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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November 2008

November 26, 2008

Universities Seek to Preserve Endowments

To preserve their rapidly eroding endowments, some of America’s universities are looking to sell parts of their investment portfolios privately, according to The New York Times.

Colleges have relied heavily on private equity, hedge funds, and other so-called alternative investments in recent years, but with the value of such holdings falling rapidly, several universities, including Harvard and the University of Virginia, are looking to shed some of these investments.

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

Gap Founder Finds Opposition to $1-Billion Museum Gift

The founder of The Gap clothing empire wants to give San Francisco his $1-billion art collection for a new contemporary art museum — but is running into opposition from residents and community groups in the museum’s proposed neighborhood, according to Bloomberg.com.

Don Fisher, founder of Gap Inc., offered more than a year ago to donate his art collection, including works by Andy Warhol, Frank Stella and other artists, to create a museum at the Presidio, a former military outpost that is now a national park. But the proposed squat glass building would be nestled among historic mission and colonial-revival design buildings.

“The word I hear most often is ‘appalling,’” said Gary Widman, president of the Presidio Historical Association. “The public is almost unanimously opposed.” The Presidio Trust, which runs the park, is scheduled to vote on the plan next year.

Museum Makes Staff Cuts After Benefactor's Endowment Tumbles

The Newseum, which opened in April in Washington and focuses on the history of the news media, has announced plans to cut its 250-member staff by 10 percent, according to The Washington Post.

The museum is supported mostly by the Freedom Forum, whose endowment dropped from $600-million to $450-million during this year’s stock market turmoil, according to the Newseum’s chief executive.

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

Muslim Groups Divided on Holy Land Verdict

Reaction has been muted among American Muslim organizations to this week’s conviction of the leaders of the nonprofit Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development for money laundering, tax fraud, and supporting terrorism, according to The New York Times.

The federal case against the Dallas charity, which was found guilty of supporting the Middle Eastern terrorist group Hamas, had long been a source of dispute among other Muslim groups, say leaders of those organizations, with some seeing evidence of an anti-Muslim bias in the government’s case and others suspecting Holy Land of Hamas ties.

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

Law-Enforcement Charity's Finances Questioned

Connecticut’s attorney general has queried the chairman of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, a Virginia charity, over “serious red flags” in the group’s finances, according to The Hartford Courant.

The organization, which helps pay the legal fees of police officers facing charges, has collected millions from donors nationwide but has granted comparatively small amounts to clients, while giving hundred of thousands of dollars to conservative groups to which the charity’s executives have ties.

The Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund’s chairman did not respond to the newspaper’s request for comment.

California Battle Over Gay Marriage Touches Nonprofit World

The fight over California’s vote this month to ban gay marriage in the state continues to produce political fallout, some of which is affecting the nonprofit world, according to reports in The New York Times and The Boston Globe’s online blog Brainiac.

The Times reports that California officials will examine charges that the Mormon Church failed to report several nonmonetary contributions — such as phone banks, a Web site, and commercials — that it donated to support a ballot measure to overturn the state’s gay-marriage law. Such disclosures are required by law.

A spokeswoman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints said the church will comply with the investigation but had no further comment on the accusations.

The Globe‘s Brainiac blog notes than another high-profile supporter of the ballot measure, John Templeton Jr., president of the Templeton Foundation, is now under fire for his effort.

He provided $1.1-million to push the ballot issue’s passage — and that support, even thought it came from his own checkbook, prompted a question about his support of a ban on gay marriage in on an online forum sponsored by Templeton Foundation.

The Globe notes that Caleb Crain, a New York writer, responded to the forum’s theme, “Does the Free Market Corrode Moral Character?” by asking how the grant maker reconciled its charitable mission with “the rather low and brutal practice of taking a civil right away from a minority group,” and proposed for the next forum the question, “Is marriage a civil right? “

When the foundation refused to post his comments, Mr. Crain asked others to boycott it; the grant maker then replied to Mr. Crain that it had no requirement to post criticism of Mr. Templeton’s donations as an individual.

(Free registration is required to view the Times and Globe articles.)

Government and Politics Watch: IRS to Examine Fund Raising; Plus, Obama Transition News

The Internal Revenue Service plans to undertake a long-term study of fund raising and spending by charitable organizations, reports Government and Politics Watch, The Chronicle’s online column.

Lois G. Lerner, director of the exempt-organization division of the IRS, told reporters that it is especially important to monitor the nonprofit world during the current economic downturn as demand for charitable services rises and donations fall.

Plus:

Barack Obama’s economic aides are winning praise from international-development charities.

Arts lovers are urging Mr. Obama to create a Cabinet-level position to oversee cultural activities.

A charity is holding an inaugural ball to celebrate community service and the engagement of young voters in this year’s election.

From The Chronicle: Coalition Challenges Utah Fund-Raising Law

A fund-raising consultant has joined with a consulting group and nonprofit organizations to sue the state of Utah to protest a law that requires out-of-state fund-raising consultants to register with Utah authorities, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Online Discussion Next Week: Are Mergers Wise?

As the economy sputters, many nonprofit groups are searching for new ways to cut costs without slicing services. In some cases, collaborating or even merging with another organization is one way to reconcile this challenge.

But charities often have reservations about such alliances as well as questions about how they work in reality.

In an online discussion on Tuesday, December 2, we will be joined by two experts to answer your questions:

William Foster is a partner at the Bridgespan Group, a Boston organization that advises charities on management issues.

Lois Savage is president of the Lodestar Foundation, in Phoenix.

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

An archive of past discussions is available at http://philanthropy.com/live.

HOLIDAY NOTICE

Because of the Thanksgiving Day holiday, we will not be sending you a report on Thursday or Friday. We will be back in your mailbox on Monday.

The staff of The Chronicle of Philanthropy wishes you a happy holiday.

November 25, 2008

Federal Jury Convicts Muslim Charity and Employees of Terrorism Charges

A federal jury in Dallas on Monday declared that a Muslim charity and five men who worked with it were guilty of three dozen counts related to the illegal funneling of at least $12-million to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, reports The Dallas Morning News.

The charity in the case — The Holy Land Foundation, in Richardson, Tex. — was one of the biggest Muslim charities in the country until the government shut it down on charges of terrorism.

The ruling came after a previous hearing of the case ended in a mistrial. Nonprofit leaders have been watching the case closely as the federal government sets the lines for what kind of activities charitable organizations can conduct overseas.

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

Corporate Donors and Executives Slow Their Giving

Corporations and their executives who traditionally have supported charities are slowing down giving this year, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Bear Stearns Companies, Lehman Brothers, and Merrill Lynch are among the companies that used to be big donors — and now have folded or been bought.

And many executives are holding back because of business woes.

For example, David Koch, an executive vice president of Koch Industries, an energy and manufacturing company in Wichita, Kan., and the largest private corporation in the United States, said he is turning away solicitations for new gifts because he expects earnings from his company to sink 50 percent this year. (See The Chronicle’s profile of Mr. Koch.)

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

Congressman's Fund-Raising and Political Activities Examined

Rep. Charles B. Rangel, Democrat of New York, is being investigated by the House ethics committee for his political and fund-raising activities, reports The New York Times.

Mr. Rangel helped raise money for the City College of New York and recently helped protect a tax loophole for a major donor to the college, Eugene M. Isenberg, chief executive of Nabors Industries.

The congressman’s lawyer, Leslie Kiernan, said that Mr. Rangel’s efforts on behalf of Nabors and the other companies were unrelated to Mr. Isenberg’s financial support for the Charles B. Rangel School of Public Service at City College of New York, reports the newspaper.

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

America Should Do More for World's Poor, Says Charity Coalition

The United States needs to overhaul its system of delivering aid to people in poor countries, says a coalition of U.S. Christian aid groups, reports Reuters.

David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, says the economic crisis is driving more people into poverty: As food prices have risen worldwide, the number of people who aren’t getting enough to eat has risen by 44 million, according to the World Bank. Officials there say they are worried that corporations that are currently supporting development will pull back in their assistance, reports the news service.

Pediatrician Resigns From His Charity Under Cloud of Abuse Allegations

Melvin D. Levine, a pediatrician who is accused of molesting five boys who were his patients, has resigned from All Kinds of Minds, a nonprofit group in Durham, N.C., that he founded in 1995 to train teachers to help children with learning disabilities, reports The New York Times.

Dr. Levine has denied ever touching a patient sexually, and no criminal charges have been filed, although his five accusers have filed lawsuits.

Mary-Dean Barringer, the chief executive of the group, says Dr. Levine was not involved in the day-to-day operations of the group and that donations have remained strong despite the scandal.

(Free registration is required to view this article).

From The Chronicle: Foundation Assets May Have Dropped by 30%

The stock-market’s plunge may have caused foundation assets in the United States to drop in value by 30 percent, the leader of the Council on Foundations tells The Chronicle of Philanthropy. You can also listen to an audio excerpt from the interview.

Government and Politics Watch: Charity Lauded by Obama Cuts Staff

Harlem Children’s Zone, the New York charity that President-elect Barack Obama has held up as a model for fighting poverty, laid off 10 percent of its staff this month because of the deepening economic crisis, reports The Chronicle’s Government and Politics Watch.

Transcript: How Charities Can Use Social-Networking Tools

Learn how nonprofit groups can use Facebook, Twitter, and other social-networking tools to advance their causes by reading the transcript of a live online discussion The Chronicle hosted today.

Save the Date: Learning About Mergers and Collaboration

Save time on your calendar for our online discussion next week about mergers and other alliances. We’ll hold it next Tuesday, December 2, at noon Eastern time. Details will be posted soon at http://philanthropy.com/live.

November 24, 2008

Charities in the Nation's Capital Trim Spending Due to Hard Times

Charities in the Washington metropolitan area have trimmed overhead costs, have frozen hiring, and are considering cutting programs and laying off staff members as the economy causes them fund-raising problems and an increase in demand, reports The Washington Post in its special charitable-giving issue.

The newspaper reports that three-quarters of the region’s leading foundations and corporate-giving programs experienced a decline in assets due to decreasing stock returns. A survey by the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers said that about half of the organizations that responded said they plan to give fewer grants in 2009 than they have this year.

Los Angeles Museum Faces State Inquiry Amid Financial Woes

The fate of the Museum of Contemporary in Los Angeles is uncertain since it was revealed that the museum’s endowment has dwindled to below $10-million, prompting an inquiry by the state attorney general to look into the museum’s finances.

The museum’s financial crisis has sparked talk of a possible merger or joint venture with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, according to The New York Times.

The Los Angeles Times says that the state attorney general in California is looking into the museum’s finances after the museum announced it was seeking supporters. The museum’s endowment is about half of what it was a year ago.

Additionally, the philanthropist Eli Broad wrote an opinion article for the Los Angeles Times offering $30-million to help the museum if its board members and other donors are willing to assist as well.

(Free registration is required to view all of these articles.)

Health Foundation Creates News Service

The Kaiser Family Foundation will start a news service devoted to providing substantial coverage of health-care policy and politics, reports The New York Times.

The budget for the project, called Kaiser Health News, will be $3-million to $4-million in two years. The foundation has tapped Laurie McGinley, formerly the deputy bureau chief for global economics at The Wall Street Journal, and Peggy Girshman, an editor at Congressional Quarterly to lead the news service.

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

United States Weighs Politics in Delivering Overseas Aid, Survey Finds

The United States — which gives more international aid than any other nation — is one of the worst at impartially delivering that humanitarian relief, according to a survey by a Spanish nonprofit group that keeps track of governments’ performance, reports The Washington Post.

The survey, called the Development Assistance Research Associates Humanitarian Response Index 2008, found that the United States ranked 15th in overall effectiveness among the 23 nations studied and 13th in its generosity, when taking into account the size of its economy. But it ranks 22nd in its adherence to rules established by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to keep political considerations out of decisions about delivering aid.

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

Youth Volunteerism on the Rise

More young people are choosing to volunteer or become otherwise involved in the nonprofit world, reports The Boston Globe.

The AmeriCorps program has seen a 69-percent increase in applications over the past four years, the newspaper notes. Teenagers are twice as likely to volunteer now compared with the past few decades, it adds.

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

From The Chronicle: Gates Foundation Says Economy's Woes Will Slow Its Growth in Grant Making

Due to the financial turmoil in global markets, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said it would scale back its plans for grant making in 2009, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

From The Chronicle: Clinton's Concessions Questioned

As Bill Clinton agrees to limit his charitable activities to smooth the way for his wife to become secretary of state, nonprofit leaders worry that he is hobbling his role as a philanthropic leader and violating the trust of his donors by agreeing to disclose their names, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

From The Chronicle: New Research on Fund Raising and Foundations

Scholars discussed new findings about bequests, celebrity philanthropy, limited-life foundations, and the economy — and debated whether they do too little to examine the dark side of the charity world — at last week’s annual meeting of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Online Discussion Tomorrow: Using Twitter and Other Online Tools

Twitter, Facebook, and other online social-networking tools offer ways for nonprofit organizations to build connections with supporters and donors.

For some groups, these tools have helped raise money for their causes and built increased visibility.

But many groups are still not effective at using online networks in any meaningful way. And many others are fearful about using them at all.

What are these tools? How do they work? And how can your organization use them effectively?

To build your knowledge, join our guests for an online discussion tomorrow at noon U.S. Eastern time:

Chris Garrett, an Internet marketing consultant in Yorkshire, England, and author of Pro Blogger: Secrets to Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income.

John Haydon, a sales consultant in Boston and the publisher and founder of the Web site corporatedollar.org, which offers marketing advice to small nonprofit groups. Mr. Haydon is also the author of a recently released electronic book Twitter Jump Start: The Complete Guide for Small Nonprofits.

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

See What's New in The Chronicle of Philanthropy

The Chronicle posted the entire contents of its November 27 issue online this morning. To see what’s inside the new issue, read the table of contents.

November 21, 2008

Even in Economic Crisis, Americans Continue to Give to Charity

If history is a guide, the current economic crisis will not quell the generosity of Americans, who have increased their donations to charity in 39 of the past 40 years, reports the Associated Press.

That statistic, which comes from the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, is accompanied by another that finds that 69 to 72 percent of people give regularly, the news agency reports.

Some charities, such as World Vision and the American Heart Association, even expect an uptick in giving this year.

“At a time when people have things and they know that other people don’t, Americans’ generosity wins out,” Justin Greeves, senior vice president of Harris Interactive, which regularly polls Americans about their charitable giving, tells the news service.

For more about trends in giving during hard times, see The Chronicle’s special Web section.

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

Food Banks Continue to Grapple With Challenges

The economic instability in the country is just the latest challenge to hit food banks, after they have had to adapt to changes in Americans’ eating habits coupled with decreasing supply and increasing costs for their operations, reports The Wall Street Journal.

While several companies this week announced major efforts to step up their help to antihunger charities, that still may not be enough to rescue the food banks from the conditions they face, the newspaper reports. The chief executive at Feeding America, formerly known as Second Harvest, says she expects the situation “will get worse before it gets better.”

Feeding America, which represents many of the nation’s food banks, estimates that demand has risen about 25 percent over past year, including a wave of first-time clients.

Indian Philanthropy Flourishes in Boston

A large number of nonprofit groups with connections to India or Indian-related causes have sprung up in the Boston metropolitan area, as Indian professionals seek a way to do good with wealth they have earned, reports The Boston Globe.

Among the organizations are the American India Foundation, which recently held a dinner and silent auction to help rickshaw drivers in India; the Next Generation Foundation, which combats illiteracy and poverty among Indian children; and the Akshaya Patra Foundation, a charity that feeds lunch to schoolchildren in India and which recently opened a U.S. office near Boston.

Other such organizations have given to art museums to increase gallery space for Indian art, the Globe reports.

“Organizations like these are coming up because there is a whole new level of passion for philanthropy among South Asian people who are here,” Geetha Ramamurthy, a senior vice president at Venus Capital Management, tells the newspaper. “That awareness is rising. They’re responding to the call and the need.”

For more about giving trends among immigrants, see the article Giving Back to Their Homelands from The Chronicle’s archive.

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

Jewish Charities Face Fund-Raising Challenges

American Jewish philanthropic organizations meeting in Jerusalem this week say the downturn in the economy has affected small charities far more than large ones, reports the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

For example, Atlanta’s Jewish federation’s donations are lagging by $2-million, the federation in Washington is cutting salaries and planning layoffs, and the Las Vegas federation is facing a double hit because of the troubles in both the real-estate market and the gaming industry, the JTA reports.

Larger federations have not fared as badly, says Howard Rieger, chief executive of United Jewish Communities, the umbrella organization of Jewish federations in North America.

“We are cautiously optimistic that it won’t be what people think it might be, which is a total disaster,” Mr. Rieger says. “I don’t think that is what we are confronting.”

Struggling Los Angeles Museum May Get Help

Officials at the Museum of Contemporary Art, in Los Angeles, have been discussing potential mergers or partnerships with other institutions to help it out of the financial crisis it faces, reports The New York Times.

Among the potential partners are the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Broad Art Foundation, and the University of Southern California, the newspaper reports. The museum has dipped into its endowment several times to pay for operations, and the endowment has now fallen below $10-million. The museum is planning to cut its budget and temporarily close one of its exhibition spaces.

The philanthropist Eli Broad, a founding chairman of the museum, tells the Times: “Our view and that of our foundation is, it should remain an independent institution. Clearly, the budget’s going to have to be reduced. And they are going to have to raise money and beef up the endowment. We want to help them do that.”

An article in the Los Angeles Times quotes California arts leaders and public officials who want to see the museum saved.

And an artist’s Facebook page in support of the institution has attracted more than 220 members.

(Free registration is required to view the New York Times and Los Angeles Times articles.)

Cleveland Museum to Return Looted Treasures

The Cleveland Museum of Art has announced that within three months it will return to Italy 14 pieces of art that were discovered to have been looted, according to Reuters.

In recent years, Italy has successfully convinced American museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, to return treasures that have been stolen from that nation.

Wal-Mart Makes Another Commitment to King Memorial

Wal-Mart has given a $12.5-million credit to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington so the project can get its construction permit and commence building, reports the Associated Press.

Wal-Mart previously gave $1-million to the project. The memorial has raised $100-million of the $120-million needed for the project but now faces the tough task of including security measures to protect the planned memorial from extremist groups, the news agency reports. The project’s executive architect says the memorial organizers are seeking help from the Bush administration and Congress to resolve the security issue.

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

From The Chronicle: Foundations Urged to Consider Environmental Issues in Making Investment Decisions

Al Gore, the former vice president, urged foundations to take into account environmental concerns when making investment decisions, in a speech to grant makers in New York on Thursday, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. He said foundations could endanger the financial health of their portfolios by shunning such considerations.

Give and Take: Finding Causes That Can Benefit the Most from a Donor's Gifts

Community colleges, charities that promote youth involvement in politics, and organizations that aid female farmers in developing countries are among the top picks of a philanthropic advisory company that has listed key opportunities for donors, reports Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Prospecting: How Small-Business Owners Give

Most small businesses give to charity, according to a new post in Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online fund-raising column.

Government and Politics Watch: Nonprofit Ties and the Obama Transition

As Bill Clinton seeks to decrease concerns about his foundation work so that his wife potentially can lead the State Department, another possible pick for a cabinet position is under scrutiny for his nonprofit ties, reports The Chronicle’s Government and Politics Watch.

November 20, 2008

Music Philanthropist Guilty of Fraud

Alberto W. Vilar, the investor and philanthropist who has given an estimated $100-million to charity — yet also reneged on pledges to arts groups nationwide — was found guilty in a New York federal court November 19 on 12 counts of defrauding clients, according to The New York Times. The jury also convicted his partner in Amerindo Investment Advisors, Gary A. Tanaka, on three counts of fraud.

The most serious of the charges carry prison sentences of up to 20 years; no sentencing date has been set, and the defendants remain free on bail. Mr. Vilar’s lawyer told the Times he will appeal the convictions.

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

Le Moyne College Gets $50-Million

Le Moyne College, a Jesuit institution in Syracuse, N.Y., has received a $50-million bequest from Robert and Catherine McDevitt, longtime supporters of the college, the Business Wire has announced. The husband and wife, who both died this year, derived their wealth from IBM shares collected over many decades; Mr. McDevitt’s mother served as secretary to the company’s founding president. The gift, which will more than double Le Moyne’s current endowment, will be dedicated to the academic areas of computer science, information processing, physics, and religious philosophy, according to college officials.

Wal-Mart Announces Food Donation

Wal-Mart Stores announced plans on November 19 to donate more than 90 million pounds of fresh food annually to Feeding America, the nation’s largest charity that fights hunger, according to The New York Times. The move comes in response to the weakened economy, which is causing increasing demand at food banks around the country. “We are a strong company, and we share what we have with people in need,” said Margaret McKenna, president of the Wal-Mart Foundation.

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

National Cathedral Faces Deep Cuts

Washington’s National Cathedral, battling a widening budget gap, has announced plans to drastically cut its budget and lay off 30 percent of its staff members, according to The Washington Post.

The cathedral, which serves the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and is the nation’s symbolic place for religious gatherings, is supported entirely by donations, receiving nothing from the diocese, the national Episcopalian church, or the government.

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

Teenagers Benefit From Online Socializing, Says MacArthur Study

Teenagers who spend hours online socializing are sharpening their ability to handle 21st-century communications, according to a new study by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, in Chicago, reports The New York Times. “It may look as though kids are wasting a lot of time hanging out with new media, whether it’s on MySpace or sending instant messages,” said Mizuko Ito, who led the study of 800 young Web users for MacArthur. “But their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page.”

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

WNET, Lincoln Center Announce Collaboration

New renovations at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts will include a glass-walled public-television studio, part of a new collaboration between the center and WNET, New York’s public broadcast organization, according to The New York Times. The new studio is part of a broader effort to make Lincoln Center more welcoming to prospective patrons, say officials at the arts group.

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

Opinion: L.A. Museum Trustees Should Pay for Failures

In an “open letter” to board members of the Museum of Contemporary Art, the art critic Christopher Knight urges the trustees who oversaw the Los Angeles museum’s current financial woes to give personal donations to help shore up its finances.

Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Mr. Knight — who notes that in 1998 the museum operated with a $50-million endowment, now rumored to have shrunk to $7-million — says the trustees “must call an urgent board meeting, gather round the table, pull out your checkbooks and calculators, and stay in that room until you have cobbled together at least $25 million.” He suggests this act be followed by budget cuts and the crafting of a new strategic plan.

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

Prospecting: Favorite Fund-Raising Blogs

Roger Carr, the founder of the Web site Everyday Giving, has created his top-10 list of favorite fund-raising blogs for the site Blogs.com, notes Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online guide to fund raising.

Plus: The development director of a California environmental group asks her board members to sign a contract stating that they agree to be active fund raisers.

Give and Take: Posing 'Big Questions'

As part of its effort to explore “big questions,” the John Templeton Foundation is asking scholars, politicians, and scientists a key question during America’s financial crisis: Does the “free market erode moral character?” notes a new post in Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Online Discussion Next Week: Using Online Networks to Attract Supporters

Twitter, Facebook, and other online social-networking tools offer ways for nonprofit organizations to build connections with supporters and donors.

For some groups, these tools have helped raise money for their causes and built increased visibility.

But many groups are still not effective at using online networks in any meaningful way. And many others are fearful about using them at all.

What are these tools? How do they work? And how can your organization use them effectively?

To build your knowledge, join our guestsf for an online discussion Tuesday, November 25, at noon U.S. Eastern time:

Chris Garrett, an Internet marketing consultant in Yorkshire, England, and author of Pro Blogger: Secrets to Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income.

John Haydon, a sales consultant in Boston and the publisher and founder of the Web site corporatedollar.org, which offers marketing advice to small nonprofit groups. Mr. Haydon is also the author of a recently released electronic book Twitter Jump Start: The Complete Guide for Small Nonprofits.

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

More information about this discussion will be available soon at http://philanthropy.com/live.

Get Ahead: Deadlines for Grants and Awards

You can get an early look at the deadlines for grants and awards compiled by The Chronicle. We have posted on our Web site all the application deadlines that will appear in our November 27 issue.

You will also find an updated list of conferences and workshops designed for nonprofit executives.

November 19, 2008

Broad Plans His Own Art Museum

Billionaire Eli Broad has decided to build his own art museum at a site located just miles from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which less than a year ago opened a $56-million museum for contemporary art named for Mr. Broad, its largest benefactor, reports The New York Times.

In an October 20 letter to the city manager of Beverly Hills, a lawyer representing Mr. Broad said the philanthropist was interested “in bringing a first-class public art museum and adjacent foundation offices to the City of Beverly Hills.”

Previously Mr. Broad had said he would not build his own museum, but in January he expressed intentions to retain permanent control of his art collection in a private foundation rather than give most of it away.

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

AARP Orders Investigation of Its Marketing

Following a Senate inquiry that detected evidence of deceptive marketing, AARP and UnitedHealth Group have voluntarily suspended sales of some of their popular health-insurance products and have hired an outside investigator to look into the policies for selected services, reports The New York Times.

Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said the marketing of the policies suggested that they offered comprehensive coverage, which he declared misleading. “There’s no basic coverage of high medical costs,” said Mr. Grassley. “The products may leave consumers seriously in debt if they need intensive medical care.”

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

Cambridge University Receives $123-Million

Lord Sainsbury of Turville, a British businessman and former Labor minister, has given $123-million to Cambridge University for a laboratory to study plant development, reports The Financial Times.

The Sainsbury Laboratory will accommodate 120 scientists, as well as the university’s collection of more than one million pressed and dried plant specimens.

Arts Institutions Face Financial Distress

Facing financial disaster, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art is seeking large cash gifts from donors, according to the museum’s director, Jeremy Strick, who is not ruling out the possibility of sharing the museum’s collection of nearly 6,000 artworks or merging with another institution, reports the Los Angeles Times.

While the museum’s staff size has continued to grow, its reserves have dwindled to pay operating expenses, according to federal tax returns, which show signs of financial distress even before the current national crisis, the newspaper says. In mid-2007, the museum’s investment portfolio was worth $20.4-million, down from $36.2-million in mid-2006, the newspaper reports.

In Philadelphia, arts and cultural groups are also feeling the pinch as they brace for budget cuts following the mayor’s announcement that the national economic downturn has hit the city hard and will result in significantly reduced support, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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

International Red Cross Braces for Cutbacks Due to Recession

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies may reduce its staff size and project load in anticipation of lower aid contributions from donors hit hard by the economic downturn, reports The Financial Times.

The organization issued an appeal Tuesday requesting $220-million for the coming year and warned of increased social unrest in poor countries suffering from high food prices and job losses.

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

NAACP Chairman Bond Will Not Seek New Term

Civil rights activist Julian Bond announced yesterday that he will not to seek another term as chairman of the NAACP’s national board, declaring that the time is right to “let a new generation of leaders” take over the organization, reports The Baltimore Sun.

Mr. Bond, 68, has served as chairman since 1998 and will complete his current one-year term, which expires in February, after which he plans to remain on the board.

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Opinion: Harvard's Investments Show Signs of Error

A closer look at one snapshot of Harvard’s overall asset management shows the university’s recent financial performance to be lacking and suggests that the managers running the institution’s portfolio mistakenly believed that emerging markets and commodities would continue to perform strongly even as the United States struggled, writes columnist Daniel Gross for Slate.

The 13-F form, filed quarterly by Harvard Management Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is not fully representative of Harvard’s overall holdings, Mr. Gross says. But the most recent filing shows that even the most seasoned and reputable long-term investors can get carried away with hot new investment trends and make some risky bets, he writes.

Obituary: James W. Armsey, Former Ford Foundation Executive

James W. Armsey, a former Ford Foundation executive who prompted the foundation to deny grants to segregated universities and who directed more than $350-million in higher-education grants in the 1960s, died on November 2 at his home in Urbana, Ill. He was 90 years old, reports The New York Times.

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From the Chronicle: Bill Clinton Agrees to Limit Charitable Work

Bill Clinton has agreed to limit his charitable work if his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, becomes Secretary of State, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. But some observers wonder whether those concessions will limit the effectiveness of his organization.

From The Chronicle: Nonprofit Institutions Consider Suing Endowment Managers

As many as five endowments for colleges and charitable foundations that have suffered significant investment losses or were unable to access money in their accounts in recent months are considering legal action against their brokers or investment managers, alleging misrepresentation of risk or mismanagement, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

From The Chronicle: Corporate Giving

Companies are increasingly likely to tie their giving to their business goals, according to speakers at a conference on corporate philanthropy this week, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Give and Take: Web Site Offers 'Social-Citizen Makeover'

“Social Citizens (Beta),” a Web site created by the Case Foundation, is offering a “social-citizen makeover,” in which five winners will each receive a video camera, a $100 gift certificate for Apple products, and advice from a social-media expert, according to a new post in Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Prospecting: Americans Plan Increase in Charity 'Gifts' This Season, Poll Finds

Americans are planning to cut their holiday spending but not their charitable giving, according to a new study highlighted in Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online guide to fund raising.

Plus: Why young people should aggressively seek college fund-raising jobs.

November 18, 2008

Conservative Charity Expects to Lay Off 200 Workers

Focus on the Family, the conservative Christian ministry and media group in Colorado Springs, announced on Monday that it plans to lay off more than 200 of its employees, which account for about 20 percent of the group’s work force, reports The Colorado Independent, an online newspaper run by the Center for Independent Media.

The religious group recently spent more than $500,000 to support the passage of Proposition 8, which overturned a California Supreme Court ruling that allowed gays and lesbians to marry in that state, the newspaper noted.

Focus on the Family is one of the most successful fund-raising groups in the United States. It ranked No. 158 on The Chronicle’s most-recent Philanthropy 400, the ranking of the charities that collect the most from private sources.

(A paid subscription or short-term pass is required to view the Chronicle’s Philanthropy 400.)

Smithsonian's Board Holds First Public Meeting

The board of the Smithsonian Institution held its first public meeting on Monday in an effort to become more open about its operations, reports The Washington Post.

The museum complex has faced criticism of its governance and management in the past two years. Its head, Lawrence Small, was forced out after he was accused of spending too much and negotiating an overly high pay deal.

During the public meeting, the regents fielded frank questions that came from audience members and from e-mails, covering topics including diversity and admission fees.

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Charity-Backed News Sites on the Rise

Online news sources run by nonprofit groups are becoming major players in many cities and towns, but some question whether they are financially viable, reports The New York Times.

Many of the sites have been backed by foundations and other wealthy donors and have yet to find other sources of revenue, the newspaper notes. But the groups have done well enough that they are now banding together in hopes of attracting national advertising and foundation grants they could not have obtained on their own.

See The Chronicle’s article on the growth of such nonprofit news organizations.

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Nonprofit Groups Step Up Efforts to Promote Atheism

Nonprofit groups that promote atheism are taking steps to expand their supporters, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Groups such as the Freedom From Religion Foundation, in Madison, Wis., are sponsoring billboards with messages like “Beware of Dogma” in different states, and the Secular Coalition for America, in Washington, recently hired a congressional lobbyist.

Organizers say they are trying to make the public more comfortable with atheism and are mobilizing to repair what they view as breaches of the wall between church and state — such as federal support for religious charities.

Read The Chronicle’s profile of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

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Nonprofit Groups Win National Medals of the Arts

President Bush on Monday honored the nine winners of the 2008 National Medal of the Arts, managed by the National Endowment for the Arts, reports The Washington Post.

Among the winners were several charities, foundations, and philanthropists, including the Presser Foundation, in Haverford, Pa., which supports music and music education, and the José Limon Dance Foundation, in New York, a modern-dance group.

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Prospecting: Resources for Dealing With the Bad Economy

A new online resource collects information to help charities cope as the economic slump continues, reports Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online guide to fund raising.

Plus: Help a nonprofit leader craft a fund-raising appeal.

Government and Politics Watch: Obama Transition Aided by Nonprofit Officials

President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team, which is in the process of preparing for a change of power on January 20, includes a number of representatives of nonprofit groups, foundations, and think tanks, reports a new item in Government and Politics Watch, The Chronicle’s online column.

From The Chronicle: Clintons and Philanthropy

The possibility that Hillary Rodham Clinton will be appointed Secretary of State raises new questions about the donors to the philanthropic efforts run by Bill Clinton, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Transcript: Nonprofit Jobs in the Tough Economy

Read the transcript of our online discussion today about how nonprofit careers will be affected by the downturn in the nation’s finances.

November 17, 2008

Bill Clinton's Foundation Under New Scrutiny as Obama Considers Cabinet Appointments

As Barack Obama considers appointing Hillary Rodham Clinton the next secretary of state, the philanthropic work of her husband is getting new attention, reports The Washington Post.

Since leaving the White House, Bill Clinton has positioned himself as a philanthropic leader, organizing the annual Clinton Global Conference. He has raised millions of dollars for his William J. Clinton Foundation, in New York, but has declined to publicly disclose its charitable donors.

The appointment of Mrs. Clinton to a Cabinet job “certainly is likely to sharpen the scrutiny that the press and critics will give to the types of things he does in raising the money,” said Joel L. Fleishman, a philanthropy expert and professor of law and public policy at Duke University. Mr. Fleishman added that “her being secretary of state would tend to raise the scrutiny.”

See an article and an audio excerpt from The Chronicle’s recent interview with Mr. Clinton, in which he discussed issues such as disclosing the identify of donors to his organization.

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Questions Raised About Charities Founded by Celebrities

Charitable foundations established by the celebrities Bono, George Clooney, and eight others have undertaken some questionable business practices, the New York Post reports.

Spokesmen for the celebrities in the article said either that they were taking steps to deal with issues raised in the articles or that the information had been misconstrued.

Freddie Mac Foundation Halts Awarding Grants

When the federal government announced in September that it had taken over the Washington mortgage-finance giant Freddie Mac, officials put all charitable grants by the Freddie Mac Foundation on hold. Now some Washington area nonprofit groups that help needy children are facing an uncertain future as their biggest benefactor grapples with the takeover, The Washington Post reports.

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Financially Troubled Charity Attracted Donors by Blogging About Shortfall

Forge, an Oakland, Calif., charity that supplies libraries, starts schools, and provides small loans to serve people in Zambian refugee camps, is facing a $90,000 budget shortfall because of the economy and some management missteps, and its founder has taken the unusual step of blogging about the foundation’s troubles on the Skoll Foundation’s Social Edge Web site, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

The group has managed to attract numerous offers of support from companies and other donors attracted by the organization’s candid disclosure of its problems, the newspaper notes.

Laptop Charity Seeks to Raise Donations Through New Ad Campaign

The nonprofit group One Laptop Per Child has persuaded media companies to donate large amounts of television time, billboard space, and magazine pages to aid the organization’s effort to place more low-cost laptops in the hands of children in developing countries, The New York Times reports.

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Foundation-Financed Think Tank Plays Key Role in Obama Transition

When President-elect Barack Obama released a list of his transition advisers last week, a significant number of the national-security appointments came from the Center for a New American Security, a small Washington think tank that was founded by two former Clinton-administration officials and gets most of its money from private foundations, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Government and Politics Watch: How Should Donors Respond to an Obama Administration?

A donor-advisory firm has made available a series of interviews with experts in health, poverty, the environment, education, and global development to help donors figure out what types of philanthropic support will be most important in an Obama administration, reports a new item in Government and Politics Watch, The Chronicle’s online column.

Plus: Nonprofit organizations in Washington are continuing their efforts to make sure that lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can sustain their levels of charitable giving.

Give and Take: Charity Ad Campaigns That Don't Make Sense

Are some charity ad campaigns too ill-conceived to be worth the money? That is the question posed in a new post in Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Plus: An activist group continues its campaign to urge foundations to provide more data to the public about the support they provide to members of minority groups.

Online Discussion Tomorrow: The Job Market and the Sour Economy

The financial crisis is causing significant shifts in the nonprofit job market.

Older charity employees are staying put in their jobs rather than retiring on schedule. More people from the corporate world are applying for positions at nonprofit groups. And younger nonprofit workers, already worried about their career prospects, fear they may have even fewer opportunities to move into higher-paid positions.

What do these shifts mean to you — and what should you be doing to advance your career in the current market?

Join us for a one-hour live discussion tomorrow, November 18, at noon U.S. Eastern time, that will answer your questions about career issues.

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

From The Chronicle: How Foundations Can Do a Better Job

Grant makers need to focus on the quality of their program officers, writes the head of a small charity who offers ways for foundations to do a better job of adopting the best ideas.

November 14, 2008

San Francisco Official Seeks to Limit Pay of Nonprofit Officials

San Francisco charities that receive money from the city government could face scrutiny under a new proposal to limit the salaries of executives at such organizations, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

The proposal, presented by Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, would mean executives at such charities could not be paid more than six times the pay of the lowest-paid full-time employee. Mr. McGoldrick’s motivation is to get charities to raise low pay levels and keep top pay from getting too excessive.

Nonprofit leaders are reacting with concern.

“The measure wouldn’t accomplish anything,” says Debbi Lerman, who leads the San Francisco Human Services Network. “It’s symbolic and gives the impression the city is doing something about excessive compensation.”

For more on executive pay at charities and foundations, see The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s latest annual survey on the topic. And see another study The Chronicle conducted to examine disparities in pay.

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Former Official of Diabetes Charity Indicted

A man who served as a top official of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and four of his acquaintances have been indicted on charges that they stole $1.2-million from the charity, reports The New York Times.

Jonathan Stenger, 35, was director of communications and publications during the time he is accused of having billed the organization for supplies it never ordered, the newspaper reports. Mr. Stenger and his acquaintances have pleaded not guilty; three were released without bail, while two others, including Mr. Stenger, remained in jail Thursday night.

Mr. Stenger’s lawyer requested that he be put under suicide watch, to which the judge agreed. Mr. Stenger and his lawyer did not comment in the Times article.

Half of the stolen money has already been returned to the diabetes charity, while the remaining should be covered by insurance, according to the Manhattan district attorney.

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Big Donations Bring Complexities

After receiving a major donation — as in the University of Chicago business school’s recent $300-million gift from the financier David Booth — institutions face challenges and opportunities, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Other donors may think they aren’t needed as much, or institutions can suddenly have a new overseer to answer to, depending on how the money is to be spent. But opportunities, such as that created when Ted Snyder, the dean of the University of Chicago’s business school, announced a $100-million matching program to encourage more donations, also abound.

Meanwhile, a gift like Mr. Booth’s, which comes with the renaming of the business school after the donor, can create a tug-of-war within an institution. But Mr. Snyder brushes off that possibility.

“It’s a lot of money, but it’s not going to create the biggest food fight of all time,” he tells the Tribune. “This money is not to be splurged.”

Read The Chronicle’s article about the gift.

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No Pennies? Salvation Army Experiments With Plastic

The Salvation Army is testing some modern technology during its stalwart red-kettle campaign: Five bell-ringers in Colorado will accept debit and credit cards this holiday season, reports the Associated Press.

Officials at the charity tell the news organization it needed to respond to the reality that many people don’t carry cash these days.

The campaign, which operated for the first time in 1891, will begin on Thanksgiving Day, according to a release on the charity’s Web site. In 2007, it raised $118-million.

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Government and Politics Watch: A Proposal for a White House Office to Aid Charities

President-elect Barack Obama should create a White House office to highlight the important role social entrepreneurs and nonprofit groups play in solving the country’s social problems, according to two liberal think tanks that released proposals this week for reorganizing the federal government, reports Government and Politics Watch, The Chronicle’s online column.

Prospecting: Low-Cost Ways to Improve Fund Raising

What are the best low-cost ways to increase fund raising in tough economic times? A fund-raising expert offers tips in Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online fund-raising column.

Plus, how can a charity turn positive news coverage into donations?

Give and Take: Does the Gates Foundation Exert Too Much Influence on the Schools?

Does the Gates Foundation have too much influence on American education? Many commentators are raising such questions after the philanthropy announced a major new education grant-making effort, notes Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Plus:

A new Web site seeks to help charities craft better news releases.

Are volunteers useless?

In this bad economy, is it wise for charities to cut spending on marketing?

Online Discussion Next Week: Nonprofit Careers and the Sour Economy

The financial crisis is causing significant shifts in the nonprofit job market.

Older charity employees are staying put in their jobs, rather than retiring on schedule. More people from the corporate world are applying for positions at nonprofit groups. And younger nonprofit workers, already worried about their career prospects, fear they may have even less opportunity to move into higher-paid positions.

What do these shifts mean to you — and what should you be doing to advance your career in the current market?

Join us for a one-hour live discussion on Tuesday, November 18, at noon U.S. Eastern time, that will answer your questions about career issues.

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

From The Chronicle: What's Next for Conservative Foundations

The election of Barack Obama, and the resurgence of liberal politics, poses new challenges for conservative foundations — and raises questions about whether they were ever as powerful as some experts said, writes William Schambra in an opinion article in the current issue of The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

November 13, 2008

New Lobby Rules Could Help Nonprofit Groups

One analyst predicts that new ethics rules issued by President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team will give nonprofit groups a stronger voice on Capitol Hill, reports CNN.

Chai Feldblum, a Georgetown University professor who teaches aspiring lobbyists, says that under restrictions issued by Obama’s transition staff this week that bar federal lobbyists from contributing to the transition effort, corporate lobbyists “will have to share the stage with other people representing other points of view.

“Lobbyists for a broader range of the American public — lobbyists for Catholic Charities USA, lobbyists for the Epilepsy Foundation, lobbyists for domestic-violence groups, people trying to bring those positions forward — will have an easier time being heard,” said Ms. Feldblum.

Former NY Charity Leader Charged in Theft of Food Aid

Andre A. Lewis, the former executive director of the Better Brooklyn Community Center, a charity than ran after-school programs and day care, was arrested on Wednesday on charges that he stole more than $500,000 in federal aid that was intended to buy food for needy children, reports The New York Times.

Mr. Lewis had told investigators that the remainder of the money was used to pay staff members who prepared the food, but during an unannounced visit, city health officials found no evidence of staff members or facilities for food preparation, prosecutors said.

Mr. Lewis declined to comment for the article. His lawyer told the newspaper: “I’m shocked that the government would proceed in a case where, as far as I can tell, there’s no evidence of personal liability.”

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Salvation Army Worries Economic Downturn Will Hurt Kettle Campaign

Salvation Army officials have expressed concern that this year the group’s distinctive red-kettle campaign may not attract as many donations as in years past, reports The Boston Globe.

“In other times, what these economic downturns had meant was maybe no raise this year, maybe no Christmas bonus. But now, we’re looking at folks that may be going from a donor to being a client,” said Major Raphael Jackson, general secretary of the Salvation Army of Massachusetts.

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Theater Director Resigns After Supporting Gay-Marriage Ban

Scott Eckern, the artistic director at the California Musical Theater, in Sacramento, resigned Wednesday after some gay and lesbian activists called for a boycott of the theater in protest of Mr. Eckern’s donation to a campaign to ban gay marriage in the state, reports the Associated Press.

Mr. Eckern said in a statement that his departure comes “after prayerful consideration to protect the organization and to help the healing in the local theatergoing and creative community.”

Catholic Church Ends Its Support of Acorn

The Roman Catholic Church is cutting off its support to the advocacy group Acorn, citing concerns over the organization’s handling of voter-registration drives in the November 4 election, reports CNN.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development, which has donated more than $7.3-million to Acorn-related projects over the past decade, halted its contributions to the group in June amid allegations that Dale Rathke, the brother of Acorn founder Wade Rathke, had embezzled almost $1-million. Mr. Rathke did not comment for the article.

Nonprofit Hospital System Forms Partnership With General Electric

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center plans to open at least 25 cancer clinics abroad over the next decade with the help of the General Electric Company, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The nonprofit system, which generated $7-billion in revenue last year, will open clinics in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East and will purchase scanning and imaging equipment exclusively from General Electric.

Give and Take: China's Growing Embrace of Philanthropy

China continues to show signs of a growing embrace of philanthropy, notes a blog post cited in Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Plus:

Questions of whether the financial meltdown justified Harvard’s endowment buildup.

A shift in donor attitude: Passion is out and standards and accountability are in.

Prospecting: Impact of New Nutrition Rules on Bake Sales

California’s new nutrition standards for food sold to students during school hours is causing trouble for a fund-raising staple — the bake sale, writes a nonprofit financial expert on his Web site, which is featured in Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online column about fund raising.

Plus: A new report suggests that foundations don’t drop their support for the arts and other causes when an economic downturn focuses the public’s attention on social-service groups.

November 12, 2008

New York Nonprofit Worker Killed

Imonil Aminov, who worked delivering meals to elderly people for the nonprofit group Jewish Association for Services for the Aged, in New York, was shot and killed during one of his deliveries to a Brooklyn building, reports The New York Times.

It is not known if the shooting was part of a robbery, the newspaper says.

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Nonprofit Groups Need Donations to Pay Operating Costs

Donors’ focus on low administrative costs can hamper the ability of nonprofit groups to operate in an efficient manner, reports The Financial Times.

It is harder to attract donations for employee training, upgrading computer systems, and other office updates aimed at increased efficiency because these are less tangible and compelling than programs. To remedy this, says Paul Shoemaker, director of Social Venture Partners Seattle, a network of donors who work with nonprofit organizations, donors must become more flexible and effective in their giving practices, while nonprofit groups need to do a better job of demonstrating and communicating the impact of their activities.

Colleges Face Economic Woes

Students and colleges across the United States are facing financial problems such as plummeting endowments, late or nonexistent payments on donations from donors, and student-loan shortages from financial lenders, reports The Washington Post.

Some colleges are trying to remedy the situation by offering alternative student-loan options and emergency grants for items such as food and books. Public universities are also suffering, as at least 17 states have made cuts to higher-education budgets. Some schools are postponing or reconsidering capital campaigns in light of the economy, reports the newspaper.

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American Aid Worker Assassinated in Pakistan

Steve Vance, an American aid worker, was killed in Peshawar, Pakistan, yesterday, according to The New York Times.

Mr. Vance was working for the Cooperative Housing Foundation, an organization that received USAID funds to counter the Taliban by creating jobs and building infrastructure in the tribal areas in Peshawar, reports the newspaper.

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People: New Chief Executive at National Public Radio

Vivian Schiller, who leads the online operations of The New York Times, will leave the newspaper to become president and chief executive officer of National Public Radio in January, says The New York Times.

She will succeed Kevin Klose, who served as president for 10 years, and Dennis L. Haarsager, the interim chief executive. Mr. Klose recently became NPR’s president emeritus and president of the NPR Foundation. Ms. Schiller has also worked at Discovery Times Channel, a cable-television channel, and CNN.

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People: New President of the Johns Hopkins University

Current University of Pennsylvania Provost Ronald J. Daniels will become the next president of the Johns Hopkins University, reports The Washington Post.
He will begin the job in March.

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Government and Politics: Family-Planning Groups Predict Change

Many international charities are optimistic that President-elect Barack Obama will overturn the so-called global gag rule, which prevents government money from supporting family-planning groups that counsel women overseas about the availability of abortion, reports Government and Politics Watch, The Chronicle’s online column.

Plus: A donor-consulting company is holding teleconferences to educate philanthropists about how the incoming Obama administration will affect grant making.

Give and Take: Urging Obama to Call Americans to Service

The chief executive officer of the California Endowment says Barack Obama faces daunting problems as the country’s next president — and he says Americans need to be inspired to help solve them through increased giving and volunteerism, notes a blog post cited in Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Plus: Independent Sector’s annual meeting drew postings from a half-dozen or so nonprofit blog writers.

Prospecting: Why Fund Raisers Should Track Joblessness Rates

Fund raisers should keep a close eye on joblessness statistics, warns a new report highlighted in Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online column about fund raising.

Plus: Should British fund raisers set their sights higher?

From The Chronicle: Gates Foundation Plans College-Graduation Effort

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation plans to spend several hundred million dollars over the next five years to double the number of low-income young people who complete a college degree or a certificate program by age 26, foundation officials told an exclusive gathering of education leaders on Tuesday, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports from Seattle.

From The Chronicle: NYU Medical Center Receives $260-Million in Pledges

New York University Langone Medical Center has received two big pledges totaling $260-million, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Conference Notebook: Should Charities Support Higher Taxes?

Independent Sector has drafted a set of priorities for the next president and Congress that includes asking for higher taxes to maintain spending for nonprofit organizations and for social services, such as food stamps and health care for low-wage earners, officials told the annual meeting of Independent Sector, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Plus: Using games to solve gritty social problems.

For all of the Chronicle’s reports from the conference, go to http://philanthropy.com/news/conference/.

November 11, 2008

Nonprofit Groups Struggle as Economic Crisis Spreads

Even in areas of the country with the most robust economies, demand for food aid has risen 20 percent since June, and in areas where the economy is weakest, demand is up more than 40 percent, reports The New York Times in a special philanthropy section.

The newspaper also examines the fallout of the economic crisis on philanthropy and asks experts if the nonprofit world, like the housing and financial markets, was riding a wave that has finally wiped out.

Among the other articles in the special section:

A growing number of new foundations, such as the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, are using business approaches that radically depart from those of traditional foundations.

Therapy dogs and the nonprofit groups that train them are turning out to be an important part of helping veterans severely disabled in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A Boston doctor makes house calls to the homeless.

The Kauffman Foundation tackles the problem of America’s growing lack of innovation.

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As Harvard's Endowment Plunges, the University Announces a Spending Freeze

Harvard University’s president, Drew Faust, said on Monday that the university is planning to reduce spending as Harvard’s endowment plummets, reports The Boston Globe.

Harvard’s endowment before the economic crisis was $36.9-billion, the newspaper noted. While the institution would not say how much it has lost, Ms. Faust said that Moody’s has projected a 30-percent decline in the value of college and university endowments this fiscal year. For Harvard, that would mean an $11-billion loss, the newspaper said.

In an e-mail message to faculty members, employees, and students, Ms. Faust did not specify what cuts university officials were considering, but a Harvard official familiar with the university’s finances said the institution may enact a wage freeze for administrators and faculty, as well as a budget freeze on all programs.

To learn more about the assets at other nonprofit endowments, see The Chronicle’s annual survey.

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Dubai Philanthropy Gives Money to American Charity

Dubai Cares, a year-old nonprofit group in the United Arab Emirates, plans to give several million dollars to support Room to Read, a San Francisco group that builds schools and libraries, publishes books, and provides scholarships in developing countries, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The new organization is part of a growing effort to establish organized philanthropy in the Middle East. While philanthropy is a core principle of Islam, it is only in recent years that the region’s wealthiest people have started building foundations that resemble America’s institutional approach to giving, the newspaper notes.

See this article about such efforts from The Chronicle’s archives.

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Charity and Drug Company to Start Major Medical Trials

PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, a charity supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in Seattle, is collaborating with the British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC as well as clinics and research centers in Africa to develop a malaria vaccine, BusinessWeek reports.

Researchers seeking to create the world’s first malaria vaccine plan to start a medical trial next month involving 16,000 children, which could be the largest such trial ever conducted on children in Africa.

California College Gets $25-Million Donation

Harvey Mudd College, in Claremont, Calif., has received a $25-million donation from R. Michael Shanahan, a longstanding member of the college’s Board of Trustees, and his wife, Mary, reports the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.

From The Chronicle: What Do the Election Results Mean for the Nonprofit World?

Read a transcript: of today’s live online discussion about how last week’s election results will affect nonprofit organizations. Our guest was Robert Egger, president of D.C. Central Kitchen, in Washington, and founder of the V3 Campaign, an effort to persuade candidates for office to focus on nonprofit issues.

Conference Notebook: IRS Vows to Be Vigilant in Cracking Down on Charities

Two top Internal Revenue Service leaders told the annual meeting of Independent Sector on Tuesday that the agency will continue efforts to ensure that tax-exempt groups are following federal laws, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Plus, see other articles from the meeting, including:

Diana Aviv, president of Independent Sector, said the economy and the election of a new president challenge nonprofit groups to serve as advocates, not just as stewards of donations.

Fund raisers need to avoid complaining about the economy and instead focus on creative ways to bring more money into their organizations.

Why the nonprofit world needs its own Dow Jones index.

For all of the Chronicle’s reports from the conference, go to http://philanthropy.com/news/conference/.

Clarification: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

A Seattle Times story that was summarized in Monday’s edition of Philanthropy Today, was inaccurate, according to officials at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. They say the foundation has made no decisions about whether to expand its grant making in 2009.

November 10, 2008

Pay at Philadelphia PBS Station Draws Criticism

WHYY, Philadelphia’s public-broadcasting station, is drawing fire for what it pays its chief executive, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.

William J. Marrazzo, WHYY’s chief executive officer, received a compensation package totaling $740,090 in the year ending June 30, 2007. His pay exceeds that of chief executives at WNET and WGBH, in New York and Boston respectively, the newspaper reported. It included $280,000 in deferred compensation that Mr. Marrazzo will receive next July if he meets performance goals, the newspaper said.

Leland Ware, vice chairman of the WHYY board and a professor of law and public policy at the University of Delaware, defends Mr. Marrazzo’s compensation. He says, “We also know how this looks to the public. But this is a deliberate strategy we adopted to maintain and grow.”

Judge Rules Muslim Charity's Rights Were Violated

A federal judge in Oregon has ruled that the Treasury Department violated the rights of a now-defunct Muslim charity that was based in Saudi Arabia and had an office in the United States, reports the Associated Press.

U.S. District Judge Garr King said the due-process rights of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, in Ashland, Ore., were violated because the Treasury Department failed to provide any basis for the charity being listed as a “specially designated global terrorist organization.”

Detroit Museum Faces Financial Trouble

Although it has gained a reputation as one of the best museums in the nation, the Detroit Institute of Arts faces a host of financial woes that threaten its operations, reports the Detroit Free Press.

The museum lost $17-million in 2008, the latest in a series of shortfalls over the past decade that total nearly $100-million. Unlike other museums comparable in size, the Detroit museum receives little government support and has a weak endowment. Its $100-million endowment provides only 10 percent of its revenue.

Graham Beal, the museum’s director, says, “It’s a looming crisis. We have to address it, and with the economy, we don’t have time to take a year to go through a strategic-planning process.”

Boston Museum Raises $500-Million

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has transformed itself from a cash-strapped institution plagued by internal conflict into a robust organization that has just successfully completed a $500-million fund-raising campaign, reports The Boston Globe in its special Giving Issue.

Under director Malcolm Rogers, the museum created a database of potential donors, curated more contemporary exhibitions, and balanced its budget.

Washington National Opera Scales Back Production

The Washington National Opera has postponed its performances of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle, which were slated for the 2009-10 season, to save money, reports The Washington Post.

The move will save the organization up to $6-million. Plácido Domingo, the opera’s general director, said, “The dramatic changes in the nation’s economy have made all of us who are responsible for WNO’s welfare reluctantly come to the difficult decision to postpone the ‘Ring’ cycle until the financial climate becomes more positive.”

Still, the news is not all bad for Washington arts groups. A survey of six organizations reported that they do not plan to scale back programs for this season. They say that because the economic downturn occurred at the start of the season, most subscriptions have already been sold and most fund-raising pledges have already been paid off.

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Social-Work Schools Increasingly Promote Financial-Counseling Courses

The economic crisis is prompting schools of social work to train students to provide financial counseling to poor people, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Some say that the standard social-work curriculum is not adequately preparing students to help with the needs of struggling families and that change is critical.

Margaret Sherraden, a social-work professor at the University of Missouri at St. Louis, told the newspaper, “The growing field of economic empowerment represents an exceptional opportunity for the social-work profession. Arguably, no other profession is as well positioned as social work to assume leadership.”

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Prospecting: Americans Say Holiday Giving Will Remain the Same

Americans who are cutting back on their holiday spending because of the crumbling economy still plan to give to charity, according to a survey conducted for PayPal, the Internet service that enables people to make payments online, reports Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online column about fund raising.

Plus:

Advice sought for a fund-raising appeal.

Are older donors harder to please?

From The Chronicle: Coverage of Independent Sector's Annual Meeting

Independent Sector, a nationwide association of foundations and corporate-giving programs kicked off its annual meeting in Philadelphia Sunday with speakers who analyzed election results, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Online Discussion Tomorrow: The Election's Implications for Charities

Join The Chronicle for a live online discussion tomorrow to learn what the election results mean — and to share your thoughts about what the priorities for Congress and the White House should be.

The guest will be Robert Egger, president of D.C. Central Kitchen, in Washington, and founder of the V3 Campaign, an effort to get nonprofit views considered in elections at the city, state, and federal levels. Read his recent opinion piece in The Chronicle on how young people are combining politics and charity to bring about change.

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

November 07, 2008

N.Y. to Scale Back on Drug-Counseling Programs for Ex-Convicts

Due to budget cuts, New York will eliminate $8.6-million by the end of the month in contracts between the Department of Correctional Services, the Division of Parole, and nonprofit groups that provide drug counseling to ex-convicts living in the state, reports The New York Times.

“It’s a panicky response,” said Harry K. Wexler, a researcher whose findings suggest that local drug-treatment programs reduce by half re-arrest and re-incarceration rates over five years. “They are cutting their nose off to spite their face.”

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Hospitals Make Cuts in Response to Economic Downturn

As more patients delay medical treatment — and those who do seek treatment are unable to pay their bills — some hospitals are having to respond quickly to the effects of the economic downturn, reports The New York Times.

Citing the failing economy and decreased patient demand, Shands HealthCare, a Florida nonprofit hospital system, announced last month that it would close one of its eight hospitals and move patients and staff members to its nearby facilities. The Gainesville hospital lost $12-million last year, said Timothy Goldfarb, the system’s chief executive. “We cannot carry it anymore,” he said.

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Philanthropists Become Vocal Advocates

Philanthropists and established foundations are breaking from traditional positions and taking bolder steps to advance causes and influence public policy, reports The New York Times.

Philanthropists such as George Soros, Michael R. Bloomberg, Warren E. Buffett, Jeff Skoll, and Bill Gates are among those spending increasing amounts of money to make their voices heard on behalf of the causes they support.

“We just think that when you’re worried and concerned about something so important, you have to speak out,” said Wall Street billionaire, Peter G. Peterson, who financed the documentary “I.O.U.S.A.,” which spotlights America’s addiction to debt.

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U. of Missouri at Columbia Reaches $1-Billion Campaign Goal

Officials at the University of Missouri at Columbia plans to announce that the school has met its $1-billion fund-raising goal, making it one of a couple of dozen public universities around the country to reach that mark, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Two gifts in recent weeks, including $4.6-million from Robert and Sue Weiser to the geology department and $2-million from Harry and Ann Cornell to the business school, helped the university reach its goal.

U. of South Carolina Campus Receives $6-Million

The University of South Carolina Upstate has received $6-million from the family of businessman George Dean Johnson Jr. to start building a business school in downtown Spartanburg, reports the Associated Press.

The donation is the largest in the 40-year history of the school, which is being named for Mr. Johnson, who founded Extended Stay Hotels and Advance America. Construction is expected to be completed in May 2010.

Prospecting: Web Tool Helps Charity Raise Corporate Donations

A new Web site, SocialVibe, enables users of social-networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook to channel donations from corporations to the charity of their choice, simply by endorsing their charity and a company of their choosing in their online profile, reports Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online column about fund raising.

Give and Take: Animal Charities Weigh In on First-Dog Issue

Less than two days after Senator Barack Obama was elected president, animal charities may have succeeded in influencing his decision on what kind of dog to get his family, notes a blog post cited in Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

From The Chronicle: Coverage of Philanthropy Roundtable Meeting

The leader of the Philanthropy Roundtable, an organization that represents conservative donors, kicked off the association’s annual meeting in Naples, Fla., today by describing the election of Barack Obama to the White House as a “momentous” occasion for the United States, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Plus: Philanthropists should do more to support American families, a law professor at Princeton University told the participants.

And a former assistant secretary of education under President Bush said donors need to focus more on growing education efforts that have already been proven to work.

From The Chronicle: $300-Million Gift to U. of Chicago

The economy’s turmoil notwithstanding, an alumnus will give the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business $300-million, the university announced on Thursday, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

November 06, 2008

St. Louis Catholic Charities Affiliate Tangles With Archdiocese

The St. Louis Archdiocese and the local affiliate of Catholic Charities are involved in a dispute over the bishop’s demand that the charity turn over its fund-raising operations to the archdiocese, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The archdiocese’s acting leader, Bishop Robert Hermann, has said that he wants to better coordinate fund raising with the charity, hoping to combine the two organizations’ development offices to avoid donor fatigue. But former Catholic Charities board member James Gunn has accused archdiocesan officials of wanting to take over fund-raising efforts to promote conservative Catholic ideals at the expense of social services.

Points of Light Reimburses Buyers of Fake Travel Packages

The Points of Light Institute, a group that promotes volunteerism, has nearly finished reimbursing people who unwittingly purchased bogus travel packages from its store on the eBay auction Web site, according to The New York Times.

The group, newly merged with the Hands On Network, has given out nearly $7-million in refunds to customers of the store, wrote Michelle Nunn, the group’s chief executive, in an e-mail message to donors, staff members, and others. Ms. Nunn wrote that it appears that a contractor who ran the eBay store for Points of Light offered the fake travel packages for sale.

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Calif. Opera Company Cancels Season, May Close

Opera Pacific, a professional opera company in California’s Orange County, has canceled the remainder of its current season and may be on the verge of closing, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The nonprofit company, formed in 1986, has repeatedly in the past leaned on a small group of big donors for help. But the current economic woes have made fund raising much more difficult, say opera officials.

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Aid Workers Kidnapped in Somalia

Four European aid workers and two Kenyan pilots were kidnapped November 5 by gunmen in Somalia, according to Reuters.

The aid workers — two French women, a Bulgarian woman, and a Belgian man, all working with the French group Action Contre La Faim — and the pilots were taken from an airstrip in the town of Dusamareb, said witnesses. The abductions are the latest in a series of such strikes against humanitarian groups working in the African country.

U. of Iowa Gets $10-Million for Football Facilities

The University of Iowa has received two $5-million pledges to help it renovate and expand its football facilities, according to the Associated Press. Two Iowa businessmen — Bruce Rastetter, head of Hawkeye Energy Holdings, and Richard Jacobson, emeritus chairman of the board of Jacobson Companies, both longtime donors to the university, made the pledges to the university’s foundation.

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Wikipedia Triples Annual Campaign Goal

Wikipedia, the nonprofit online encyclopedia created entirely by volunteers, is tripling its annual fund-raising campaign goal this year, according to the Associated Press. The fund-raising campaign by the Wikimedia Foundation, in San Francisco, is slated to end January 15 and is seeking $6-million to cover costs.

U. of North Carolina Endows Nonprofit Professorship

The University of North Carolina at Wilmington has created an endowed professorship in nonprofit management, thanks in part to a $667,000 gift from the Dan Cameron Family Foundation, according to a university announcement.

The gift will be matched by a gift of $250,000 from the C.D. Spangler Foundation, along with $333,000 in matching funds from the state Distinguished Professors Endowment Trust Fund. The Betty and Dan Cameron Family Distinguished Professorship of Innovation in the Nonprofit Sector, which will be housed in the Department of Public and International Affairs, will assist in strengthening local nonprofit organizations.

From The Chronicle: Post-Election Coverage

The election of Barack Obama could bring about many changes for nonprofit organizations and the people they serve, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Among them: Charity leaders can expect President-elect Obama and Congress to push for changes in the federal tax structure that could spur giving and add new regulations for charities and donors, tax experts told The Chronicle.

Also, a number of nonprofit leaders are being floated as possible candidates for spots in Mr. Obama’s Cabinet, according to a posting cited in The Chronicle’s Government and Politics online column.

To learn more about Mr. Obama’s views, see our special politics page.

Plus: Offer your ideas on what President Obama should do to help charities and foundations.

And join us for an online discussion on what the election means for the charity world next Tuesday, November 11, at noon, U.S. Eastern time.

Government and Politics Watch: Ballot Measures

Charitable organizations that rely on state aid got a lift from Tuesday’s election as voters rejected measures that could have led to major cutbacks, reports Government and Politics Watch, The Chronicle’s online column.

Plus: A San Francisco nonprofit group has been selected to help foundations vet foreign grant recipients to meet U.S. antiterrorism standards.

Prospecting: Economy and Election Spur Fund-Raising Fears

A Memphis planned-giving consultant scoured historic records from 1931 to 1941 to look for clues on how a sustained economic crisis could impact fund raising, reports Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online column about fund raising.

Get Ahead: Deadlines for Grants and Awards

You can get an early look at the deadlines for grants and awards compiled by The Chronicle. We have posted on our Web site all the application deadlines that will appear in our November 13 issue.

You will also find an updated list of conferences and workshops designed for nonprofit executives.

November 05, 2008

Gates Cautions Against Cutting Health Aid

The philanthropist Bill Gates expressed concern this week during a trip to India that rich countries may cut spending on health aid to the world’s poor because of the global financial crisis, reports Reuters news agency.

Mr. Gates said such people need a “strong voice” advocating for them. He also said President-Elect Barack Obama would “drive improvements” in the areas of global-health issues.

Mr. Gates met with Indian health officials and polio experts about his foundation’s efforts to help in the fight to eradicate polio and fight HIV/AIDS.

Donor-Advised Funds Provide Flexibility in Tough Times

While the current economic crisis may have some donors considering a drop in donations this year, those who have already given to a donor-advised fund may be more likely to maintain previous levels of giving, reports Bloomberg News.

“The advised funds are acting to some extent as a regulator valve — people who made big stock gains in the last few years can take more out of the account than they’re putting in now,’‘ says Robert F. Sharpe, a Memphis, Tenn., lawyer and board member of Giving USA Foundation.

Meanwhile, officials at Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, the largest donor-advised fund in the country, say that while 12 percent more grants have been awarded this year over last year, contributions to the fund are down 35 percent.

Calif. Orchestras Lay Off Executives

The Orchestras of Pasadena, facing a budget shortfall because of losses in endowment revenue and a lack of donations, has laid off two executives, canceled concerts, and started an emergency fund-raising campaign, reports the Los Angeles Times.

The organization, which comprises the Pasadena Symphony and Pasadena Pops, needs to raise $3.5-million to $4-million to save 14 concerts on its schedule, the paper reports. Its budget was projected at $5.3-million for the current season, but its endowment dropped from $8.5-million to less than $5-million due to stock-market losses.

Interim executive director Jean Horton, a board member and financial consultant, tells the paper he expects the campaign to be tough.

“Large and small [orchestras] are sweating right now,” Mr. Horton says. “I can’t imagine anybody not being worried about their contribution base.”

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From The Chronicle: a Nonprofit Agenda for President Obama

Nonprofit groups should act quickly following yesterday’s election to convince the new president and Congress to bolster the ability of charities to tackle the nation’s social problems, speakers at a panel in Washington said, as reported by The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Opinion: Greenlining's Efforts Not Helpful

The Greenlining Institute’s recent efforts to track the race of grant recipients of some of the nation’s largest foundations have not been helpful to those in need, according to an editorial in The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper says the foundations that have declined to provide information to the institute should be commended.

The Journal takes issue with Greenlining’s collection of data and cites a recent George Mason University study that was critical of the institute’s methodology.

“The idea that a charity must be “minority-led” to assist minorities is silly,” the Journal’s editorial board concludes.

Give and Take: Becoming a Go-To Source for Reporters

A former CARE employee and consultant to nonprofit groups has asked his journalist friends who cover international news to share what kind of information they look for from aid workers, notes a blog post cited in Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Prospecting: Playing Games With Event Fund Raising

Revenue from special events has decreased as the economy has soured, and charity auctions are no exception, according to a charity marketing consultant, reports Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online column about fund raising.

November 04, 2008

Companies Expect Giving to Stay Flat

Although requests from charities for assistance are on the rise, charitable giving by corporations such as Bank of America, General Electric, and Wells Fargo will most likely be flat in 2009 as those companies suffer the effects of the banking crisis or see lower profits, reports Reuters.

Even so, nonprofit groups are stepping up requests for aid. A spokesman for Wells Fargo said the company had gotten 20 percent more requests for assistance from charities compared with this time last year.

To see more about corporate giving, see the results of The Chronicle’s annual survey of big businesses.

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

Charity Thrift Shops See Big Increase in Donations

Almost half of nonprofit thrift stores have seen an increase in donations of clothing and other goods this year, with one-third of them reporting a jump of more than a third, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Canadian Group's Charity Status Revoked After Tax-Shelter Allegations

A Toronto charity has lost its nonprofit status after the Canada Revenue Agency accused it of acting as a tax shelter for donors, reports The Globe and Mail, in Toronto.

The Choson Kallah Fund allegedly issued inflated receipts to donors who gave pharmaceutical drugs bought overseas at cheap prices. The nonprofit group issued the receipts for the drugs, assigning them the much higher Canadian value without independently appraising the value of the drugs, says the federal agency.

Eli Gross, who runs Choson Kallah, said he did not break any regulations and did not promote the charity as a tax shelter, reports the newspaper.

Northwest Chapter Fights National Health Charity's Actions

The Northwest chapter of the American Lung Association said on Monday that it would fight the national charity’s efforts to dissolve it over a real-estate sale and other disputes, reports the Associated Press.

“This is the kind of a dispute between two charitable nonprofits that should have been settled in the family,” Laird Harris, chairman-elect of the Northwest affiliate’s board, said in a written statement. “ [The American Lung Association’s] aggressive and destructive decision to pursue the matter in court and in the media is damaging to our common mission of promoting lung health.”

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Opinion: Attacks on Acorn Are Unfair and Misleading

The recent attacks on the advocacy group Acorn’s national voter-registration drive are an unfair attempt by Republicans to win the presidential election, writes Martha Sanchez, chairwoman of the Los Angeles Acorn board of directors, in an opinion article in the Los Angeles Times.

Ms. Sanchez acknowledges that a percentage of voter registration applications gathered by the nonprofit organization are flawed, but writes that Acorn uses rigorous standards to vet the registrations, and the group fires any employees who falsify information on voter registrations.

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Prospecting: Political Views and Giving Habits

Political conservatives give more to charity than liberals, according to a new study cited by Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online column about fund raising.

Plus: A fund raiser at a health charity seeks your advice on crafting an appeal.

Give and Take: A Charity's Approach to Video Gets Attention

Did Starbucks borrow a charity’s video? That is the question posed in a blog post cited in Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Online Transcript: Giving in Tough Times

Read the transcript of the live online discussion The Chronicle hosted today with Paul Brest, president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

You can also read more about what Mr. Brest and a colleague suggest grant makers and philanthropists should do during the downturn in an opinion article that will appear in the next issue of The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Campaign 2008: Philanthropy and Politics

As people throughout the nonprofit world go to the polls, we urge you to review the stands of the presidential candidates on issues of importance to charities and foundations in the special campaign section of our Web site.

Plus, we encourage you to contribute your thoughts on what the next president should do to aid nonprofit groups.

November 03, 2008

Aid Group Accuses Zimbabwe of Misspending Millions Intended to Fight Disease

Officials at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria have accused Zimbabwe of misspending $7.3-million the organization gave the country to fight diseases and refusing to return the money when the organization asked to have it back, reports The New York Times.

John Parsons, the nonprofit organization’s inspector general, said Zimbabwe’s actions have jeopardized a $188-million grant the organization was considering for Zimbabwe and have damaged the group’s efforts to expand life-saving treatment throughout Zimbabwe.

Global Fund officials say Zimbabwean financial officials have promised to return the money by Thursday. But Mr. Parsons said Zimbabwean officials also said they had not repaid the money because they did not have enough foreign currency.

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National Charity Dissolves Seattle Affiliate After Fight Over Property

The American Lung Association has ordered its regional affiliate in Seattle, the American Lung Association of the Northwest, to stop using the charity’s name and hand over all its assets to the national charity, the Associated Press reports.

The national lung group wants to take over the ownership of the affiliate’s $3.2-million Seattle headquarters, which it sold for $10 to a separate corporation established by Mike Alderson, director of the Northwest affiliate. The national association in September had ordered the Northwest group to take steps to follow the national lung group’s policies.

The newspaper said Mr. Alderson did not return calls for comment.

Boston's Community Foundation Gives Emergency Aid to Charities

The Boston Foundation last week made emergency grants to the Greater Boston Food Bank, Citizens Energy Corporation, the United Way, and the Red Cross to help the organizations deal with increased demand and tighter donations caused by the economic crisis, reports The Boston Globe.

“We’re trying to help the community rise to this occasion,” said Paul S. Grogan, chief executive of the Boston Foundation. “Of course, everyone’s worried about the state budget cuts as well and how severely those will diminish the capacity of the nonprofit sector. Just at the moment human need will be the greatest, the public-sector capacity to support these agencies is going to contract.”

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Medical-Aid Group Helps Displaced Congolese

While many other aid organizations are fearful of entering the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province, about 50 medical personnel from Doctors Without Borders, the international medical-aid group, have entered the territory to help some of the nearly 1 million people who have been forced to flee because of fighting between government and rebel troops, reports CNN.com.

Charity Benefits by Changing Perception of Thrift-Store Goods

While retail sales figures have plummeted in recent months, one national chain of charity thrift stores is seeing a rise in sales, reports a column in The New York Times Magazine.

In the first eight months of 2008, sales at Goodwill Industries International’s Goodwill stores in the United States and Canada (of which there are more than 2,200) increased by 7 percent over the same period last year, the magazine says.

The economy could play a role, the magazine says, but credit also goes to the charity’s efforts to change the perception of the organization as an outlet for shabby cast-offs. Local affiliates have been advertising the stores as a way to find chic and fashionable clothes and attracting customers who are interested both in helping others — and finding a new look.

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Campaign 2008: Philanthropy and Politics

As people throughout the nonprofit world prepare to go to the polls, we urge you to review the stands of the presidential candidates on issues of importance to charities and foundations in the special campaign section of our Web site.

Plus, we urge you to contribute your thoughts on what the next president should do to aid nonprofit groups.

From The Chronicle: Foundation Suspends a Grant-Making Effort

One of the nation’s largest philanthropies, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, announced last week that it was suspending its grant making in southern Africa after discovering “financial irregularities” in its operations there, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Government and Politics Watch

Twitter Vote Report an all-volunteer effort, is giving voters a high-tech way to report on their experiences at the polls this election season, reports Government and Politics Watch, The Chronicle’s online column.

Prospecting: Why Whining About a Lost Grant Is a Bad Idea

Charities can learn an important lesson about how to respond to the loss of a corporate grant from the experience one fund raiser had when she took a creative approach to dealing with bad news, reports Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online column on fund raising.

Give and Take: Bill Gates's New Think Tank

What philanthropy issues or causes would you like to see the technology mogul mull over in his new think tank, asks Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world?

Online Discussion Tomorrow: Talk to the Leader of a Major Foundation

Join The Chronicle for a live online discussion tomorrow to ask questions of Paul Brest, president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Mr. Brest is co-author of a new book Money Well Spent, which examines how grant makers and wealthy donors can achieve the best results from their philanthropy.

He will take your questions on what foundations, donors, and grant seekers should do in this tough economy, as well as anything else you want to talk about.

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