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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June 2008

June 30, 2008

Children of Arts Patrons Learning to Take the Reins

The children and grandchildren of arts patrons are learning to follow in their forebears’ footsteps by getting academic training in the arts, organizing galas, joining board meetings, and even working “in the trenches” at nonprofit groups, reports The New York Times.

“Arts institutions are now seeing more young people who want to be involved in and respect family histories,” says Virginia M. Esposito, president of the National Center for Family Philanthropy. Young patrons, she adds, “also want to ensure that those institutions reflect their changing values and experiences.”

Patsy Tarr, a dance advocate at the 2wice Arts Foundation, has groomed her daughter, Jennie Tarr Coyne, to work in arts patronage and has taught her that philanthropy is not just about benefits and galas. Ms. Tarr Coyne studied art history at Harvard University and earned a master’s degree in museum studies from Bank Street College; she works as vice president of the 2wice Arts Foundation, volunteers at the Metropolitan Museum of New York, has served as a board member of several dance companies, and wrote a children’s book on female artists.

“Jennie will most likely, if she wants it, eventually have the ability to give out grant money, but that is far off in the future,” says Mrs. Tarr. “We do not see ourselves in the world of philanthropy at all. We see ourselves in dance and museum education.”

Warren Buffett Helps Charity Raise $2-Million

The Glide Foundation, a San Francisco antipoverty group, will receive more than $2-million from a Chinese businessman who made the highest bid in an auction offering lunch with the billionaire and philanthropist Warren Buffett, reports the Reuters news agency.

Zhao Danyang, general manager of Pure Heart China Growth Investment Fund, bid $2.11-million — more than triple last year’s record set at the auction, the news agency reports.

Mr. Buffett has been donating lunches since 2000. The auctions have raised more than $4-million for Glide. (Read an article from The Chronicle’s archive about the Buffett family’s support for Glide.)

'Voluntourism' Gets Revamped to Make It More Fun

Some of the early “voluntourism” trips — where tourists spend their vacation volunteering on a local project — have proven to be a little too much work and not enough fun, but trip organizers are learning to focus on balancing vacation and service, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Critics of voluntourism have argued that the trips are simply too short for the mostly unskilled volunteers to acclimate to a new culture or make a real difference, and that tourists displace local workers who are just as able to construct a building, teach children, or make food, the newspaper reports. Newer programs combine volunteering and free time to give volunteers a chance to sightsee and take a break from work.

“We have to start with the principle of: Is there anything to offer the tourist?” says Kate Lloyd-Williams, who runs the Stay Another Day voluntourism program.

The article also offers several resources and tips on choosing and participating in a volunteering vacation.

Opinion: For-Profit Approach to Offer the Poor Small Loans Gets Unfair Criticism

Nonprofit leaders have criticized a successful Mexican for-profit bank that makes small loans to poor entrepreneurs because “the international charity brigade is at risk of becoming obsolete,” argues an editorial writer in The Wall Street Journal.

Compartamos Banco makes loans to very poor women and others who have struggled to obtain financial help. With an average loan size of $450, the bank serves 900,000 borrowers.

Compartamos began its life as a nonprofit group, but realized after 10 years that by forming a for-profit arm it could dig into sources of capital besides government and charity money. But critics like Richard Rosenberg, an adviser to the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, argue that the for-profit approach may undermine the bank’s potential for helping poor people out of poverty.

The Journal suspects that the reason for this criticism is that successful for-profit ventures crowd out nonprofit organizations.

“Perhaps this explains why people who make their living giving away other people’s money are badmouthing Compartamos for the vulgar practice of earning ‘too much’ profit,” the editorial writer says.

Opinion: Defenders of an Arts Donor Are Right, Even Though Courts Don't Agree

The Friends of the Barnes Foundation, a group fighting to keep a museum in suburban Philadelphia, as its founder said he wanted in his will, continue their battle even as it seems their last-ditch efforts have been exhausted, writes Edward Sozanski, an art critic at the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Friends’ petition to reopen legal hearings on the move was dismissed on a technicality, and it does not look like there are many more options to challenge the move.

But, Mr. Sozanski writes, “by filing their petition, they were representing the person who truly lacked standing, and whose historical and esthetic legacy is being threatened by a cabal of interests that appear not to appreciate its essential nature” — Albert Barnes, the donor who founded the museum known as the Barnes Foundation.

“The people who best understand and appreciate the significance of the Barnes collection and its educational program within the context of American cultural history have been ridiculed as cranks, crackpots, and cultists. And yet they have been mostly right all along,” writes Mr. Sozanski. “They still are, despite the fact that momentum for the move, generated by powerful political, economic, social, and cultural pressures, now appears too inevitable to overcome.”

Prospecting: Why Direct Mail Isn't Doing So Well

Two direct-marketing experts offer ideas about why baby boomers are slowing their response to direct mail — and it isn’t because they are giving online in other ways, according to a new item in Prospecting, The Chronicle’s fund-raising column.

Plus: Why nonprofit groups lose out on some big gifts.

Give and Take: Debating Creative Capitalism

Is Bill Gates’s idea to promote “creative capitalism” wise or naive? Two journalists who are writing a book are using a Web site to generate discussion of the issue, reports a new post in Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog items about the nonprofit world.

Online Discussion Tomorrow: How Charities Can Go Green

Join us tomorrow at 12 noon, U.S. Eastern time, for an online discussion about the environmentally friendly steps charities can take to both save money and save the planet.

Our guests will be:

Cynthia L. Bailie, director of the Foundation Center’s Cleveland office and of the organization’s special online initiatives.

Sarah S. Brophy, a consultant who helps museums, historic houses, and other cultural institutions in New England and the Mid-Atlantic become environmentally and financially sustainable. She is co-author of The Green Museum: A Primer on Environmental Practice.

Kimberly Austin, a program associate at the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. As part of her role, Ms. Austin is involved in Grants to Green, a new program that provides environmentally focused knowledge and financing to nonprofit groups in metropolitan Atlanta.

From the Chronicle: A Billion-Dollar Call for Change

Angry about the fiscal course pursued by the federal government, the financier Peter G. Peterson plans to put $1-billion into a new foundation that will support efforts to call for new public policies. As the foundation opened its doors last week, its founding donor and chief executive talked to The Chronicle about their plans.

June 27, 2008

From The Chronicle: Alaska's Charitable-Giving Law

Alaska has passed a new law aimed at bolstering philanthropic giving among state residents, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. Starting next year, Alaskans can elect to donate to charity all or a portion of the annual dividend check they receive from the nearly $38-billion fund created to share the state’s oil wealth.

From The Chronicle: President Bush's 'Faith-Based' Update

President Bush told a gathering of religious and other nonprofit leaders that he is confident that efforts to help religious charities get government grants — which he called “one of the most important initiatives of this administration” —will continue after he leaves office next January, reports The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Humanitarian Groups Overstate Ethopia's Drought Crisis, Official Says

An Ethiopian official said that aid organizations are exaggerating the effects of a drought in that country in order to raise money “under false pretenses,” reports Reuters.

“These humanitarian organizations are showing pictures of emaciated babies on television, telling the world six million children are malnourished and that there will be a calamity unless they receive funds,” said Deputy Prime Minister Adisu Legesse. “While we appreciate assistance whenever it is needed, we reject being used as publicity to raise funds under false pretenses.”

Mr. Legesse, who is also Ethiopia’s minister of agriculture and rural development, added that some 4.6 million people and around 75,000 children need help, but that there is no famine.

The United Nations says that Ethiopia needs $325-million for 400,000 tons of food, according to the wire service.

Smithsonian Gets $15-Million for Ocean Project

Roger Sant, co-founder of the AES Corporation, a power company, and his wife, Victoria, are donating $15-million to the Smithsonian Institution for a new project about oceans and marine science at the National Museum of Natural History, reports The Washington Post.

Mr. Sant is chairman of the Smithsonian Institution’s governing board and chairman of the natural-history museum’s board, a post that he is resigning later this year. He and his wife have given a total of $25-million to the oceans project.

Last year, Mr. Sant criticized a $5-million pledge from the American Petroleum Institute because of the petroleum industry’s environmental record, and the institute withdrew the offer.

Ms. Sant is president of the Summit Foundation and the Summit Fund, Washington charities founded by the Sant family, and is president of the National Gallery of Art board and honorary chairman of the Phillips Collection.

(A free subscription is required to view this article.)

Cleveland Responds to Lack of Diversity on Nonprofit Boards

A recent study citing the dearth of minorities on nonprofit boards has spurred charities and civic leaders in Cleveland to create an antidote, reports The Plain Dealer, in Cleveland.

The Urban Institute released a report last year that surveyed more than 5,000 public charities around the nation and found that 86 percent of nonprofit board members were white, followed by 7 percent black, and 3.5 percent Hispanic.

To combat this, several black professionals in Cleveland started the Minority Board Member Pipeline Initiative, a service to match professionals of color to nonprofit boards.

Randell McShepard, one of the group’s founders, said, “I was appalled when I saw the Urban Institute research. Who the boards are serving, in the majority of cases, are people of color.”

Another group in Cleveland, Business Volunteers Unlimited, also steers minority professionals to nonprofit boards.

Program Pays Drug Addicts to Take Birth Control or Undergo Sterilization

A controversial program rewards drug users for accepting temporary or permanent birth control, reports The Daily Sentinel, in Colorado.

To qualify for the Project Prevention program, women must prove that they use drugs by presenting an arresting document, a statement from a rehabilitation clinic, or another official form. The clinic gives the women $300 and either Depo-Provera, Norplant, or Implanon. Men and women who elect to undergo sterilization, through vasectomy or tubal ligation, must be sober to make the decision. Altogether, about 2,500 women have been paid to use birth control, the newspaper reports.

Other groups argue that paying drug addicts only enables them to buy more drugs and that sterilizing substance abusers amounts to racial discrimination. But health officials in Colorado and Barbara Harris, who runs Project Prevention, point to the health problems suffered by children of addicts.

“I believe with all my heart that I’m preventing a tragedy,” says Ms. Harris.

Prospecting: Stock Donations Rising Rapidly

Americans are giving away tens of billions of dollars worth of stock, art, real estate, and other noncash gifts every year, according to the Internal Revenue Service, reports Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online column on fund raising.

Online Discussion Next Week: Going Green

Mark your calendar for our next online discussion, on Tuesday, July 1, at 12 noon, U.S. Eastern time. We’ll discuss the environmentally friendly steps charities can take to both save money and save the planet.

June 26, 2008

From The Chronicle: Donations for Midwest Floods

Charities have raised at least $13.3-million to help the victims of the recent floods in the Midwest, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

From The Chronicle: Sharp Drop in Value of Utah Foundation

The value of the Huntsman Foundation fell sharply last week, after an expected buyer for the Huntsman Corporation — whose stock is a major financial base of the foundation — said it might not be able to complete the deal, reports The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Charlotte United Way President Gets Big Benefits Increase

The president of the United Way, in Charlotte, N.C., received an increase of more than $700,000 in retirement benefits for the 2007 fiscal year, reports The Charlotte Observer. The annual compensation for the president, Gloria Pace King, is now more than $1.2-million, with her benefits package rising from $108,590 to $822,507.

The organization said the increase is part of a Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan for certain managers, with the increase in benefits covering an 18-month period, as the plan is being applied retroactively to the beginning of 2006. Additionally, the plan may include payments promised in a 2001 agreement that were not previously delivered, the article noted.

The agency’s board chairman defended the increase as deserved; Ms. Pace King helped the Charlotte United Way raise a record $44-million last year.

But Aaron Dorfman, executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, a charity watchdog group, countered: “Nonprofit executives deserve fair compensation packages, but this is outrageous.”

As comparison, the United Way of Greater St. Louis, which raised $69-million last year, paid its leader $254,487 in salary and contributed $75,826 for benefits, according to the agency’s tax filings, the article said.

Married Couple Run Related Hedge Fund and Charity

Christopher Cooper-Hohn manages the Children’s Investment Fund, which donates some of its profits to help underprivileged children worldwide via the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, which his wife, Jamie, leads, reports The New York Times.

The couple have become the most generous philanthropists in Britain through the hedge fund’s and the charity’s unusual fee structures. Both were established in 2003, with the requirement that investors pay a 1-percent fee to the fund and a 0.5-percent fee to the foundation; if the hedge fund does well — with a return of more than 11 percent — investors pay the foundation another 0.5 percent.

The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation earned $856-million in the 2007 fiscal year, reflecting major contributions from the hedge fund and the couple themselves. The foundation’s total funds in Britain are about $1.6-billion, and it has a smaller U.S. presence worth about $156-million.

The charity worked with Bill Clinton’s foundation to reduce HIV-drug prices for children in a public-housing project and has done extensive work to help children and families affected by the disease in India. One of the foundation’s next major projects is to work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to promote enriched food in countries where malnutrition is common.

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Painting Donated to Goodwill Sells for $40,000

A rural Maryland Goodwill store received a donation that turned out to be a French Impressionist painting worth more than $40,000, reports the Associated Press.

Store employees suspected the painting, donated in March, to be valuable and asked the manager, Terri Tonelli, to take a look at it. She Googled the artist’s name, Edouard-Leon Cortes, and realized his works had sold for prices nearing $60,000 in recent auctions.

The painting, called “Marche aux fleurs,” features a Parisian street scene and was probably completed in the early 20th century. It sold for $40,600 at a recent Sotheby’s auction.

Bipartisan Group Wants New Treatment Standard for Detainees

Three nonprofit groups plan to release a statement today that requests a presidential order to end some interrogation and detention practices, reports The New York Times.

Organized by the Center for Victims of Torture, Evangelicals for Human Rights, and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, a bipartisan group of more than 200 former government officials, retired generals, and religious leaders signed the document. They want the government to commit to only using methods the United States would find acceptable for other countries to use against American soldiers and citizens.

Further, the group seeks the end of both secret detentions and the transfer of prisoners to countries that use torture or cruel treatment.

Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman, said that President Bush signed an executive order last year outlawing torture while allowing the CIA to use some coercive methods; he also said that terrorists should not be treated the same way as American soldiers.

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Top Schools Encourage Students to Seek Careers of Service

The Harvard professor Howard Gardner has begun leading “reflection” seminars at his university, as well as at Amherst and Colby Colleges, in hopes of encouraging more students to consider public-service and other careers beyond those in the financial sector, reports The New York Times.

“Is this what a Harvard education is for?” asked Mr. Gardner. “Are Ivy League schools simply becoming selecting mechanisms for Wall Street?”

Such questions highlight the increasing degree to which other institutions, such as Amherst, Tufts University, and the University of Pennsylvania, are seeking to respond to the same concern and, like Harvard, have expanded public-service fellowships and internships in response. “We’re in the business of graduating people who will make the world better in some way,” said Anthony Marx, president of Amherst. “That’s what justifies the expense of the education.”

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Give and Take: Focusing Health Care on the Grass Roots

Health-care donors could make a major difference by giving money to fix common problems at local doctors’ offices and clinics that prevent Americans from getting effective care, says a new post in Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best commentaries on philanthropy.

Correction: Bill Gates's Philanthropy

Yesterday’s Philanthropy Today misstated the size of the endowment for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in an item that linked to a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article. The foundation’s endowment is $38-billion.

June 25, 2008

Bill Gates Charts Future Course for Foundation

With an endowment of $38-billion that will essentially double with Warren Buffett’s 2006 commitment to distribute the bulk of his wealth to the fund, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation next year will be obligated to give away at least $3-billion annually to avoid paying penalty taxes, reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Mr. Gates told the newspaper that he plans to spend more time reviewing the strategy of the foundation, which has so far pledged $16.5-billion to various projects, and said he hopes to meet more with recipient organizations that have received research grants. “I’ll be out visiting those sites, talking to the scientists, and going to more conferences,” said Mr. Gates.

An article in The Seattle Times highlights China as one of the first priorities Mr. Gates will focus on when he assumes his new role as a full-time philanthropist this summer. The foundation will support health programs in the country, such as HIV/AIDS prevention and a new effort to curb smoking, and will collaborate with experts to improve African agriculture.

“China is kind of interesting, because … it’s a recipient [of assistance], but in a lot of ways it’s a participant in the things that need to get done,” said Mr. Gates. “They have capabilities that, now that they’ve improved their economy a lot, they can be a factor to help poorer countries.”

Ohio U. Gift Valued at Over $91-Million

A gift donated to Ohio University from the estate of the late Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ of Dayton, Ohio, that in January was worth an estimated $80-million, is now valued at over $91.8-million, making it the largest received by any public university in Ohio, reports the university. The proceeds, $79.1-million in cash and securities, and $12.7-million in property, will go to the university’s college of engineering.

Mr. Russ received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Ohio University in 1942. The gift brings the Russes’ total giving to the university to at least $100.7-million.

Religious Group Challenges Legal Restrictions on Political Activity

A religious legal group, the Alliance Defense Fund, has begun a campaign to challenge the federal tax law that forbids tax-exempt groups from endorsing or opposing political candidates, reports AlterNet.

Citing a May 9 Wall Street Journal article, AlterNet said the group is urging pastors to discuss candidates for public office in hopes of sparking a new case to test the law, which in 2000 was unanimously upheld by a federal appeals court in the face of pressure on Congress to change it.

Despite a lack of support from ministers unwilling to engage their congregations politically, the legal group claims that dozens of religious leaders have expressed interest in taking part in the effort, which has drawn strong criticism.

“I assume the ADF will provide a list of congregations unwise enough to join this move, and we’ll be ready to report those churches to the IRS,” said Barry W. Lynn, executive Director at Americans United.

Also: Nonprofit leaders have filed a court motion this week challenging a controversial Georgia sex-offender registry law that stipulates that no registered sex offender can work for or volunteer at a church, an article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The court motion — which seeks to delay enforcement of the new provision until it becomes law on July 1 — argues that the law “criminalizes fundamental religious activities.”

“With this law, the state of Georgia is driving people on the registry from the faith communities and depriving them of the rehabilitative influence of the church,” said Sarah Geraghty, a lawyer with the Southern Center for Human Rights.

Legal Battles Tie Up Money Left for Poor Children in Panama

A gift of tens of millions of dollars to a foundation to help needy children in Panama has been tied up in disputes involving over 20 law firms, the Panamanian courts, and the donor’s surviving family, reports The New York Times. The donation — from the will of Wilson C. Lucom, who died two years ago at the age of 88 — is the bulk of his estate.

“This is all about greed,” said Hector Avila, an advocate for needy children in Panama, who survived a shooting within a week of a protest he led in May to push the court to honor Mr. Lucom’s gift.

Panamanian courts have so far expressed support for the will, but critics remain wary of potential corruption. “If you ask me if I expect to win in light of all the corruption I’ve seen, I don’t expect to win it,” said Richard S. Lehman, a longtime lawyer to Mr. Lucom who is now caught in the middle of the battle and who has been suspended by a Panamanian judge as the executor of the will.

Mr. Lucom’s widow, Hilda Lucom, 84, who received a $20,000 monthly pension and the use of his artwork and furniture, is fighting for his will to be dismissed. “He never talked to me about poor children,” said Ms. Lucom, who added in a court deposition, “He didn’t like children.”

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Sugar Buyout Would Free Up Land to Restore Everglades

A months-long, secretly negotiated $1.7-billion buyout deal, expected to be final by November 30, would free up nearly 300 square miles of land in the Everglades to be environmentally protected, reports The Miami Herald.

The deal is being celebrated on both sides of the buyout, including Robert Buker, president of U.S. Sugar, who said he was “saddened” at the thought of the company’s close but also hopeful that the move could serve as a solution to some of the state’s longest and most heated environmental conflicts, including concerns over industrial pollution and clean water.

“This has been the holy grail,” said Mark Kraus, senior vice president of the Everglades Foundation. “I really wouldn’t have believed I’d see this in my lifetime.”

From The Chronicle: Calif. Foundation-Diversity Bill Defeated

A coalition of 10 big California foundations has headed off controversial state legislation to require big grant makers to disclose information about the diversity of their giving, staff members, and boards by pledging to spend millions of dollars to strengthen organizations that serve minority and low-income people, reports The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Government and Politics Watch: Obama Seeks Nonprofit Leaders' Advice

Several nonprofit leaders are among a dozen people invited to attend a conference on economic competitiveness that Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, is holding on Thursday in Pittsburgh, reports The Chronicle’s Government and Politics Watch online column.

June 24, 2008

Foundation Supports New Elder-Care Effort

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in Princeton, N.J., is investing $15-million over five years to support Bill Thomas’s vision of “Green Houses,” the 48-year-old physician’s effort to replace large nursing homes with small, homelike facilities for 10 to 12 elderly residents, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Forty-one Green Houses are up and running in 10 states, and foundation officials say they hope the houses will eventually be built in all 50 states.

The foundation’s support of the houses represents the most ambitious challenge to date to the nation’s system of 16,000 nursing homes. To supporters, Green Houses could sweep aside what many see as the degrading life the elderly can experience at large institutions.

But Susan Feeney, a spokeswoman for the American Health Care Association, which represents thousands of for-profit and nonprofit nursing homes, says many of those institutions are moving toward creating a more homelike feel. “While it may not be scrapping a large building … we are changing,” she says.

The Green Houses also face many impediments, including elder-care regulations and the high costs of building the houses. Experts also say the concept faces resistance from many parts of the existing nursing-home system. However, an independent study found that residents in the Green Houses might be safer and healthier. The study found that Green House residents fell less often and sustained fewer injuries than residents in traditional nursing-home settings, reported The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Foundation officials say they don’t know whether Green Houses would be an economically sound model for providing elder care, but they’ve decided to invest in the effort anyway. The foundation — which holds $10-billion in assets — is directing the cash to NCB Capital Impact, a Washington nonprofit group that has been offering architectural, consulting, education, and other help to any party interested in operating a Green House.

Bill Gates Leaves Microsoft to Focus on Philanthropy

Friday will mark Bill Gates’s last day as a full-time employee of Microsoft, the company he co-founded 33 years-ago, reports InformationWeek. Mr. Gates is leaving his company to concentrate on his work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Seattle fund he and his wife established in 1999.

Mr. Gates will remain in his role as Microsoft’s chairman.

The software mogul said he plans to encourage his wealthy friends to support the foundation’s efforts. “I need to orchestrate the rich world to help out,” said Mr. Gates.

“Everybody should give time and some money,” he added. “Pick a cause, and there are so many good ones out there, that you can develop some expertise in, and perhaps involve your spouse or the rest of your family,” he said.

Read The Chronicle’s recent article on the Gates Foundation’s new leader.

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Performing-Arts School Receives Anonymous $9-Million

An anonymous donor has given the Colburn School, in Los Angeles, $9-million to support its Dance Institute, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The donation will be added to the Dance Institute’s $1-million endowment, bringing the total to $10-million.

School officials plan to rename the institute the Trudl Zipper Dance Institute after Viennese dancer Trudl Dubsky Zipper, who was the wife of the school’s co-founder, the conductor Herbert Zipper. It is not clear whether the anonymous donor is connected to the Zippers, both of whom are dead.

“The next year or two will be really just solidifying our department and building on what we’ve already done over the past couple of years,” said Leslie Carothers-Aromaa, a former principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet and the new director of the institute.

The institute has 406 students and a program for high-school dancers training for professional dance careers. The training program was established in 2005 by Ms. Carothers-Aromaa and another former Joffrey dancer, Glen Edgerton.

Read this Chronicle article about the growing trend toward large, anonymous gifts.

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

Nonprofit Mergers 'Messy' for Some

While nonprofit experts are pushing charities to merge as a way to keep up with increasing demands for services and tighter budgets, the experiences of several organizations offer cautionary tales of what can happen when charities merge, reports the MinnPost.com.

Jan McDaniel, chief executive officer for the American Red Cross Twin Cities Chapter, characterized her organization’s 2006 merger, which joined the organization’s Minneapolis and St. Paul chapters, as “messy.”

“It was pretty awful,” said Ms. McDaniel. “Frankly, the first year was just running around trying to clean up mistakes.”

Jodi Sandfort, associate professor at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute and a nonprofit-management expert, thinks information about nonprofit mergers is insufficient and poorly understood.

“It was shocking to me to realize — particularly because of how important it is on the private-sector side — how little is understood on the nonprofit side,” she said.

According to one study, the Stanford Project on the Evolution of Nonprofits, nonprofit groups should save more money, budget more time, and get to know each other’s organization’s better before considering a merger.

Philanthropist Pleads Guilty in Fraud Case

Henry Samueli, one of southern California’s biggest philanthropists and a co-founder of the Broadcom Corporation, pleaded guilty on Monday in federal court to making a false statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission about his involvement in an alleged plan to reward his company’s employees by manipulating stock options, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Because he pleaded guilty, Mr. Samueli will be allowed to avoid time in jail. The federal government is recommending he spend five years on probation and pay $12.2 million in fines and penalties. Forbes magazine pegged Mr. Samueli’s fortune at just under $2-billion.

Mr. Samueli has given more than $200-million to charity, according to the newspaper. The beneficiaries of his donations include arts organizations, a marine-science institute for children, the engineering school at the University of California at Irvine, and the Sala and Aron Samueli Holocaust Memorial Library, at Chapman University, in Orange, Calif.

“There are people who come back from criminal convictions but usually only after a long period of penance and full admission of responsibility,” said John Coffee, a Columbia University law professor who specializes in white-collar crime. “But if he continues to give away a billion dollars in a thoughtful manner, I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who will forgive him.”

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From The Chronicle: President of MacArthur Foundation to Step Down

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation will start a search this summer for a successor to its president, Jonathan F. Fanton, who will depart in September 2009 under the foundation’s term-limits policy, reports The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Transcript: How the Economy Affects Giving

Read the transcript of our online discussion exploring how the state of the American economy is affecting charity fund raising.

Joining us online will were:

Melissa S. Brown, managing editor of Giving USA.

Richard Belous, vice president of research at United Way of America, in Alexandria, Va.

Robert Evans, managing director of the EHL Consulting Group, a fund-raising consulting firm in Willow Grove, Pa.

Clarification: Lance Armstrong Foundation

A Philanthropy Today summary on Monday of an article in The New York Times incorrectly described fund-raising efforts by Lance Armstrong for his foundation. He started raising money through his yellow Livestrong bracelets 16 months before he retired from cycling. Since he left cycling, he has raised $100-million for his charitable foundation, and only a small portion of that comes from the bracelets, according to foundation officials. The money is used not solely to finance cancer research but also to help people who have survived cancer as well as advocacy efforts to improve the health-care system.

June 23, 2008

Lilly Endowment Gives $50-Million for Indiana Flood Relief

The Lilly Endowment, one of the largest foundations in the country, has awarded $50-million in grants to three organizations for flood relief in Indiana, the grant maker said in a press release.

The Indiana Association of United Ways will receive $45-million for a disaster-response fund that it will administer and dispense to applicant organizations. The American Red Cross and the Salvation Army will each receive $2.5-million to help people and communities with urgent needs and to refill their disaster-relief funds. The Red Cross had said last week that it had run out of money in its relief fund.

Two British Business Executives Commit $1.5-Billion to Charity

Two large gifts made by British business executives are marking a trend of the very rich to give more and more to philanthropic efforts rather than leaving their vast fortunes to their children, reports the Guardian.

Chris Hohn, a hedge-fund manager, has given $913.6-million to the Children’s Investment Fund, a charitable foundation run by his wife to support projects in Africa and the developing world. The donation is thought to be the largest ever made in Britain.

Duncan Bannatyne, an entrepreneur and star of the television show “Dragon’s Den,” plans to give away his entire fortune, approximately $588.2-million, to charity as well.

The article estimates that the 30 most-generous philanthropists among Britain’s wealthiest 1,000 people either donated or pledged over $4.6-billion over the year to May 2008, double the total of the previous year.

The donations came after two British universities announced big gifts last week.

Unicef Shuns Gifts From Israeli Billionaire

The United Nations Children’s Fund has decided not to accept donations from an Israeli billionaire on grounds that his company may be building settlements in occupied territory, reports Reuters.

Lev Leviev, a real-estate and diamond tycoon, is chairman of Africa Israel Investments, a conglomerate that owns Danya Cebus, a company that has been accused of building within the occupied West Bank. Mr. Leviev has contributed directly to Unicef and sponsored at least one fund-raising event for the organization.

The Arab-rights advocacy group Adalah-NY came to Unicef with its concerns that Mr. Leviev’s network of companies was engaged in settlement construction, an act considered illegal by the United Nations.

Upon reviewing the group’s charges, Unicef decided to cease its relationship with Mr. Leviev.

Chris de Bono, a senior adviser to the executive director of Unicef, said, “I can confirm that Unicef has advised Adalah in New York that it will not be entering into any partnerships or accepting financial contributions from Lev Leviev or his corporate people.”

Mr. Leviev was not available to comment to the news service on the Unicef decision, Reuters said.

Planned Parenthood's New Approach Draws Critics

Planned Parenthood is building new, more stylishly appointed health centers as part of an effort to attract more-affluent patients and increase its revenue, but some critics say that Planned Parenthood is drifting away from its original mission, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Planned Parenthood has built two large new health centers, with at least five more on the way, and has opened more than two-dozen “express centers,” which offer faster service and sell merchandise. Many of the centers are located in suburban shopping malls.

Last year, the organization altered its mission statement, which used to say that all individuals have the right to “reproductive self-determination” regardless of income. Its statement now reads that the group will “leverage strength through our affiliated structure to be the nation’s most trusted provider of sexual and reproductive health care.”

Claire Keyes, an abortion provider in Pittsburgh, criticized the move, saying, “They’ve made a decision to go after the young and the hip and the affluent, and they’re leaving poor women behind.”

But Planned Parenthood says that by attracting people who can afford to pay full price out of pocket for services and contraception, the organization can afford to support health care for poor people, sex education for teenagers, and advocacy work. The group generated $1-billion in revenue in its most recent financial report and has $115-million in surplus cash.

Two Journalism Schools Receive $8-Million

The philanthropist Leonard Tow has given a total of $8-million to two journalism schools to analyze how newspapers can expand online and train students in new media, reports The New York Times.

Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism will receive $5-million, and the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism will get $3-million.

Mr. Tow, who was chief executive of Century Communications, said he made the donation because “I’m really worried about the print-journalism side of the business. There’s so much contraction of employment going on; every day you pick up the paper and this chain or that chain has laid off another 10 percent, and we’re watching advertising support slowly disintegrate.”

Mr. Tow’s gift is part of a growing movement by donors and nonprofit groups to support journalism efforts, according to this article from The Chronicle’s archive.

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Cyclist's Foundation Attracts Scrutiny

Some experts are concerned that instead of being known for his prolific fund raising on behalf of cancer research, Lance Armstrong is garnering more attention to his private life, reports The New York Times.

Since retiring from professional cycling, Mr. Armstrong has raised more than $70-million for cancer research through the sale of the very popular yellow Livestrong bracelets. He has also testified before Congress on the need for further research.

However, it is his romantic life that seems to spark newspaper headlines. Mr. Armstrong has had high-profile relationships with a number of celebrities, including the singer Sheryl Crow and the fashion designer Tory Burch.

Claire L. Gaudiani, a professor of philanthropy and fund raising at New York University, said, “He should be concerned about the impact of how he dates on the seriousness of his legacy. He’s got a great role to play, but it doesn’t have to be in bars or on red carpets with lovely young people. That will ruin his capacity to do the work he has said is important to him.”

Some people who have worked with Mr. Armstrong say that the significance of his work on behalf of cancer survivors outweighs his appearances on gossip pages.

Howard Chalmers, former leader of the Lance Armstrong Foundation from 1999 to 2001, said, “For cancer survivors and for the future of the foundation and the contribution the foundation can make, the boy has been cut a lot of slack and will continue to be cut a lot of slack because of the good he does.”

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From The Chronicle: Giving Rose 1% Last Year, New Study Finds

The sluggish economy is showing its effects on charitable donations, which rose just 1 percent last year after inflation, according to Giving USA, the annual tally of American philanthropy.

Americans donated $306.4-billion in 2007, according to figures released today, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

But fund raising is facing more challenges this year, especially as the housing and financial-services industries continue to crumble, fuel and food costs rise, and the stock market’s volatility strains individuals and organizations across the country. Charities report that donors of all types have recently delayed or reduced gifts — or stopped giving altogether.

Still, some organizations have come up with creative approaches to survive. You can listen to an audio interview with officials of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, who are working to encourage ticket buyers to step up their giving to the organization.

Give and Take: Advice for Generation Y

Nonprofit workers in their 20s should listen carefully to the advice of their older colleagues, advises a young nonprofit leader, in a post highlighted in The Chronicle’s Give and Take column.

Plus: The Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward is defending his foundation’s grant making.

Online Discussion Tomorrow: the Economy and the State of Giving

Join us tomorrow at noon Eastern time, for an online discussion exploring how the state of the American economy is affecting charity fund raising.

Experts will be available to take questions about the current giving climate and analyze the trends unveiled in the new edition of Giving USA, the annual tally of American philanthropy.

Joining us online will be:

Melissa S. Brown, managing editor of Giving USA.

Richard Belous, vice president of research at United Way of America, in Alexandria, Va.

Robert Evans, managing director of the EHL Consulting Group, a fund-raising consulting firm in Willow Grove, Pa.

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.

June 20, 2008

U.S. Freezes Assets of Islamic Charity

The United States has taken action against the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation, freezing its assets in the United States and prohibiting Americans from donating to the organization or doing business with it, reports the Associated Press.

The charity, based in Saudi Arabia, is accused of sending money and support to Al Qaeda, the news service reports. From 2002 to 2004, the U.S. Treasury Department took similar action against 13 branches of the organization in the United States as well as in Afghanistan and the Netherlands.

Still, the Treasury Department notes that the organization continued to operate.

The article did not include any response from officials of the charity.

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

Historic Home Sites Face Financial Challenges

Historic house museums throughout the country are facing tough financial times, and many are embarking on new efforts to save their sites, reports the Associated Press.

Edith Wharton’s home, in Lenox, Mass., for example, has started a fund-raising campaign, saying it otherwise could face a mortgage foreclosure.

In Hartford, Conn., meanwhile, the Mark Twain House and Museum has already trimmed the size of its staff but is finding it difficult to come up with money to pay its bills, including a $4.9-million bank loan from earlier expansions, the news agency reports.

Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, tells the Associated Press that such institutions operate on a “shoestring” budget.

“It’s a complex financial situation out there for a lot of museums, and there’s no question that house museums are facing some unique challenges these days,” Mr. Moe says.

Atlanta Selected as Site for National Health Museum

The National Health Museum, which has displayed its collection on the Internet since it was founded in 1997 and at events it sponsored, has selected Atlanta for its new home and plans to build a 190,000-square-foot museum in the city, reports Cox News Service.

The organization said it chose Atlanta because it is already home to several major health institutions, including the American Cancer Society, the Arthritis Foundation, and the Centers for Disease Control, the news service reports.

Museum organizers plan to conduct a fund-raising drive to seek money for the new facility.

Online Discussion Next Week: The Economy and the State of Giving

Join us on Tuesday, June 24, at noon Eastern time, for an online discussion exploring how the state of the American economy is affecting charity fund raising.

Experts will be available to take questions about the current giving climate and analyze the trends unveiled in the new edition of Giving USA, the annual tally of American philanthropy, scheduled for release on Monday morning. (Check our site then for a full story on the new report.)

Joining us online will be Melissa S. Brown, managing editor of Giving USA, and Richard Belous, vice president of research at United Way of America, in Alexandria, Va.

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.

Government and Politics Watch: The Candidates and the Estate Tax

The political debate over the estate tax has many implications for charities and has become an issue that divides the candidates for the White House, The Chronicle’s Government and Politics Watch column notes.

Give and Take: Graduate Training for Nonprofit Leaders

What graduate training is the most useful for nonprofit leaders to pursue? Join the discussion in The Chronicle’s Give and Take column, a roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

From The Chronicle: What Foundations Can Do About the Housing Crisis

Foundations can take numerous steps to alleviate some of the troubles caused by the nation’s mortgage-foreclosure crisis, writes Rick Cohen in an opinion article in The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

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June 19, 2008

British Universities' Campaigns Garner Big Gifts

Two British universities have received multimillion-dollar gifts this week, reports the Daily Telegraph, signaling a promising start to their capital campaigns.

The University of Oxford has received $50-million from Michael Moritz, a partner at Sequoia Capital, a venture-capital firm in California, and Harriet Heyman, a writer and former journalist with The New York Times. That university recently announced its campaign to raise about $2.5-billion.

Ros and Steve Edwards, who made millions through the sale of their software company, gave $60-million to the University of Cambridge, which is currently seeking about $2-billion in its campaign.

Read more about British philanthropy in The Chronicle.

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Insurance Company Ordered to Pay Princeton $9.6-Million in Legal Fees

A court has ordered an insurance carrier to pay Princeton University $9.6-million in legal fees related to a donor-intention dispute, after the insurer tried to cap its coverage at $5-million, reports the Times of Trenton.

Princeton is embroiled in a legal battle with the heirs of donors Charles S. and Marie Robertson, who gave $35-million in 1961 to encourage students to pursue careers in public service. The Robertson children argue that the university has used the endowment, which now stands at $880-million, for other purposes; the university says that it has fulfilled its obligations.

Because the Robertson Foundation board, which manages the endowment, is made up of four university-appointed members along with three family-appointed members, the insurance company sought to deny full coverage and argued the legal-expense claims were due to one insured party suing another. In 2006, the university sued National Union Fire Company of Pittsburgh and its parent company, American International Group.

A lawyer for Princeton says that legal expenses on both sides have totaled more than $50-million so far, the newspaper reports.

ACLU Asks Judge to Remove Muslim Groups From Co-Conspirators' List

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a motion to have two Muslim charities removed from the list of unindicted co-conspirators in a trial against the Holy Land Foundation, which is accused of funneling money to terrorists, reports The Dallas Morning News.

The Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust argue that by including them on the list, the U.S. government has unfairly labeled them as terrorist supporters. Another group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, has filed a similar request separately.

In 2007, five leaders of the now-defunct Holy Land Foundation were tried on charges that they sent millions of dollars to Hamas, a Palestinian militant operation designated as a terrorist group by the United States and Europe. The case ended in a mistrial, and the retrial is set for September 8, the News reports.

Couple Works to Change Public-School Education

Wendy Kopp, who founded Teach for America, and her husband, Richard Barth, who runs the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), have helped reshape ideas about education and now seek to remodel the nation’s public-school system itself, reports The New York Times.

Teach for America, which Ms. Kopp founded as a new Princeton graduate in 1989, recruits some of the nation’s top college graduates to work in poor public schools and has a budget of $120-million. Among its 14,000 alumni are Michelle Rhee, the Washington, D.C., schools chancellor, and Dave Levin and Michael Feinberg, the founders of KIPP, a network of charter schools that helps struggling students.

Ms. Kopp hired Mr. Barth to work at Teach for America in 1994; soon after, they began dating, and Mr. Barth left the group to work at another education organization. He is now working to expand KIPP so that it can enroll a significant portion of public-school students in Houston, New Orleans, Washington, and other cities.

While some critics have said the changes that Teach for America and KIPP can make on classroom teaching and the educational system are relatively small, other observers expect that the groups can make a significant difference.

“My generation thought the same thing, and we did change the schools a lot,” says Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of Great City Schools. “We pursued change through civil-rights laws and by seeking adequate funding and through legislation. They’re pursuing it through entrepreneurship, trying to bring in fresh blood and new energy.”

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French Group Wants Investigation Into Sri Lanka Murders

Action Against Hunger, a Paris charity, has asked international authorities to investigate the August 2006 murders of 17 employees in Muttur, Sri Lanka, after strongly criticizing the local investigation, reports Agence France-Presse.

Seventeen aid workers employed by Action Against Hunger were found executed at a time when the government was battling Tamil rebels, who want to create their own homeland in the country. A Sri Lankan human-rights group said that members of the security forces and police were allegedly responsible for the murders.

Give and Take: Darwinism for Charities

If charities can’t show results, they should shut their doors, says Tom Belford, the veteran fund raiser and author of “The Agitator,“ reports Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best posts about the nonprofit world.

Prospecting: Proving Results to a Foundation

Foundations “look for a relatively enduring change in behavior” when evaluating the success of their grant recipients, a speaker told a conference for fund raisers last week, according to The Chronicle’s Prospecting fund-raising column.

Government and Politics Watch: Foundation Leader Wins Seat in Congress

Donna Edwards, executive director of the Arca Foundation, in Washington, won a special election Tuesday to represent Maryland’s Fourth Congressional District in Congress, according to The Chronicle’s Government and Politics Watch column.

Plus: Two Washington think tanks have created a new fund to help policy makers, journalists, and the public better understand the way tax dollars are raised and spent.

Online Discussion Next Week: The State of Fund Raising

Join The Chronicle next Tuesday, June 24, at noon U.S. Eastern time for an online discussion about the economy’s impact on fund raising — and what nonprofit leaders need to know about trends in giving.

Experts will be available to take questions and analyze the trends unveiled in the new edition of Giving USA, the annual tally of American philanthropy, scheduled for release on Monday.

From The Chronicle: Promoting National Service

Two young men are traveling the country by Greyhound bus for 60 days, getting AmeriCorps volunteers to pressure politicians to expand national service, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

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June 18, 2008

From The Chronicle: Baby Boomers' Second Careers

At least 6 percent of Americans between the ages of 44 and 70, or 5.3 million people, are working in second careers with charities, governments, schools, or other institutions that benefit society, according to a new survey, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Foundations Give Millions for Efforts to Resolve Foreclosure Crisis

The Living Cities Consortium, which includes major foundations and financial institutions — such as the Ford, Kresge, and Annie E. Casey Foundations and Deutsche Bank — are announcing a plan to give as much as $10-million in grants and low-interest loans to state and local programs working to resolve the foreclosure crisis, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Intended to guide future efforts, the money will be used to buy, demolish, rehabilitate, and sell homes at more affordable prices, as well as keep foreclosed homes from being resold to speculators.

FEMA Returns Hurricane Supplies for Use by La. Charities

A portion of the $85-million in hurricane aid that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had distributed as federal surplus will be sent back to Louisiana and given to charities for distribution, reports CNN.

After the news network’s investigation revealed last week that FEMA had given away the relief supplies as government surplus, charity and state officials called for the supplies to be redirected back to Louisiana for Katrina victims still in need of the aid.

“It’s just another example of the failings of the federal bureaucracy,” said Sen. Mary L. Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, who has criticized FEMA’s response to the hurricane.

In defense of the agency’s decision, FEMA Administrator David Paulison told CNN that Louisiana had been offered some of the supplies but that state officials had declined the aid.

Boston Salvation Army Seeks to Revive Fund-Raising Effort

In the two years since the McDonald’s heiress Joan Kroc gave the Salvation Army in Boston $80-million to build a community center, the charity has had trouble raising the additional $30-million needed to begin construction, reports The Boston Globe.

With only $4.5-million raised and $5.3-million pledged, the charity has appointed John P. Hamill, chairman of Sovereign Bank New England, to lead a 24-member committee focused on raising the additional money, the newspaper says.

The charity has also hired a public-relations firm to promote the effort and will hold a reception tonight with potential donors.

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Red Cross and Johnson & Johnson Agree to End Logo Battle

In a deal announced Tuesday, Johnson & Johnson and the American Red Cross have settled a lawsuit over the use of their shared red-and-white logo, reports the Associated Press.

The agreement comes after a federal judged dismissed the company’s lawsuit, ruling in favor of the charity’s right to use the symbol, including for self-promotion and fund raising. Johnson & Johnson had accused the Red Cross of violating a long-held trademark by selling products like humidifiers, toothbrushes, and combs under its own brand.

In a joint statement, the companies said that it is “more productive” to accept the judge’s ruling and forgo any remaining disputes.

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June 17, 2008

Red Cross Borrowing Money for Midwest Relief Effort

The American Red Cross announced on Monday that its disaster-relief fund is deplete