control of the organization and believed that it followed the law in accounting for its finances. However, his account of whether certain staff members worked for him and Libre concurrently differs from what the one tax return filed, from 2005, indicates.

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Rockefellers Want Exxon Mobil to Split Top Job

Members of the Rockefeller family want the chairman and chief executive positions at Exxon Mobil to be separated, reports The Dallas Morning News.

Family members heavily involved in foundations and nonprofit groups — including those founded with Rockefeller money — will hold a press conference on Wednesday to explain the motivations for the request, which comes in advance of a May 28 shareholder resolution to split the head position.

The Rockefellers, while no longer among the company’s top shareholders, founded Exxon’s predecessor, Standard Oil. Neva Rockefeller Goodwin, great-granddaughter of John D. Rockefeller, sponsored a resolution this year that asks Exxon’s board to examine the effects of climate change and consider developing sustainable technologies.

Exxon’s board has recommended that shareholders vote no on both resolutions.

Speaking at the press conference tomorrow, according to a press release distributed Monday, will be Ms. Goodwin, as well as Peter O’Neill, a Rockefeller heir and businessman active in many nonprofit organizations, and Stephen B. Heintz, president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Transcript: The Future of Religious Causes

Read a transcript of our discussion today about trends affecting religious causes.

Government Regulation of Fund Raising: Share Your Views

“It is none of the government’s business to oversee fund raising for nonprofits,” says one commentator on The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Prospecting blog. “People need to be wise in making contributions. We really don’t need more “nanny state” involvement to protect us from something that people should take care of for themselves.”

“My gut reaction is to agree that the government has no business regulating charity efficiency,” says another. “But, since they ‘subsidize’ us in effect, through our tax-exempt status, they should have a say at the table. I think, however, they should set standards and expectations that would guide donors, not establish regulations that would box us in.”

Read the comments by those observers and by others —including a leader of the National Association of State Charity Officials — on our Prospecting blog. We hope you will join the debate on these important issues about regulation of fund raising.

From The Chronicle: Benefits of Company Volunteer Programs

Volunteering programs that use and hone skills are an effective and inexpensive professional-development tool, according to a national survey of human-resource managers, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. Yet few companies regularly integrate employee training needs into volunteer activities.

April 28, 2008

Some Nonprofit Hospitals Demand Payments Before Treating Patients

In an effort to reduce debt and costs associated with treating uninsured or poor people, some nonprofit hospitals are asking patients to make payments before they receive treatment, reports The Wall Street Journal.

In 2006, unpaid bills cost hospitals of all kinds a total of $31.2-billion, an increase from $21.6-billion in 2000.

Hospitals defend demanding upfront payments, saying the practice improves their finances and the quality of care they provide.

However, some say the practice is questionable for nonprofit hospitals since they receive tax-exempt status in part because they treat poor people. A study conducted by Ohio State University found that net income per bed nearly tripled at nonprofit hospitals to $146,273 in 2005 from $50,669 in 2000.

Uwe Reinhardt, a health-care economist at Princeton University, said nonprofit hospitals “shouldn’t behave this way.”

A 2006 survey by the Internal Revenue Service found that 14 percent of 481 nonprofit hospitals required patients to make payments before receiving treatment.

Charity Eavesdropping Case Leaves Defense Lawyers Worried About Privacy

Ever since the investigation of the Saudi charity al-Haramain Islamic Foundation on allegations that it supported terrorist activity, defense lawyers for clients who are suspected of terrorism have feared that they are under government surveillance, reports The New York Times.

In August 2004, the government mistakenly gave the charity’s defense lawyers a logbook of intercepted phone calls between the charity’s lawyers in Washington and clients in Saudi Arabia. This month, the charity’s lawyers went to federal court in Portland, Ore., to ask a judge to make sure that the confidentiality of communications between lawyers and clients are protected.

Sean M. Maher, a co-chairman of the national security committee of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said that the case of the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation compels defense lawyers not to take cases in which people are accused of terrorism for fear of having their privacy invaded. He said, “People just aren’t going to get involved in this process. I find it unfathomable that in our adversarial system, we’ve created a process to weed out qualified defense counsel.”

The Department of Justice does not deny that the government has monitored phone calls and e-mail messages between lawyers and their clients as part of terrorism investigations, but it says that such actions are legal and done prudently. Anthony J. Coppolino, a Justice Department lawyer, said to the federal judge in Portland, “We do conduct ourselves ethically and adhere to our responsibilities under the rules of ethics.”

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British Philanthropists Giving More

The very rich in Great Britain are giving more and more to causes in developing countries, reports The Times.

British philanthropists are backing projects such as supporting teachers in Rwanda and providing AIDS treatment in Mozambique. Such giving has led to a 97-percent increase over the past year in donations from the 30 most-generous donors among Britain’s 1,000 richest people.

Leading the charge is Sir Tom Hunter, the Scottish sportswear tycoon who plans to give more than $1.5-billion of his fortune to charity.

Read The Chronicle’s profile of Mr. Hunter. Also see The Chronicle’s list of America’s top donors.

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Philanthropists Use Film to Promote Social Causes

“Filmanthropy” has led to the rising popularity of documentaries looking to promote social messages, the Financial Times reports.

That term is often used to describe wealthy philanthropists who give money to movies that call attention to social problems, based on the success of documentaries such An Inconvenient Truth and Fahrenheit 9/11, the newspaper reports.

Some critics say filmanthropy is not practical and that money should be given to efforts such as humanitarian aid.

Ted Leonsis, a technology entrepreneur, defended investing in movies, saying, “If you make a movie that’s a hit and has a celebrity attached to it, it focuses public opinion on your story and you get to use [the film] as a platform for additional funding.”

Perhaps the most successful and most prominent filmanthropist is Jeff Skoll, one of eBay’s early employees, whose Participant Productions supported Syriana and An Inconvenient Truth.

Venture Capitalist's Charity Focuses on Eye Research

The Foundation Fighting Blindness, started by the venture capitalist Gordon Gund, has raised more than $300-million for research and education on retinal disease, The Philadelphia Inquirer notes in a profile of the organization.

Mr. Gund founded the charity in 1971, shortly after he lost his sight at the age of 31. Mr. Gund is a former owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers and the NHL’s San Jose Sharks.

Foundation Fighting Blindness provides financial support for research that is in the early stages — and unlikely to attract support from other organizations — and career-development awards for scientists working on eye research.

Mr. Gund says, “You get the more conventional funding later if the small enterprise is successful. There’s such a long distance between the lab and the trials and FDA approval. We need to de-risk those things.”

Online Discussion Tomorrow: Religious Charities

Join us on Tuesday at noon for a live online discussion about the future of religious charities. Taking your questions will be:

William O’Keefe, the senior director of advocacy for Catholic Relief Services, in Baltimore, an organization that receives federal money to provide overseas development aid.

Paul Lichterman, an associate professor of sociology and religion at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, and co-editor of the book Civic Life in American Religion.

Joshua Hale, executive director of the Big Shoulders Fund, in Chicago. The fund has raised more than $155-million to help defray tuition and operating costs for 93 of Chicago’s most-needy inner-city Catholic schools.

The discussion will start 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: Neighborhood Groups Lead New Orleans's Renewal

Neighborhood associations have been at the heart of recovery efforts in New Orleans, taking on new roles to fill needs created by Hurricane Katrina, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

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April 25, 2008

Lawsuit Against Smithsonian Executive Thrown Out

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a former custodian against a Smithsonian Business Ventures vice president, saying the Smithsonian official is protected by a law that insulates some federal employees from such lawsuits, reports The Washington Post.

Mary T. Majano sued to recover damages from injuries she said she sustained in an altercation with Jeanny Kim five years ago.

U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer determined that Ms. Majano had exaggerated the violence of the encounter but also said that “neither was the incident as tame as Ms. Kim would like to portray.”

Still the judge ruled that she could not determine whether the incident caused Ms. Majano to need surgery for a herniated disk. Ms. Majano’s lawyer, David Jones, said that Ms. Kim violated Smithsonian employment policies and is considering an appeal.

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Darfur Group Protests Olympic Sponsors

The activist group Dream for Darfur will organize protests against 16 companies sponsoring the Beijing Olympics for exhibiting what it calls “moral cowardice” and reluctance to pressure China, a major investor in Sudan, to help end conflict in Darfur, reports the Associated Press.

The group said it would urge viewers to turn off commercials during the Olympic Games in August and also plans to protest at the companies’ headquarters. The first demonstrations are to take place against Coca-Cola in Atlanta on Saturday and New York on Sunday and against Staples in Boston on Sunday.

In response, Coca-Cola called attention to its company’s charitable work in Sudan, including a $5-million donation to water projects. “We view this as a more direct — and more effective — route than Dream for Darfur’s public posturing,” the statement said.

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Opinion: Clinton Foundation Should Disclose Donors

Bill Clinton, who says he will maintain the anonymity of his foundation’s donors even if his wife gets elected President, should disclose their names to avoid the potential for political conflicts, writes The Wall Street Journal in an opinion piece.

Ms. Clinton says the foundation is not her business. However, donations to the Clinton Foundation increased significantly as she drew closer to a presidential run, rising to $135-million in 2006, 70 percent more than the year before. With this growing generosity to the foundation concern is also growing about whether these contributors have given their money with expectations of preferential treatment and influence over foreign and domestic decisions.

At the Clinton Global Initiative last year, Mr. Clinton said he believed he would “have extra responsibilities for transparency should Hillary get elected, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. He said he would consider naming future contributors to his charity but not people who had given in the past with the understanding that their gifts would be anonymous.

Government and Politics Watch

Among the highlights from The Chronicle’s Government and Politics Watch is a new effort by a powerful senator to enact tougher penalties on charities that don’t step up their efforts to improve their reporting on the Form 990 informational tax return.

Online Discussion Next Week: Religious Charities

Join us on Tuesday at noon for a live online discussion about the future of religious charities. Taking your questions will be:

William O’Keefe, the senior director of advocacy for Catholic Relief Services, in Baltimore, an organization that receives federal money to provide overseas development aid.

Paul Lichterman, an associate professor of sociology and religion at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, and co-editor of the book Civic Life in American Religion.

The discussion will start 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.

Fund-Raising Regulation: Join the Debate

The debate over how best to ensure that charities aren’t overspending on fund-raising is growing more intense.

In recent days, a number of proposals have been floated:

A top official at the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday it will figure out how to use its authority to crack down on charities that are inefficient in their spending on fund raising and other expenses.

Members of the House of Representatives are considering asking charities that send direct-mail appeals to post data about how much money from a solicitation will end up benefiting a charitable cause.

A key member of the Senate has proposed that the Federal Trade Commission start regulating charities to determine if their fund-raising appeals are fraudulent — especially if too little money raised goes to the cause.

An executive at a prominent direct-mail company has drafted a legislative proposal to overhaul the way nonprofit groups disclose information about their fund-raising activities.

We want to hear what you think of all these efforts. Join the conversation on our Prospecting blog.

From The Chronicle: IRS Steps Up Efforts to Monitor Charity Efficiency

The Internal Revenue Service is stepping up efforts to ensure that the nation’s charities are not hoarding or wasting money, a top official of the agency told charities on Thursday.

Steven T. Miller, commissioner of the IRS’s tax-exempt and government-entities division, said the tax agency will be “more aggressive” in monitoring the “efficiency and effectiveness” of charitable organizations, even though such monitoring is not expressly within the agency’s jurisdiction, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

From The Chronicle: Fund-Raising Appeals

Lawmakers who want to discourage charities from spending too much money on fund raising are considering introducing legislation to require nonprofit groups to post information for donors to a Postal Service Web site, including the ratio of their fund-raising costs to program spending, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

From The Chronicle: $100-Million Gift to Harvard U.

David Rockefeller has pledged $100-million to Harvard University, his alma mater. The pledge is the third gift of that size that he has made in recent years, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

April 24, 2008

U.N. Warns of Food Crisis

Sharply rising food prices are sending millions of people deeper into poverty and creating a crisis that threatens economic and political stability around the world, reports The Washington Post.

A combination of factors — including skyrocketing fuel and fertilizer prices, droughts, increases in demand from third-world countries, and the use of crops for biofuels — has created a $755-million shortfall in the United Nations’ food-program budget, says Josette Sheeran, executive director of the World Food Program. She says that the price of a metric ton of rice in parts of Asia has risen from $460 to $1,000 in less than two months.

“This is the new face of hunger — the millions of people who were not in the urgent hunger category six months ago but now are,” Ms. Sheeran says. “The world’s misery index is rising.”

The United States has pledged an additional $200-million and Britain another $60-million in emergency food aid. The food shortages have resulted in riots in Haiti, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Egypt, Indonesia, and Senegal, the Post writes.

Meanwhile, the Red Cross says that intense fighting in Iraq’s Sadr City has cut residents off from medical supplies, food, and water, reports CNN.

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Smoking Bans Mean Fewer Charity Bingo Players, Groups Say

Organizers of charity bingo games are complaining of declining revenue in states where smoking in businesses has been banned, reports The New York Times.

One manager of a bingo game estimates that smokers outnumber nonsmokers three to one; others insist they won’t be able to recruit new nonsmoking players. Groups in California, New Jersey, New York, and Washington State told the newspaper that smoking bans are taking a serious toll on their budgets and on the money they give away.

After Minnesota adopted a statewide ban on smoking in indoor workplaces, charity-gambling revenue dropped 13 percent in the last quarter of 2007 compared with the year before. “It’s had a profound effect on us here,” says Charlie Lindstrom, who manages bingo night at a Minnesota chapter of the American Legion. “We’ve sponsored several baseball teams here in the past, but we can’t give as much now because the smoking ban has really reduced our revenue.”

Legislators say that attendance will bounce back eventually.

“Whenever places have put in smoking bans, there is a six-month period where there is a drop in business in bars and restaurants, which is where this gambling takes place, and after that, it starts to rebound,” says Minnesota State Representative Thomas Huntley, a chief sponsor of Minnesota’s Freedom to Breathe Act.

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N.Y. Real-Estate Investor Makes Philanthropic Commitment to Baltimore

William Polk Carey, a New York real-estate magnate and member of an old philanthropic Baltimore family, says he will donate most of his fortune — potentially hundreds of millions of dollars — to his eponymous foundation, which has a focus on his Maryland hometown, reports The Sun, in Baltimore.

Mr. Carey, who is not married and has no children, would not tell The Sun how much money he has, but he owns about 30 percent of the W.P. Carey & Co. investment firm, which has a market value of about $1.2-billion. That could mean more than $350-million for the foundation.

The great-great-great grandson of a Quaker abolitionist who bought property for the city’s first African-American congregation, Mr. Carey, 77, has focused his philanthropy on education in Baltimore. In 2006, for example, he donated $50-million to establish a business school at the Johns Hopkins University. He has also given money to the Gilman School, the Calvert School, the Bryn Mawr School, the Baltimore School for the Arts, and the Maryland Historical Society, all in Baltimore.

“I’m proud of being from Baltimore,” he says. “It’s a great city full of wonderful people, and I just want to continue seeing it get better and stronger every day.”

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MIT Student Organizes Jewelry-Making Charity for Sri Lanka

A student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology has turned her own jewelry-making pastime into a means of psychological and economic support for abused Sri Lankan girls and other needy people, founding “a nonprofit group called Emerge, reports The Boston Globe.

Alia Whitney-Johnson, on a tsunami-relief trip in Sri Lanka, visited a shelter for very young mothers — girls who had been raped, often by their own fathers.

“Working with the victims of the tsunami was very different,” says Ms. Whitney-Johnson. “They had lost their homes and material things, but people pulled together. Here there was no sense of community. No one talked to each other.”

Ms. Whitney-Johnson, who brought beads and other supplies to make jewelry, found that the girls responded positively to the activity, becoming more animated and gaining a feeling of greater control of their lives.

Now she aims to raise $500,000 for a women’s cooperative center and has opened bank accounts for the participants.

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Prospecting: Fund-Raising News and Tips

Prospecting is an online fund-raising column published by The Chronicle of Philanthropy and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Among the recent topics discussed:

Debate over a new fund-raising disclosure plan

A drop in readership for charity e-mails

Turning patients into “guardian angel” donors

Government and Politics Watch

Among the highlights from The Chronicle’s Government and Politics Watch:

A look at John McCain’s proposed antipoverty efforts

A bill to give the Federal Trade Commission new power to regulate charities

From The Chronicle: Corporate Giving Up 7%

Corporations reported a 7 percent increase in their grant making in 2007, according to a new study by the Foundation Center, in New York, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

April 23, 2008

University to Pay Off Loans for Students Who Work in Public Service

Tufts University, in Medford, Mass., announced yesterday that it plans to help pay off the loans of its undergraduate and graduate students if they work for a nonprofit group or a public-sector employer, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The amount of loan reimbursement will depend on a student’s loan burdens and income levels. The new plan also applies to alumni in public-service jobs. Tufts officials said the program is the first of its kind in the country to promise this level of education-debt relief to all undergraduate and graduate students.

University officials told the newspaper that the initial $500,000 for the program will come from the Omidyar-Tufts Microfinance Fund, a $100-million donation the university received from Tufts graduates Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay, and his wife, Pamela.

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N.Y. Politician Funneled Government Money Into Charity Run by Wife

In yet another twist in the ongoing probe by New York’s Department of Investigation and the city’s U.S. attorney, a Brooklyn, N.Y., city councilman has been found to have funneled more than $180,000 of taxpayer money into a small nonprofit organization run by his wife, reports the New York Daily News.

The councilman, Erik Dilan, was the only sponsor of “discretionary” city funds for the North Brooklyn Community Council, a nonprofit organization that began as a youth football group but has expanded through the use of government money. Mr. Dilan’s wife, Jannitza Luna, has been executive director of the group since at least 2005, according to tax records the newspaper obtained.

While all city council members in Mr. Dilan’s borough are allowed a certain amount of discretionary money to use for pet projects in their districts, there is concern that Mr. Dilan’s use of the money was improper and constituted a conflict of interest.

Mr. Dilan told the newspaper that no one on the council objected when he disclosed the possible conflict, but the newspaper claims that a letter sent to the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board does not clearly describe details of the arrangement.

Habitat for Humanity Beneficiary and Spokesman Murdered

A San Francisco man who was that city’s first homeowner through the Habitat for Humanity charitable housing program, and a proud spokesman for the nonprofit organization, was murdered near his home on Monday, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Ken Arthur, a 46-year-old father of three, overcame poverty after becoming the city’s first homeowner in the charitable program 12 years ago. He spoke last week to a crowd of more than 500 people at the San Francisco Habitat for Humanity’s annual fund-raising event about his success and invited everyone at the event to fly with him to Tennessee next month for his son’s college graduation, an occasion, family members say, Mr. Arthur spoke of with immense pride.

But his dream of seeing one of his sons graduate from college was not to be realized. At 12:30 a.m. on Monday, Mr. Arthur was found stabbed to death in the street, a few blocks from the Habitat home that he and his family helped refurbish and moved into in 1996.

The San Francisco police have made no arrests and say they have little to go on in the case.

Commission Allows Institution to Rename Flagship Building for Donor

The New York Landmarks Preservation Commission agreed yesterday to a controversial change to the name of the New York Public Library’s main building — permitting it to become the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, The New York Times reports.

The final move in a contentious battle, the commission’s unanimous vote yesterday overcame the last impediment to making the first substantive changes in a century to the facade of the building’s 42nd Street entrance.

The flagship building, a much-beloved New York landmark, is being renamed for Mr. Schwarzman, a Wall Street financier, who pledged to give the institution $100-million in March. The money will be used to support a $1-billion overhaul of the library system. Mr. Schwarzman serves on the library’s Board of Trustees.

Some opponents of the proposal worried that it could set a dangerous precedent. Others said that while they did not oppose honoring Mr. Schwarzman for his gift, they thought the library’s approach was excessive.

The newspaper could not reach Mr. Schwarzman, who spoke with The Chronicle of Philanthropy last month about his pledge to the library.

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Calif. Parents Seek Private Donations to Cover Public-Education Basics

As California’s schools face a $4.8-billion cut in government money and possible layoffs of as many as 20,000 teachers, librarians, nurses, and others, parent are setting up fund-raising groups to raise money for their children’s public schools, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Since 1978 public-school districts have had related charities to help parents give money for music classes and field trips. However, private donations are now being used to help cover education basics, the paper reports.

Janet Berry, president of the Davis Schools Foundation, says, “Public education is free, but an excellent public education is not free at this point.”

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Campaign 2008: Where the Candidates Stand on Nonprofit Issues

The Chronicle has compiled information about the contenders of the White House — and where they stand on the issues that matter to nonprofit causes — in a new section of its Web site. Readers are encouraged to send suggestions about additional information for this section to editor@philanthropy.com.

April 22, 2008

Arts Groups Feel Economic Woes

Arts institutions are starting to experience the effects of the ailing economy, reports the Associated Press.

Museums, symphony halls, dance companies, and other arts groups are feeling the impact of spiking interest rates on municipal bonds and low returns on investments. Plus many groups fear that the sagging economy will lead to a drop in ticket sales and donations.

“We’re being extra careful and conservative in our budget for next year,” said Christopher Clinton Conway of the Joffrey Ballet, in Chicago.

Texas State U. Cuts Ties with Donor

After a series of scandals at the Roy F. and Joann Cole Mitte Foundation, Texas State University at San Marcos announced that it will cut ties with the donor, reports The Austin American-Statesman.

Texas State University has received more than $9-million since 1997 from the Mitte foundation.

The university’s decision comes as Michael Scott Mitte, the grant maker’s executive director and the son of its founders, faces charges of cocaine possession.

Mr. Mitte, who goes by his middle name, had previously settled four sexual-harassment cases brought by women who were either employees of the foundation or a subsidiary of the insurance company, Austin Insurer Financial Industries, which his father founded.

Additionally, Roy Mitte, now deceased, was fired by his company in 2002 after an audit revealed that he had channeled company money into the family foundation without permission.

“I think what we’ve witnessed is a steady degradation of the foundation’s integrity over the last several years,” said Mark Hendricks, a university spokesman.

The university will return an $800,000 endowment for an honors program to the foundation and plans to use its own money to finance scholarship students and faculty members currently supported through aid from the Mitte foundation.

Small Donations From N.Y. Governor Draw Scrutiny

New York Gov. David A. Paterson’s small charitable donations last year — just $150, according to his 2007 tax returns — are bringing his philanthropic activities unwanted attention, reports The New York Times.

Among statewide elected officials, the governor gave the smallest percentage of his income, which was $269,815 last year, to charity. However, in a radio interview on Monday, he said that his donations were actually greater than reported but that he did not disclose the sums to avoid journalistic scrutiny.

“I felt to go further into an explanation opened the door to a feeding frenzy that I thought I was the victim of in the last month,” Governor Paterson said, referring to a period in which he disclosed previous extramarital affairs and suggested budget cuts.

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What’s in a (Major Donor’s) Name?

The New York Public Library, replete with buildings and rooms named after major benefactors, is struggling to find balance between naming rights and cluttering the institutions with inscriptions, reports The New York Times.

“There are at least three families with six places of recognition within the building,” said Paul LeClerc, the library’s president, who called the institution “a billboard to philanthropy,” as he walked through its main branch.

However, a proposal to name a building in honor Stephen A. Schwarzman, chief executive of the Blackstone Group, who announced a $100-million donation to the library in March, is generating opposition. A community-advisory group in New York recently voted against the most prominent proposed carving of Mr. Schwarzman’s name on pedestals flanking the library’s Fifth Avenue entrance, even as it approved other placements for his name.

Howard Mendes, chairman of the community group’s landmarks committee, called the proposal “excessive.”

The Landmarks Preservation Commission, which will make the final decision on this issue, is holding a public hearing today. Its decision could have an impact on fund raising: When the commission rejected the proposed name placement for the developer Samuel J. LeFrak on the Guggenheim Museum in the 1990s, his $10-million donation to the museum fell through.

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Transcript: The Changing Face of Donors

Read a transcript of our online discussion about how the changes in the nation’s demographics affect fund raising.

From The Chronicle: Rising Costs Plague Charities Providing Overseas Aid

Charities that work overseas have been battered by a spate of recent economic troubles, including rising food and oil prices and the weakening dollar, reports The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

From The Chronicle: Background Checks for Nonprofit Volunteers

Many social-service charities do not do nearly enough to screen volunteers, exposing the people they serve to potential victimization and the organizations themselves to liability, a new study has found, reports The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

April 21, 2008

Body Shop Founder Gave Entire Fortune to Charity

Dame Anita Roddick, founder of the cosmetics retail chain the Body Shop, gave away her entire fortune, about $101-million, to charity, reports The Daily Telegraph.

Ms. Roddick believed that leaving money to family was “obscene” and wished to give her money to support environmental causes and issues in developing countries.

Ms. Roddick died of a brain hemorrhage last year.

Controversial Prize Divides Animal-Rights Group

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has announced plans to support a $1-million prize for anyone who can mass produce tissue cultures that can be eaten like meat, but the prize has created divisions within the organization, reports The New York Times.

The prize is for the “first person to come up with a method to produce commercially viable quantities of in vitro meat at competitive prices by 2012.”

However, some staff members of the animal-rights group say that the organization shouldn’t promote the consumption of animal tissue, even if no animals are killed. The disagreement has caused a “near civil war” within the group, the organization’s founder, Ingrid Newkirk, told the newspaper. Lisa Lange, a vice president at the organization, says, “I remember saying I would be much more comfortable promoting eating roadkill.”

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Web Site Encourages Gambling for Charity

A Web site is drawing gamblers looking not to win money but to donate to charity, reports the Financial Times.

Bet2give invites people to bet money by predicting the results of an event, such as who will win the Democratic presidential nomination. The winning bets go to whatever charitable organizations the winners choose.

The Web site has drawn 400 traders and donated about $1,000 to charities. Traders open accounts by purchasing play money and then deciding at what price to buy or sell shares that will pay $1 if an event happens and will be worth nothing if the event does not occur.

Emile Servan-Schreiber, a cognitive scientist who co-founded NewsFutures, an online prediction market that started Bet2give, says, “We are trying to leverage the immense interest in betting to make it a force for good rather than a quick profit.”

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Web Sites Allow People to Donate Without Giving Money

Web sites that allow people to support charities by looking at advertising are becoming increasingly popular and effective, reports The Wall Street Journal.

SearchKindly.org is a site that features ads and a Google search engine. When users click on an ad or do a search, advertisers donate money to charity. The site has donated more than $10,000 since last year. Another searching site, GoodSearch.com, donates about one cent to charity for every search performed on the site.

These sites have been inspired by the success of TheHungerSite.com, which allows users to donate food by simply visiting and clicking a button. The site was created in 1999 and directs advertising revenue to hunger-relief groups such as America’s Second Harvest and Mercy Corps.

Gene Tempel, executive director of Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy, says the number of sites is growing in part because of the bad economy. “When people are insecure about the future or have fewer resources,” he says, “they give less. You could see people trying to assist in more creative ways.”

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Ray Charles's Foundation Caught in Estate Tangle

A legal battle is being waged over the estate of Ray Charles, pitting the singer’s 12 children against the executive in charge of his foundation, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Mr. Charles left most of his assets to his charitable foundation, the Robinson Foundation for Hearing Disorders, but questions have been raised about who will control it.

The California attorney general’s office is investigating the foundation for being run solely by Joe Adams, without an independent board. On top of directing the foundation, Mr. Adams is head of Ray Charles Enterprises and trustee of the children’s trusts.

Mr. Adams declined to comment on the matter.

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At Boston Marathon, Competition Is Heavy for Charities

Competition to run in the Boston Marathon has significantly increased when it comes to raising money for charity, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Twenty-four charities have been given permission to enter runners in the marathon even if they wouldn’t qualify otherwise, as long as they pledge at least $3,000.

Charitable donations made through the marathon have increased by almost 50 percent to more than $10-million since 2004.

The competition to run for a charity is fierce. For example, the Children’s Hospital Trust received 470 applications, about double the 225 official running slots it has received for this year. Patty Heisler, a local runner, says getting one of the rare charity spots for Boston is “like applying for school.”

It can take a number of years for charities to apply and receive slots in the Boston Marathon. “It’s almost like writing a grant proposal,” says Nathalie Favre-Gilly, spokeswoman for Casa Myrna Vazquez, a charity that helps victims of domestic violence.

Online Discussion Tomorrow: the Changing Face of America's Donors

Join our online discussion about how the changes in the nation’s demographics affect fund-raising strategies.

The discussion will be held Tuesday, April 22, at noon, Eastern time, and is open to everyone, not just Chronicle subscribers.

John W. Jensen is a senior vice president and gift-planning consultant at the Sharpe Group, a fund-raising consulting firm, and James Chung, president of Reach Advisors in New York, will take questions and offer suggestions.

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

Prospecting: Fund-Raising News and Tips

Prospecting is an online fund-raising column published by The Chronicle of Philanthropy and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Among the recent topics discussed:

Free video lessons for fund raisers

How to learn more about your donors

From the Chronicle: McCain's Charitable Giving

Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, has released his tax returns for the past two years, including details about the money he donated to charitable causes, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. In 2007, he contributed 26 percent of his total income to charity.

From The Chronicle: The Losers in 'Oprah's Big Give'

The grand prizewinner was announced last night as Oprah’s Big Give concluded its first season, but the real loser was the nonprofit world. The show missed an opportunity to educate donors about what effective giving is all about, writes the leader of a Washington advocacy group in an opinion article in The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

April 18, 2008

From The Chronicle: Foundation Caught in Election Crossfire

The Woods Fund of Chicago has been thrust into the middle of the latest controversy in the heated Democratic primary battle between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton, reports The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Aid Organizations Focus on Global Food Crisis

Aid organizations meeting in Kansas City, Mo., this week at the U.S. government’s annual conference on global food aid said that while increased money for food aid to hungry nations is desperately needed to tamp down the swelling global food crisis, long-term investments to improve agriculture productivity in the developing world are equally important, reports Reuters.

Crop producers, shipping companies, and aid groups warned that the rise in global food prices is hampering donations, and U.S. aid officials have said they might be forced to slash donations this year after their commodity costs jumped by more than 40 percent in the first half of fiscal 2008, adding approximately $200-million to the program’s cost.

Experts predict high prices to linger through 2009 before farmers worldwide can adjust supplies and major financiers of development efforts, such as World Bank, can put more money into agricultural projects.

High-Powered Financial Leaders Take Nonprofit Jobs

Finance executives who have left high-powered jobs to take posts at nonprofit organizations say they find their jobs more rewarding but acknowledge that they had to make both professional and personal adjustments, reports CFO.com.

“It’s a completely different mind-set,” says Usha Chaudhary, who after 20 years (and 80-hour workweeks) as a vice president of Freddie Mac, left her corporate post to become chief financial officer of United Way of America.

Ms. Chaudhary says she now works about 60 hours a week, but at this job, working hard isn’t a hardship.

“Maybe it’s psychological, but I don’t mind it as much,” said Ms. Chaudhary. “Even though the challenges and stresses are there, because of the type of work I do or the environment I’m dealing with, it doesn’t seem as stressful as it did at Freddie Mac.”

Former corporate financial officers used to their own administrative assistants say they now find themselves working on the front lines of a nonprofit group, making their own copies, answering their own phones, and generally working without the corporate luxuries they were used to.

“You have to be the type of person who will roll their sleeves up and not only help within the financial and accounting department but also be willing to help deliver the services that the nonprofit is delivering,” says David Seabrook, of College Summit, which helps low-income high-school students get a higher education.

Two Family Services Groups in Pennsylvania Merge

Officials at Pressley Ridge, a Pittsburgh charity that provides behavioral health care services to troubled youths, said Thursday that the organization will merge with another nonprofit group that offers similar services, the Pittsburgh Business Times reports.

Pressley Ridge will join with Family & Children Services of Central Pennsylvania, a Harrisburg organization that runs programs for children and families throughout the central part of the state.

The new organization will operate under the Pressley Ridge name and have 1,200 employees plus an annual operating budget of $70-million.

Used Dentures Raise Charitable Dollars in Japan

Old, stained dentures are being used to raise money for charity in Japan, reports the Associated Press.

The Japan Denture Recycle Association, in Tokyo, has recycled 30,000 dentures, generating $176,500 for charity, since the organization was established in 2006.

“Dentures use parts made of gold, silver, palladium, and other precious metals,” Mr. Miyoshi said, calling the recycled dentures “a treasure mountain” for the money they can raise for charity.

Mr. Miyoshi said his group donates half of the money raised to Unicef for needy children around the world, and the rest it gives to local government offices for welfare projects.

Government and Politics Watch

Among the highlights from The Chronicle’s Government and Politics Watch is an article about a new Senate bill to extend provisions that benefit charity.

Online Discussion Next Week: The Changing Face of America's Donors

Join our online discussion about how the changes in the nation’s demographics affect fund-raising strategies.

The discussion will be held Tuesday, April 22, 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.

April 17, 2008

Dubai Charity to Donate $1-Billion to Improving Education

Dubai Cares has announced that it will give $1-billion to improve education in some of the world’s poorest countries, reports Agence France Presse.

The money will pay for new schools, renovations for existing schools, medical services, and drinking water. The group’s goal is to educate one million children.

Dubai Cares will work with the international charity Save the Children and plans to start its effort in Sudan. It will also give money for schools in Bangladesh, Bosnia, Chad, Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Maldives, Mauritania, Niger, Pakistan, occupied Palestinian territories, and Yemen as well as giving money to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan.

N.Y. City Council Aides Accused of Using Fake Charities to Embezzle Money

Two aides to a New York City Councilman face multiple charges for allegedly embezzling city money through nonexistent charities, reports The New York Times.

The case suggests “a lack of control and oversight of the millions of dollars the city appropriates annually to nonprofit groups through council-member earmarks, often referred to as pork-barrel spending,” the newspaper writes.

Asquith Reid, chief of staff for Councilman Kendall Stewart, oversaw the Donna Reid Memorial Education Fund, a charity whose mission is to provide tutoring and other services in the Flatbush neighborhood. The charity received approximately $356,000 from funds at Mr. Stewart’s discretion. About $14,000 went through two charities that existed in name only: the New York Foundation for Community Development and the American Association of Concerned Veterans.

Mr. Reid is accused of using at least $145,000 of the money for personal and political purposes, including $31,000 to send to relatives and friends to Jamaica. He faces up to 80 years in jail if convicted on all charges, which also include two counts of witness tampering. Joycinth Anderson, who worked part time in Mr. Stewart’s office on senior-citizen matters, is accused of aiding Mr. Reid and faces up to 40 years in prison.

A lawyer for Mr. Reid, Michael A. Marinaccio, said of his client, “He is a public servant. He runs a charitable organization, and that organization in turn provides a number of services to the community.”

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Couple Donates $25-Million to Washington Children's Hospital

A children’s hospital in Washington has received one of the biggest donations ever to an American pediatric hospital, r