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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May 2008

May 30, 2008

Myanmar Criticizes Inadequate International Aid

Myanmar’s junta said Thursday that cyclone survivors didn’t need foreign aid but criticized foreign governments for pledging only up to $150-million for relief efforts, reports the Associated Press. The junta said it needed $11-billion to rebuild.

The Myanma Ahlin, a government-run newspaper, said cyclone victims from the worst-hit areas could survive without foreign assistance.

“People from the Irrawaddy delta can survive on their own, even without bars of chocolate donated by the international community,” it said.

Christian Groups Offer Relief Aid in China

In the aftermath of a massive earthquake earlier this month, China has agreed to accept more than $23-million in aid offered from religious groups, from inside and outside the country, on the condition that the organizations not conduct missionary work, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Christian groups distributing aid to quake victims are taking delicate but differing approaches to reaching survivors through churches in China. China’s State Administration for Religious Affairs says foreigners engaged in religious activities in China must adhere to set rules, which include bans on religious brochures and proselytizing without permission.

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Charity's Failure to Disclose Data Draws Attention

The Shawn Hornbeck Foundation has ignored several requests over the past two years to provide financial and other information to the St. Louis Better Business Bureau, reports the St. Louis Beacon.

The foundation began after Shawn Hornbeck’s abduction in October 2002 and regained attention when he was rescued in January of last year.

The group has already gotten in trouble for not providing information to the state. The Missouri Secretary of State has twice taken action to punish the group — including seeking to shut it down — for its failure to provide financial data, but the organization’s status was “restored to good standing” on Wednesday after finally filing its 2007 annual registration report earlier that day, the newspaper reports.

Jim Judge, who oversees the area’s Better Business Bureau’s Charity Information Service, said that since 2005 the foundation has not responded to six letters sent to the attention of Craig Akers, Shawn Hornbeck’s father and president of the foundation.

“While the process is voluntary, the BBB believes that this lack of cooperation may demonstrate a lack of commitment to transparency,” said Mr. Judge.

In an interview with the Beacon on Thursday, Mr. Akers said that he plans to begin getting requested information to the bureau immediately. He said that currently the charity has only “$3,000 or $4,000” in cash on hand and that part of the foundation money has been used to purchase and equip a bus for use as a mobile command center in missing-child cases.

Liberia's Aid Workers Enjoy Plenty Amid Poverty

Thousands of mostly European and American relief workers in Liberia are enjoying a lavish way of life that has prompted mixed feelings among many Liberians about the motives of foreigners serving in the country, reports The Washington Post.

As more and more aid has been flown into Liberia, the amenities geared toward Westerners — such as swimming pools, casinos, and beach-side bars — have flourished. “It’s completely insane. The whole city doesn’t have electricity. There’s not a water plant. And it has two sushi bars, air-conditioned sushi bars,” said Eliane Van De Velde, 35, a Belgian public-information officer of the U.N. mission in Liberia.

More than 600 nonprofit groups work in Liberia, the newspaper says.

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Opinion: Diversity Bill a Threat to Charity

Legislation passed by the California Assembly — and due for a vote in the Senate early next month — “poses an enormous threat to philanthropy in this country,” writes Heather R. Higgins, a board member of the Philanthropy Roundtable, in an opinion article in The Wall Street Journal.

In its efforts to promote diversity, the bill would require California foundations with $250-million in assets to report the ethnic and gender makeup of their boards and staffs, the boards and staffs of the charities they support, and the degree to which they are led by or finance projects to benefit minorities.

However, Ms. Higgins says the legislation would result in less money and more bureaucratic headaches for charities served by charitable foundations. What’s more, she says it is a back-door attempt to institute quotas as a means of pressuring charities to meet “diversity” standards out of fear. “The bill creates the opportunity for grandstanding, public-relations shakedowns, and litigation,” she writes.

Read two of the most recent opinion articles The Chronicle has published on the controversial legislation: Mark Rosenman argues why the bill won’t achieve real diversity, and Pablo Eisenberg says it is worth passing.

From The Chronicle: Software-Company Merger

Blackbaud, the nation’s largest provider of fund-raising software to charities, on Thursday announced that it will acquire Kintera, a San Diego software company that makes similar software, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. The move is part of a wave of consolidation among businesses that supply software to nonprofit groups.

Online Discussion Next Week: Getting the Most From Volunteers

Join us next Tuesday, June 3, at noon for an online discussion with charities that have learned to get the most from their volunteers.

Our guests include:

Darian Rodriguez Heyman, executive director of the Craigslist Foundation, in San Francisco, which helps nonprofit groups use their resources — including volunteers — more effectively.

Gary Bagley, associate executive director of New York Cares, a charity that matches more than 36,000 volunteers with hands-on projects in New York schools, social-service groups, homeless shelters, and other charities. Those volunteers helped more than 400,000 people in 2007.

Mary Roben, executive director of SmartVolunteer, a New York organization that runs a national Web site that pairs charities with volunteers who have a particular skill.

The discussion 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.

May 29, 2008

Wealthy Financiers Give Less as Wall Street Struggles

The $56.5-million raised at the Robin Hood Foundation’s annual charity auction this week might seem like a windfall, but it is 21 percent less than the event raised last year and further proof that problems on Wall Street are cramping the giving style of many wealthy financiers, The New York Times reports.

The 2007 auction raised $71-million and reflected the rosy outlook on Wall Street at the time. But the bidding this year for luxury items — such as a walk down the red carpet at the Golden Globe award show — was much more subdued than in previous years and was concentrated among a significantly smaller group of bidders.

“I was worried about the climate going into it,” said Barry Sternlicht, a co-chairman of the event and chairman and chief executive of the Starwood Capital Group. “This is a New York-based kind of recession, and it’s not a good year for the hedge-fund industry. But we were blown away by the response,” said Mr. Sternlicht.

Between 65,000 to 85,000 jobs have been cut on Wall Street, and more layoffs are expected throughout the year, the newspaper says.

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Health Center's Ties to Foundation Questioned in Investment Controversy

Employees of U.S. Sugar company are questioning the relationship between the Mott Children’s Health Center, a charity in Flint, Mich., and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and the Mott family, reports The New York Times.

In 1969 Mott heirs gave a large number of shares in U.S. Sugar to the charity, which used the dividends as operating revenue. In 2005, an attempted corporate takeover of U.S. Sugar would have provided the charity with $125-million. But the offer fell through, and the company stopped providing dividends.

Former employees of U.S. Sugar say needy children of Flint are the victims of the same financial maneuvering that has ruined the workers’ retirement plan. The stock, which was valued at $153 a share in 2005, rose to $293 a share. But after the takeover failed, the stock became essentially worthless.

The former employees have filed a lawsuit against the company and other shareholders, saying the medical center had an “unlawful agreement” linking its holdings to the foundation.

A lawyer for the health-care center said he could not discuss details related to the case. The Mott Foundation has denied that it had any kind of improper investment agreement with the center.

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IRS Makes Changes Intended to Help Donors

The Internal Revenue Service is beefing up its efforts to increase the level of transparency at charities as philanthropists demand better tools to evaluate how their money is spent, reports The Wall Street Journal.

For the first time in almost 20 years, the annual tax form — known as the Form 990 — that most nonprofit groups have to fill out every year is getting a makeover. The tax agency hopes the changes it has made to the form will provide potential donors with a standardized way to glean information on charities. Organizations will begin using the new form next year.

IRS official Steven Miller says the agency is considering broadening its power to monitor nonprofit groups in the future by restoring the IRS’s use of the “commensurate test,” which examines whether nonprofit groups are spending money on charitable programs in a way that is in line with their financial holdings.

The IRS recently used the test to deny charity status to an organization, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

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Grass-Roots Chinese Groups Prove Crucial to Relief Effort

Informal networks of private citizens and grass-roots organizations are playing a crucial role in getting supplies to rescue workers and survivors of this month’s earthquake in China, reports The Washington Post.

While nonprofit organizations in China must register with the government, and the larger groups are usually tightly controlled, the earthquake seems to have brought about at least a temporary change in the government’s attitude.

With the help of the Internet and on-the-ground coordination centers, unregistered grass-roots organizations are functioning as earthquake-relief organizations, helping to manage a crisis whose death toll could soar above 80,000.

Yet while Chinese authorities seem pleased with the mobilization, some experts say the current situation is not indicative of a sea change in the government’s policies toward nongovernmental organizations.

In an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, writer Leslie Hook asks
how long the Chinese Government will allow the informal organizations to continue growing as signs of unrest begin to materialize. Parents of children who died in poorly constructed school buildings, for example, have organized marches and clashed with police.

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Facebook Says $2.5-Million Donated in First Year Through 'Causes'

Officials at Causes, a Facebook application that promotes donations of time and money to nonprofit groups, says $2.5-million has been raised for 19,445 nonprofit groups, The Washington Post reports. The group says it has registered 12 million users who are now supporting more than 80,000 chartable causes across the globe.

Founded by Joe Green and Sean Parker, the goal of Causes is to apply the same viral-marketing principles that have worked well on other Internet endeavors to the idea of philanthropy and activism. Mr. Parker is a co-founder of Facebook and of Napster.

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Consumers Union Establishes Hospital-Ratings Service

Consumers Union, a nonprofit organization that publishes Consumer Reports magazine, is establishing a new hospital-ratings service, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The organization hopes that the credibility of its magazine’s name (which does not accept advertising) can carry it into the field of health care, where doctors and other providers have balked at some evaluation methods proposed by insurers.

The service will include around 3,000 facilities, and consumers will be able to see a graph showing how intensely each hospital treats patients, on a scale from zero for the most conservative to 100 for the most aggressive. Intensity of care is based on time spent in the hospital and the number of doctor visits. The index reflects the hospital’s handling of nine serious conditions, including cancer and heart failure. The new ratings service will also publish the average out-of-pocket cost for doctor visits during the last two years of a person’s life for the nine conditions.

Research from the Dartmouth Atlas Project — developed by researchers at Dartmouth College that used data from the federal Medicare program — has shown that more intense care does not always yield better results. And some experts question whether consumers will care about the intensity of care, if there is no corresponding information about whether such care leads to better patient results at a particular hospital.

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Give and Take: How a Charity's Attempt to Reshape Its Image Failed

A humanitarian charity’s effort to reshape its image — including a television ad that shows people vomiting in response to words like “injustice” —- hits the wrong note, according to a post in “Give and Take,” The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts on the nonprofit world.

Plus: Is concern about big college endowments harming the ability of small colleges to attract gifts?

Prospecting: What Senior Fund Raisers Need to Know

The test fund raisers take to receive the highest credential in their field is being overhauled to drop all questions about tax laws and planned giving, reports a new post in Prospecting, our column on fund raising news and tips.

Online Discussion Next Week: Getting the Most From Volunteers

Join us next Tuesday, June 3, at noon for an online discussion with charities that have learned to get the most from their volunteers.

Our guests include:

Gary Bagley, associate executive director of New York Cares, a charity that matches more than 36,000 volunteers with hands-on projects in New York schools, social-service groups, homeless shelters, and other charities. Those volunteers helped more than 400,000 people in 2007.

Mary Roben, executive director of SmartVolunteer, a New York organization that runs a national Web site that pairs charities with volunteers who have a particular skill.

The discussion 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: Fund Raiser Pay

Fund raisers received salary increases of 5 percent on average last year, according to a new study whose results appear in The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

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May 28, 2008

Boy Scouts Chapter Sues Philadelphia

A Boy Scouts chapter is suing the City of Philadelphia for its efforts to force the organization to pay rent on its headquarters because it does not permit homosexuals to join, reports the Associated Press.

The Cradle of Liberty Council accused the city of censorship in its lawsuit. The city is threatening to increase the council’s rent from $1 annually to the fair market rate of $200,000 per year unless it opens its membership to homosexuals. The council contends that the city allows other groups that limit membership to have free or nominal leases.

“We will not allow discrimination in providing services on city property,” said Michael Nutter, Philadelphia’s ‘s mayor. A city ordinance passed in 1982 forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Jason Gosselin, a lawyer representing the council, said of the charity, “They’re providing a tremendous public benefit. They’re giving back a whole lot more than what they get from the city.”

In 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that because the Boy Scouts is a private group, it could invoke its First Amendment rights to bar homosexuals from entry. When the local Philadelphia council adopted a nondiscrimination policy in 2003 after talks with the city, it was told by the Boy Scouts of America that it could not stray from the national organization’s rules.

Report Alleges Child Sex Abuse by Aid Workers and U.N. Personnel

A report by Save the Children United Kingdom alleges that child sex abuse is prevalent among United Nations peacekeepers and international aid workers in war and disaster-afflicted countries, reports Associated Press.

The report was based on field research in Haiti, the Ivory Coast, and southern Sudan and says some victims were as young as six years old.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has promised an investigation into the allegations.

Michele Montas, a United Nations spokeswoman, said of the report, “It’s fair, and I think it’s essentially accurate.”

She says the organization has taken measures to decrease abuse through establishing codes of conduct and discipline in United Nations missions and increasing training.

“A tiny proportion of peacekeepers and aid workers are abusing the children they were sent to protect,” Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children United Kingdom, said. “It ranges from sex for food to coerced sex. It’s despicable.”

Three Major Networks to Air Telethon Simultaneously

Three major television networks are joining together to raise money for cancer charities at the same time, reports The New York Times.

The event, named Stand Up to Cancer, will be broadcast in September and features the network news anchors Katie Couric of CBS, Charles Gibson of ABC, and Brian Williams of NBC. The joint telethon will raise money to finance new or risky treatments that ordinarily do not receive money.

All three of the television personalities have connections to the cause because of family members who died of the disease. Ms. Couric, whose husband died of colon cancer in 1998, said of the event, “It just seemed like a great opportunity to reach out to the whole national community and say we need to galvanize the country.”

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Corporations Give $54-Million to Disaster Relief in China

American corporations have pledged at least $54-million in cash and noncash support to help earthquake victims in China, reports The Washington Post.

The figure is the third largest ever given by American businesses for international aid. Approximately 19 companies have pledged at least $1-million. Leading the effort is Amway, a direct-sales company, with $4.3-million, and Wal-Mart, with more than $3-million. Figures were compiled by the Business Civic Leadership Center at the Commerce Department.

Patrick Rooney, director of research at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, noted that “a lot of the U.S.-based corporations are doing business in China now, and they recognize they have a strategic interest and relationship that’s important to maintain.”

Read The Chronicle’s most recent article on the pace of charitable giving to aid victims of the Chinese earthquake and the cyclone in Myanmar.

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Industrialist Invests His Fortune in Science

Fred Kavli, founder of Kavlico Corporation, which specialized in navigational sensors for the aircraft and defense industries, is using his $600-million fortune to support the creation of research centers around the world and his own version of the Nobel Prize, reports the Los Angeles Times.

This September, three winners will receive $1-million each for the Kavli Prize, which recognizes achievements in astrophysics, nanotechnology, and neuroscience and will go to younger scientists.

Thus far, Mr. Kavli has helped to start 15 centers at universities such as Harvard, Stanford, and Yale, as well as institutions in China and Europe. In 2004 three Nobel Prize winners worked at Kavli Institutes.

“He’s literally thinking in a hundred-year time scale,” said Charles M. Vest, a Kavli board member and president of the National Academy of Engineering. “So few people, especially in the Western world, are like that.”

Mr. Kavli said of his efforts, “Science is gong to be here forever. The more questions we solve, the more we find.”

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From The Chronicle: $100-Million to Help Girls in Developing Countries

A $100-million pledge by two foundations seeks to lift countries out of poverty by helping the girls who live in them, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. The effort is a partnership between the Nike Foundation and the Novo Foundation, which is run by Peter Buffett and his wife, Jennifer.

Prospecting: How Volunteering Lifts Giving

Asking people to give their time before asking them to give money increases the total amount a person gives, finds a new study by university researchers, reports Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online fund-raising column.

Plus: Oxford University, in Britain, has announced a $2.5-billion campaign.

Online Discussion Next Week: Getting the Most From Volunteers

Join us next Tuesday, June 3, at noon for an online discussion with charities that have learned to get the most from their volunteers.

Our guests include:

Gary Bagley, associate executive director of New York Cares, a charity that matches more than 36,000 volunteers with hands-on projects in New York schools, social-service groups, homeless shelters, and other charities. Those volunteers helped more than 400,000 people in 2007.

Mary Roben, executive director of SmartVolunteer, a New York organization that runs a national Web site that pairs charities with volunteers who have a particular skill.

The discussion 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.

For more information about our online discussions, go to http://philanthropy.com/live.

May 27, 2008

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gives $600-Million for Research

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute announced a $600-million program to finance risky medical research by 56 U.S. scientists, reports The Washington Post.

The institute’s effort comes as federal financing of scientific research has slumped, with scientists saying that a lack of increase in the National Institute of Health’s budget since 2003 harms their efforts to make scientific breakthroughs.

The Hughes Institute, based in Chevy Chase, Md., chose the scientists from among 1,000 applicants. “Our goal in funding the basic biomedical sciences is to lay the groundwork for the medical discoveries that will take place 20, 30, 40 years from now,” said Hughes Institute President Thomas R. Cech.

The institute, which has an endowment of $18.7-billion, is the largest private financer of biomedical research and is one of the biggest philanthropic organizations in the world. However, the National Institute of Health, which doles out $28-billion in research grants annually, is still by far the largest supporter of medical research. The Hughes Institute seeks out high-risk but potentially promising research projects that the federal government would be unlikely to pay for.

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Charities' Tax Exemptions Called Into Question

A Minnesota Supreme Court ruling in December, coupled with increased scrutiny by Congress and local tax assessors across the country, are calling into question the tax exemptions that many nonprofit organizations receive, reports The New York Times.

The Minnesota court determined that a small day-care center in Red Wing, Minn., must pay property taxes because it gave nothing away — charging parents the same fee per child regardless of whether they paid for the service or the government covered the cost — and charging fees that were the same as its competitors.

Regulators say that determining which nonprofit organizations deserve tax exemptions has become increasingly difficult as more groups offer the same service as their for-profit counterparts. The vast majority of nonprofit groups’ income, 88 percent in 2005, came from fees for services, sales, and sources other than charitable contributions, according to the National Center for Charitable Contributions.

Additionally, regulators are looking hard at universities, hospitals, and even some evangelical organizations to see whether they deserve tax exemptions. In Massachusetts, for example, state legislators are considering imposing a 2.5 percent annual assessment on colleges with endowments of $1-billion or more. Harvard, in Cambridge, has an endowment of $35-billion in assets.

Congress is also considering whether to make wealthy universities pay out a minimum amount of their endowments annually, as well as scrutinizing nonprofit hospitals.

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Antiabortion Activists Seek New Limits on Clinic Subsidies

As President Bush’s time winds down in the White House, antiabortion activists are urging him to prohibit federal subsidies for clinics that provide or counsel patients about abortions, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Title X money, which comes from the federal government to subsidize access to birth control and reproductive-health services for poor people, currently may not be used to pay for abortions but may go to clinics that also offer abortions, such as Planned Parenthood. Conservative activists are set to present a petition and a letter endorsed by 70 groups in support of a rule change, which could be instituted by executive order, to President Bush.

Mr. Bush has already instituted such a rule on aid to international groups but has not done so domestically, despite the urging by activists and the precedent of President Reagan enacting such a policy two decades ago, which President Clinton subsequently overturned.

“There’s a really strong chance that this is going to happen,” said Mary Jane Gallagher, chief executive of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, a trade group representing clinics. Last week, state officials received a letter asking which Planned Parenthood clinics receive Title X money, which was prompted by a Congressional inquiry, according to a spokeswoman at the Department of Health and Human Services.

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As Food Prices Rise, Soup Kitchen Looks Local

DC Central Kitchen, a group that feeds the hungry and runs a culinary job-training program, is turning to local farmers as prices at national wholesalers rise, reports The Washington Post.

The nonprofit organization receives 50 to 60 percent of its food as donations but purchases the rest. In 2007 it bought $900,000 worth of food from national wholesalers.

Now, however, the soaring cost of gasoline has meant that trucking produce across the country — or having it shipped internationally — is often more expensive than purchasing from local farmers. This season, the group is buying “seconds,” which are products that have slight blemishes and are thus rejected from high-end retailers, from farmers in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia as a way to keep costs low while stimulating the local economy.

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From The Chronicle: Huge Drop in Car Donations

A new government report shows that a federal law aimed at stopping donors from inflating the value of gifts of used cars has had a big effect, reports The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Opinion: Reasons Not to Give to Harvard U.

As the second-wealthiest nonprofit institution in the country, with an endowment of $35-billion, Harvard University and other super-rich schools do not need your donation, writes alumna Carroll Bogert, in an opinion piece for The New York Times.

Writing that the endowment is likely to reach $100-billion in a decade, Ms. Bogert says “at an annual growth rate of 13.3 percent — the average since inception, and regularly exceeded in recent years — Harvard can cover next year’s entire undergraduate financial-aid budget with what it earns in the market in eight-and-a-half days.”

Harvard, like a number of other universities, started aggressively investing 15 years ago, but it is still conservative about spending its money, Ms. Bogert writes.

In this reunion season, when the alumni office especially targets former students for donation drives, Ms. Bogert concludes, “I’d have to be drunk to fall for their pitch.”

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Prospecting: Online Fund Raising and Engaging Millennials

Among the latest news on Prospecting, the online fund-raising column published by The Chronicle of Philanthropy and The Chronicle of Higher Education:

Strategies fund raisers can use to engage young people.

How online tools build donor loyalty.

Give and Take: Debates About Donors' Rights and Charity Status

Among the latest postings on Give and Take, a service of The Chronicle of Philanthropy that rounds up the best items that appear on blogs about the nonprofit world:

A look at what defines a charity.

Concern nonprofit groups are losing sight of their responsibilities in the name of donors’ rights.

Transcript: Engaging Millennials for Social Change

Read the transcript of our online discussion today with author and nonprofit leader Allison Fine on how to engage the Millennial generation for social change.

May 23, 2008

U.N. Says Myanmar Junta Agrees to Allow Entry of All Aid Workers

United Nations general secretary Ban Ki-moon has announced that the leader of Myanmar’s military junta government has agreed to allow all international aid workers into the country to assist with relief efforts three weeks after the country was hit by a cyclone, reports The New York Times.

However, the announcement has been met with doubts. Mr. Ban did not say when aid workers would be permitted entry or if they would be able to survey the Irrawaddy Delta, an area especially hit hard by the cyclone.

Lionel Rosenblatt, former president of the humanitarian group Refugees International, said, “Translating what you hear in a place like that into reality — we will have to wait and see what will happen.”

According to Surin Pitsuwan, secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the junta has asked for $11.7-billion in aid. The junta insists that the country no longer needs emergency aid and that further assistance should focus on reconstruction, but the United Nations says millions of people lack food, clean water, shelter, and medical supplies.

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Art Museums Look Beyond Galas to Raise Money

Rather than relying solely on tried-and-true galas, art museums are adding unique offerings to special events to raise money — private tours of noteworthy collectors’ homes, the chance to see works not on public display, or dinners with artists, reports the Associated Press.

For example, the Guggenheim Museum, in New York, offered people who donated between $15,000 and $30,000 the opportunity to have dinner with the artist Julian Schnabel.

The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, in Santa Fe, N.M., allows donors who contribute at least $5,000 to tour the homes of Georgia O’Keeffe and photographer Ansel Adams.

Frederic Brandt, a dermatologist and private collector who recently allowed the Museum of Contemporary Art, in North Miami, to invite patrons to tour his home, said of such alternative special events: “People are so over galas. I think it’s a lot nicer. It’s a little more intimate.”

Chinese Earthquake May Open Doors for Charities

Some experts hope that in the wake of the earthquake that struck China earlier this month, charities will come to play an increased role in shaping the country, reports the Financial Times.

Many Chinese people have donated to relief groups that are not under government control, which suggests the government’s control of China may not be as powerful as it used to be, the newspaper says.

Wan Yanhai, an organizer on behalf of people with HIV/AIDS in China, said, “The government cannot do everything by itself.”

Nancy E. Schwartz, a nonprofit marketing consultant, has been exploring in her blog the idea of a reinvigorated nonprofit movement in China after the earthquake, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports in its online column, Give and Take.

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From The Chronicle: Tax Break for Land Donations

Nonprofit organizations have won an extension of a generous tax incentive for donations of land or historically important property under a law approved by Congress Thursday, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

From The Chronicle: Aid for Asian Disasters Tops $50-Million

American relief groups have raised more than $50-million for victims of the cyclone that struck Myanmar and the earthquake in China earlier this month, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

The charities say that donors have given $24-million for the earthquake victims, $21-million for the cyclone victims, and $5.5-million that could be directed toward either disaster.

Online Discussion: Reaching the Millennial Generation

On Tuesday, May 27, at noon Eastern time Allison Fine, will answer questions on how charities can more effectively engage members of the millennial generation.

The discussion is open to everyone, not just Chronicle subscribers.

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

For more details and transcripts of past discussions, go to http://philanthropy.com/live.

Holiday Notice

Philanthropy Today will not be sent on Monday because of the Memorial Day holiday. We will be back in your e-mail box on Tuesday, May 27.

May 22, 2008

University Signed Secretive Grant Contract From Tobacco Company

An extremely restrictive research-grant contract between Virginia Commonwealth University and the tobacco company Philip Morris USA breaks several of the university’s guidelines and raises questions about whether higher-education institutions should accept money from the tobacco industry, reports The New York Times.

The Times obtained a copy of the 2006 contract, which allows Philip Morris alone to decide whether the results of the research paid for with the grant are published. It also prohibits professors from discussing the work without the tobacco company’s permission. Additionally, almost all patent and other intellectual-property rights are retained by the company — not Virginia Commonwealth or its professors, as is required by the university’s sponsored-research guidelines.

Many professors at Virginia Commonwealth had never heard about the contract, including the president of the Faculty Senate and the chairman of the department of internal medicine at the medical school.

“When universities sign contracts with these covenants, they are basically giving up their ethos, compromising their values as a university,” says Sheldon Krimsky, a professor at Tufts University who studies corporate influence on medical research. “There should be no debate about having a sponsor with control over the publishing of results.”

Francis L. Macrina, Virginia Commonwealth’s vice president for research, and representatives of Philip Morris defend the arrangement as not unduly restrictive.

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Donor Gives $20-Million for N.Y. Church Built in 1848

An anonymous donor has given $20-million to save from demolition St. Brigid’s Roman Catholic Church, a historic structure in New York, and to support Catholic schools, reports The New York Times.

Of the donation, $10-million will restore the church, built in 1848 by Irish immigrants. Another $2-million will endow the parish “so that it might best meet the religious and spiritual needs of the people living in the community,” and the remaining $8-million will support St. Brigid’s School and other needy Catholic schools, the newspaper reports.

A great deal of restoration work needs to be done, said a spokesman for the archdiocese, which had closed the church in 2001 because of structural problems. The decision to demolish the building had been held up by court appeals.

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Russian Museum Plans $380-Million Expansion

The Pushkin Museum, in Moscow, is planning an expansion expected to cost about $380-million, but it isn’t clear what artworks will appear in the new exhibition space, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The museum will close next year and should reopen in 2012, its centennial year, with 428,000 square feet of exhibition space. (For comparison, the newspaper reports that New York’s expanded Museum of Modern Art has 125,000 square feet.)

But the museum’s collection — mostly plaster casts of ancient sculptures, gifts given to Stalin, and art seized from other museums, private collections, and Nazi Germany — is in question, as Germany and the heirs of Holocaust victims and wealthy Russians try to recover family items. The museum’s longtime director, Irina Antonova, has said often that the artworks will never be returned, the Journal reports.

Ms. Antonova has also demanded that another Russian museum, the Hermitage, forfeit its art — including Matisses and Picassos — to the Pushkin, though it is unlikely that the Hermitage will do so, according to the newspaper.

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One Laptop Per Child Unveils New, Cheaper Model

The redesigned computers for One Laptop Per Child, which will be available in 2010, will be usable in two ways — like a laptop and also like an electronic book, reports BBC News.

The new XO2 machines will cost $75 — down from the current $188 — and will no longer have the green rubber keyboard. Instead, two touch screens are hinged together and will display either a keyboard for use like a traditional computer, or electronic pages of a book. The new model is also more energy efficient and lighter and will store more than 500 books.

“Currently, developing nations such as China and Brazil are spending $19 per student per year on books,” says Nicholas Negroponte, founder of One Laptop Per Child.

From The Chronicle: Oklahoma State U.'s $100-Million Gift

Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens is donating $100-million for endowed chairs and professorships at Oklahoma State University, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Government and Politics Watch: Giving-Incentives Bill and Update on Obama Church

Among the new items on The Chronicle’s Government and Politics Watch:

The U.S. House of Representatives passes a bill that would renew a tax break that encourages older Americans to give money from their individual retirement accounts to nonprofit causes.

The Internal Revenue Service has dropped its investigation into allegations the United Church of Christ violated federal laws on electioneering when it invited Sen. Barack Obama to speak.

May 21, 2008

Foundation Center Names New Leader

The Foundation Center, in New York, has picked Bradford K. Smith as its next president, succeeding Sara L. Engelhard. Ms. Engelhardt is retiring after 17 years as head of the organization.

Mr. Smith — who is currently president of the Oak Foundation in Geneva, Switzerland — will start on October 1.

“Brad is a respected leader with an outstanding record of achievement in connecting people and organizations to critical resources that strengthen their capacity to serve the public good,” said M. Christine DeVita, chairman of the Center’s board of trustees and president of the Wallace Foundation. “His deep knowledge of both philanthropy and the nonprofit sector and of the complex issues that drive the field today are powerful assets that will serve the Center well as the central knowledge hub for the field.”

Charity Suspends Top Officials Over Deal With Internet Contractor

The American Bible Society, in New York, has suspended its president and chief financial officer after a news article reported on the organization’s payment to an Internet contractor with ties to online pornography, says The New York Times.

Paul G. Irwin, president, and Richard B. Stewart Jr., chief financial officer, are on paid temporary leave as the organization reviews its now-severed relationship with the Internet contractor, Richard J. Gordon. The charity paid one of Mr. Gordon’s companies more than $5-million for Web site designs, the Times reported in an earlier story.

Mr. Irwin had previously hired Mr. Gordon’s company, Exciting New Technologies, when he was chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, the Times reports. Mr. Irwin tells the newspaper that he did not know Mr. Gordon had ties to the pornography industry.

A spokeswoman for the American Bible Society tells the Times the suspensions did not imply wrongdoing by the two men.

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Baltimore Symphony Announces New After-School Program

The new music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has pledged $100,000 of her own money to support a new after-school music program, OrchKids, for first-graders in Baltimore, reports The Baltimore Sun.

The program, modeled after Venezuela’s El Sistema program, will begin next fall with 25 first-graders in West Baltimore. The project’s partners include the city’s public-school system, the Peabody Institute, the Baltimore School for the Arts, and two other organizations, the paper reports.

Music Director Marin Alsop is using the last $100,000 of her $500,000 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship award, which she won in 2005, to create a matching-grant program for OrchKids.

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Texas Foundation Names New Leaders

The Southwestern Medical Foundation, in Dallas, has announced Kern Wildenthal, retiring president of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, as its new president, and William T. Solomon as its new chairman of the board, reports The Dallas Morning News.

Mr. Solomon is the retired chairman of Austin Industries, and he chaired a major fund-raising campaign at the medical center, the paper reports.

The two replace outgoing president W. Plack Carr Jr. and board chair Paul Bass.

From The Chronicle: Americans Raise $33-Million for Asian Disasters

American relief groups have raised at least $33-million for victims of the China earthquake and the Myanmar cyclone, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. The groups say about $17-million has been donated for aid to earthquake survivors and $16-million for those harmed by the cyclone.

May 20, 2008

Gore Gets $1-Million Award for Environmental Work

Al Gore has received a $1-million prize for his environmental work from the Dan David Foundation, in Tel Aviv, reports the Associated Press.

The foundation awarded the former vice president its annual “present” prize for his efforts to inform people around the world about the destructive effects on the environment from the increased use of fossil fuels. (The grant maker also awards prizes in “past” and “future” categories. For more about the other winners, see The Chronicle’s awards listings, which require a paid subscription or short-term pass.)

The foundation, according to the wire service, has an endowment worth $100-million and was established in 2000 by Dan David, an international businessman.

Mr. Gore said he would donate 10 percent of his prize money to support young researchers and would give the remainder to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a climate-crisis advocacy group he co-founded.

Nonprofit Coalition Presses for Health-Insurance Changes

In the face of ballooning health-care and health-insurance costs, a nonprofit coalition in Connecticut is urging towns in that state to pass resolutions calling for the state to solve what the coalition sees as a health-insurance crisis, the Hartford Courant reports.

The Caring Families Coalition, in Hartford, is supported by grants from the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut and has not just pressed for the cities and towns to pass resolutions but also advocated for a bill that recently was approved by the state’s legislature.

If it becomes a law, nonprofit groups, municipalities, and small businesses would be eligible for the same insurance plan the state offers to its employees. However, the newspaper said, the governor will probably veto the bill because of the state’s budget deficits.

Metropolitan Museum Leader to Become Professor

Philippe de Montebello, who has led the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, for 31 years, plans to become the first professor to teach the history and culture of museums at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts, The New York Times reports.

Mr. de Montebello announced in January that he plans to step down from his post at the museum near the end of 2008 or as soon as the museum finds a successor. In addition to teaching at the university, he will advise the institution on its plan to build a museum in the United Arab Emirates.

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Charities Honored for Offering Flexible Schedules to Workers

Several nonprofit groups were among the winners of the Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility, reports The Boston Globe.

The awards are designed to encourage employers to offer more ways for employees to manage their own time. The award program is run by the Families and Work Institute, in New York, with money from the Alfred E. Sloan Foundation.

One of the winners, Rhode Island Legal Services, a nonprofit group in Providence, offers four weeks of vacation for new employees, up to a year’s unpaid parental leave for the birth or adoption of a child, and a comp-time program.

“You don’t want employees to work 10 or 12 hours a day so they wind up sick or depressed or don’t take time to exercise or be with their families,” said the group’s executive director, Robert Barge, who said his first action in taking over the nonprofit group in 1989 was to abolish the time sheets employees had to sign when they arrived at the office.

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From The Chronicle: Donations for China and Myanmar Disasters

American charities say donations are pouring in for victims of the earthquake that hit China last week, even as the organizations continue to ask donors for help in providing aid in Myanmar following the cyclone that hit the country a few weeks ago, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Several charities said that donors have been more willing to contribute to the China disaster, in part because of the high numbers of Americans who have ties to the country.

Online Discussion Thursday: Changes at United Ways

Join us on Thursday, May 22, at 11 a.m. Eastern time (please note time change) to focus on the changes United Way of America announced last week. Brian A. Gallagher, president of the organization, will take questions about the United Way’s new 10-year strategic plan and what it will mean to local charities.

And mark your calendars for our discussion on Tuesday, May 27, at noon Eastern time with Allison Fine, an expert on how charities can more effectively engage members of the millennial generation.

These discussions are open to everyone, not just Chronicle subscribers.

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

For more details and transcripts of past discussions, go to http://philanthropy.com/live.

May 19, 2008

Foundation Leader Chosen to Head NAACP

Benjamin Todd Jealous, president of the Rosenberg Foundation, in San Francisco, has been named the new president of the NAACP, reports the Sun, in Baltimore.

Mr. Jealous, 35, was previously director of Amnesty International’s human-rights program and worked as executive director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a federation of more than 200 black community newspapers, according to the NAACP’s announcement of his appointment.

Mr. Jealous takes over for Bruce Gordon, who resigned last year after conflicts with the organization’s board of directors, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

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

Relief Workers Find Aftershocks and Widespread Devastation in China

The more than 140,000 relief and medical workers helping earthquake victims in China have found widespread devastation even as strong aftershocks continue to afflict parts of the country, reports The New York Times.

The confirmed death toll was raised to more than 34,000, but the government said the figure could reach 50,000. The earthquake has caused more than 240,000 people to be hospitalized and about five million to be left homeless.

Unprecedented giving in response to the disaster, especially by newly wealthy and urban Chinese, has brought in more money than charities in China collected all of last year. A total of $1.3-billion has been pledged so far, 85 percent of which was raised within China, according to the Xinhua News Agency, reports the Associated Press.

(Free registration is required to view the New York Times article and the AP article on the Washington Post site.)

Government Calls for More Changes at Smithsonian Institution

The Government Accountability Office recommended Thursday that the Smithsonian Board of Regents establish methods to critique its own policies and develop a plan to discipline wayward members, reports The Washington Post.

After reviewing new measures adopted by the institution following a series of incidents in 2007 that showed inadequate oversight, the Government Accountability Office approved the changes already under way but said more reforms have yet to be completed.

“It remains to be seen how the Smithsonian Board will proceed with its self-assessment process, and a key challenge for the board will be how to hold all regents accountable for their individual performance,” the report said.

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Hunger Threatens Child Cyclone Victims

Without quick food aid, thousands of children in Myanmar face starvation, Save the Children officials said Sunday, reports The Wall Street Journal.

“We are extremely worried that many children in the affected areas are now suffering from severe acute undernourishment, the most serious level of hunger,” said Jasmine Whitbread, who heads the charity’s operation in Britain.

More than 50 philanthropists and financial advisers convened an emergency meeting Friday at the San Francisco Foundation to brainstorm effective ways to get relief to cyclone victims in Burma despite staunch resistance from the Burmese government, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

The San Francisco Foundation’s chief executive, Sandra Hernandez, focused on the Foundation for the People of Burma, in San Francisco, and other small U.S. charities with strong ties to grassroots organizations in Burma whose staff members have been better able to get around government restrictions and have delivered rice, medicine, water-purification tablets, and tarps to 14,000 families in remote villages.

Finances Tight for Public Television Programming

PBS’s “The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer” is suffering its worst financial squeeze, the talk show’s host acknowledged, reports The New York Times.

Last summer Archer Daniels Midland, which had provided nearly $4-million of the program’s $26- to $28-million yearly budget, ended its 14-year sponsorship of the program. Only part of the money lost from the sponsorship has been replaced, leaving the program’s budget short by several million dollars.

As corporations cut back on advertising during the economic slowdown, public television’s solicitation of long-term commitments is increasingly incompatible with the needs of these companies, the newspaper says.

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Habitat Scoops Up Homes in Foreclosure; Churches Counsel Homeowners

The abundance of homes in foreclosure around the country has presented Habitat for Humanity with ample opportunities to purchase and renovate cheap properties it can offer as affordable housing to low-income families, reports the Associated Press.

The group’s officials say that acquiring the foreclosed properties is preferable to allowing the homes to remain vacant and vulnerable to slumlords and crime. “We’re stepping up to the plate to provide some viable solutions to the housing crisis,” said Sharon Rolence, a spokeswoman for the group’s Twin Cities branch.

Churches around the country are offering counseling programs to help people avoid foreclosure and the pitfalls of predatory lending, reports another Associated Press article.

Catholic Charities USA, in Alexandria, Va., said it has helped 4,000 homeowners nationwide. “What happens to the lives of people daily is important,” said Jean Beil, a spokeswoman for the group. “God calls us to care for the poor.”

(Free registration is required to view the first article on the Washington Post site and the second article on the Boston Globe site.)

Give and Take: NAACP's New Leader, Relief for Myanmar, and Charity Success

Among the new items on Give and Take, a service of The Chronicle of Philanthropy that rounds up the best postings that appear on blogs about the nonprofit world:

Praise for the new NAACP leader

The pros and cons of using aircraft to drop supplies into Myanmar

Keys to charity success

From The Chronicle: Capital Campaigns Feel the Squeeze

Ambitious capital campaigns are facing challenges as donors and companies that were expected to give big become reluctant to part with their money in uncertain times, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

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

May 16, 2008

Obituary: Robert Mondavi, California Winemaker and Philanthropist

Robert Mondavi, the California winemaker, died Friday morning. Read an article from the Chronicle archive about his leadership role in philanthropy among American vintners.

Chinese Donate More Than $192-Million for Relief Effort

In the wake of a massive earthquake in China on Monday, the Chinese people have donated $192-million toward the relief effort, an unprecedented philanthropic campaign for the country, reports The Washington Post.

In a country with no organized philanthropy or independent nonprofit organizations, Chinese officials’ request for aid was an unusual move. Many Chinese, either as individuals or through their workplaces, have responded to the need to help the estimated 10 million people affected by the earthquake.

Many Chinese people are wary of Chinese nonprofit organizations, which are controlled by the government and are frequently accused of corruption, the paper says. It reports that many are instead giving to foreign nonprofit organizations like the Chinese Red Cross.

In response to concerns, the Chinese government has said it will allow independent supervision of the way aid funds are spent, as well as an audit after the relief effort is completed.

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Red Cross Makes Rare Request for Federal Money

The American Red Cross, facing a $200-million deficit, requested $7-million in federal support to help it pay for the employees it needs to respond to disasters, reports The New York Times.

The group — which normally relies on private donations, not federal money — made its request at a Congressional hearing on Thursday.

The Red Cross, under the National Response Framework, must have an employee at the 10 regional offices of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “While these positions bring value to the community’s response, they were not sustainable under our current budget guidance,” said Joseph Becker, Red Cross senior vice president for disaster services, in written testimony for the hearing.

The organization is laying off 1,000 people at its Washington, D.C., headquarters, which constitutes about one-third of the staff members there. It is also reducing staff sizes elsewhere.

The Red Cross attributed its current financial difficulties to a lack of recent major disasters, which spur financial support from donors. While the group has accepted federal money before, this is the first time it has requested money dedicated for a federally mandated task.

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Judge Rejects Suit to Stop Art Collection's Relocation

A lawsuit to prohibit the relocation of the Barnes Foundation’s $5-billion art collection to a Philadelphia exhibition space was thrown out by a Montgomery County judge, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.

A citizens’ group, Friends of the Barnes Foundation, and the Montgomery County government were both ruled to have insufficient standing in the case, which sought to keep the art collection in its current location, Pennsylvania’s Lower Merion Township. The collection’s founder, Albert C. Barnes, had stipulated that the dozens of Renoirs, Cézannes, and other masterpieces he donated remain there.

The lawsuit hinged on a December 2004 court ruling that allowed the art foundation to overturn the will of Mr. Barnes.

The two plaintiffs in the lawsuit have not decided if they will appeal the ruling.

Microsoft Joins Inexpensive-Laptop Campaign

The One Laptop Per Child project has formed a partnership with Microsoft, despite a contentious history between the nonprofit group and the software giant, reports the Associated Press.

The laptop organization produces inexpensive “XO” computers for schoolchildren to spread access to technology in the developing world. Currently the group sells the computers for $188, but it would like to reduce the cost to just $100.

In the past, the two organizations have traded barbs, with Microsoft publicly criticizing the XO computer’s small screen and processing power.

Nicholas Negroponte, the nonprofit group’s founder, hopes the addition of Microsoft Windows software will increase sales of the laptops. He says he has received 600,000 laptop orders but had hoped to be selling millions at this point.

From The Chronicle: Judge Sides With Red Cross in Logo Dispute

A federal judge in New York has rejected an effort by Johnson & Johnson to prevent the American Red Cross from using the charity’s logo on retail products, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

May 15, 2008

Fla. Residents Will Vote on Government Money for Religious Programs

Voters in Florida will decide this fall whether to repeal a law prohibiting public dollars for so-called faith-based programs and groups, reports The Washington Post.

The Blaine Amendment, which exists in 36 states besides Florida, does not allow religiously affiliated groups to receive government money. A citizen panel in Florida, the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, has voted to include a measure on the November ballot stating that “individuals or entities may not be barred from participating in public programs because of their religion.”

Patricia Levesque, the panel member who led support for the measure, cited a 2004 court decision that blocked then-Gov. Jeb Bush’s voucher program, which would have used government money to allow students in failing public schools to enroll in parochial and private schools.

But opponents of the measure say that faith-based groups that provide secular social services in a nondiscriminatory way are not affected by the Blaine Amendment or the 2004 court decision.

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Aid Groups Say Pair of Disasters Present Major Challenges

International aid groups are facing challenges in bringing supplies and workers to disaster areas in Myanmar and China, whose governments have been reluctant to let in foreign organizations, reports The Wall Street Journal.

On Monday, an earthquake hit China, killing as many as 15,000 people; two weeks ago, a cyclone in Myanmar killed up to 100,000 people and displaced 200,000, the newspaper reports.

John Holmes, the United Nations humanitarian chief, warned of cholera outbreaks and said that the U.N. may consider unauthorized air drops of supplies into Myanmar.

Meanwhile, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has said it is concerned that a second storm headed for Myanmar will complicate the distribution of supplies and rescue efforts, reports Reuters.

For an article on fund-raising for the relief efforts, read The Chronicle’s coverage.

(A paid subscription is required to view the Wall Street Journal article.)

Americans on Charity Wildlife Tour Survive China Earthquake

Twelve American World Wildlife Fund members who were visiting a panda reserve in China when an earthquake hit this week are alive and safe, but two Chinese volunteers with the nonprofit group are still missing, reports CNN.

The “ecotourist” group was visiting the breeding center at Wolong Giant Panda Reserve on Monday when the earthquake struck. The disaster is said to be responsible for 15,000 deaths so far.

The 86 pandas at the reserve survived the earthquake.

Director of Asian Museum Dies While Held at Federal Detention Center

Roxanna Brown, the director of the Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum at Bangkok University, in Thailand, was found dead Wednesday at the Federal Detention Center in Seattle, where she was being held in connection with an investigation into looted art, reports The Seattle Times.

Ms. Brown, 62, was arrested last week in Seattle, where she was scheduled to speak at the University of Washington. She was indicted in Los Angeles on one count of wire fraud for allegedly allowing her signature to be used on appraisals of donated works; the appraisals were allegedly inflated so that the donors could claim higher tax deductions, the newspaper reports.

Ms. Brown’s brother, Fred Brown, told the Associated Press that she apparently had a heart attack. She was in a wheelchair after having lost her leg in 1980 and had been suffering from flu-like symptoms.

From The Chronicle: United Way of America's 10-Year Campaign

The United Way of America announced a broad, new 10-year campaign that it will focus support on health, income, and education, reports The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

May 14, 2008

Getty Trust Cuts 114 Jobs to Free Money for Arts Programs

The J. Paul Getty Trust, in Los Angeles, is cutting 114 positions so it can free resources to spend on its visual-arts programs, reports The Los Angeles Times.

However, fewer than 40 people have been laid off, as many positions were saved through attrition, retirement, or buyout packages, the newspaper reports. The organization said it achieved much of its goal through savings on maintenance, information technology, and security.

The decision to reduce the number of staff members came after a strategic-planning effort conducted by its chief executive, James Wood, who took over the institution in early 2007, the newspaper reports.

“This is to ensure that we have flexible funds to devote to both building our collections,” Mr. Wood told the newspaper, “and undertake targeted strategic initiatives where we feel we can really make a difference.”

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Teach for America Sees Surge in Applications

Applications to participate in Teach for America’s two-year program have risen by more than one third this year, in part because of a slow economy and better recruitment work on the part of the nonprofit organization, reports the Associated Press.

The program’s reputation is helping with fund raising and with recruiting on college campuses, the news agency reports. It has seen applications soar to 25,000, and its annual budget has increased from $40-million in 2005 to about $110-million this year, a change that has allowed for more recruiting.

At least one major donor, Eli Broad, who has given $16-million to the organization, is planning a larger contribution in the near future.

“It’s one of the best investments our foundation has made,” Mr. Broad, a California financier, tells the Associated Press.

Still, some critics observe that Teach for America teachers are less likely to embark on a full teaching profession than traditionally trained teachers and more often leave the classroom behind. The organization estimates that one-third of its alumni stay in the classroom, the news agency reports.

Read a Chronicle special report about the growth spurt of Teach for America and other new organizations seeking to spread their ideas across the country.

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

Houston Lawyer Gives $15-Million to Alma Mater

Joe Jamail, a Houston lawyer known for winning an $11-billion lawsuit for Pennzoil over Texaco in 1985, is giving $15-million to his alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin, reports The Houston Chronicle.

Mr. Jamail, 82, wants $10-million to go to the law school and the remaining $5-million will be split between the nursing school and undergraduate programs, the newspaper reports.

Director of Georgia Aquarium Heads to Ohio

The Georgia Aquarium’s executive director, Jeff Swanagan, is leaving the organization for the top post at he Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Ohio, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Mr. Swanagan will return to his roots in Columbus, where he was once zookeeper and later, from 1982 to 1987, the Columbus Zoo’s education director, the newspaper reports. Mike Leven, a Georgia Aquarium board member who is also vice chairman of the Marcus Foundation, is now acting chief executive.

Mr. Swanagan helped develop the Georgia Aquarium with the billionaire Bernie Marcus, who provided $250-million for the facility. It has the world’s largest fish tank.

Read a Chronicle article about the aquarium in our special report on charities and design, and read this profile of Mr. Marcus.

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From The Chronicle: Donors Respond to Global Disasters

Donations to help victims of the Myanmar cyclone continued to mount on Wednesday, even as charities faced enormous hurdles in bringing aid to the country. More than $8-million has been pledged so far to some of the biggest aid organizations in the United States, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

At the same time, groups have begun collecting money to aid victims of this week’s earthquake in China.

From The Chronicle: IRS Denies Tax Status to Group That Spends Too Little on Charity

In a ruling that could have implications for many charities, the Internal Revenue Service has denied a tax exemption to an organization in part because the group did not spend enough of its money on charitable programs, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Prospecting: Election-Year Fund Raising

Fund raising for the political campaigns often poses challenges for charities — but also plenty of opportunities, notes a new item on Prospecting, an online fund-raising column published by The Chronicle of Philanthropy and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Plus, see new posts on the psychology of donor auctions and how to appeal to female donors.

May 13, 2008

San Francisco Seeks to Persuade People to Give to Charity, Not to Panhandlers

Officials in San Francisco hope a new effort to use 10 old parking meters to collect spare change will help the city’s homeless population and cut down on panhandling, reports The San Francisco Chronicle.

Instead of giving directly to panhandlers, the money will be given to charities that help the homeless, the newspaper reports. Other cities, such as Denver and Baltimore, have used this method — which does not necessarily raise a lot of money for charity — as a way to cut down on panhandling.

At least one charity official, Sister Bernie Galvin, executive director of Religious Witness With Homeless People, panned the plan, calling it “utterly ridiculous.” She said it was based on a stereotype that all panhandlers use every nickel and dime to buy drugs and alcohol.

“Forget the children, forget the mothers who are struggling to raise their family homeless or in inadequate housing,” she said. “Will the city never give up on trying to find ways to make the lives of homeless people harder?”

Another San Francisco Chronicle article reports on results in other cities with similar programs.

Red Cross Might Relocate Workers in Budget Move

In an attempt to generate revenue, an official at the American Red Cross said the organization might relocate as many as several hundred of its employees from its Washington headquarters to a satellite office housed at the site of its emergency office building at an undisclosed location in Northern Virginia, reports The Washington Post.

Laura Howe, a spokeswoman for the charity, said that relocating employees to the emergency site, which is near Dulles International Airport and maintained for use in the event of an attack on Washington, would open office space at the organization’s headquarters for rental to commercial tenants. The American Red Cross is facing a $200-million deficit this year and has laid off one-third of its 3,000 national employees.

“Knowing that we have a smaller number of staff in the Washington, D.C., area, knowing that we have a need to provide some revenue for the organization, we’re looking at a number of options to house our employees,” said Ms. Howe.

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Historic New Orleans Sites Receive Grants

As part of a program called Partners in Preservation, five historic sites in New Orleans will receive $400,000 in grants today from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express, reports The Times-Picayune.

Grant recipients include St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church; St. Alphonsus Art & Cultural Center; St. Augustine Parish Hall; Odyssey House Louisiana, a social-services organization; and Save Our Cemeteries, which will use the money to refurbish a burial ground in the city’s Garden District.

Each site’s importance to its neighborhood was considered by the awards committee, which sought to focus on “community-gathering spaces.” All five sites are run by nonprofit organizations and must complete repairs within a year.

Bangkok Museum Director Arrested

Roxana Brown, director of the Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum, at Bangkok University, in Thailand, was arrested on Saturday in Seattle, where she was detained and indicted in connection with a federal investigation of looted Southeast Asian artifacts, reports The Seattle Times.

Ms. Brown, who was scheduled to deliver a speech at the University of Washington that afternoon, is charged with one count of wire fraud. She is accused of allowing her electronic signature to be used on appraisal forms for pieces that were donated to several Southern California museums at inflated prices so collectors could claim fraudulent tax deductions. She faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

A public defender, hired to represent Ms. Brown temporarily, did not comment on the charges she faces.

Colleges Seek Donors to Help Provide Aid

Following announcements by dozens of colleges and universities that they plan to overhaul their financial-aid programs, many are calling on donors to help ease the burden of student debt, reports The Wall Street Journal.

More than a third of restricted gifts made to colleges and universities support financial aid, but institutions continue to seek more. After receiving an anonymous $100-million gift last May to improve its financial aid, the University of Chicago started a campaign to raise an additional $300-million to replace loans with scholarships for needy students.

From The Chronicle: A Call for New U.S. Foreign-Aid Policies

Many speakers at the annual meeting of InterAction last week said there is a dire need for the United States to fundamentally restructure how it delivers aid overseas, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

From The Chronicle: What Happens to National-Service Volunteers

AmeriCorps alumni are more likely than their peers to volunteer, be active in their communities, and trust others, according to a study released today, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Online Discussion Transcript: What Women Want

Read a transcript of our discussion on advice for seeking money and other support from women.

Join us next week for a conversation with the marketing expert Seth Godin, who will help you learn techniques for promoting your cause.

May 12, 2008

First U.S. Aid Is Sent to Myanmar, but More Is Needed

The United States has sent its first airlift of supplies to Myanmar in the wake of the cyclone that hit the country last week, but further humanitarian efforts have been largely blocked by the country’s government, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The World Food Program, an agency of the United Nations, estimates that aid has reached only 30,000 survivors, and only a small number of warehouses and distribution centers are in place to give aid to needy people. Aid workers say as many as two million people have been displaced by the cyclone. The death toll could be as high as 100,000 people, with many more lives threatened due to the lack of clean water and sanitation.

The military government of Myanmar has resisted allowing foreign aid workers to enter the country due to fears of civil unrest. It has granted only a small number of visas to experienced U.N. personnel.

Terje Skavdal, a U.N. disaster-response expert in Bangkok, said, “With each day passing, concern about the survivors is increasing. We could have done much more if we’d had more openness.”

Panel Meets to Discuss University Endowment Spending

The controversy over endowment spending among universities was the primary focus of a panel at the American Bar Association on Friday, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Congress has proposed that universities spend at least 5 percent of their endowments every year. However, there is a lot of room for interpretation as to what constitutes an endowment. Most endowments are a combination of disparate investments, and many have their own rules regarding spending.

Dean Zerbe, former senior counsel to Sen. Charles E. Grassley, of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said that Congress would continue to push its concerns on endowment spending.

Adam A. Parachin, a law professor at the University of Western Ontario, cautioned against following Canadian regulations on investments held by universities. Charities must spend 80 percent of their revenue from the previous fiscal year, and universities must spend at least 3.5 percent of their endowments. Mr. Parachin said these measures are a “technical disaster.”

Lorraine A. Sciarra, senior counsel at Princeton University, suggested three methods to govern endowment spending: a balance between present and future needs, stability in the current operating budget, and a provision to allow investment managers to focus on long-term returns.

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From The Chronicle: New Leader for Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy has named an investment manager with a deep background in environmental issues to be its new chief executive, reports The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Charity Volunteers File Lawsuit Against Calif. State Parks Officials

A charity’s volunteers have filed a federal lawsuit against California State parks officials alleging their constitutional rights were violated after the group tried to provide food for homeless people at a beach, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Welcome INN went to Doheny State Beach, in Dana Point, Calif., to give food to homeless people but was blocked by a park ranger, who allegedly told the group’s representatives that they were taking part in “unlawful assembly” and threatened them with arrest. A complaint filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the charity, said the group provided food in the park’s picnic area on two nights in February without action by park officials.

Hector Villagra, a lawyer for the ACLU, says the section of California’s code the park ranger cited “is fundamentally flawed from a First Amendment perspective.” The lawsuit seeks to overturn the provision.

Roy Stearns, a spokesman for the state parks system, said, “It’s not appropriate for a state park system that’s designed for vacation and recreation . . . to be an answer to a social-services problem.”

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Course Created to Teach Students About Microlending

A new course aims to teach middle- and high-school students about making small loans to poor people in developing countries, reports The Boston Globe.

The program, called Small Change, Big Changes, is the idea of the MicroLoan Foundation USA, a spinoff of the London MicroLoan Foundation. Students will be encouraged to form microfinance clubs to raise money in their local areas to provide small loans and basic business training for women in sub-Saharan Africa.

The program will take place in 12 Boston schools in September and will be taught by volunteer college students and classroom teachers.

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Opinion: Teenagers Have Become Impressive Fund Raisers

High-school students are increasingly raising large amounts of money for causes and are showing incredible skill at it, writes columnist Nicholas Kristof in an opinion article for The New York Times.

Mr. Kristof calls these young people “piggy-bank philanthropists” and cites several examples. Ana Slavin and Nick Anderson, two high-school students in Massachusetts, raised $420,000 through their nationwide campaign Dollars for Darfur, an effort to give aid to people in the embattled region of Sudan. Rachel S. Rosenfeld, a student in Harrison, N.Y., raised $57,000 to build an elementary school in rural Cambodia when she was bedridden for a year.

Mr. Kristof agrees with Sen. Christopher Dodd, Democrat from Connecticut, that it should be mandatory for high-school students to complete 100 hours of community service. He also believes that colleges should encourage students to take a year off to devote themselves to public service, as Princeton University has done.

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Online Discussion Tomorrow: What Women Want

More and more women are making big gifts to charity, but nonprofit groups still struggle with how best to obtain donations and other support from women.

What can your organization do to reach female donors and volunteers more effectively? What can charities learn from companies that promote products and services to female consumers? And how can this approach help your charity connect with men as well?

Join The Chronicle on Tuesday, May 13, as it plays host to a discussion on this topic.

A marketing expert and author will answer your questions and improve your ability to raise money and effect change.

The discussion will be held at noon Eastern time on Tuesday 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.

Government and Politics Watch

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

IRS updates rules on disclosing business activities

A project to create more Hillary Clintons

From The Chronicle: Gates Foundation Names New CEO

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has named a Microsoft veteran to fill the role of chief executive officer, 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 new items is a debate on whether churches and electioneering can mix.

May 09, 2008

Churches Seek Court Test of Federal Ban on Electioneering

In a test of federal tax law, a conservative legal group is encouraging pastors to preach about election candidates in September, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The Alliance Defense Fund hopes a court case will result from this open defiance of tax rules, which bar churches from engaging in partisan politics, and that the restrictions will be struck down by the courts.

The planned September 28 protest comes in a year when the Internal Revenue Service has stepped up investigations of churches accused of political actions, the newspaper notes.

Barack Obama’s denomination, the United Church of Christ, is being investigated for allowing the candidate to speak to 10,000 of its members last year. Churches found guilty of violating the tax rules may be fined or lose their tax-exempt status.

“The government should not be telling the church what it should or should not be saying,” says the Rev. Steve Riggle, senior pastor of Grace Community Church in Houston.

The effort angered groups that seek to enforce the tax law forbidding partisan electioneering by churches. Said Rob Boston, a spokesman for Americans United for the Separation of Church and State: “If any pastor out there feels he is gagged or can’t speak on partisan politics, … forgo the tax exemption and say what you want.”

To learn more about issues affecting nonprofit causes in the 2008 election, see The Chronicle’s special campaign section.

Conservation Groups Protect Major Land Tract in California

A coalition of environmental groups has persuaded a developer to preserve 90 percent of the largest piece of undeveloped land in Southern California, reports The Los Angeles Times.

The historic Tejon Ranch, 60 miles north of Los Angeles, is eight times the size of San Francisco at 270,000 acres and is prime habitat for the endangered California condor and other species.

The coalition of environmental groups has agreed not to oppose development of the western and southwestern edge of the land.

As part of the agreement, a 12-member Tejon Ranch Conservancy will be established to ensure that the land will be preserved in perpetuity.

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Charity Brings Volunteering to Offices and Homes

Seeking to take the legwork out of volunteering, a Boston nonprofit organization brings volunteer opportunities to office and residential buildings, reports The Boston Globe.

The charity, Building Impact, hopes not only to increase philanthropic efforts but also to build community among its clientele.

“Between the commute in, the commute home, and really busy schedules, there are some clear barriers that prevent people from getting more involved in the community,” Lisa Guyon, executive director of Building Impact notes.

The five-year old organization operates in numerous commercial and apartment buildings in Boston and its suburbs.

Building Impact is a revenue-generating organization, drawing about 45 percent of its income through charging a licensing fee to the buildings where it operates. The remainder of the group’s $500,000 annual budget comes from foundations, corporate sponsors, and individuals.

Several landlords say they underwrite the service because on-site volunteer options are an important tenant amenity, much like a building gym or round-the-clock security.

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Opinion: Government Scrutiny of College Endowments

The increased scrutiny of college endowments by lawmakers and the Internal Revenue Service is drawing criticism from a senior editorial writer at The Wall Street Journal.

In an opinion article, Collin Levy notes that college endowments are often subject to donor restrictions and that colleges that flout the intentions of their donors could land in court.

What’s more, she writes: “The money flowing into university coffers was to be spent at the discretion of the school.”

She quotes Leslie Lenkowsky, a professor of philanthropy at Indiana University and Chronicle of Philanthropy columnist, who says: “This is private money. The whole idea that a donation should be regulated by government really challenges our notion of what philanthropy is supposed to be about.”

From The Chronicle: Fund Raising for the Cyclone Victims

A growing number of charities have sent supplies to Southeast Asia to help victims of the recent cyclone in Myanmar, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. But many aid workers continued to express concern that red tape and foot-dragging on the part of government officials were delaying their ability to provide assistance.

Plus: The United Nations suspended transportation of relief supplies to Myanmar Friday after the military government seized food and equipment it had already sent, but then the U.N. announced it would resume flights on Saturday, The New York Times reports.

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From The Chronicle: Foundation Update

Catch up on The Chronicle’s coverage of the Council on Foundations in our conference notebook, which includes dozens of reports from reporters and editors who attended the major sessions at this week’s meeting.

May 08, 2008

Massachusetts Lawmakers Consider Taxing Big Universities

In Massachusetts, legislators are considering taxing higher-education institutions with endowments over $1-billion, arguing that the universities don’t do enough for their surrounding neighborhoods considering their vast wealth, reports The Boston Globe.

The measure would impose a 2.5 percent annual tax assessment on Amherst College, Boston College, Boston University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Smith College, Tufts University, Wellesley College, and Williams College. It is estimated the tax would bring $1.4-billion into the state’s coffers.

“It’s mind boggling that one entity not paying taxes has $34-billion. How do you justify that?” said Rep. Paul Kujawski, a Democrat and the plan’s chief supporter, referring to Harvard’s endowment, the largest in the nation. “When people can’t afford to live. How do you justify not taxing them?”

Critics called the proposal misguided. “You’d be taxing success here,” said Kevin Casey, Harvard’s associate vice president for government, community, and public affairs. “Over time, this would put us at a real competitive disadvantage, which would drastically hurt the Commonwealth.”

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Nonprofit Group Wins Fight Over FBI Inquiry Into Records

The Federal Bureau of Investigations has withdrawn its request for information about one of the users of a nonprofit digital library, in San Francisco, after the charity took the agency to court claiming a freedom-of-speech violation, reports the Associated Press.

The FBI sent the Digital Archive a letter last November seeking information, without a judge’s order, about one of the charity’s patrons. The group sued the bureau, saying that because the letter prohibited recipients from discussing it with anyone else, it violated the group’s free-speech rights. Last week the FBI agreed to withdraw the letter but did not explain why.

“Without judicial or public oversight, there is literally nothing stopping the FBI from issuing improper demands for records,” said Melissa Goodman, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who represented the Internet Archive.

“The information requested in the national-security letter was relevant to an ongoing authorized national-security investigation,” said John Miller, the assistant FBI director in a statement. He added that such letters “remain indispensable tools for national-security investigations and permit the FBI to gather the basic building blocks for our counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigations.”

Georgia Aquarium Keeps Title as World's Biggest With $110-Million Expansion

The Georgia Aquarium has announced plans to build a $110-million, 1.5 million-gallon expansion, holding on to its reputation as the “world’s largest aquarium,” reports The New York Times.

“This is the next ‘big wow,’” said Bernard Marcus, founder of the Home Depot and one of the Georgia Aquarium’s chief backers.

The aquarium, which already contains 8 million gallons of water and 80,000 animals, plans to open its new exhibit — which will include dolphins — in 2010, beating out an attraction set to open in 2009 in Dubai that claims will be “world’s largest indoor marine mammal pavilion.”

For more on the Georgia Aquarium’s expansion, read The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s coverage.

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Opinion: Bill Gates on 'Strategic Corporate Philanthropy'

Partnerships between governments, local organizations, and private companies — or “strategic corporate philanthropy” — can bolster economic and technological development, writes Bill Gates in an opinion article in The Wall Street Journal.

“When a company like Microsoft is in a position to provide not just money but also the expertise and experience to help an organization use technology to achieve its goals more quickly and more effectively, it can speed the pace and scale of progress,” he writes. “The ultimate goal is to support the development of local economies that have the infrastructure and skilled work force needed to create sustainable growth.”

With a better-educated global population, and as “more people join the global-knowledge economy, they will spur further innovations that address difficult issues faced by so many people around the world. This, more than anything, will be the key to creating a world where everyone can expect to lead long, healthy, productive, and fulfilling lives.”

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 posts:

A look at a college senior’s $50,000 pledge.

Lessons in coping with donor anger.

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 new items:

Mounting pressure on the Clinton Foundation to release the names of its donors.

Criticism of Laura Bush’s approach to helping cyclone victims in Myanmar.

A critique of how some new philanthropists are approaching social change.

Online Discussion Next Week: What Women Want

More and more women are making big gifts to charity, but nonprofit groups still struggle with how best to obtain donations and other support from women.

Join The Chronicle on Tuesday, May 13, as it plays host to a discussion on this topic.

A marketing expert and author will answer your questions and improve your ability to raise money and effect change.

The discussion will be held at noon Eastern time on Tuesday 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.

May 07, 2008

L.A. Investigates Alleged Patient Dumping by Hospital

College Hospital, in Costa Mesa, Calif., accused of taking a mentally ill patient 42 miles to skid row in downtown Los Angeles and leaving him near the Union Rescue Mission, where he had been cared for by the charity’s workers before going to the hospital for treatment, is being investigated by city prosecutors, according to officials cited by the Los Angeles Times.

“The bottom line is we are … taking it very seriously,” said Jeff Isaacs, who oversees the city attorney’s criminal prosecutions. “It could be another classic case of dumping.” A state law enacted about two years ago that makes it a misdemeanor to dump patients in another county makes it easier for prosecutors to bring charges against such cases, he said.

Susan Taylor, a lawyer for the hospital’s parent company, said it was “looking into the matter” but wouldn’t comment further until an internal review has been conducted.

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Environmental Group Ranks Corporate Commitment

Climate Counts, a nonprofit organization that scores consumer-products companies on their environmental practices and values, today released its second annual ranking of 56 consumer companies based on how they measure greenhouse-gas emissions, their plans to reduce them, and how openly they disclose those efforts.

The report found that 84 percent of the companies improved their scores since last year’s report, with Nike earning the highest overall score (82 points out of a possible 100), with Stonyfield Farm, IBM, and Unilever scoring 75 points or higher.

Investigation Examines Philanthropist's Ties to Israel's Prime Minister

Morris Talansky, a Long Island philanthropist and fund raiser for Israeli charities, is the focus of a case related to the continued investigation of Israel’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert, reports The New York Times.

Israeli prosecutors asked a Jerusalem court on Tuesday for permission to take the testimony of a man believed to be Mr. Talansky, 75. Apparently approached last month by Israeli authorities upon his arrival at the Tel Aviv airport, it remains unclear whether Mr. Talansky is a witness or suspect in the case. The nature of the inquiry appears to focus on suspicion of bribery or campaign-finance irregularities involving Mr. Olmert in or around 1999.

Details of the investigation have recently circulated among politicians and journalists in Israel, despite a government order forbidding publication of information about the case. The New York Post published Mr. Talansky’s name on Tuesday, prompting Israeli radio announcers to direct listeners to the newspaper’s Web site.

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

Federal Agency Seeks New Approach to Cuba Grants Program

A program designed to promote democracy in Cuba is being overhauled by the Bush administration to improve its financial controls and broaden its reach beyond the heavy involvement of anti-Castro groups in Florida, reports The Los Angeles Times.

The U.S. Agency for International Development oversees the program, which seeks to support Cuban dissidents and ideas to facilitate a shift away from the Castro government, and is now trying to persuade Central European and Latin American nonprofit organizations to join American charities in applying for its grants. Critics of the 12-year-old program charge that it has mostly benefited the Cuban American-led groups in Miami that receive most of its grants.

In 2006, a report by the Government Accountability Office found that 92 percent of its grants had been awarded without competitive bids.

Read The Chronicle’s coverage of nonprofit efforts in Cuba.

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

Obituary: Claude Rosenberg, Philanthropist

Claude Rosenberg, the money manager and philanthropist, died May 3 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease, reports The San Francisco Chronicle. He was 80.

Mr. Rosenberg sought to bring about a revolution in giving by showing wealthy people they could afford to give far more than they thought if they looked at their total assets, not just their annual income.

In 1998 he founded the NewTithing Group, a San Francisco nonprofit organization that helped donors determine how much they could afford to give to charity. “It became his passion and his life calling to convince people they could give more money away,” said his son, Douglas Rosenberg.

Mr. Rosenberg founded Rosenberg Capital Management, from which he retired after the firm’s sale to Germany’s Dresdner Bank in 1995.

See an opinion article from The Chronicle about Mr. Rosenberg’s approach to giving.

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From the Chronicle: Foundation Update

More than 3,000 grant makers from around the world are meeting outside Washington this week at a conference organized by the Council on Foundations.

Reporters and editors from The Chronicle of Philanthropy are providing updates on the sessions throughout the day in on online conference notebook.

Among the highlights:

Influential Americans don’t know much about the work of individual foundations

How philanthropy can help the poor

What foundations should do after a disaster strikes

Why foundations should brace for tough times

A new project to create more Hillary Clintons

From The Chronicle: Relief Challenges in Wake of Cyclone

Charities say donors are anxious to help victims of the cyclone that hit Myanmar, killing at least 22,500 people. But government restrictions are presenting major challenges for foreign relief organizations, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

May 06, 2008

Relief Charities Face Huge Challenges in Myanmar

Relief organizations working to assist victims of the cyclone in Myanmar face many obstacles, including inadequate telecommunications systems and a lack of cooperation from the local military, reports The New York Times.

One such charity, Unicef, sent five assessment teams to the region and is preparing supplies for delivery, reports The Times in a second story on the disaster. The number of displaced people could reach one million, by United Nations estimates, the paper reports.

“Our biggest fear is that the aftermath could be more lethal than the storm itself,” Unicef’s Caryl Stern tells the Times.

Christine South, Asia-Pacific operations coordinator at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, tells the Los Angeles Times that her organization is awaiting the go-ahead from the Myanmar government to send more relief teams into the region. The organization already has five teams surveying the damage, the paper reports.

World Vision’s Kyi Minn did not hedge when speaking to CNN.

“It could be worse than [the] tsunami,” Dr. Minn said, citing the December 2004 disaster that killed more than 150,000 people in Southeast Asia.

An article in The Wall Street Journal delves into the ripple effects of the cyclone’s damage to a major rice-producing region and the developing international food crisis. Some countries like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, for example, were counting on rice supplies from Myanmar to add to their own, the newspaper reports.

In Boston, Oxfam America officials are meeting today to plan how to assist with the relief effort, reports The Boston Globe. Among their helpers are Harvard University students, already raising money with T-shirt sales.

(Free registration is required to view the New York Times, L.A. Times, and Boston Globe articles, and a paid subscription is required to view the Wall Street Journal article.)

Foundation Commits $50-Million to Community Colleges

The Bernard Osher Foundation, in San Francisco, has pledged up to $50-million to the California Community Colleges system to support scholarships at 109 colleges, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Students will start receiving scholarships in the fall of 2009 after an initial $25-million gift from the foundation, the paper reports. The second $25-million will be awarded as matching funds — $1 for every $2 the college system raises. Foundation officials hope the gift inspires others to follow suit.

“We haven’t been at the table when it comes to philanthropy for years,” Paul I. Lanning, president of the Foundation for California Community Colleges, tells The Chronicle. “To me, it changes things for community colleges nationwide, tells the public community colleges want support.”

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Musician's Charity Takes Heat From Charity Watchdog

Charity Navigator, a watchdog organization in Mahwah, N.J., that rates charities’ performance, has given bad marks to the musician Sting’s charity, which has raised money to preserve rain forests, reports the New York Post.

Sting’s Rainforest Foundation is planning its next fund-raising concert at Carnegie Hall for Thursday and expects such high-profile participants as Billy Joel and James Taylor, the paper reports.

After reviewing the charity’s tax filings, the Post found that just 41 percent, or about $887,000, of the more than $2-million raised at the organization’s 2006 concert ended up in the hands of charities working to save the rain forests.

“This one would fall to the bottom of the bucket,” Sandra Miniutti, a spokeswoman for Charity Navigator, tells the newspaper.

Charity Navigator has given the Rainforest Foundation a mark of zero for the last four years, the newspaper reports.

Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler, who founded the organization in 1989, did not comment in the article.

But Ms. Styler, responding to the story in the Post, tells People magazine: “The Rainforest Foundation is celebrating its 20th year. We wouldn’t still be in business or have given out millions of dollars over the years if we’d spent everything we made immediately after it came in.”

Chicago Symphony Picks New Director

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has selected the Italian music director Riccardo Muti to lead its symphony for five years starting in the 2010-11 season, reports The New York Times.

Chicago’s last full-time music director, Daniel Barenboim, left his position after the 2005-6 season in part because of the headaches involved in the administrative side of the job. Mr. Muti, 66, was music director at the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1980 to 1992 and had previously said he was not interested in leading another American symphony, the newspaper reports. Mr. Muti expressed similar concerns to those cited by Mr. Barenboim.

But on taking the contract with the symphony, Mr. Muti tells the Times he is aware of the role he will play as one of the key faces of the organization in Chicago.

“To be music director of an American orchestra doesn’t mean only to try to make good music with the orchestra for the audience that comes to the hall but to serve the community,” Mr. Muti says.

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:

Charitable bequests expected to become another victim of the bad economy

How a California group fended off government budget cuts

From The Chronicle: Foundation Update

More than 3,000 grant makers from around the world are meeting outside Washington this week at a conference organized by the Council on Foundations.

Reporters and editors from The Chronicle of Philanthropy are providing updates on the sessions throughout the day in on online conference notebook.

Among the highlights:

Philanthropy and “quiet diplomacy.”

How foundations are using new online tools.

Getting older Americans involved in social causes.

Why foundations need to prepare an agenda for the next president — and what items are on the list.

Fighting global warming.

Taking a long view of foundation investments.

Why the IRS doesn’t plan to overhaul a key foundation tax form anytime soon.

Transcript: Foundations and Diversity

Read a transcript of today’s online discussion about foundations and diversity. The guests were Robert K. Ross, chief executive of the California Endowment, in Los Angeles, and Mark Rosenman, director of Caring to Change, a project of the Union Institute & University, which has its headquarters in Cincinnati.

May 05, 2008

9/11 Charity Seeks to Offer Lessons to Other Charities

The Survivors’ Fund, a Washington charity that raised and distributed money to victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks, is shutting its doors and winning praise as a model for how other organizations can help people in times of crisis, reports The Washington Post.

The organization raised more than $25-million from more than 12,000 residents and businesses in the Washington metropolitan area. It has issued a report summing up how its approach could be useful to other organizations.

The charity did not distribute most of its money right after the attacks, as most organizations did, but waited until people developed needs that were not taken care of by other charities and government agencies.

It also hired professional case managers to work with families individually to assess their needs. About 58 percent of the money went to help families pay bills. 14 percent went to education, 11 percent paid for medical expenses, and 14 percent was devoted to emotional and mental-health concerns.

Daniel K. Mayers, who served as chairman of the Survivors’ Fund, said, “We don’t know when or if the next tragedy will strike. But I do think that it’s very important to at least say here’s how we did it, here’s how our community got together, and here’s the facts and a legacy for the future.”

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Companies Send Employees Abroad to Volunteer

Some well-known corporations are combining volunteering with their global business interests, reports The Boston Globe.

Companies such as Ernst & Young, IBM, and Pfizer are sending employees abroad for up to a few months to volunteer at schools, hospitals, and charities in developing countries.

Since 2003, Pfizer has sent 155 employees to 31 countries to participate in programs that fight HIV/AIDS and other diseases, for example.

The programs are not purely altruistic but are an attempt to help the companies develop managers with a global outlook, the newspaper says.

Deborah K. Holmes, Americas director of corporate responsibility at Ernst & Young, said of these kinds of programs, “We need people with a global mindset, and what better way to develop a global mindset, and what more realistic way, than for somebody to have an immersion experience with just enough safety net?”

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Clinton Charity Draws 1,000 Pledges

The Clinton Global Initiative has netted almost 1,000 commitments from businesses, nonprofit organizations, government leaders, and philanthropists over the past three years, reports Reuters.

The organization, which was founded by Bill Clinton, holds a meeting every September to offer a midyear update of its progress. Commitments include $100,000 pledged by the Hashoo Foundation for women beekeepers in Pakistan, to about $1.5 million from the United Methodist Church to fight malaria in the Ivory Coast with insecticide-treated nets.

There is no minimum amount to donate, but those who do not follow through with their pledges are not invited to the organization’s annual meeting.

See The Chronicle’s coverage of last September’s Clinton meeting.

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Young Black Activists Go Online

Young black activists are increasingly using online tools to advance their causes, reports The Washington Post.

For instance, they are using blogs to call attention to issues in the Democratic primary for the Presidential nomination and to controversies involving six black teenagers who were accused of attempted murder in Jena, La.

As they go online, young activists are often forming new groups and criticizing more-traditional civil-rights groups such as the NAACP.

L.N. Rock, a blogger and activist, says the NAACP has not done enough to recruit young people. He said, “The NAACP’s youth-outreach efforts are dysfunctional. We would have been glad to work with them had they asked. If you’re talking about the talented tenth, we are the new talented tenth.”

Richard McIntyre, a spokesman for the NAACP, told the newspaper: “The NAACP will always have detractors. There will always be people who think we’re not doing enough. In terms of any movement, there’s always been more than one organization. If the NAACP isn’t a fit for you, then we encourage people to get involved another way.”

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Opinion: Give Tax Rebates to Food Banks

Americans should donate their tax rebates to charities that help the needy buy food, says D. Parvaz, a columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

He advises Americans to donate their rebates to food banks, which are seeing more and more people in need of their services and yet make do with less and less.

Online Discussion Tomorrow: Foundations and Diversity

American foundations are often criticized for failing to appoint leaders who reflect the diversity of the nation and for giving too little money to groups that serve minorities.

Are those criticisms fair or overblown?

Join The Chronicle on Tuesday, May 6, as it plays host to a discussion on this topic live from the Council on Foundations annual meeting.

Answering your question will be Robert K. Ross, chief executive of the California Endowment, in Los Angeles, and Mark Rosenman, director of Caring to Change, a project of the Union Institute & University, which has its headquarters in Cincinnati.

The discussion will be held at noon Eastern time on Tuesday 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: Foundation Update

More than 3,000 grant makers from around the world are meeting outside Washington this week at a conference organized by the Council on Foundations.

Reporters and editors from The Chronicle of Philanthropy are providing updates on the sessions throughout the day in on online conference notebook.

Among the highlights:

A look at foundations and diversity.

How grant makers are responding to the mortgage crisis

A new effort to help children who leave Mexico for the United States.

How sports philanthropy has matured.

Grant-making to American Indian causes.

May 02, 2008

Foundation Promises $25-Million to Ariz. United Way

The Stardust Foundation, created by real-estate developer Jerry Bisgrove, will give $25-million to the Valley of the Sun United Way Foundation to support administrative costs and encourage other donors to give, reports the Arizona Republic.

The foundation will cover the organization’s administrative costs so it can tell donors all their money goes to the cause they want to support, plus the foundation will match 50 cents for every dollar pledged to United Way over the next five years.

Mr. Bisgrove made his money with an international trucking company and now serves as chairman of Stardust Companies, a real-estate-development corporation in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Well-Connected Groups Get Money From Politicians

More than a dozen New York City council members have earmarked money to community groups with which they have had close personal ties, and government investigators are looking into how much money has possibly been wasted on groups that rated support only because of their connections, reports The New York Times.

Citing concern about the group’s performance, the New York Department of Youth and Community Development has canceled a councilman’s $45,000 discretionary allocation to Youth for Education and Sports, an organization he founded and led for 10 years. Mathieu Eugene says that he received clearance from the council’s Conflict of Interest Board to allocate money to Youth for Education and Sports.

The Times also raises questions about whether the councilman’s brother, Maxi, who also worked at the nonprofit group, operated his insurance and tax-preparation company out of the charity’s headquarters. The councilman says his brother did not.

Several other politicians are using their leftover campaign money to support charities with which they are connected, reports The Washington Post.

Former Senator Robert G. Torricelli, a New Jersey Democrat who stepped down because of a corruption scandal, has moved more than $1.6-million of old campaign money into the Rosemont Foundation, which he leads.

Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican who resigned from the Senate to work as a lobbyist, has given $200,000 from his political-action committee to a foundation tied to the University of Mississippi, his alma mater.

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West Virginia U. Donors Pull Out After Governor's Daughter Gets Undeserved Degree

West Virginia University and its new president are embroiled in controversy after the governor’s daughter was awarded a master’s degree she did not earn — and some donors are pulling their support from the university, reports the Associated Press.

An investigative panel last week reported that the institution demonstrated “seriously flawed” judgment last fall in giving an executive master’s degree in business administration to Heather Bresch, the daughter of West Virginia’s governor, Joe Manchin, who took classes in 1998 but did not earn enough credits for the degree.

Mike Garrison, the university’s president, says he did not make the decision to award the degree and will not step down, though many students, professors, and politicians have called for his resignation.

The McGee Foundation has decided not to give $1-million in cash or an additional $1-million worth of art. The wire service reports that smaller donors have said they may do the same.

Ms. Bresch is also chief operating officer of generic drug maker Mylan, which helped raise money for the executive MBA program, and the company’s chairman has made several significant donations, including $20-million in 2003.

Opinion: Give Stimulus Check to Support Troops

Americans should donate their tax-rebate checks, which start arriving this week, to charities that serve the troops, their families, and veterans, writes Andrew Carroll in The Washington Post.

Mr. Carroll, who founded the Legacy Project, argues that the idea should appeal to those who oppose the war and to those who support it.

“Many who oppose the war have criticized the Bush administration for not calling on Americans to sacrifice more to assist our men and women in uniform. Well, why wait for the president to ask? Let’s just do it,” he argues. “Those who advocated invading Iraq or who support staying there, particularly conservative talk-show hosts and commentators, have expressed the need to show our troops that we’re behind them.”

“Let’s remind our troops and their families, through a surge in giving, that we have not forgotten their sacrifice,” he writes.

See The Chronicle’s special report on charities that serve the troops.

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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:

Bangladesh’s microfinance pioneer experiments with his approach in New York.

Questions about American donors to causes in Peru.

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

Online Discussion: Foundations and Diversity

American foundations are often criticized for failing to appoint leaders who reflect the diversity of the nation and for giving too little money to groups that serve minorities.

Are those criticisms fair or overblown?

Join The Chronicle on Tuesday, May 6, as it plays host to a discussion on this topic live from the Council on Foundations’ annual meeting.

Among our guests will be Robert K. Ross, chief executive of the California Endowment, in Los Angeles.

The discussion will be held at noon Eastern time on Tuesday 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: Foundation Forecast for 2008

More than half of foundations say they plan to increase their giving in 2008, according to a study released today by the Foundation Center. The report said the economic turmoil that has caused trouble for some foundation investments does not appear to have any major effect on giving plans for this year, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

May 01, 2008

Retailer Revives Food-Donation Program

Sam’s Club, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores, is reinstating a food-donation program it ended in 2006, when it decided to give cash instead, reports the Associated Press.

Working with America’s Second Harvest, a national network of food banks, Sam’s Club representatives said on Wednesday that they are establishing a pilot program at about 560 of their 593 U.S. stores and expect the program to be operating by late summer.

The Wal-Mart Foundation, the charitable branch of the Bentonville, Ark., Wal-Mart Stores, also announced that it is giving a $1.5-million donation to America’s Second Harvest, whose headquarters are in Chicago. Foundation officials said the money is expected to provide about 16 million meals.

Wal-Mart announced in January 2006 that it was stopping perishable food donations by individual Sam’s Clubs and Wal-Mart stores, partly out of concern for food safety.

A Wal-Mart spokesman said the new program has been set up in a way that ensures safe handling of perishable foods.

Universities Increasingly Turn to Private Donors to Offset Rising Tuition

Colleges and universities are increasingly turning to alumni and other individuals for donations to help bolster their financial-aid packages, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education.

In the face of rising tuition costs, and in an effort to attract talented students from low- or middle-income families, both large universities and small private colleges are having to direct more money from their operating budgets to pay for financial aid.

To avoid depleting their operating budgets, some institutions, such as Franklin & Marshall College, St. Olaf College, and Loyola University Chicago, have started making student aid the top priority of their ambitious fund-raising campaigns.

While it may seem that colleges with large endowments could easily offer generous financial-aid packages, the bulk of such endowment money is often earmarked by donors for other uses, the newspaper said.

But raising money takes time. “I definitely see programs that are starting to discuss these issues, looking at strategic planning, taking this into account,” said Robert F. Sharpe Jr., a fund-raising consultant who works with many colleges. “They plan campaigns, but it takes years.” In the meantime, said Mr. Sharpe, colleges will have to figure out ways to use the money they already have to help students afford tuition.

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Lending Company Tells Food Banks to Quit Advocacy Group -- or Lose Donation

Officials at America’s Second Harvest and its Ohio affiliates were told by executives at Rent-a-Center, a company in Plano, Tex., that the company would halt all charitable contributions to hunger programs in Ohio unless local food banks quit their association with the Ohio Coalition for Responsible Lending, The Wall Street Journal reports. That coalition has advocated a crackdown on payday loans, which Rent-a-Center offers.

This week the Ohio House passed a bill to cap annualized interest rates on payday loans at 28 percent and limit borrowers to four loans of $500 annually.

Rent-a-Center charges interest rates on one-week payday loans that are equivalent to a yearly rate of up to 782 percent, the newspaper said. The company last year made its first $125,000 payment on a four-year, $500,000 pledge to America’s Second Harvest.

Anne Goodman, chairman of the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, told the newspaper that her group should not have joined the coalition in the first place. “Nobody has put any pressure on us,” she said. The Ohio Association of Foodbanks “would never support anything that isn’t directly hunger related.”

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Forum Offers Charities Candid, Sometimes Brutal, Critiques

Small nonprofit groups are turning to the Social Innovation Forum — an arm of a Cambridge, Mass., organization called Root Cause — to learn how best to attract potential donors, including investors, government officials, and foundation executives, reports The Boston Globe.

Forum leaders say that emotional appeals don’t attract donors as much as in past years because many of today’s budding philanthropists are relatively young, newly wealthy, and financially sophisticated. They tend to choose their charities based on data and facts and want to know if a charity is well run, financially sound, innovative, and capable of carrying out its mission.

Through the forum, leaders of small charities make practice presentations to businesspeople and philanthropists and are then told what they did wrong and what they need to do to be attractive to potential donors. The forum is modeled after financing pitches that start-up companies make to venture-capital firms.

“We’re helping them figure out how to better present their work so that people understand the social need they’re trying to solve and how the work they’re doing is doing that effectively,” said Susan Musinsky, co-director of the forum. “The next time they make their presentations to people like this, if their stories are really good, those people might be ready to write them a check.”

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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:

A site for grant seekers

Wesleyan students’ new endowment

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:

Criticism of Harvard’s payment to a noted author’s mistress

The high cost of the evaluation craze

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: Foundation Responses to Tough Times

Almost one-third of foundations say they have stepped up their giving this year to help families, provide human services, or support economic development — and 37 percent said they planned to increase such grant making next year, according to a study released today by the Council on Foundations, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

From The Chronicle: IRS Offers Charities Second Chance

The Internal Revenue Service plans to introduce a new program this year for charities in jeopardy of losing their tax-exempt status for failure to file informational tax returns, called Forms 990, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.