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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July 2008

July 31, 2008

Gates Foundation Promotes Savings Accounts for World's Poor

Officials at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in Seattle, have announced plans to funnel millions over the next few years into efforts meant to encourage personal savings in developing countries, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The plan, which represents the foundation’s first focused grant-making program in the area of financial services, is part of a larger intention to improve poor countries’ basic infrastructure.

“We’re going to focus very heavily on using our resources and our voice to put savings back on the world agenda,” said Bob Christen, director of financial services for the poor at the Gates Foundation.

Often, poor people around the world save their wealth in the form of physical assets, such as livestock, coffee, or jewelry. But evidence is growing that they seek more secure means of accumulating savings. Six banks — in the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Benin, Uganda, and Colombia — that serve largely poor clients found that customers were six times more likely to request savings accounts than loans, reports a 2006 study by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, a think tank sponsored by the World Bank that advised the Gates Foundation on its new financial-services program.

But collecting savings deposits from the poor in developing countries is rife with challenges, including strict banking regulations and a shortage of bank branches in rural areas. The new program could mean that the Gates Foundation will forge ties with telecommunications operators, banks, and retailers, which philanthropists have rarely worked with in partnership. Says Mr. Christen: “It’s a new world for foundations in general.”

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Acorn Likely to Be Among the Biggest Beneficiaries of New Housing Funds

Acorn, a housing advocacy group that is also known for its far-reaching voter-registration drives is likely to be among the biggest beneficiaries from the housing bill signed into law July 30 by President Bush, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The housing bill, which Acorn’s advocacy arm lobbied hard for, provides nearly $5-billion for affordable housing, financial counseling, and mortgage restructuring for imperiled homeowners, all areas in which Acorn’s housing corporation works.

Acorn has a national headquarters in New Orleans, as well as affiliated groups across the nation. It is co-managing a $15.9-million campaign with the group Project Vote to register 1.2 million low-income black and Hispanic voters.

Republicans had raised objections to the legislation, fearing federal housing money could wind up being used to support voter-registration drives that heavily favor Democratic candidates.

“These are taxpayer funds, in an indirect method, being used to subsidize political activism,” says Rep. Jeb Hensarling, Republican of Texas and chairman of the House Republican Study Committee. “I’m sure they’re not going out and registering any Republicans.”

Democrats counter that other groups across the political spectrum — the League of Conservation Voters, the National Rifle Association, and a number of religious charities — also register voters and have also gotten public money.

Charles Jackson, an Acorn spokesman, says housing aid does not support voter efforts. “The funds don’t intermingle,” he says. “There are clear walls with Acorn.”

Economy Poses Threat for Touring Orchestras

In the wake of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s cancellation of an international tour due to shaky economic conditions, other major American classical ensembles are girding themselves for their own treks abroad, despite a weak dollar, sparse financial support, and rising travel costs, according to The New York Times.

The Philadelphia Orchestra, which announced the cancellation of its European tour on July 29, was slated to debut its new chief conductor and music adviser, Charles Dutoit, on the trip. But sponsorships by the organization’s usual corporate donors did not materialize in time, said James Undercofler, the orchestra’s president. “You go to the people you’ve been counting on, and they say they can’t do it this time,” he said. He declined to identify the companies.

Orchestras, which often appear at festivals while on tour, must rely on financial help from corporate and individual sponsors to cover their costs because the fees paid to them by the festivals are insufficient, says Mr. Undercofler.

Other classical ensembles slated to tour Asia and Europe within the next year and a half include orchestras in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, and San Francisco. All say they intend to go ahead with their plans.

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Spending by Sheriffs' Charity Comes Under Fire

Officials at the American Deputy Sheriffs Association benefited from at least $400,000 in payments over a period of four years — more than the group spent on death benefits and bulletproof vests for members, with the money going for such perks as dinners at the restaurant Hooters and golf tournaments for board members, according to a report filed in an Ohio court in July and recounted in The Orange County Register, in Santa Ana, Calif.

The group, known as ADSA, was ordered to stop raising money earlier this year by a court-appointed receiver, Jeffrey Lewis, a lawyer in Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Lewis is preparing to distribute the organization’s remaining money, and Judge John Bessey said he may dissolve the organization.

The sheriffs’ association, one of several charities assembled by Mitch Gold, a telemarketer who eventually served six years in prison for mail fraud, raised $38.7-million from 1999 through 2007. Regulators in 14 states banned, restricted, or fined the group before Ohio seized control of the organization in August 2004.

Larry Smith, the charity’s founder, and Tom Buchman, its internal auditor, defended the group’s spending. Mr. Buchman said that board members conducted work-related discussions on the golf course and that Hooters was an inexpensive dining option for large groups of charity officials.

Mr. Smith said he and the other employees were all working in good faith: “We thought we could make it a viable organization. But we couldn’t play that game. The only people who made money from ADSA were the lawyers and fund raisers.”

GOP Senators Redirect Cash From Senator Stevens to Charity

Republican senators who received re-election campaign funds from Sen. Ted Stevens, indicted July 29 by a grand jury on seven corruption charges, have pledged to give the money to charity, reports McClatchy Newspapers.

Recipients of money raised by the Alaska Republican’s political-action committee, Northern Lights, include Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, and Sen. John Cornyn, of Texas, who chairs the Republican Conference. Each said he will give away $10,000 in donations.

Among other senators who made similar promises: Norm Coleman, of Minnesota, who is giving up $20,000; Elizabeth Dole, of North Carolina, and Pat Roberts, of Kansas, who are each giving $10,000 to a campaign to fight hunger.

Senator Stevens was indicted on charges of lying to hide more than $250,000 in gifts from the Veco Corporation.

Senator Stevens is expected to plead not guilty to the charges Thursday in court, the Associated Press reports.

Smithsonian Museum Prepares for Reopening

Roaming actors playing historic characters, a “green” cafeteria that serves locally produced food, and a sunny new atrium that will play host to naturalization ceremonies for new immigrants will be among the new features of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, reports the Associated Press. The museum is set to reopen November 21 following two years of renovation.

In addition to such pop-culture artifacts as Kermit the Frog and Judy Garland’s red slippers from the movie The Wizard of Oz, the made-over museum will include a new gallery spotlighting the American flag. It will also include a temporary exhibit of Abraham Lincoln’s handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address, which is usually kept in the White House’s Lincoln Bedroom.

“We want visitors to come away with a deeper understanding and appreciation of the American dream and what it has meant to be an American,” said the museum’s director, Brent Glass.

The museum’s reopening was originally scheduled for this summer, but renovation workers discovered asbestos and lead paint, which delayed the $85-million project. The building has been closed since September 2006.

Reporter's Notebook: President Clinton's Africa Trip Hits a Snag

This month former president Bill Clinton invited friends, contributors to his foundation, and members of the news media to remote regions of Africa to get a firsthand look at his charitable work, The Chronicle reports. But the trip hit a snag Monday when a 727 plane carrying roughly half of the guests, mostly reporters, had an electrical fire, a problematic oxygen valve, and other mechanical malfunctions, grounding the flight from Newark, N.J., to Ethiopia.

Read Chronicle reporter Ian Wilhelm’s update from Ethiopia.

Prospecting: Should Charities Ask Donors to Cover Budget Gaps?

Fund raisers do more harm for their cause than good when they ask donors to give so that a charity can meet a budget shortfall or reach a difficult fund-raising goal, says Marc A. Pitman, an author and fund raiser, as noted in a new post in Prospecting, The Chronicle’s column on fund-raising news and tips.

Online Discussion Next Week: Dealing With Unexpected Gifts

Join us for an online discussion Tuesday, August 5, at noon U.S. Eastern time about the ways nonprofit groups handle unexpected windfalls.

For small to midsize organizations that struggle to raise enough money to reach their annual goals, the prospect of receiving an unexpected bequest of $100-million or more seems like hitting the lottery.

But as is often the case with lottery winners, failing to plan for how to use a massive payout can cause an array of new problems.

What should your organization be doing to be ready for such a gift? How have other groups handled such windfalls?

Join two nonprofit leaders who are managing major gifts to discuss these and other questions regarding windfall donations.

Mike Batchelor is president of the Erie Community Foundation in Pennsylvania and is managing a surprise $100-million gift from an anonymous donor. The donor asked that $85-million be used to make unrestricted gifts for local nonprofit groups and that $15-million go to charities around the country.

Joe Evans serves on the board of directors at the George School, a Quaker school in Newtown, Pa. Mr. Evans has played a key role in helping the school solicit and manage a $128.5-million pledge from Barbara Dodd Anderson, a 1950 alumna who will provide the school with $5-million a year.

The Chronicle’s online discussions are free and open to everyone. People who ask questions in advance have a better chance of getting answers.

July 30, 2008

California Food Banks See Surge in Demand

More families, including those considered middle and upper class, are seeking assistance from Los Angeles area food pantries in what those organizations say is an unprecedented surge in demand, reports the Los Angeles Times.

The situation has forced food banks to face tough management decisions, as donations have not kept up with the high demand and food prices continue to climb.

The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, for example, saw demand increase by 80 percent in recent months, the paper reports. At SOVA Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles, 28 percent more people were served in June than over a similar period in 2007.

“We’re seeing an increase in people who never would have asked for help in the past,” Joan Mithers, a director at the organization, tells the Times.

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Philadelphia Orchestra Experiments With Online Membership Plan

The Philadelphia Orchestra is starting an online membership option for concertgoers, dubbed eZseat, as a way to lower its costs and expand its audience, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.

People who sign up for the program will be able to buy tickets online at a 25 percent discount for almost any show and print them out.

The money to design and research the program came from funds donated by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Neubauer Family Foundation, the paper reports.

“We were looking for how to find a new way to get people to go regularly, as if they were subscribers, but not have the problems subscriptions have, because subscriptions are not the future,” says the orchestra’s marketing chief, J. Edward Cambron.

In addition, eZseat will offer college students a $25 membership that comes with unlimited free concerts.

Harvard Taps Gates Foundation Fellow to Lead Public-Health School

A senior fellow at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and former World Health Organization official was named the next dean of the School of Public Health at Harvard University, reports The Boston Globe.

Julio Frenk, who was a visiting professor at the university at one time, will assume the role of dean in January, succeeding Barry R. Bloom. Dr. Frenk was Mexico’s health minister from 2000 to 2006.

In a statement announcing the news on Harvard’s Web site, Harvard’s president Drew Faust called Dr. Frenk “a highly influential figure at the crossroads of scholarship and practice, known for his profound concern with how scientific evidence can foster improvements in health systems and policy in societies around the world.”

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

Bush Foundation Announces New Priorities

The Bush Foundation, in St. Paul, will focus its giving on developing leaders, supporting local areas in solving problems, assisting Native Americans, and increasing educational achievement, reports MinnPost.com.

The foundation gave $40.2-million in grants in 2006, making it the fifth largest grant maker in Minnesota, the news agency reports. The organization has worked to retool its priorities since 2006.

The new priorities come with specific goals the foundation wants to reach by 2018, including having 75 percent of the population of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota say that their cities or towns are effective at solving problems and improving quality of life. Another goal is to see the percentage of students in the three states who earn a degree after high school increase by 50 percent.

The foundation held a Webcast this week with its president, Peter Hutchinson, and board chair, Kathy Tunheim, to answer questions about the new direction of the organization.

Car Donations Can Still Net Tax Breaks

Although a change in the tax law in 2004 reduced the tax deduction donors can receive for most car donations, donors can still claim the full Kelly Blue Book value for cars given to a charity that uses the car or sells it at a discount to someone in need, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper says a 2004 tax-law change has caused confusion among some donors, and many charities that have relied on car donations for income have seen a big drop in such donations.

Melwood, a charity in the Washington, D.C., area that serves people with mental and developmental disabilities, has seen car donations — its primary source of income — drop about 50 percent since the tax law changed.

For people interested in receiving the higher tax deduction for their car donations, The Journal directs readers to Opportunity Cars, a network of more than 150 nonprofit groups that distribute vehicles to low-income families.

From The Chronicle: Charity Lobbying

Most charities devote a tiny portions of their budgets to lobbying, according a report released today by the Johns Hopkins University. Limits on the amount of money and staff members charities had available were the biggest obstacle to getting involved in advocacy, says an article on the study in The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Government and Politics Watch: Money for Housing Groups in Foreclosure Bill

The Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Act of 2008 — which President Bush is poised to sign into law — includes the creation of a permanent Housing Trust Fund that would provide as much as $300-million a year to increase the supply of low-income housing, especially rental units, reports The Chronicle’s Government and Politics Watch column.

Prospecting: Online Fund-Raising Groups Merge

Network for Good, a Bethesda, Md., organization that helps charities raise money on the Internet and runs an online giving site, has acquired the ePhilanthropy Foundation, an organization that promotes ethics in online fund raising, says a new post in Prospecting, The Chronicle’s column on fund-raising news and tips.

Plus: More tips for raising money in a recession.

Give and Take: Corruption in Overseas Aid Work

There’s a lot of confusion among international aid workers about what constitutes corruption, according to a new study cited by Ruth Gidley on Reuters AlertNet, says a new item in Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

July 29, 2008

Bad Real-Estate Market Is Good for Conservationists

As the real-estate market plummets, some nonprofit land-conservation groups are seeing a “green lining,” as they are now able to purchase land at a cheaper rate than in previous years, reports the Associated Press.

Will Rogers, president of the Trust for Public Land, in San Francisco, says that groups like his are snapping up property in the softening markets in Florida, the Southwest, and parts of California.

The Florida chapter of the Nature Conservancy was recently able to purchase between 85,000 and 100,000 acres, worth about $380-million, according to Keith Fountain, the chapter’s director of land acquisition. In comparison, the group bought about 45,000 acres for $260-million during all of 2006.

Food Banks Put Emphasis on Nutrition

As an increasing number of Americans suffer the diseases and side effects of obesity, food banks are trying to become more health-conscious in their offerings, reports The Washington Post.

Some groups, such as America’s Second Harvest, in Chicago, are trying to use less salt and cook fresh meals to distribute to clients.

The Capital Area Food Bank, in Washington, has hired a nutritionist and offers courses on healthy eating and grocery shopping.

General obesity rates have more than doubled in the past 30 years, and these rates tend to be higher among minorities and low-income people, who make up a significant percentage of food banks’ clients.

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More Nonprofit Executives Earn MBAs

As donors step up demands on charities and nonprofit groups seek to become more sophisticated in finances and management, an increasing number of nonprofit executives are choosing to earn master’s degrees in business administration, reports The Financial Times.

Liz Livingston Howard, associate director of the Center for Nonprofit Management at the Kellogg School of Management, at Northwestern University, in Evanston, Ill., says that there’s been a “statistically significant increase in the past 10 years” of nonprofit employees enrolled in the school’s part-time master’s program.

Experts say that donors are now more likely to have made their money in the business world, rather than through inheritances, and expect nonprofit groups to have businesslike approaches to using their gifts.

“When you get people with that kind of business savvy, they don’t want to just write a check, but they want to change the nature of public education or global health,” says Nora Silver, director and adjunct professor at the Center for Nonprofit and Public Leadership at the Haas School of Business, in Berkeley, Calif.

New Yorkers Mobilize to Help Others in Tribute to 9/11 Aid They Received

Volunteers with the nonprofit group New York Says Thank You take on a community-service project in disaster-stricken areas of the United States each September to memorialize the assistance New Yorkers received after the events of September 11, 2001, reports The New York Times.

Founded by Jeff Parness, a former venture capitalist, the group includes firefighters and rescue workers who have traveled to assist with tornado damage in Texas and Kansas and wildfire damage in California.

Mr. Parness says the point of his group is to “use the September 11 anniversary to celebrate that sense of humanity, that sense of neighborliness.”

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Microfinance Groups Push Disclosure

Eleven microfinance groups agreed yesterday to publicly report their annual interest rates in an effort to be more open, especially as more for-profit corporations are getting involved in the process of making small loans, reports the Associated Press.

The MicroFinance Transparency initiative, an American nonprofit group, was founded so that borrowers could figure out the best deal when taking out loans. The group will start publishing country-specific data this fall.

Microfinance is becoming a hot area for banks, which are offering microfinance investment packages to institutions and individuals. Officials of nonprofit microfinance groups fear that as the banks seek a return on their investment, the goal of bettering the lives of poor borrowers will become secondary.

To read more about philanthropic interest in microfinance, read The Big Promise of Small Loans from The Chronicle’s archive.

(Free registration is required to view the AP article on the Boston Globe site.)

From The Chronicle: $225-Million Bequest Benefits Florida Foundation

A Florida foundation has received a $225-million bequest, one of the biggest donations announced so far in 2008, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

From The Chronicle: The Future of the Gates Foundation

Read the transcript of the live online discussion The Chronicle hosted today with Patty Stonesifer, head of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Government and Politics Watch: IRS Tells Group It Isn't a Church

The Internal Revenue Service has told an organization that says it operates “for the advancement of Christianity and for other charitable purposes” that it does not qualify for a federal tax exemption as a church under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code, reports The Chronicle’s Government and Politics Watch column.

Prospecting: Lessons From the Obama Campaign

The Obama campaign offers many lessons for nonprofit fund raisers, says a new post in Prospecting The Chronicle’s column on fund-raising news and tips.

Give and Take: Borrowing a Page From Amazon.com to Aid Donors

New efforts are under way to think about how Web sites can help predict what causes donors will want to support, based on their interests, says a new item in Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

July 28, 2008

From The Chronicle: Efforts to Cultivate Repeat Volunteers Fall Short

Charities need to do a better job keeping their volunteers engaged and loyal, say the authors of a new report released by the federal government, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy. The report, from the Corporation for National and Community Service, says that more than one out of every three people who volunteered in 2006 did not do so again in 2007.

Preacher's Relatives Come Under Investigation

The lucrative jobs and prosperous lifestyles of relatives of Kenneth Copeland, a prominent televangelist, have been called into question as part of a broader inquiry led by the Senate Finance Committee into the spending and financial-accountability practices at six large televangelist groups, reports the Associated Press.

“There are far too many relatives here,” said Frances Hill, a University of Miami law professor who specializes in nonprofit tax law, referring to her analysis of Mr. Copeland’s Texas ministry. “There’s too much money sloshing around and too much of it sloshing around with people with overlapping affiliations and allegiances by either blood or friendship or just ties over the years. There are red flags all over these relationships.”

All those in question have denied any wrongdoing, and Mr. Copeland’s church has started a Web site, Believers Stand United, to “help set the record straight.” The church has also said it welcomed an Internal Revenue Service audit.

Charity Leader's Salary Triggers Protest

The federal government has ended its support of the nonprofit-run National Night Out, and some local jurisdictions have started to follow suit after news that the group’s executive director, Matt Peskin, makes more than $300,000 a year, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Mr. Peskin, of the National Association of Town Watch, said the event planned for August 5 will be bigger and better than ever, according to the newspaper. In a brief interview with the newspaper, he defended his pay as “just one measure” of the group’s success.

Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican who had helped the charity secure $3-million in subsidies over the years, ended his support of the group last year. “It makes no sense that I make so much less than he,” said Senator Specter. The newspaper said Mr. Specter earned $165,200 last year.

Cancer Group Receives $8.5-Million Research Gift

The American Cancer Society has received $8.5-million from an anonymous donor to support a five-year research program to investigate a genetic disorder that increases the risk of developing cancer, particularly thyroid cancer, the charity reports.

The gift will establish a consortium of scientists with the aim of improving thyroid-cancer screening, monitoring, and diagnosis.

The program is expected to begin in July 2009.

McCain's Role With Nonprofit Institute Draws Scrutiny

The International Republican Institute, a nonprofit group that aims to promote democracy in closed societies, has been led for 15 years by John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, reports The New York Times.

Under Mr. McCain’s tenure, the institute, which operates free of the limitations that restrict campaign fund-raising, has solicited millions of dollars from over 500 defense contractors, lobbying firms, oil companies, and other corporations, many with issues presented before Senate committees Mr. McCain served on, the newspaper writes.

“Over the years, Mr. McCain has nurtured a reputation for bucking the Republican establishment and criticizing the influence of special interests in politics,” the Times says. “But an examination of his leadership of the Republican institute — one of the least-chronicled aspects of his political life — reveals an organization in many ways at odds with the political-outsider image that has become a touchstone of the McCain campaign for president.”

Mr. McCain declined to be interviewed for the story. A spokesman for his campaign said Senator McCain “has never requested nor offered to take a position on legislation in exchange for, or because of, contributions to I.R.I.” He added that Mr. McCain was “proud of I.R.I.’s work in countries from Peru to Serbia to Mongolia.”

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New York Budget Cuts Close Disaster Program

The Disaster Preparedness and Response Program of the Human Services Council of New York City, an umbrella group of local nonprofit organizations that handled disaster coordination in the aftermath of September 11, closed this month after the state declined to renew its financing, reports The New York Times.

One of several disaster programs affected by this year’s budget cuts, the council program was first paid for by money from the State Office of Homeland Security, then by the State Department of Health, which gave the group $380,000 in a contract that ended in 2007.

“It was a limited-time contract,” said Jeffrey Gordon, a spokesman for the State Division of the Budget. “It was not intended to be an ongoing funding stream. They completed the work they were contracted to do.”

But the council contends that there is still a lot of work to be done. “You can’t just set something up in 2005 and have it be relevant in 2009,” said Nancy Wackstein, board chair of the Human Services Council. “There has to be ongoing maintenance.”

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Opinion: Philanthropic Freedom Being Eroded

According to an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, foundation leaders, board members, and those with charitable aspirations should be paying attention to legislative efforts that the paper says could compromise the freedom of charities nationwide.

The focus of the critique is a bill, intended to ensure diversity, that was introduced in California that would have required foundations with more than $250-million in assets to report the racial, gender, and sexual orientation of their board members, employees, and grant recipients.

The bill was recently abandoned by its sponsors in exchange for an agreement worked out with 10 of the state’s biggest grant-making organizations.

The implications of this compromise may prompt similar actions across the country, the newspaper said.

For more on the California bill and similar efforts in other states, read “The Chronicle’s coverage.

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

Government and Politics Watch: IRS Publishes Updates on Charitable Trusts

The Internal Revenue Service has issued two new documents that affect charities that offer charitable remainder trusts and charitable lead trusts, reports The Chronicle’s Government and Politics Watch column.

Prospecting: Fund Raiser Predicts Worldwide Competition for Donors

American charities will soon be competing with a world of nonprofit organizations for online donations, an international fund-raising expert told participants at a conference in Washington last week, according to Prospecting, The Chronicle’s fund-raising column.

Online Discussion Tomorrow: What's Next for the Gates Foundation?

Join us next Tuesday, July 29, at noon U.S. Eastern time for a live online discussion with Patty Stonesifer, the first chief executive of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as she prepares to step down from that role.

Ms. Stonesifer will talk about what it’s been like to oversee an organization that has grown from a start-up group to the nation’s largest and most visible foundation in the span of just eight years, and she will answer questions about the Gates Foundation.

(Read an interview in The Chronicle in which Ms. Stonesifer talks about her work at the foundation and her plans for the future.)

The Chronicle’s online discussions are free and open to everyone. People who ask questions in advance have a better chance of getting answers.

July 25, 2008

Shriners Investigative Committee Finds Possible Wrongdoing

The Shriners of North America fraternal organization and the Shriners Hospitals for Children violated ethics policies and may have knowingly filed incorrect information on federal tax forms, according to an internal investigation by the group, reports The New York Times.

The committee found that the chairman of the Shriners Hospitals Board of Trustees, Ralph Semb, had tried to dismiss a fund-raising executive who refused to use a direct-mail company that had close family ties with another board member, Gene Bracewell, thereby violating the group’s conflict-of-interest code.

The report also found that another executive had accused the group of falsifying financial information on its tax returns. However, the investigative committee that was appointed to examine accusations of wrongdoing was disbanded in June before it could further examine those claims, says John C. Nobles, a member of the committee.

When another committee member, Mahlon W. Hessey, tried to present the committee’s findings at the annual Shriners meeting in St. Louis in June, he was booed off the stage.

Mr. Semb and Mr. Bracewell said they did not try to influence the choice of the direct-mail company, and the board did not punish them.

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Departure of Charity CEO Raises Questions About Fund-Raising Galas

The resignation of a Seattle arts group’s chief executive has brought a fund-raising debate to the forefront: Are flashy fund-raising events worth all the trouble and money?

For about five years, Gordon Hamilton was director of the group Poncho, a Seattle organization that raises money for cultural projects, reports The Seattle Times.

He resigned last week after being criticized for relying too heavily on major events to bring in donations. The organization’s fund-raising total dropped 10 percent in the past fiscal year, after Poncho’s annual gala failed to raise more money than it cost, according to the organization’s board chairman, Janet True.

Officials at Poncho are considering replacing the annual gala with a smaller, less costly event in years to come.

Mr. Hamilton said he was proud of the work he had done at the organization but that it was time for a change.

Online Giving Site Promotes Green Projects

GlobalGiving, a Web site where donors give money to support international charitable projects, is adding a new section to allow donors to support environmentally friendly international projects, reports The New York Times.

The group used a grant from the Packard Foundation to hire EcoSecurities Consulting, a company that develops carbon-trading programs intended to help reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, to assist in finding projects that would help limit carbon emissions.

For example, one such project would bring fuel-efficient stoves to homes in Honduras, limiting smoke inhalation and carbon emissions and improving family health.

To read more about efforts charities of all kinds are making to be environmentally friendly, see Charity Goes Green, a recent article from The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

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

California Foundations Consider Supporting Journalism Projects

Foundations in California are trying to fill the gaps left in the state’s political reporting as newspapers and other journalistic organizations cut back because of the economy, reports the Capitol Weekly.

The New America Foundation, with headquarters in Washington and another office in Sacramento, has proposed an online magazine called “California Next” that would include original reporting, background information, and commentaries from California policy experts and journalists.

A.G. Block, a former California Journal editor who is now director of the public-affairs journalism program at the University of California Center in Sacramento, says he has been approached by the James Irvine Foundation, in San Francisco, to develop a training program for working reporters on covering public affairs.

Dave Lesher, senior manager of the Public Policy Institute of California and a former editor of the California Journal and a reporter for the Los Angeles Times Capitol, says journalism is in a transition period.

“One of the questions is, will media be commercially viable, or does it need some kind of nonprofit component or model to survive?”

To read more about foundation-financed journalism efforts, read Nonprofit News Hounds, an article from The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

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

Prospecting: Why Word of Mouth Matters

Many donors tell their friends about their experiences in giving, a new survey has found — so charities need to make sure their supporters are happy, according to Prospecting, The Chronicle’s fund-raising column.

Government and Politics Watch: IRS Examines Charity Deals With Overseas Companies

The Internal Revenue Service is looking at whether charities are using offshore accounts and other tactics to avoid paying taxes on income earned in the United States, reports The Chronicle’s Government and Politics Watch column.

From The Chronicle: A Big Bequest Goes to Work Aiding Jewish Groups

The James Joseph Foundation, the beneficiary of a $1-billion bequest, is pumping large sums into projects that promote Jewish education, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

July 24, 2008

Nonprofit Groups Seek to Spark Investments in Cities

Nonprofit groups are providing start-up capital to entrepreneurs who wish to establish businesses in cities, reports The New York Times.

One group, Jumpstart, identifies companies in Cleveland to invest in and advise on their growth. It relies on charitable donations from private companies, foundations, and government agencies and does not give profits to investors.

A report commissioned by the group from Cleveland State University says that Jumpstart has helped to produce $56.3-million in goods and services and create 346 new jobs.

Another nonprofit group rounding up investments for businesses is Innovation Works, in Pittsburgh. Richard Lunak, head of the group and a former technology entrepreneur, says, “When people think of technology entrepreneurs and venture capital, they think of Silicon Valley and that’s where they think it ends. But there is a lot going on in regions like Pittsburgh, which has over a billion dollars of federally funded research pouring into its universities annually.”

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N.Y. Arts Coalition Asks City to Increase Its Financial Support

A coalition of arts organizations in New York is asking for a city grant to support minority-related arts programs, reports The New York Times.

The coalition, called the Cultural Equity Group, is asking for $15-million.

Laurie A. Cumbo, executive director of the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, says, “The competition for funding does not take into account the issues of the communities we serve — the soaring high-school dropout rate, the foster-care kids, the people facing re-entry from prison.” Currently, the Cultural Affairs Department does not consider culturally specific criteria when it awards money to arts groups.

Councilman Domenic M. Recchia Jr., of Brooklyn, chairman of the cultural affairs committee, said he told the Cultural Equity Group there was no money for new programs for the new fiscal year.

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Jewish Organizations Accuse Ford of Supporting Anti-Israel Groups

An investigation conducted by a nonprofit group that focuses on Jewish issues alleges that the Ford Foundation has continued to support groups that portray Israel negatively, reports the JTA news service.

Ford has provided more than $200-million over the past five decades to about 350 organizations in the Middle East. JTA contends that the foundation has awarded grants to groups that paint Israel as a “racist, apartheid” state and that attempt to “isolate the Jewish nation through boycotts, divestment, and sanctions.”

The controversy began at a United Nations antiracism conference in Durban, South Africa, when it was discovered that many anti-Israel groups that attended the conference were Ford grantees.

JTA alleges that the groups Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, Muwatin: Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, and Miftah: the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy have all received Ford grants and signed onto boycott and divestment petitions against Israel.

Alfred Ironside, a spokesman for the Ford Foundation, responded to the controversy by saying: “Ford grants are made for specific purposes, and we require a strict accounting of how funds are applied to grant-specific work.”

Adoption Agency Struggles to Recover From Employee's Fraud

The Florence Crittenton League adoption agency in Lowell, Mass., faces the sobering task of rebuilding its operations after a longtime employee stole $637,000 from it, reports The Boston Globe.

Natalie Fleury worked at the agency as a bookkeeper and office manager for 19 years. She was accused of stealing from the organization from 1998 until 2006, when auditors discovered $12,000 missing from one of the agency’s accounts.

The article says Ms. Fleury wrote checks to vendors, asking the executive director to sign them, and would then erase the vendor’s name and sign her own. She altered bank statements to show that payments were made to vendors. The article says Ms. Fleury used the money to purchase a new home, a recreational vehicle, and an annuity.

Ms. Fleury pleaded guilty to 15 counts of mail fraud and five counts of tax evasion. Lawyers for Ms. Fleury did not respond to the newspaper’s request for an interview.

Executive director Ilze Keegan says the adoption agency has had to cut back on programs and services for adoptive parents. She said of Ms. Fleury’s actions: “I am so angry. It was so needless.”

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Profile of a 'Quiet Philanthropist': Bernard Osher

A “quiet philanthropist” is making his impact felt in big ways, reports The Christian Science Monitor.

The newspaper profiles Bernard Osher, a billionaire who made his fortune through banking and established a foundation that bears his name in 1977. In 2006 he gave his fund $732-million, which placed him as the third most-generous donor in The Chronicle’s annual survey of the largest donors in America.

Nearly 80 percent of grants from Mr. Osher’s foundation have gone to support educational programs. Seventeen percent support arts organizations.

Among the grants: $70-million in scholarships to California community-college students, and $16-million to the University of California at Berkeley’s Incentive Awards Program, which helps poor students attend the university.

Mr. Osher plans to give away his entire fortune, saying, “Although I have no heirs, I can enjoy the opportunity of helping members of several generations lead more fulfilling lives by my contributions.”

Government and Politics Watch: Upcoming National-Service Forum

Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama have been invited to weigh in on their plans for public service during a conference in New York City on September 11 and 12 organized by Time magazine and the Carnegie Corporation, reports Government and Politics Watch, The Chronicle’s online column.

Prospecting: Tips for Getting Annual Donors to Make Endowment Gifts

Kimberly Lauth, a consultant who specializes in nonprofit endowments, offers three tips to fund raisers who want to convert annual donors into those who make endowment gifts, according to Prospecting, The Chronicle’s fund-raising column.

From The Chronicle: Congressional Bill to Aid Flood Victims

A group of U.S. senators and House members from the Midwest have introduced a bill that would create tax incentives for charitable giving to help victims of the recent storms, tornadoes, and floods that have hit their region, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

From The Chronicle: Strong Endowment Growth

Endowments saw big gains in 2007, the fifth year in a row for strong growth, according to The Chronicle’s annual survey, but that streak may soon be over.

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Online Discussion Next Week: What's Next for the Gates Foundation

Ms. Stonesifer will talk about what it’s been like to oversee a start-up that has grown to become the nation’s largest and most visible foundation in the span of just eight years.

(Read an interview in The Chronicle in which Ms. Stonesifer talks about her work at the foundation and her plans for the future.)

The Chronicle’s online discussions are free and open to everyone. People who ask questions in advance have a better chance of getting answers.

July 23, 2008

From The Chronicle: $375-Million Anti-Tobacco Effort

Michael R. Bloomberg and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced on Wednesday a new $375-million joint commitment to fight tobacco use in poor and middle-income countries, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

From The Chronicle: Templeton Foundation Anticipates Growth

The $1.3-billion John Templeton Foundation may see its assets increase by 50 percent by the end of 2009, following the death this month of its founder, Sir John M. Templeton, the mutual-fund pioneer, reports The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Alaska Nonprofit Groups Get New Health-Insurance Program

An organization that supports nonprofit groups in Alaska has teamed up with the Rasmuson Foundation to provide health insurance to employees at nonprofit organizations, reports The Anchorage Daily News.

The Rasmuson Foundation will contribute more than $2-million to get the program started, the paper reports. It is working with the Foraker Group to provide the health-insurance coverage.

“Having something like this is just phenomenal,” Charlotte Fox, executive director of Alaska State Council on the Arts, a state umbrella agency for arts organizations, tells the newspaper. Many such groups, she says, have been unable to afford traditional health insurance. “The field has been waiting for it for a really, really long time.”

Gates Foundation Breaks Ground for New Headquarters

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation broke ground this week on its new headquarters in Seattle, which will open in 2010 with space for its employees, meetings, events, and a visitors center, reports The Seattle Times.

The $500-million facility will be about 90,000 square feet, will cover a city block in downtown Seattle, and will be located across the street from the Space Needle.

The foundation reports in its announcement of the groundbreaking that the visitors center at the new facility will open in 2011.

Charities Find Success With Online Auctions

Online auctions are becoming increasingly popular tools for charities looking to raise money in a short amount of time, reports BusinessWeek.

Since 1999, eBay has raised $150-million online. Other sites offering charity auctions are Charity Folks and Charitybuzz.

Even small charities are reaping the rewards of online auctions, the magazine reports. The New Hampshire Center for Environmental Education, for example, has raised about $500,000 since 2004 with charity auctions online.

“It changed our lives,” Cynthia Thomashow, executive director of the organization, tells BusinessWeek. “It’s a quick and efficient way to raise an operating budget.”

Opinion: Retiring Boomers Could Leave Legacy of Charity

Baby boomers reaching retirement age are increasingly looking to start new careers with social missions, which could lead to the generation being remembered “more for what they did in their 60s than for what they did in the Sixties,” writes columnist Nicholas D. Kristof in The New York Times.

The highest-profile example to date is the transition of Microsoft founder Bill Gates from the head of his company to a full-time role at his foundation, but Mr. Kristof says more retirees are charting similar courses. Those retiring from successful careers have much to offer in the world of philanthropy, such as their management experience and contacts, Mr. Kristof writes.

Rob Mather, a former management consultant who founded the organization Against Malaria, has seen the efforts of his organization lead to reduced numbers of malaria cases in some parts of Africa.

“If more people take on encore careers like that, the boomers who arrived on the scene by igniting a sexual revolution could leave by staging a give-back revolution,” Mr. Kristof writes.

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Give and Take: Focus on Fund-Raising Basics

Sean Stannard-Stockton, who works for an investment-management company in Burlingame, Calif., writes that charities often ignore the low-hanging fruit — donations from individuals, reports Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Prospecting: An Online 'Museum of Fund Raising'

An online “museum of fund raising” has been created to serve as a free reservoir of fund-raising materials that can be used by nonprofit officials around the world, according to Prospecting, The Chronicle’s fund-raising column.

July 22, 2008

Congress Poised to End Charity-Assisted Down Payments

Programs that allow nonprofit groups to provide home buyers with money for down payments would be eliminated in legislation Congress plans to pass this week, reports The Washington Post.

Although more than half a million people have made use of these programs to purchase homes in the past decade using loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration, the agency says that borrowers who participate in these programs go to foreclosure at nearly three times the rate of borrowers who use their own money to make a down payment.

Scott Syphax, president of Nehemiah, a down-payment-assistance charity in California, believes that the agency’s assessment is skewed and accuses it of undercounting the number of loans it has made while properly reflecting the number of foreclosures it has had to pay for, thus overrepresenting the percentage of bad loans.

He has been pushing to save the programs and said he was “angry and saddened” about the programs’ close, which, he says, will affect “families and communities who obviously did not get a seat at the table as these harmful policies were conceived.”

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Company Revises Controversial Giving Campaign

In response to public outcry, the cellphone company Virgin Mobile USA has modified its recent online ad campaign that encouraged people to disrobe for charity, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The company drew criticism from people and nonprofit groups after it started “Strip2Clothe,” a campaign that invited people to send in videos of themselves undressing. The company said it would donate clothes to homeless shelters that serve young people in exchange for the videos.

With the new name, “Blank2Clothe,” the project now invites people to send in videos that show them doing whatever they want, such as juggling or singing. Each time those videos are viewed, the company agrees to make a donation of clothing.

Restricted Deductions Stifle Art Donations

Museum directors say that federal restrictions on tax deductions for gifts of art made over time, called fractional gifts, have caused a drop in donations, reports The Wall Street Journal.

“Many of the significant gifts we’ve had in our history have come from fractional gifts,” says Kaywin Feldman, the director of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. “The new law has virtually stopped new fractional gifts from being started. It’s a real problem for us and other museums.”

Lawmakers are considering lifting some of the restrictions that have dissuaded donors from giving, the newspaper says.

Until those changes are put in place, which could happen by the end of the year, wealth advisers are directing donors away from fractional giving in favor of other options, such as charitable remainder trusts and donor-advised funds.

College's Approach to Aiding the Needy Draws Attention

Berea College, a 150-year-old institution in Kentucky that accepts only low-income applicants and doesn’t charge tuition, finds that its approach is attracting attention amid the growing debate over whether the richest higher-education institutions do enough to serve society, reports The New York Times.

Concern about college endowments has grown so intense that lawmakers are considering requiring wealthy higher-education institutions to distribute at least 5 percent of their assets a year, just as foundations are required to do by law.

Larry D. Shinn, president of Berea, which receives 80 percent of its $43-million education and general budget and about two-thirds of its $55-million operating budget, from endowment income, is opposed to a required 5-percent payout but wants colleges held accountable to do more for needy students.

“You see some of these selective liberal-arts colleges building new physical-education facilities with these huge sheets of glass and these coffee and juice bars, and charging students $40,000 a year, and you have to ask, does this contribute to the public good, or is this just a way for the college to keep up with the Joneses?” said Mr. Shinn. “We are a tax-exempt institution, so I think the public has a right to demand that our educational mission be at the heart of all our expenditures.”

To learn more about endowments held by academic institutions, see The Chronicle’s most recent survey of those funds.

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Prospecting: Fund Raisers Grow Gloomy About the Economy

Fund raisers are starting to show greater concern about how the declining economy is affecting charitable giving, according to a report cited in Prospecting, The Chronicle’s fund-raising column.

Government and Politics Watch: A New Web Site Monitors Hospital Finances

A new Web site seeks to call attention to spending practices at nonprofit hospitals, reports Government and Politics Watch, The Chronicle’s online column.

Building an Endowment: Advice From Experts

Read the transcript of the online discussion The Chronicle hosted today to provide advice on building an endowment.

From The Chronicle: The Gates Foundation's Departing Chief Executive Looks Ahead

As the first chief executive of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Patty Stonesifer, steps down from her job, she talks to The Chronicle about the fund’s best and most-challenging grants and how to manage rapid growth.

You can listen to audio excerpts from the interview, plus ask Ms. Stonesifer your own questions in an hourlong online discussion on Tuesday, July 29, at noon Eastern time.

July 21, 2008

Senator Grassley Proposes New Disclosure Requirements for Smithsonian

Sen. Charles E. Grassley and Sen. Arlen Specter have introduced legislation that would remove the Smithsonian Institution’s exemption from the Freedom of Information Act and the Sunshine Act, thereby requiring that the organization hold public meetings and make its records available to the public upon request, reports The Washington Post.

After a number of scandals and embarrassments, the institution — which receives 70 percent of its financial support from Congressional appropriations — has promised to make its operations more transparent and has hired a new secretary, G. Wayne Clough. The Post has previously reported on lavish, unauthorized expenditures by the former top Smithsonian executive, Lawrence M. Small.

The institution says that its policies are consistent with FOIA requirements, the newspaper reports. But according to Melanie Sloan, director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the public currently has no way to appeal if the Smithsonian refuses a FOIA request.

“Grassley’s bill would clarify that the Smithsonian belongs to all of us … and is not some private institution which can do as it will,” says Carl Malamud, who founded Media.org, which advocates for disclosure of public records.

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Surprise $10-Million Left to Pa. Charities

James Ebbert, the son of a sharecropper who lived modestly in Quakertown, Pa., left a $10-million fortune to nonprofit groups when he died last December, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Mr. Ebbert left $1-million to St. Luke’s Quakertown Hospital; $1-million to be divided between Millersville University and Temple University, the alma mater of his late wife, Martha; and other gifts to three churches, two private schools, a local fire company, the local YMCA, the Salvation Army, and the Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia.

In 1946, as a high-school teacher, Mr. Ebbert bought K&L Company and sold lumber, coal, and sand. He lived frugally and invested his money well, says the newspaper. Most people did not know he was wealthy or planned to leave a major bequest, the newspaper says.

“Uncle Jim told me years ago, ‘We made it here in Quakertown; it’ll stay here in Quakertown,’” says his niece, Susan Ebbert Wambaugh.

Leader of Humane Society Presses for More-Aggressive Activism

The chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, Wayne Pacelle, has helped the organization become a more aggressive advocate for animals, in part by using publicity campaigns and lobbying for animal-friendly legislation, reports The Los Angeles Times.

Under Mr. Pacelle, the Humane Society has doubled its assets to $207-million and increased its lobbying and publicity efforts. After the group released a video of cows being dragged and abused at a California slaughterhouse, the plant was closed. Mr. Pacelle has also set up a branch of the Humane Society that goes after politicians with poor animal-welfare records.

Mr. Pacelle’s actions have drawn criticism both from those who think he is too aggressive and those who think he is not aggressive enough. He says he knows that people have such different views on animals that he cannot please everyone. His own view, he says, is that animal advocacy is “really about human behavi