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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January 2009

January 30, 2009

European Court Strikes Down Key Barrier to Cross-Border Giving

The European Court of Justice said this week that rules to restrict tax breaks on charitable donations made by residents of European Union countries breach the principles of free movement of capital and are unlawful, reports The Financial Times.

Some countries had previously restricted the tax breaks that donors would traditionally receive for charitable donations if those donations were made outside the donor’s country of residence. These laws had been put in place to increase domestic spending and because “governments are often concerned about increased risk of tax avoidance and the difficulty of scrutinizing foreign charities,” reports the newspaper.

See The Chronicle’s article on efforts to break down barriers to giving among European countries.

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Food Charity's Compensation and Loans Under Scrutiny

Angel Food Ministries, a charity with headquarters in Good Hope, Ga., that sells discount groceries, paid almost $2.5-million in compensation in 2006 to the family that founded and operates the group, reports the York Daily Record, in Pennsylvania.

The group’s chief executive officer, Wesley Joseph Wingo, received a pay increase from $69,598 in 2005 to $588,529 in 2006. His family also borrowed money from the charity, owing more than $1-million in loans by the end of 2007, and the numbers are raising questions among charity watchdogs.

A spokesman for the group said that salaries were appropriate for a charity of its size and that the compensation and loans were intended to reduce personal debt the Wingo family incurred when it founded the organization.

Aid Trucks for Gaza Stranded in Egypt

More than two dozen trucks containing food and other goods intended for people in Gaza were stranded at the Egyptian border yesterday, reports the Associated Press. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency said aid shipments are hitting bottlenecks on Gaza’s borders with both Israel and Egypt, but Egyptian officials will not explain why trucks have had trouble entering Gaza through the country’s Rafah border crossing.

Egypt and Israel effectively sealed their borders with Gaza in 2007 after the militant Palestinian group Hamas seized control of the area.

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Illinois Hospital System Seeks to Settle Charity-Care Lawsuit

An Illinois hospital system this week agreed to refund money to patients who were needy but had been charged for their care, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Advocate Health Care, which operates eight hospitals in and around Chicago, said it would also explain its policy on providing free care more clearly.

The announcement comes as part of an effort to settle a lawsuit against the hospital chain. A judge must still approve the settlement.

Catholic Groups Reach Abuse Settlement

Thirteen men who said they were abused as students attending Briscoe Memorial School in Kent, Wash., have reached a $7-million settlement with the Seattle Roman Catholic Archdiocese, which owned the school, and the Congregation of Christian Brothers, the religious order that ran it, reports The Seattle Times.

Low-Cost Housing Groups Displeased by New York Budget Proposal

Several advocates and nonprofit developers of low-cost housing are opposed to plans by David A. Paterson, governor of New York, to use some surplus money from the Battery Park City Authority to shore up the state’s budget deficit, instead of using all of it to pay for low-priced and moderately priced housing in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, as Mayor Michael Bloomberg had intended, reports The New York Times.

The surplus was the main source of financing for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, created in 2007. Jeffrey Gordon, a spokesman for the state budget director, said the governor’s office does not intend to take surplus money away from the city but said the budget proposal entailed raising a total of $540-million by letting the authority issue up to $500-million in bonds. The other $40-million would come from the Battery Park City Authority surplus, and the state and the city would each receive $270-million to use as they see fit.

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Super Bowl Could Benefit Charity That Serves the Disabled

Officials of Allegheny Valley School, in Pennsylvania, will be watching the Super Bowl especially carefully on Sunday because a victory for the Pittsburgh Steelers could provide a significant increase in aid to the organization, reports The New York Times.

The nonprofit group, which operates several schools around the state to serve people with mental disabilities, stands to make money because of a gift it received in 1996 from a Pittsburgh broadcaster.

Myron Cope left the organization the trademark to the “terrible towel,” which he created to honor the team in 1975. The school serves his son, Danny.

Hundreds of thousands of the towels are sold to football fans each year, and the school gets $7 for every towel sold. If the Steelers win the Super Bowl contest against the Arizona Cardinals, sales of the towels are expected to soar. The last time the Steelers won, in 2005, the organization earned $1-million.

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Opinion: Harvard's Endowment Losses "Tip of the Iceberg"

Harvard’s endowment losses of $8-billion “might be only the tip of the iceberg of illiquid investments,” writes Edward Jay Epstein, a journalist and author, in a column for online magazine The Big Money.

Harvard’s money managers, writes Mr. Epstein, pursued an aggressive, nontraditional strategy that included hedge funds and other illiquid investments that made the money more difficult to recover once the economy collapsed.

“As late as June 2008, the fund kept almost no reserve of cash or Treasury bills and allocated a mere 6 percent of its money to fixed-interest bonds. It also borrowed more than $1-billion to amplify the returns on its less conventional investments. So by the time the bubble burst in the fall of 2008, only a small fraction of the endowment-fund investment was even under the jurisdiction of the SEC,” he writes.

Give and Take: Tallying the Losses in the Madoff Scandal

Nearly 150 foundations were hurt by the investment scandal involving Bernard Madoff, according to a report cited in Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Plus:

Why charity workers are too afraid to talk about efforts that fail

Notable books on social entrepreneurship

Government and Politics Watch: IRS Offers Advice

In a revised guide for taxpayers, the Internal Revenue Service explains how volunteers can deal with mileage deductions, handle transfers from individual retirement accounts to charities, and many other issues, reports Government and Politics Watch, The Chronicle’s online column.

Prospecting: Recruiting New Donors

Should charities curb efforts to send mail appeals to potential donors — and focus on loyal givers — as the recession deepens? That topic was discussed at a national meeting this week of direct-marketing fund raisers, reports Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online column.

Online Discussion Next Week: Special Fund-Raising Events

Join us on Tuesday, February 3, at noon Eastern time for a live online discussion about the best ways to make walkathons, silent auctions, and other special events more lucrative.

This discussion comes as many people in the nonprofit world fear that the recession will make it more difficult for organizations to attract participants and sponsors and to generate donations.

How can you make your event seem worthwhile in the current economy? What steps can you take to promote your event? What can you do during and after the event to convert some of your participants into active donors and volunteers?

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: Innovations, a New Column

In a new column focused on nonprofit innovations, The Chronicle examines a lending program by the Lemelson Foundation.

January 29, 2009

Obama Reportedly Taps Young Pastor to Lead 'Faith-Based' Efforts

Joshua DuBois, a 26-year-old Pentecostal preacher and Obama campaign adviser, has been named to head the new administration’s office of faith-based initiatives, The New York Times reports, citing unnamed religious leaders.

The revamped and renamed Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships is expected to have a broader mandate under President Obama, overseeing distribution of grants to religious and community groups but also looking for other ways to involve such agencies in solving social problems.

Mr. DuBois, who holds a master’s degree in public and international affairs from Princeton University, left law school to go to work for then-Senator Obama. During the presidential transition he consulted with religious and charity groups on the contentious question of rescinding a Bush administration ruling that allows religious groups that receive federal funds to hire only people of their own faith.

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New Jersey Sues to Shutter Ground-Zero Charity

New Jersey state agencies have filed suit to dissolve a foundation to aid ill World Trade Center rescue workers, alleging the organization’s founders spent $75,000 in donations on personal expenses, reports The Star-Ledger, of Newark.

According to the state’s attorney general and consumer-affairs office, Frederick Parisi and his mother, Jean Street, paid for mortgages, meals, medical appointments, and private-school tuition with money solicited for their 9/11 Rescue Workers Foundation, of Kinnelon. Mr. Parisi, who is currently facing unrelated fraud and theft charges, denied any wrongdoing in connection with the charity.

Tough Times Cost ACLU and NARAL Jobs

Buffeted by the recession and the Bernard Madoff scandal, the American Civil Liberties Union has laid off 10 percent of its staff members nationwide and introduced other cost-cutting measures, The Washington Post reports.

ACLU’s executive director, Anthony D. Romero, cited reduced donations and grants, including money from two foundations that were “wiped out” by their Madoff investments.

NARAL Pro-Choice America also confirmed staff cuts to the Post’s political blog 44. Ted Miller, the abortion-rights group’s communications director, declined to specify the level of layoffs.

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Alumni Group Urges Harvard Endowment-Manager Bonuses Be Refunded

A group of 10 Harvard alumni wants the university’s endowment, which has lost more than $8-billion since the end of the last fiscal year, to seek the return of $21-million in bonuses paid to money managers, The Boston Globe reports.

The 1969 graduates sent a letter of protest to Harvard President Drew Faust over the payments, which were disclosed last month. From June 30 to October 31 Harvard’s endowment shrunk from $36.8-billion to $28.7-billion, and Faust has warned of an overall 30-percent drop by the end of this fiscal year.

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Update: Brandeis President Says School May Keep Art

Brandeis University President Jehuda Reinharz remains committed to closing the school’s Rose Art Museum but has broached the possibility of keeping its $350-million collection, reports The Boston Globe.

Meeting Wednesday with about 200 students, Mr. Reinharz said Brandeis might not need to sell the modern-art trove if its economic and philanthropic situation improves. “We have no particular mandate from the board of trustees as to when to sell, how to sell,” he told the Globe in an interview.

University administrators disclosed at the meeting that Brandeis’s endowment has declined more than 20 percent, from $712-million to $549-million.

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Network Formed to Aid Madoff Victims

A new charitable network is slated to announce today the creation of a “crisis loan fund” to help nonprofit groups affected by Bernard Madoff’s alleged $50-billion Ponzi scheme, The Wall Street Journal reports on its blog The Wallet.

The Jewish Network Fund will start with $5-million to be distributed to smaller charities that invested with Madoff or lost grants from organizations that did so. “I don’t think that we have any illusions that we’re correcting the problem that was inflicted on the not-for-profit community as a result of this scandal,” the fund’s president, Mark Charendoff, said. “We’re trying in our own way to make a contribution.”

Give and Take: Refugee-Camp Simulation

Opinions are divided about an effort to get participants at this year’s World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, to empathize with impoverished refugees by offering them an opportunity to experience, if only for an hour or so, what it feels like to live in a refugee camp, cross a minefield, and face an attack by violent rebels, reports Give & Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Plus:

The less-visible fund-raising losses caused by the recession

Concerns about selling the ‘no-plumbing disease’

Why endowing newspapers won’t save journalism

Government and Politics Watch: Senator's Response to Stimulus Request

In a statement to the news media, Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said that charities should seek support from foundations and other donors before asking for financial aid from the government, notes Government and Politics Watch, The Chronicle’s online column.

Plus: Senator says he’s won support for increasing the mileage deduction for volunteers.

Prospecting: Fund-Raising Jobs Update

In what may be the latest sign that the job market for fund raisers is shrinking, a Bethesda, Md., executive recruiting firm is opening a new service that will place experienced development officers in temporary positions, notes Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online column.

From The Chronicle: House Approves Economic-Stimulus Bill

The economic-stimulus package approved last night by the House of Representatives would provide new money to an array of health and social-services programs, offering some relief to charities that are facing rising demand and shrinking revenues as the economic crisis deepens, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Online Discussion Next Week: Special Fund-Raising Events

Join us on Tuesday, February 3, at noon Eastern time for a live online discussion about the best ways to make walkathons, silent auctions, and other special events more lucrative.

This discussion comes as many people in the nonprofit world fear that the recession will make it more difficult for organizations to attract participants and sponsors and to generate donations.

Our experts will answer those questions and more. Details will be posted soon at http://philanthropy.com/live.

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

Correction: Economic-Stimulus Package

The Chronicle incorrectly reported that the House and Senate versions of the economic-stimulus package proposed allocating money to YouthBuild USA, a nonprofit group in Somerville, Mass. In fact, the money would go to YouthBuild, a program operated by the U.S. Labor Department that provides grants to groups that train troubled young people in construction skills. YouthBuild USA supports the federal program by providing training, fund-raising, and other services, but it will not directly receive any stimulus money.

January 28, 2009

Private Schools See Decreased Enrollment and Donations

Private schools are looking for ways to cut costs as donations and enrollments decrease, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Schools are starting up diverse fund-raising efforts and cutting back on expenses like direct mail and catered food at meetings. Some parents are taking on loans to pay tuition. And suburban public schools are seeing heightened enrollment from children who have left private schools.

Theater Groups in Los Angeles Struggle With Economy

Nonprofit playhouses in the Los Angeles area that are facing decreased ticket sales and donations are trying to come up with creative ways to stay afloat, reports the Los Angeles Times.

“At a time like this, you have to talk about reducing ticket prices and providing more services to the community,” said actor Tim Robbins, artistic director of the Actors’ Gang. “Things are falling apart, and you can sit and whine and complain about it, or you can get out there and volunteer.” His group is considering adding a weekly “pay what you can” performance night to attract audiences.

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Boston Ballet Looks to Classes for Revenue and Future Patrons

The Boston Ballet, which is about to open a fourth location for its Center for Dance Education, hopes that the educational programs it offers for amateur dancers will pay off not only in class revenues but also in building a stronger pool of patrons and donors, reports The Boston Globe.

The ballet receives about 17 percent of its annual $25-million budget from school revenues. The group’s artistic director, Mikko Nissinen, has commissioned a study by the Harvard Business School to analyze, for the first time, the relationship between the school and the dance company.

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Update: Outcry Over Brandeis Plan to Close Museum

Brandeis University’s plan to close its Rose Art Museum has angered the museum’s board, its director, and art experts, who say that the university is cannibalizing its cultural heritage to pay its bills, reports The New York Times.

“This is one of the artistic and cultural legacies of American Jewry,” said Jonathan Lee, the chairman of the museum’s board of overseers, who said that “nobody at the museum — neither the director nor myself nor anyone else — was informed of this or had any idea what was going on,” reports the newspaper.

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Opinion: Newspapers Should Become Nonprofit-Owned

Newspaper companies should become nonprofit, endowed groups, like colleges and universities, to survive, write David Swensen, chief investment officer at Yale, and Michael Schmidt, a Yale financial analyst, in a column for The New York Times.

“By endowing our most valued sources of news, we would free them from the strictures of an obsolete business model and offer them a permanent place in society, like that of America’s colleges and universities. Endowments would transform newspapers into unshakable fixtures of American life, with greater stability and enhanced independence that would allow them to serve the public good more effectively,” they write.

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Obituary: Martin Delaney, AIDS Activist

Martin Delaney, an AIDS advocate who challenged the government and drug companies to expedite access to experimental treatments in the early days of the epidemic, died last week of liver cancer at his home in San Rafael, Calif., reports The New York Times. He was 63.

Mr. Delaney founded the nonprofit group Project Inform, in San Francisco, which disseminated information about experimental drugs for AIDS.

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Government and Politics: Economic-Stimulus Package

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved part of the proposed economic-stimulus package on Tuesday, including spending that would help nonprofit groups weather the recession and meet rising demand for social services, notes Government and Politics Watch, The Chronicle’s online column.

Give and Take: Debate Over Knight Foundation Grants

An effort by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, in Miami, to support local news is raising questions about the growing role of philanthropic support for the American press, reports Give & Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Plus: AmeriCorps alumni share inaugural memories on new blog.

From The Chronicle: National Heritage Foundation Files for Bankruptcy

The National Heritage Foundation, a Virginia charity ordered last fall to pay millions of dollars to donors who claimed to have been misled by the organization, has filed for bankruptcy, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

From The Chronicle: Charities Feel the Credit Crunch

Nonprofit organizations are in for a tough year of tightening credit markets and a deepening recession, according to two new reports from Moody’s Investors Service, a credit-rating agency, in New York, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Correction: Endowment Reports

A headline for one of the summaries in Tuesday’s Philanthropy Today was incorrect. It should have read, “Reports Show College Endowments Post Steepest Drop Since 1970s.”

January 27, 2009

Reports Show College Endowments Post Steepest Drop Since 1970s

Two reports have found that colleges and universities have experienced the sharpest drop in endowment values since the mid-1970s, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education and The New York Times.

The reports, conducted by the National Association of College and University Business Officers and TIAA-CREF Asset Management, found that college endowments earned an average return of minus-3 percent for the 2008 fiscal year and approximately minus-22.5 percent in the five months after that.

However grim performances were, the reports also found that more than half of all college endowments ended their fiscal year in June with larger endowments than they had a year earlier, with an average increase of 0.5 percent.

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

Smithsonian Secretary Announces Budget Cuts

G. Wayne Clough, the Smithsonian Institution’s new leader, announced on Monday that the organization has adopted a hiring freeze, has eliminated raises and bonuses for some of its highest-paid employees, and has asked several departments to trim their budgets by at least 5 percent, reports The Washington Post.

The institution’s endowment is down 25 percent. At the ceremony, Mr. Clough said, “To be successful, we must be innovative, disciplined, focused, nimble, and more self-reliant than in the past.” The Smithsonian is conducting a major capital campaign.

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Brandeis to Close Art Museum Amid Budget Crisis

Brandeis University has announced it will close its Rose Art Museum and is mulling other measures to cope with a severe budget crunch, reports The Boston Globe.

The university is facing a budget deficit that may be as large as $10-million. The art museum has 6,000 artworks, including pieces by Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol.

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Frozen Credit and Government Payments Leave Nonprofit Groups Struggling

Many nonprofit organizations are struggling to survive as banks cut their lines of credit and state governments are delaying payments to charities, reports The New York Times.

According to the School of Social Service Administration, at the University of Chicago, almost 75 percent of nonprofit organizations receive some kind of government support. The state of Illinois has been as late as 150 days in issuing reimbursements, and California has told nonprofit groups to expect i.o.u.’s instead of payments beginning next month.

Normally, lines of credit help charities get by while they wait for government money, but the economic crunch has made banks hesitant to provide loans.

For more on the credit crisis facing nonprofit groups, read the Chronicle article.

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

Grants From Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund Lower in 2008

The Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund said its donors recommended grants that totaled $1.08-billion in 2008, down from grants that exceeded $1.17-billion in 2007, reports The Boston Globe.

Incoming contributions to the fund decreased by 43 percent, to $1.05-billion in 2008, from $1.85-billion in 2007.

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Advice for Donors Who Cannot Fulfill Pledges

Because of the economic crisis, some donors are unable to fulfill multiyear pledges or make annual contributions, but they are urged to consider alternative forms of giving, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Various philanthropic advisers who talked to the newspaper say that donors should look into pledge deferrals, such as reducing the amount of the donation, stretching the pledge out over a longer period of time, or redirecting a smaller portion to a more pressing need within the charity.

Opinion: Corporate Social Responsibility Arises Out of Need to Do Good

More than just creating good publicity and bolstering recruitment, an opinion piece in the Financial Times says that corporate social responsibility may simply stem from the fact that it makes executives feel better about themselves.

The article discusses Bill Gates, who has left Microsoft to pursue philanthropy full time, as a prime example of such behavior.

Michael Skapinker, the article’s author, writes, “Few can afford to turn their backs on full-time work as young as Mr. Gates did. Not having his wealth, they use their companies’ instead. That may sully what the critics see as companies’ only proper objective but, as vital as profit is, it seems insufficient to give people the fulfillment they crave.”

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Give and Take: Bill Gates on Climate Change

In his annual letter, which was released this week, Bill Gates, the co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, applauds the growing interest in climate change because droughts, floods, and other extreme weather conditions will primarily hurt people in impoverished countries, reports Give & Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Prospecting: the Absurdity of the 'Pre-Ask"

The vice president of marketing at Network for Good calls into question the concept of trying to gradually warm up donors to your cause before asking for a contribution, notes Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online column.

Transcript: Inside the Mind of a Top Donor

See a transcript of our online discussion today on how some of the nation’s most prominent philanthropists decide which nonprofit groups are most worthy of their donations.

From The Chronicle: Coalition Cancels Nonprofit Conference

The National Council of Nonprofits has called off the 2009 Nonprofit Congress conference, which had been scheduled to take place in New Orleans in May, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

January 26, 2009

Investment Manager Is Accused of Stealing $25-Million

A former chief executive of the footwear company Reebok International filed a lawsuit against his longtime investment manager, accusing him of stealing more than $25-million from his business and charitable foundations, according to The Boston Globe.

The lawsuit, filed in Florida’s Palm Beach County by Paul Fireman, charges that Arnold Mullen, who worked for Mr. Fireman for 20 years, laundered millions of dollars through partnerships and business entities that he had set up.

Neither Mr. Fireman nor Mr. Mullen could be reached for comment.

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Texas to Investigate Nonprofit Hospitals' Costs

Texas legislators are asking nonprofit hospitals in the state to submit audited data about the care they provide and the way state and federal money is spent to determine the true value of hospital care, according to Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

State Sen. Jane Nelson, a Republican who has supported the inquiry, said in a statement, “We need to be reimbursing our hospitals fairly for the uncompensated care they provide. But we also have a responsibility to the taxpayer, which means more transparency and consistency is needed.”

Hospital leaders have objected to the way that the legislature is defining and calculating the cost of charity care and say it is inconsistent with current state laws.

Harlem Children's Zone Is Hit by the Recession

A New York charity praised by President Obama as a model he hopes to see spread to other American cities is struggling with budget issues as its corporate donations decline, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Harlem’s Children’s Zone, an organization serving 8,000 children that has seen its budget grow by 15 percent annually in eight of the past nine years, recently had to cut 10 percent of its staff, with the possibly of more layoffs looming in coming months.

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Emergency-Food Charities Look to Modernize

Soup kitchens and food pantries, which have worked the same way for decades, are beginning to change the way that they operate to better serve America’s estimated 35 million hungry people, according to The Washington Post.

Changes include making more efforts to provide food to people’s homes and work and limiting costs by making use of existing facilities such as school cafeterias.

“We need to be adapting to future needs, not building the same things but bigger,” says Robert Egger, president of D.C. Central Kitchen, a Washington charity.

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Arts Groups to Obama: Don't Forget About Us

Arts leaders are urging the new Obama administration to remember cultural institutions during the economic-recovery efforts, according to The New York Times.

Arts groups are urging federal departments such as transportation and labor to factor culture into their financing, and arts executives are hoping for more direct funding.

“We wanted to make sure arts were not left out of the recovery,” said Robert L. Lynch, president of Americans for the Arts, a lobbying group. “The artist’s paycheck is every bit as important as the steelworker’s paycheck or the autoworker’s paycheck.”

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British Broadcasters Refuse to Air Gaza Charity Appeal

Despite criticism, two major British broadcasters refused to air a charity appeal for the victims of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, reports Reuters.

The BBC and Sky cited the need to be objective in their decision not to air the appeal from the Disasters Emergency Committee, a coalition of 13 major British charities. A spokeswoman for the committee said the money raised would be directed to Palestinian rather than Israeli victims of the conflict.

Obituary: Robert Gumbiner, HMO Pioneer and Philanthropist

Robert Gumbiner, a physician who founded an early nonprofit health-maintenance organization and later used his fortune to start the Museum of Latin American Art, in Long Beach, Calif., died of cancer last week, reports the Los Angeles Times. He was 85.

In a 2007 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Dr. Gumbiner spoke about the connection between his creation of FHP International, the health organization he founded in 1962, and his museum, which he started in 1996. “I know something about building things,” he said. “In my former career, I built 55 medical centers and four hospitals in nine states.”

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From The Chronicle: America's 50 Top Donors

America’s 50 biggest donors pledged $15.5-billion to charity last year, doubling the 2007 total despite the woeful state of the economy, according to the latest edition of The Chronicle’s Philanthropy 50, which was released this morning.

You can read a summary of trends in giving by America’s wealthy plus listen to audio excerpts from interviews with fund raisers who specialize in seeking gifts from rich people.

Plus: Join us for an online discussion tomorrow with one of the donors on the list, Lorry I. Lokey.

Mr. Lokey, who has appeared on The Chronicle’s list of the donors who give the most in each of the past nine years, will offer insights into how you should approach wealthy donors in this difficult economy.

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

Read the New Issue of The Chronicle

The newest issue of The Chronicle is now online. You can see all the articles that were posted today in our table of contents.

January 23, 2009

Johns Hopkins University Raises $3.7-Billion

Officials at the Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, announced last night that the institution had raised $3.7-billion in a fund-raising campaign that stretched more than eight years, reports The Washington Post.

The amount represents the second-largest total ever raised in a university fund-raising campaign in the United States. Only Stanford University has exceeded Hopkins’s total, with more than $3.8-billion raised as of August.

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Veterans Get Help From Web-Based Nonprofit Groups

Injured and disabled veterans in need can turn to a range of newly created, Web-based nonprofit groups for assistance, but some say these emerging groups are a sign that the government should be doing more for soldiers, reports National Public Radio.

The Web site USA Together allows donors to make direct contributions to veterans and their families, to assist with household needs such as food and appliances, or to give cash to help with mortgage payments or college tuition. The government currently offers a huge range of benefits to veterans, but many vets do not know about the opportunities, and it often takes months or years to receive benefits once the vets apply.

“If our [federal support] system were ideally able to meet all the needs, then we wouldn’t have the need for these organizations springing up,” says Peter Gaytan, the American Legion’s director of national veterans affairs.

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

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New York State Proposes Abolishing Aid to Zoos

New York’s proposed state budget would eliminate money for its 76 zoos, botanical gardens, and aquariums, reports The New York Times.

The news comes after a 55-percent reduction this fiscal year.

Jeffrey Gordon, a spokesman for the State Division of the Budget, said the reductions were needed to help close a combined projected gap of $15.4-billion for fiscal 2009 and 2010, and that state officials preferred to focus resources on general capital projects rather than on operating support, reports the newspaper.

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Carnegie Hall Announces Spending Cuts

Carnegie Hall announced it would reduce the number of its events next season by about 10 percent because of a decline in its endowment and donations, reports The New York Times.

Clive Gillinson, the organization’s president, said that he had cut costs by about $4-million this season to bring the budget to $76-million and keep it balanced. The cuts included canceling projects that have not been announced, instituting a hiring freeze, and ending the practice of giving dinners for the Met Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic, reports the newspaper.

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Atlanta Opera Meets Fund-Raising Goal Early

The Atlanta Opera reached its $10.9-million goal early for its capital campaign, which began in October 2006, but it must raise another $1.8-million by June to balance its budget for the current fiscal year, reports the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

U.N. Warns Food Aid May Cease in Somalia

Officials at the United Nations World Food Program said yesterday that they would be forced to end food distribution in Somalia unless armed groups stop attacking their staff members there, reports Reuters.

Humanitarian workers have repeatedly been targets during a two-year rebellion by Islamist insurgents that has killed more than 16,000 civilians and uprooted one million others, reports the news service.

Opinion: Volunteers Will Help Save Economy

President Obama and Congress should bolster nonprofit groups and the job market in the economic recovery plan by expanding the number of low-paying, “volunteer” jobs with groups such as AmeriCorps, write John Bridgeland, president of Civic Enterprises, a public-policy consulting firm in Washington, and Bruce Reed, president of the Democratic Leadership Council, reports The New York Times.

“As Americans have proven in times of crisis, what we ask of ourselves matters a great deal. If we want to create the most jobs for the lowest cost with the least bureaucracy and foster the spirit of sacrifice that the president envisions, the economic recovery plan should find a place for more Americans to do good works in hard times,” they write.

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Give and Take: Foundation Disclosures

Foundations should disclose to the public the percentage of assets they are giving in response to the economic crisis, urges a nonprofit expert in an item summarized in Give & Take, a roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Plus:

Nonprofit workers are urged to contribute their ideas for the Obama administration.

A food bank has won a contest President Obama sponsored to call attention to community service.

Chronicle readers have submitted many new images about events this week to mark the inauguration of Barack Obama and promote community service.

Prospecting: Fund-Raising Events

What’s the best way to handle a friend or relative’s request for a donation? The former chief executive of the Gates Foundation and her daughter have offered their suggestions in a new online advice column on giving, reports Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online column.

Online Discussion Next Week: What Motivates Top Donors

Join us for an online discussion on Tuesday, January 27, during which you can pose questions directly to one of the most-generous donors in America, Lorry I. Lokey.

The discussion comes one day after The Chronicle releases its annual list of the 50 people who gave the most to charitable causes last year. You’ll find that list online Monday morning at http://philanthropy.com.

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: Promoting Public Service

As President Obama’s pledge to expand public service stimulates a range of proposals, one that has gained traction is to create a public-service academy that would offer the same kind of training ground as the nation’s military academies. In an opinion article to be published in The Chronicle’s next issue, Pablo Eisenberg, a regular columnist for The Chronicle, says the idea makes little sense — and has not attracted the kind of serious questioning it should. You can read the article now and add your thoughts about the proposal.

January 22, 2009

Illinois First Lady Fired From Charity

Illinois first lady, Patti Blagojevich, was dismissed Tuesday from her job as director of development at the Chicago Christian Industrial League, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

Ms. Blagojevich’s husband, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, faces federal charges that he used his political office for personal benefit, charges he has denied. Ms. Blagojevich has not been charged with any crime.

“She did a good job, but the circumstances made it very difficult for her,” a source on the league’s board told the newspaper. “It’s pretty clear her ability to raise funds for the league would be hampered by headlines, and news media camping out in front of the league waiting to question her didn’t help,” another source told the paper.

Brooklyn Music Academy Aims Big, Despite Challenges

While most arts organizations across the city are coping with the difficult economic climate by scaling back, officials at the Brooklyn Academy of Music will announce Wednesday that the group has begun a $300-million expansion project that aims to create a new theater, several spaces for screening films, new festivals for opera and Muslim culture, and a strengthened endowment, reports The New York Times.

“Announcing this campaign is not meant to be arrogant. It’s going to be very hard; we have a huge job to do,” said Karen Brooks Hopkins, president of the academy, acknowledging the recent losses among the investment portfolios of many New Yorkers and corporations.

More than half of the money — $160-million — has already been raised, including $22.5-million from the city and $10-million from Jeanne Donovan Fisher, the widow of Richard B. Fisher, who served as chairman of the academy’s endowment trust.

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Boston Hospitals Challenged to Pay Bigger Share of Property Tax

According to a new report called “The Non-Profit City,” Boston’s major hospitals, which own $2.4-billion in tax-exempt property, pay only a fraction of the cost necessary to provide them with police, fire, and other services, reports The Boston Globe.

“They’re not paying their fair share,” said Mary Jo Connelly, director of research for Community Labor United, a coalition of union and activist groups that released the report. “In a time that everyone is sacrificing, it’s time for them to step up and start addressing these shortfalls.”

But hospital officials countered that the report does not take into account the many local benefits that the institutions provide and that would otherwise fall to the city to pay for.

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Judge Revises Ruling About Lung Association Chapter

King County Superior Court judge, Regina Cahan, has revised a decision she made two weeks ago to close the Northwest chapter of the American Lung Association, reports the Associated Press.

Ms. Cahan said her ruling — which stipulated that the chapter could not spend money or use the association’s name while it was involved in a dispute with group’s national office — was too harsh. This week Ms. Cahan said the Northwest chapter could resume its operations and continue using the American Lung Association name. The two groups are expected to start court-ordered mediation next month to resolve the dispute.

Opinion: Conservatives Give More Than Liberals

President Barack Obama’s recent call to “a new era of responsibility” is one that conservatives have already responded to, says Arthur C. Brooks in an opinion article in The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Brooks cites studies over the past several years as evidence that those on the political right are more charitable than those on the left, a pattern that he says increased in 2008. Furthermore, he says that conservatives also decrease their giving less than liberals do during times of economic distress.

To read more about Mr. Brooks’s views on the topic, see The Chronicle’s profile of him. You can also see the Chronicle study he refers to in his article.

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Obituary: Woodward A. Wickham, former MacArthur Official

Woodward A. Wickham, who managed about $25-million in annual grants for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, died of cancer Sunday, reports the Chicago Tribune. He was 66.

Mr. Wickham joined the MacArthur Foundation in 1990 as a vice president and senior program adviser. He managed the foundation’s grants to public television and independent media.

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From The Chronicle: Value of Foundation Assets Down Nearly 30%

The steep decline in the stock market last year triggered an erosion of foundation wealth, with many grant makers losing nearly one-third of their assets, according to a new Chronicle survey of the nation’s largest philanthropies.

Government and Politics Watch: Obama Asked to End Bush Policies

President Obama is expected to scrap a rule that prevents government money from supporting family-planning groups that counsel women overseas about the availability of abortion, notes Government and Politics Watch, The Chronicle’s online column.

Plus: In a top-10 list of Bush administration executive orders that President Obama should scrap immediately, Slate magazine says, No. 8 is Mr. Bush’s rule that allows religious charities that receive federal money to discriminate in hiring based on religion.

Give and Take: iPhone Applications for Charity

The blog Have Fun, Do Good offers a list of iPhone tools that benefit nonprofit groups, reports Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Plus: The head of Atlantic Philanthropies gives his take on this week’s presidential inauguration.

Prospecting: Obama's Impact on Charitable Fund Raising

One fund-raising consultant predicts that the inauguration of President Obama will lead to a bump in charitable giving, reports Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online fund-raising column.

January 21, 2009

CORRECTION

An item on the Chimes, a Baltimore charity, that was posted in Philanthropy Today on Tuesday has now been removed. The item was from 2003, and should not have been included in the summary of current news. The Chronicle of Philanthropy apologizes for the confusion that stemmed from the posting of an old article.

Colleges Quietly Raise Millions for Sports Endowments

More than two dozen colleges and universities are currently trying to raise a combined $2.3-billion for endowments exclusively designed to serve their athletic departments, according to a survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Eight programs told The Chronicle that they hope to bring in more than $100-million each, with one, the University of California at Berkeley, reporting that it is hoping to raise $500-million.

The trend is causing anxiety among other academic fund raisers, who are concerned that athletic departments may siphon off gifts desperately needed during a recession economy.

“The fact that athletics crosses all disciplines and colleges makes this more challenging, because they can go into any alumni base — engineering, pharmacy, sciences, and arts — to solicit estate gifts,” says David Cave, a senior major-gifts officer at the University of Michigan. “And they might have a certain edge because of their approaching donors with benefits.”

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Calif. Environmental Groups Suffer Freeze in Funds

A budget freeze in California has halted payments for about 1,100 nonprofit groups and commissions, resulting in delayed environmental-conservation projects, staff layoffs, and some closures, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Last month, the state’s top financial officials froze all state projects that rely on borrowed money. Most programs that rely on borrowing are likely to remain frozen until California’s Governor Schwarzenegger and the state legislature agree on how to close the state’s budget gap, reports the newspaper. The move stems from concern that investors are currently unwilling to lend California money.

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Many Donors Motivated by Desire to Impress Others

Public image is a strong motivator when it comes to charitable giving, according to a study by three researchers from Duke, Tel Aviv, and Columbia Universities, reports The Economist. But providing monetary incentives for people to donate time, money, or blood can actually be counterproductive when the giving is motivated by a desire for the donor to “look good” in the public eye, the article says.

In the paper, “Doing Good or Doing Well? Image Motivation and Monetary Incentives in Behaving Prosocially,” which will be published in the March 2009 edition of the American Economic Review, researchers found that donors were more likely to give more when their efforts were announced publicly to a group.

PETA's Inauguration Plans Marred by Bernard Madoff Connection

The nonprofit animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had planned to gain an audience with President Obama at yesterday’s inauguration festivities, but those plans fell through due to a connection with Bernard Madoff, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The group bought an inauguration package on eBay, sold by Paul Saulnier, a nonprofit director with ties to Fairfield Greenwich, a firm in Connecticut that invested with Mr. Madoff. However, when Fairfield Greenwich lost billions in investments, the tickets never materialized. Mr. Saulnier, director of the Chicago nonprofit group December Rain, which assists foster children with medical conditions, closed the charity last week after receiving death threats from angry auction winners.

Inauguration 2009: Building on Momentum of Obama's Call to Service

Teenagers are expressing an increased desire to get involved in community service following President Obama’s call for a new era of volunteerism, according to a new study by the Girl Scout Research Institute, reports The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

See all the latest news on how nonprofit groups are marking the inauguration of President Barack Obama, including a video about volunteer efforts in Washington and a new technology tool just unveiled to promote volunteerism.

We urge our readers to share their thoughts about how the Obama administration can help nonprofit groups achieve their goals. You may want to read the comments of a diverse range of nonprofit experts in a special feature from our archive.

Give and Take: Bono Hails President's Antipoverty Pledge

The singer Bono expresses his excitement for the Obama administration and its potential to fight global poverty in a video on the ONE Campaign’s blog, reports Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Prospecting: 2009 Fund-Raising Trends

Robert F. Sharpe, a planned-giving consultant in Memphis, says several trends will influence how generous donors are in 2009 and beyond, reports Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online fund-raising column.

From The Chronicle: Gates Gives $255-Million to Antipolio Effort

As part of a massive philanthropic push to eradicate polio, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today gave $255-million to Rotary International to fight the deadly virus in Africa and South Asia, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Transcript: Getting Your Message Out

See a transcript of our online discussion today on how charities can communicate effectively with supporters, the news media, and local constituents about the challenges they face during a recession and the good work they perform.

January 20, 2009

Catholic Schools Nationwide Looking to Stem Falling Enrollments

Catholic schools nationwide are seeking to reinvent themselves in an effort to combat declining enrollments that threaten to close some institutions, according to The New York Times.

The Archdiocese of Chicago, as well as dioceses in Memphis, and Wichita, Kan., are experimenting with new ways to recruit students and pay for their tuition. The Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y., which this month proposed closing 14 of its elementary schools, is now recruiting parents and alumni to play bigger roles in managing parochial schools, alleviating pressure on the priests who have traditionally run those institutions single-handedly. The Archdiocese of Washington converted seven of its endangered schools into secular charter schools.

“It was taken for granted for a long time that Catholic schools would always be there,” said Karen M. Ristau, president of the National Catholic Educational Association, a lobbying group. “People are beginning to realize that this is a false assumption.”

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Bill Clinton's Foundation Continues to Raise Questions

A Republican Senator on Tuesday blocked a vote on Hillary Rodham Clinton’s nomination as secretary of state, citing ethical questions arising from donors to Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation, reports The New York Times.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas objected to including Mrs. Clinton’s name in a vote for several Cabinet nominees scheduled for this afternoon. However, Mrs. Clinton will have another chance tomorrow in a roll-call vote, which she is expected to win easily, the newspaper said.

Bill Clinton signed an agreement with the Obama transition team putting some limits on foreign donations to his foundation, as well as stipulating that he would disclose the names of new donors each year.

But Senator Cornyn, in a letter to Mrs. Clinton last Friday, said he remained worried that her diplomatic activities would be compromised “unless tighter foreign fund-raising restrictions and transparency protocols are adopted.”

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Getty Trust's Leader Heralds Organization's Growing Maturity

The J. Paul Getty Trust is entering “young adulthood,” says James N. Wood, the Los Angeles institution’s chief executive, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

Following the forced resignation of his predecessor, Barry Munitz, in the wake of charges of excessive spending and questionable practices, and the trial of its former antiquities curator, Marion True, on charges of trafficking in objects looted from European collections, Mr. Wood says the organization is looking toward a more orderly future.

“It’s been a hell of an adolescence: rich, painful and with fighting among siblings,” said Mr. Wood, who added that he hopes the Getty’s four branches will collaborate more often.

The Louvre to Set Up American-Style Endowment

The Louvre, the venerable Paris art museum, is starting an American-style endowment next month, seeded with $230-million it received to set up a satellite museum in Abu Dhabi, according to Bloomberg.com

Eighteen banks are competing to manage the fund. The Louvre, which is the first such organization in France to start an endowment, expects to receive $323-million more from Abu Dhabi by 2027.

Drug Companies and Hospitals Support an Institute to Honor Sen. Kennedy

A nonprofit educational institute in Boston that will honor the career of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, is benefiting from donations by drug companies, hospitals, and insurance firms, according to The Boston Globe.

The donors, which include the biotechnology firm Amgen and the hospital corporation Partners Healthcare, are helping to raise $20-million for the project. Senator Kennedy, who was diagnosed last year with a malignant brain tumor, has long championed health-care issues during his Senate career.

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Obituary: William Randolph Adams, 64, former head of St. Louis Symphony

William Randolph Adams, executive director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra from 2001 to 2007, died January 14 from pancreatic cancer, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He was 64.

Mr. Adams, whose background was in banking and management consulting as opposed to music, led a major financial overhaul of the orchestra during a period when it was close to bankruptcy, increasing the organization’s endowment from $18-million to $125-million.

Inauguration 2009: A Call to Serve Others

Politicians, celebrities, and nonprofit leaders gathered in Washington to urge Americans to take up President Obama’s call for a new era of community service, reports The Chronicle of Philanthropy

In addition, we have posted video about volunteer efforts in Washington on Monday, an update on pre-inauguration efforts by nonprofit groups, and a new technology tool to promote volunteerism unveiled to coincide with Monday’s service activities.

We urge our readers to share their thoughts about how the Obama administration can help nonprofit groups achieve their goals. You may want to read the thoughts of a diverse range of nonprofit experts in a special feature from our archive.

Online Discussion Tomorrow: Getting Your Message Out

With the economy in a recession, many nonprofit groups face an increased demand for their services. And they must meet this higher demand at a time when many of their financial supporters are cutting back.

This tension is prompting many organizations to step up their marketing and fund-raising efforts. Now, more than ever before, it is important that they communicate effectively with supporters, the news media, and their communities about the challenges they face and the good work they perform.

What can your organization do to make sure these efforts are meaningful? Whom should you try to reach? And how can you stretch your resources to make sure your messages gets to as many people as possible?

Join us for an online discussion on Wednesday, January 21, at 1 p.m. U.S. Eastern time when marketing and communications experts will be available to answer those and other questions.

(Note: Because of today’s presidential inauguration, we have moved the time of our weekly discussion. We will return to our normal Tuesday time next week for a discussion about pursuing wealthy donors at a time of recession.)

January 19, 2009

Legal-Aid Groups Face Money Woes

Legal-aid charities are starting to lay off workers and cut back services because of money woes, reports The New York Times.

The troubles come at a time when many such organizations say demands for help are surging.

Legal-aid groups get a significant part of their financing from short-term deposits that lawyers hold in trust for their clients. For instance, while a real-estate transaction is pending, the money is placed in an escrow account that earns interest, and the interest is then turned over to the legal-aid groups.

But now that federal interest rates have dropped, the money in the accounts is earning negligible sums, so legal-aid groups are losing out. In Connecticut, for example, 50 of 150 legal positions may be eliminated because of the decline in funds. In Massachusetts, one-fifth of legal-aid lawyers and paralegals may be laid off.

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Economy Poses Challenges for Churches

Churches across America face challenges as they seek to persuade recession-weary members to donate money to support social services and to pay for the basic operating costs of the churches, the Associated Press reports.

Many churches said their giving rose during the holidays compared with the previous year, but experts say they will still have budget trouble because demands for aid are rising so fast.

“Churches that give themselves away and are clear that’s what they’re about find a much more resilient and committed support pool,” said Allen Walworth, president of Generis, an Atlanta company that advises churches on fund raising. “If a church just seems to be serving itself and protecting itself, it’s going to fall off pretty quickly when people are making their own hard choices.”

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Fla. Charities Lose Money Invested With Hedge-Fund Manager

The disappearance of a money manager in Sarasota, Fla., raises questions for local charities that invested money with him, the Herald Tribune reports.

Art Nadel, who with two other people ran Scoop Management, a hedge fund, disappeared last week and left behind what might have been a suicide note. Federal authorities are investigating the possibility that the hedge fund has collapsed.

Several charities, including the YMCA in Sarasota and the Sarasota Ballet, said that Mr. Nadel’s partner, Neil Moody, made donations to their organizations on the condition that the groups keep their endowments invested with Scoop Management, the newspaper reported.

The Y lost $1.2-million, or 13 percent of its assets, by investing with Scoop. The chairman of the ballet’s board said $100,000 that Mr. Moody donated is now gone.

“This is going to prompt any nonprofit to look at all of its investments and do a head-to-toe look at what’s going on and where everything is,” Chris Pfahler, president of the ballet’s board said. “I think everybody is going to be doing that now.”

Mr. Moody was not quoted in the article.

Inauguration 2009: a Day of Community Service

Record numbers of people are poised to turn out today to participate in community-service projects, thanks to a push by President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, to encourage volunteering to commemorate Martin Luther King Day, reports The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

We’ll provide updates later today on how those volunteer events went, as well as highlights of other events to mark community service during the presidential inauguration on a special section of our Web site.

Plus, read about a foundation effort to send 24 Chicago youngsters to the inauguration. And read about the trip of the Boys Chorus and the Girls Chorus in San Francisco, both of which were invited to perform in tomorrow’s inaugural parade.

Online Discussion Wednesday: Getting Your Message Out

Join us for an online discussion on Wednesday, January 21, at 1 p.m. U.S. Eastern time when marketing and communications experts will be available to answer those and other questions.

(Note: Because of the presidential inauguration on January 20, we have moved the time of our weekly discussion.)

From The Chronicle: Foundation-Financed Poetry Festival Falls Victim to the Economy

Due to losses on the stock market, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation has been forced to cancel its 2010 poetry festival, a nationally recognized event that attracts thousands of poetry fans, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

From The Chronicle: How Barack Obama Can Help Charities Become Key Forces in the Economic Recovery

After he takes the oath of office tomorrow, one of Barack Obama’s first tasks will be to work with Congress to pass an economic-stimulus bill.

The stimulus plan House Democrats offered last week contains numerous ideas to benefit charities, and nonprofit leaders have plenty of additional proposals to suggest. In two opinion articles we have posted online today, nonprofit experts suggest their ideas, and we encourage you to add yours.

In one, Irv Katz, head of the National Human Services Assembly, urges nonprofit leaders to rally behind a government-financed expansion of the charity work force, while in the second one, Don Kramer and David Ross, who both work with nonprofit groups in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, offer three additional ways to expand giving and jobs at nonprofit organizations.

Plus, read many additional ideas published in our most recent issue, including essays by Lester Salamon, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University, and by Joel Fleishman and Edward Skloot, scholars at Duke University.

January 16, 2009

Economy's Woes Prompt Charity Layoffs and Other Changes

The economy continues to cause trouble for many charities

Medical Teams International, a relief agency with headquarters in Portland, Ore., laid off nine staff members this week, reports The Oregonian. The charity said its donations dropped 15 percent last year from 2007.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra laid off five of its 67 administrative staff members this week in an effort to save money, reports The Baltimore Sun. In addition, the organization will not be filling some open staff positions. Since September, the orchestra’s endowment has dropped 23 percent in value, to $47-million.

The Homelessness Prevention Program, a nonprofit group in New York that helps about 7,000 people fight eviction each year, will lose its state money in April, according to the proposed budget, reports The New York Times.

“This destroys the ability to keep housing for many, many people,” says Carolyn McLaughlin, executive director of the Citizens Advice Bureau, a nonprofit organization that oversees the Homelessness Prevention Program.

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Financier Who Invested Nonprofit Money With Madoff Subpoenaed

Andrew M. Cuomo, New York’s attorney general, has issued subpoenas in an effort to determine whether the financier J. Ezra Merkin defrauded universities and charities when he invested their money with Bernard Madoff, reports The New York Times.

Mr. Merkin managed the investments of 15 nonprofit groups, including New York University and Yeshiva University. Mr. Merkin allegedly invested charities’ money with Mr. Madoff without informing the groups.

Andrew J. Levander, Mr. Merkin’s lawyer, said, “We will fully cooperate with any investigation by the New York attorney general’s office.”

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CEO Steps Down at the Philadelphia Orchestra

James Undercofler stepped down as chief executive of the Philadelphia Orchestra on Wednesday, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Mr. Undercofler was originally scheduled to leave July 31. Frank P. Slattery Jr. will serve pro bono as acting director until the group finds a new leader. The move is designed to bring “stability” to a “chaotic” leadership atmosphere, said one key board member who asked that his name not be used, reports the newspaper. Mr. Slattery says he will be reviewing ways to increase revenue and cut costs.

Red Cross Workers Abducted in Philippines

Three workers from the International Committee of the Red Cross were abducted yesterday by men believed to be members of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group in the southern Philippines, reports the Associated Press.

Military and police officials say more than 24 people have been abducted in the same area since October and that in some cases, ransoms have been paid to abductors.

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Pakistan "Front" Charity Shut Down

Rehman Malik, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry’s top official, said on Thursday that Pakistan authorities had closed 20 offices, 94 schools, two libraries, and six Web sites linked to Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the charity that the U.N. Security Council says is a front for the militant group that India blames for killing 164 people in Mumbai last November, reports The Associated Press.

Officials at the Ministry also said that 71 leaders of the groups had been arrested and that another 124 had been placed under surveillance and must register their every move with police.

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Starbucks Encourages Volunteerism

Starbucks is commemorating next week’s inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama by asking customers to volunteer for at least five hours, reports the Associated Press.

The company is partnering for the effort with the HandsOn Network, a nonprofit group in Atlanta that encourages volunteerism. Customers who pledge to volunteer for five hours will receive a free coffee, reports the news service.

From The Chronicle: Benefits for Charities Included in Economic-Stimulus Plan

House Democrats unveiled an economic-stimulus package on Thursday that proposes billions of dollars in spending on Medicaid and other federal programs that will help nonprofit groups in cash-strapped states meet spiking demand for social services, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Prospecting: College Fund Raisers Predict Giving Decline

College fund raisers say donations will probably decline in 2009, reports Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online fund-raising column.

Plus: A tongue-in-cheek look at fund raising.

Give and Take: Community-Service Pledge

Even Stephen Colbert, the comedy talk-show host, has now signed the “Declaration of Service,” the pledge being promoted by ServiceNation, the coalition of mostly nonprofit groups that is pushing for more civic engagement, reports Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Inauguration 2009: Homeless Charity's Clients Invited to Inaugural Festivities

A foundation’s effort to ensure that low-income people can attend Tuesday’s presidential inauguration helped a Washington homelessness charity send its clients to the special event, notes Inauguration 2009, The Chronicle’s roundup of nonprofit events to mark the presidential transition.

Online Discussion Next Week: Making Your Message Matter

Join us for an online discussion on Wednesday, January 21, at 1 p.m. U.S. Eastern time when marketing and communications experts will be available to answer those and other questions.

(Note: Because of the presidential inauguration on January 20, we have moved the time of our weekly discussion.)

January 15, 2009

Higher Education Institutions Issue Bonds to Offset Endowment Losses

Major colleges and universities are taking on debt by issuing bonds to raise money after their endowments have seen significant declines in value in recent months, reports Bloomberg News.

Among those leading such efforts are Princeton University, which sold $1-billion in bonds this week, and Harvard University, which raised $1.5-billion with a bond issuance last month, the news agency reports. Harvard saw a 22-percent drop in its endowment in the first four months of its 2008-9 fiscal year, while Princeton’s fell 11 percent in the same period.

Gates and Allen Foundations Curb Growth and Reduce Giving Estimates

Two major Seattle foundations are lowering expectations for their finances and planned giving in 2009, reports The Seattle Times.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will increase spending just 10 percent in 2009, down from a 30-percent increase in 2008, the paper reports. Meanwhile, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation does not expect to increase spending in 2009, after having made a 24-percent cut in 2008.

Canadian Group's Charitable Status Revoked

The Canada Revenue Agency has revoked the charitable status of a large Toronto nonprofit group, saying the organization redirected its assets to two other charities in a tax-shelter arrangement, reports The National Post, in Toronto.

The Canadian counterpart to the Internal Revenue Service says the Millennium Charitable Foundation raised more than $169-million between 2003 and 2006 and redirected $114-million of it. Most of that money benefitted the organizers of the tax-shelter arrangement, the paper reports. Officials with the Millennium foundation did not comment in the story.

Opinion: Help for the Nonprofit World Would Lead to 'Double' Payoff

America’s new president and Congress should team up with the charitable world to invest in the country’s “most effective and efficient” nonprofit organizations, an effort that would have a “double” payoff, argue two Boston-area charity chief executives in a column in The Boston Globe.

Shoring up the struggling nonprofit world would not only retain jobs in that industry but also give it the resources needed to help others across the country, say Paul S. Grogan, chief executive officer of the Boston Foundation, and Eric Schwarz, chief executive of Citizen Schools.

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From The Chronicle: Inauguration 2009

Renew America Together, President-elect Barack Obama’s new community-service program, is sponsoring a video contest to promote the volunteer activities that will take place across the country on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 19, reports The Chronicle of Philanthropy its roundup of inauguration activities.

Plus: AmeriCorps will strut its stuff as part of the parade that follows the swearing-in ceremony on January 20.

Government and Politics Watch: Nonprofit Economic-Stimulus Proposals

Community foundations and arts groups are among those lobbying Congress and President-elect Barack Obama for aid as part of federal economic-stimulus measures, notes Government and Politics Watch, The Chronicle’s online column.

Plus:

A Senate aide says nonprofit boards could face questions about their groups’ Madoff investments.

A nonprofit tax expert urges the IRS to clarify its stance on governance practices.

A new bill would raise the rate for volunteers’ car use.

Give and Take: For-Profit 'Refugees' Need Not Apply

A charity executive has some choice words for “refugees from the for-profit world” who expect to find easy work at a nonprofit group, notes Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Plus:

The Seattle Times has started a philanthropy blog.

The drawbacks and benefits of “irrational” aid work.

From The Chronicle: Relief Groups Call Gaza Conditions 'Intolerable'

Relief officials say the safety situation has all but prevented the delivery of humanitarian aid in an area where poverty and hunger rates were already astronomically high, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Online Discussion Next Week: Making Your Message Matter

What can your organization do to make sure these efforts are meaningful? Who should you try to reach? And how can you stretch your resources to make sure your messages gets to as many people as possible.

Join us for an online discussion on Wednesday, January 21, at 1 p.m. U.S. Eastern time when marketing and communications experts will be available to answer those and other questions.

(Note: Because of the presidential inauguration on January 20, we have moved the time of our weekly discussion.)

January 14, 2009

Madoff Update: NY Attorney General Investigates 'People Who Defrauded Charities'

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo confirmed that his office is investigating “people who defrauded charities” in connection with Bernard Madoff’s alleged Wall Street pyramid scheme, the Bloomberg news service reports.

Said Mr. Cuomo: “We are looking at frauds in charities and people who defrauded” them. Mr. Madoff’s lawyer declined to comment on the announcement.

Matching-Gift and Employee-Volunteer Programs Cut

In an effort to cut costs, many companies are doing away with their charitable matching-gift and volunteer programs, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Over the past year, more than a dozen large companies have closed these types of programs, or significantly reduced the ratio of dollars donated to match employee contributions. Companies that have suspended or reduced their corporate matching-gift programs include Northrop Grumman, General Motors, Embarq, CSX, Procter & Gamble, Weyerhaeuser, IndyMac Bank, Pfizer, and R.H. Donnelley.

Senator Clinton Opposes Move to Require Additional Donor Disclosures

Hillary Rodham Clinton, the nominee for secretary of state, rejected calls from Congress to disclose additional information about the donors to her husband’s William J. Clinton Foundation, the Associated Press reports.

Senator Clinton said the organization had already revealed sufficient details about donors to overcome any concerns about conflicts of interest related to the federal post she is now seeking. Sen. Richard Lugar, of Indiana, was among those pushing to get the nonprofit group to immediately reveal information about all gifts of $50,000 or more, among other disclosures.

(Free registration is required to view this article in the Los Angeles Times.)

Update: Aid Agencies in Gaza

Aid agencies have resumed relief operations in Gaza but are still having trouble reaching those who need help, reports the Associated Press.

The United Nations announced Friday that it would resume aid deliveries in Gaza after receiving assurances from the Israeli Ministry of Defense that aid workers would be better protected.

IRS May Expand College Investigation

The Internal Revenue Service may expand its scrutiny of colleges and universities to include a look at money associated with academic research, federal financing, and intellectual property, a senior agency official said yesterday, reports The New York Times.

As part of the current investigation, questionnaires were sent to 400 private and public universities and colleges asking about their executive compensation and business activities. The expansion of the investigation may take the form of an additional questionnaire, said Lois G. Lerner, the agency’s director of exempt organizations, and would most likely examine universities’ investments in offshore hedge funds.

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Google Plans Inauguration Party to Benefit Nonprofit Groups

Google will hold a bipartisan inauguration party at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, in Washington, where the cost of admission will be attendees’ donations to five nonprofit groups, which the company will match, reports The New York Times.

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Opinion: Fixing the New York City Opera

The New York City Opera should fix its financial woes by quickly finding a new leader and moving out of its too-large home, the State Theater, in favor of becoming a “reduced and nomadic City Opera,” according to a column by Justin Davidson in New York Magazine.

Also: New York’s small Amato Opera — which has for 60 years “provided a welcome forum for young singers and up-and-coming professionals to try out repertory and gain stage experience, as well as for serious amateurs who want to keep singing” — will shut down after this season, reports The New York Times.

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Government and Politics: IRS Releases New Podcasts

The Internal Revenue Service has released a series of new podcasts to help charities, businesses, and individuals during the 2009 tax-filing season, notes Government and Politics Watch, The Chronicle’s online column.

Give and Take: An Argument Against a White House Office of the Arts

A nonprofit consultant argues against a proposal that has gained momentum in recent weeks to create a White House Office of the Arts, notes Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Plus:

A ranking of the world’s think tanks.

A plea for better security training for nonprofit international-aid workers.

From The Chronicle: A Food Bank's 12% Gain in Hard Times

The Food Bank for New York City closed out 2008 with a 12-percent gain in donations, thanks to a strong finish in December, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

For more on how the organization made such a jump, view the Chronicle’s online video report:

And to learn how other charities fared during the year-end fund-raising season, read the Chronicle’s special report.

January 13, 2009

Sen. Clinton Accused of Working on Behalf of Husband's Donors

Secretary of State nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton faces issues regarding conflict of interest as an analysis of her official letters by the Associated Press shows that she intervened at least six times on government affairs that affected companies and donors that later gave to her husband’s foundation, the William J. Clinton Foundation.

The news service says that three of the New York Democratic senator’s government letters overlap with donations that involve pharmaceutical companies and telecommunications and energy interests. Both Mrs. Clinton and her husband’s foundation declined to comment on whether she tried to avoid working on issues that affected donors who gave to the foundation or to screen money from donors on whose behalf she worked.

Sen. Richard Lugar, of Indiana, the Foreign Relations Committee’s senior Republican, said at Mrs. Clinton’s confirmation hearing today that the ‘‘work of the Clinton foundation is a unique complication that will have to be managed with great care and transparency.’‘ He also said that the Clinton foundation should no longer accept money from foreign governments.

(Free registration is required to view this article on the New York Times site.)

Stanford Energy Institute Receives Big Gifts

Two large gifts have been made toward a $100-million energy research institute at Stanford University that will develop cheaper solar cells and ways to use electricity more efficiently and prevent the buildup of greenhouse gases, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The institute will be called the Precourt Institute for Energy.

Jay Precourt, a Stanford alumnus who has worked for Hamilton Oil and Tejas Gas Corporation, has donated $50-million toward the institute.

The institute has also received $40-million from Thomas Steyer and his wife, Kat Taylor. Mr. Steyer is founder and a managing partner of Farallon Capital Management as well as a managing director of the Hellman & Friedman private-equity firm.

Mr. Steyer is a Stanford trustee, and both he and his wife graduated from the university. The gift will also support faculty positions and graduate-student fellowships.

President-Elect Obama to Keep Estate Tax

President-elect Barack Obama plans to prevent repeal of the estate tax in 2010, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The tax was to be eliminated next year under a law Congress passed in 2001. Fund raisers follow the estate tax closely, according to The Chronicle, because many donors make large charitable bequests in part to avoid estate taxes. Repeal of the tax could remove that incentive to give.

The Obama plan would call for the estate tax to be frozen at its current levels, which exempts estates of $3.5-million — $7-million for couples — from any taxation. Estates above that amount would be taxed at 45 percent.

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Yale's Chief Investment Officer to Stay the Course

The endowment of Yale University has dipped 25 percent due to the economic downturn, but setbacks will not alter the institution’s strategy, David Swensen, Yale’s chief investment officer, tells The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Swensen, who has been widely praised for his stewardship of the university’s assets, says his organization insists on “complete transparency” from the hedge funds with which it invests, although many such funds conceal the details of their activity from investors. “If they won’t trust us with that information, why should we trust them with our money?” he asks.

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Bill Gates Responds to Critics of His Foundation

Bill Gates, now a few months into his retirement from Microsoft, defends his foundation against critics, including those who say the organization needs more accountability, in an interview with the Financial Times.

Responding to suggestions that the foundation expand its board, which consists of Mr. Gates, his wife, and the philanthropist Warren E. Buffett, Mr. Gates says, “It’s not a gigantic board. … It doesn’t avoid mistakes, but I think we’ve really made our best effort on those things.”

See The Chronicle’s recent interview with the new leader of the Gates Foundation, Jeff Raikes.

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

Texans Can Track Donations Online

Texans will now be able to track how charities spend donations through an online information system, reports the Dallas Business Journal.

The system was built by the Texas attorney general’s office. It will allow people to examine charities’ informational tax returns online.

Government and Politics Watch: Nonprofit Leader Takes New Job in Obama Administration

President-elect Barack Obama today nominated a nonprofit leader — William V. Corr, executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids — as deputy secretary of Health and Human Services, notes Government and Politics Watch, The Chronicle’s online column.

Plus: Public broadcasters have asked President-elect Obama to spend $550-million on several communications-infrastructure projects — and a cash infusion to help stations weather the recession — as part of his economic-stimulus package.

From The Chronicle: IRS Offers Compensation-Study Preview

A top official of the Internal Revenue Service has given a preview of findings from a much-anticipated study of more than 500 nonprofit hospitals, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. Under the IRS’s microscope: the amount of compensation hospitals pay to top officials and how much “community benefit” hospitals provide the public.

From The Chronicle: How Philanthropy Can Aid Education

The Senate held confirmation hearings today on President-elect Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Education Department, Arne Duncan.

Focusing on education policy in the new administration — and at the state and local levels — should be a goal for philanthropists, argues Marc S. Tucker, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy, in Washington, in an opinion article in The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Instead, he says, too many philanthropists are wasting money on “boutique grant making” efforts like starting charter schools and not making a real difference.

Transcript: Managing Your Career -- and Your Employees -- in the Recession

See a transcript of our online discussion today on ways to become an indispensable employee — and what managers can do to keep employees motivated in a turbulent economy.

The Presidential Inauguration: Share Your Stories

Many people in the nonprofit world plan to travel to Washington next week to call attention to their causes as Barack Obama is inaugurated to the presidency.

To document what charity and foundation workers are doing, both in Washington and elsewhere, we have created an easy way for readers to share photographs and videos of events related to the inauguration.

To participate, join The Chronicle of Philanthropy group on the Web site Flickr and upload your photos and videos. We’ll select some of the best submissions for use on our Web site.

We also welcome news about what your organization is doing as the new president takes office. Send news and tips to editor@philanthropy.com.

January 12, 2009

Planned Parenthood Lays Off Staff Members

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, which was indirectly hurt by the Madoff investment scandal, is laying off about 20 percent of its staff members, according to Crain’s New York Business.

“As with many other nonprofit organizations, Planned Parenthood has had to make staff reductions at our headquarters due to the challenging economic times facing our country,” said Maryana Iskander, chief operating officer at the agency.

Planned Parenthood’s financing was hurt when the Picower Foundation closed. The foundation, which finances reproductive-rights issues, had its assets managed by Bernard Madoff.

To read more about the effects on charities from the Madoff scam, see this article from the latest issue of The Chronicle.

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Former N.J. Police Chief Sentenced to Prison for Charity Theft

A former police chief in New Jersey was sentenced to seven years in prison on Friday for stealing $180,000 from Mothers Against Drunk Driving while serving as its state chairman, according to the Associated Press.

Frank Winters, who was chief of the Clayton Police Department for 23 years before resigning in 2007 following the charges against him, pleaded guilty to billing MADD from 2001 to 2004 for promotional items that were never delivered, and instead spending the money on personal expenses, such as his mortgage, car, furniture, jewelry, and vacation.

Mr. Winters’s wife, Bernice, was also charged but accepted an agreement that does not include jail time. Mr. Winters, who will be eligible for parole after 16 months, agreed to pay back the money and give up public service for life.

Gunmen Kill Somali Aid Worker Outside Mogadishu

A United Nations World Food program worker was killed by gunmen last Thursday in Somalia, the Associated Press reports. Another staff worker had been killed two days earlier.

Older Museums Revamp Their Images to Attract Visitors

Billionaires might come to the rescue of new and trendy art museums that are struggling during the current economic recession, but well-established museums are being forced to change the way they present their artwork in order to get people in the door, says an article in The New York Times.

Some of the museums with a long history have tried to make themselves more people friendly, either by shifting the emphasis of their collections or putting on shows that appeal to younger audiences.

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Merle Haggard Sues Environmental Group

The country music star Merle Haggard has sued an environmental group for forging his signature and exaggerating his involvement with the organization to solicit money, according to the Associated Press.

Mr. Haggard sued the organization Green Train last week. In the suit, he charges that the Nashville charity “greatly exaggerated” his support and personal involvement in its operations and that his reputation could be irreparably harmed by continued association with the group because of its shady business practices.

The charity did not respond to a call for comment from the Associated Press.

Finances of Olympic Star's Foundation Questioned

The foundation of the Olympics athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee paid at least $457,000 in consulting fees to her husband Robert Kersee’s foundation, which did not file federal informational statements from 2002 through 2007, according to the Belleville News Democrat. The payments came even as the organization was losing money, the newspaper says.

Mr. Kersee said the money he received was spent properly and the group is working to file its informational returns.

University Leaders From Around the World Discuss Fund Raising in Troubled Times

Universities should tailor their fund-raising activities to the economic climate and avoid capital campaigns, a veteran development leader told a group of university officials from around the world last week gathered at New York University, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education

“They should have fund-raising studies, meet with their donors, and use this period for silent strategy,” said Naomi Levine, chair and executive director of NYU’s s George H. Heyman Jr. Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising. “They wouldn’t want to have very glamorous events. It just doesn’t look right, when people are losing jobs. They need to tone it down.”

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Government and Politics Watch: Presidential Efforts on Volunteerism and Social Service

President-elect Barack Obama today unveiled a new television advertisement as part of a push to get Americans to make a year-round commitment to community service.

Plus: During the past eight years, President Bush has helped steer billions of public dollars to religious organizations and other charities to fight poverty and provide other services, according to a new White House report.

Charities and the Economy: Read The Chronicle's Special Report

The new issue of The Chronicle of Philanthropy was posted online today. In a special report, The Chronicle examines how nonprofit groups are coping with the economy by following four organizations through their end-of-year giving season and looking at efforts to encourage governments to aid struggling charities. In addition, we examine how the credit crunch is affecting nonprofit groups and how arts organizations are facing the challenges.

You can find everything that is new in the issue at http://philanthropy.com/summary/.

Online Discussion Next Week: Managing Your Career in a Recession

As the recession deepens, an increasing number of nonprofit organizations must look more closely at cutting costs — and at the grim possibility of laying off employees.

In turn, many employees who have felt safe in their positions are now worried about the stability of their jobs.

What can employees do to prove that they are indispensable? What steps should they take to bring more value to their organizations?

What can employers do to ease the fears of staff members and inspire them to improve their performance at this critical time?

Join these experts for an online discussion on January 13 at noon Eastern time to discuss those and other career-related questions:

Nick Fellers, president of For Impact-the Suddes Group, a training and consulting company in Ostrander, Ohio, that helps nonprofit groups and their executives with organizational development, career development, and fund raising.

Karen Katz, founder of the Career Acceleration Network, a career-counseling company in Philadelphia. She has spent more than 30 years in career development, helping executives at businesses and nonprofit organizations.

Lynne Sarikas, director of the M.B.A. career center at Northeastern University’s College of Business Administration, in Boston. She previously worked as vice president for development at the United Way of Massachusetts Bay.

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

The Presidential Inauguration: Share Your Stories

Many people in the nonprofit world plan to travel to Washington next week to call attention to their causes as Barack Obama is inaugurated to the presidency.

To participate, join The Chronicle of Philanthropy group on the Web site Flickr and upload your photos and videos. We’ll select some of the best submissions for use on our Web site.

We also welcome news about what your organization is doing as the new president takes office. Send news and tips to editor@philanthropy.com.

January 09, 2009

Humanitarian Aid Groups Suspend Operations in Gaza Strip

The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, just after the United Nations announced it would suspend humanitarian aid deliveries in the area because of Israeli attacks on its facilities and personnel, reports The Washington Post.

The resolution expresses “grave concern” over the “deepening humanitarian crisis” in Gaza and calls for more international aid and “unimpeded” distribution of food, fuel, medical treatment, and other humanitarian assistance. More than half of Gaza’s 1.5 million residents rely on food aid, and water, power, medical supplies, and cooking gas are in short supply.

Humanitarian aid workers, such as officials at the U.N. Relief and Works Agency and the International Committee of the Red Cross, say Israeli forces have fired on workers and vehicles, killing some, and have otherwise interrupted or delayed their work. Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the agency, said that three U.N. workers had been killed by Israeli fire since Dec. 27.

Ilan Tal, a reserve brigadier general in Israel, said that he was looking into the accusations but added that Israel had not made any effort to focus on aid workers in the attacks.

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GM Foundation Cuts Arts Support

The General Motors Foundation has told Detroit arts and cultural groups, including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Music Hall, the Michigan Opera Theatre, and the Detroit Institute of Arts, not to expect money in 2009, reports the Detroit Free Press.

Rod Gillum, the company’s vice president for corporate responsibility and diversity, confirmed that the loss to those groups would be more than $1-million. He declined to cite more specific figures but agreed that any organization previously supported by GM should be making contingency plans.

The foundation is financed entirely by the General Motors company and does not have a separate endowment, reports the newspaper.

One Laptop Per Child Group Lays Off Employees

The nonprofit program One Laptop Per Child, in Cambridge, Mass., will be reducing its staff by half due to dwindling financial resources, reports the Associated Press.

The group, which sells durable laptops to developing countries at a low price for use in grade schools, will be left with about 32 employees at reduced salaries, reports the news service.

Arts Groups Face Spending Squeeze

Indianapolis arts groups, hurting from plummeting endowments, are taking steps to save money and attract new audiences, reports The Indianapolis Star.

The Indianapolis Museum of Art, which saw a drop of $57-million in its endowment so far, will be delaying until 2010 the opening of an art and nature park that had been scheduled to open this year, and plans to host only two special exhibitions instead of three. The Indianapolis Opera will rework traditional favorites into its schedule in an effort to have a broader appeal, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra will increase its marketing efforts and has scheduled a “a balanced season of music — between classical and pop, between Beethoven and the Beatles,” said a spokesman.

Also: A drop of $95-million in the Chicago Field Museum’s endowment has caused staff cuts and a delay in exhibiting Lucy, a 3.2 million-year-old fossil of an ape-man species that was to debut there this fall, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. The museum’s director, John McCarter, will take a 20 percent pay cut, and 23 employees have taken buyouts. Since August, 14 employees have been or will be laid off, reports the newspaper.

Also: The Spoleto Festival USA, an international arts festival featuring music, dance, opera, and theater, will be a more modest production in 2009, with a budget of $6.2-million, a drop of more than 25 percent from 2008, reports the Associated Press.

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

UK Charities Lose 19 Percent in Investments

Investments made by charities in the United Kingdom lost 19 percent in 2008, according to an index produced by State Street, a financial-services company with headquarters in Boston, reports The Financial Times.

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Building Online Social Networks: a Strategy for Hard Times

In these difficult times, nonprofit groups are seeking new ways to strengthen ties to their supporters — and online networks offer great potential, says Allison Fine, host of The Chronicle’s new podcast series, Social Good.

In the latest installment, now available free online, Ms. Fine interviews Lucy Bernholz, a philanthropy consultant and author of the blog Philanthropy 2173, and Katya Andresen, vice president for marketing at Network for Good.

Government and Politics Watch: Ideas for President-elect Obama

Within a few months of his inauguration, President-elect Obama should organize a meeting of the nation’s 100 leading foundations “and explicitly ask them to help him implement his agenda,” urges a prominent philanthropy consultant cited in Government and Politics Watch, The Chronicle’s online column.

Plus:

A major nonprofit coalition urges Congress and President-elect Obama to bolster the social safety net, promote national service and charitable giving, ease lobbying restrictions on charities, and ensure that foreign-aid programs respect workers’ civil rights.

Congress should allow the Secretary of the Treasury to adjust the tax deduction rate for people who use their own vehicles for volunteer work, the national taxpayer advocate told Congress this week.

Give and Take: Foundation Spending

The Obama administration should require foundations to spend at least 10 percent of their assets on grant making and other charitable activities annually to help America solve its economic crisis, urges a blogger cited in Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Plus, commentators take on the humanitarian crises in Ethiopia; and Wikipedia’s fund raising.

The Presidential Inauguration: Share Your Stories

Many people in the nonprofit world plan to travel to Washington next week to call attention to their causes as Barack Obama is inaugurated to the presidency.

To participate, join The Chronicle of Philanthropy group on the Web site Flickr and upload your photos and videos. We’ll select some of the best submissions for use on our Web site.

We also welcome news about what your organization is doing as the new president takes office. Send news and tips to editor@philanthropy.com.

January 08, 2009

Pa. Foundation Says Assets Are Missing

A trustee of a family foundation in suburban Philadelphia says $15-million under the care of a local investment manager is missing, according to the Associated Press.

“It’s fair to say that the money is not in the foundation now. I don’t know where it is,” said Bruce H. Hooper, of the Thornton D. and Elizabeth S. Hooper Foundation. Mr. Hooper says the grant maker’s assets were managed by Joseph S. Forte, a self-employed and unlicensed investment adviser. Representatives of the U.S. attorney’s office, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the U.S. postal inspector’s office would neither confirm nor deny that Mr. Forte is under investigation, and Mr. Forte did not respond to the newspaper’s request for comment.

Drexel U. Gets $25-Million Gift

Drexel University has announced that it has received $25-million — the largest individual private gift in its history, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The gift will be used to purchase and renovate buildings for the university’s College of Arts and Design.

Although the gift was given anonymously, a source told the newspaper that it was given by Richard A. Hayne, founder of the clothing company Urban Outfitters; Mr. Hayne, a Drexel trustee, would confirm only that he had contributed an unspecified amount toward the College of Arts and Design’s expansion project.

House Passes Presidential-Library Disclosure Bill

The House of Representatives a passed a bill yesterday aimed at creating greater transparency in the process by which the libraries of former presidents are supported, according to The New York Times.

The legislators voted to require groups raising money to build a presidential library to report quarterly on any contributions of $200 or more. The measure passed 388 to 31.

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Charities Prepare for 'Tidal Wave' of Cast-Off TV's

With all of America preparing for next month’s switch from analog to digital television broadcast signals, charities that receive donated goods are girding themselves for a jump in donated TV’s, according to The Mercury News in San Jose, Calif. “We’re preparing for a tidal wave. We’ve already seen more televisions being donated, and we expect to see more as the switch-over comes,” said James David, a spokesman for Goodwill Industries of San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin counties.

Meanwhile, environmental groups are urging TV manufacturers to do more to prevent millions of appliances winding up in landfills after the February 17 switchover. “We are going to see a deluge of TV’s. I believe we have a sufficient number of recycling centers to handle the load, but my concern is that the public is not aware of them,” said Mark Murray, executive director of Californians Against Waste, an environmental group in Sacramento.

PBS Chief Is Counting on White House Support

Help from the incoming Obama White House — and intensified online fund raising — will be the keys for PBS’s survival during the recession, says Paula Kerger, president of the public television service, according to the New York Daily News.

Ms. Kerger, speaking yesterday in Los Angeles at a meeting of the Television Critics Association, said PBS has already been in touch with members of President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team, emphasizing the network’s programming for children. Going forward, she said, online appeals will play a larger role in PBS’s fund raising, diminishing the roles of on-air fund raisers and telethons, which interrupt the network’s regular schedule.

Update: Citgo Resumes Charity Oil Donations

Citgo, the Venezuelan government’s oil subsidiary in the United States, yesterday said that it will continue donating heating oil to poor families in America, according to the Associated Press.

The decision reverses Citgo’s previous announcement that it would discontinue the program, which serves 200,000 households nationwide and is administered by Citizens Energy, a Boston charity. Citizens Energy leader, former U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy, said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez played a direct role in Citgo’s decision to revive the program.

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

Obituary: Betty Freeman, 87, Arts Patron

Betty Freeman, a philanthropist and photographer who made more than 400 grants and commissions during her life, largely to support classical-music composers, died January 3 at her home in Beverly Hills, Calif., of pancreatic cancer, according to the Los Angeles Times. She was 87.

Ms. Freeman, who was the heir to a fortune made in chemical and petroleum products, supported the work of such composers as John Adams, John Cage, and Philip Glass. “I cannot think of many individuals whose actions would have had a more profound effect on our art form or culture in general,” said Esa-Pekka Salonen, music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

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Opinion: Madoff Scandal Hurts Women's Groups

An overlooked factor in news-media coverage of investor Bernard Madoff’s alleged multi-billion-dollar pyramid scheme is the impact the investment losses will have on the nonprofit groups that advocate for women’s rights, according to Nancy Goldstein, writing for the online publication Salon.

Few U.S. grant makers support such causes, Ms. Goldstein writes, and “with the recent shuttering of two of Madoff’s clients, the Picower Foundation and the JEHT Foundation, that pool has shrunk to a puddle.” Picower, she says, was notable for its support of reproductive-rights organizations, while JEHT gave money to efforts aimed at criminal-justice-system reform, including programs specifically for women.

Give and Take: Scottish Philanthropist Scales Back

Less than two years after pledging to give $1.5-billion to charity, the Scottish philanthropist Tom Hunter is saying he will have to slow the pace of his donations due to the economic recession, notes Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Plus: A plea to curb the desire to form new nonprofit groups.

Prospecting: Mixed Results for Corporate Giving

While charitable giving by corporations and corporate foundations is expected to drop in 2009, the overall decrease may not be as severe as in past recessions, suggests a new report cited in Prospecting, The Chronicle’s fund-raising column.

January 07, 2009

Ex-Teacher Hopes to Create a Civilian Service Academy

A former teacher from Mississippi has worked for the past three years on plans to create the equivalent of West Point for government bureaucrats, according to The New York Times.

Chris Myers Asch’s plans for the Public Service Academy have gained the support of high-profile members of Congress, and he hopes President-elect Barack Obama’s interest in promoting public service bodes well for the realization of his dream. “There’s no doubt that we don’t have the best and brightest in government,” said Sen. Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, who has joined Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, in sponsoring a bill to create a public-service academy.

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Donors and Foundations Try to Mitigate Madoff Losses

Donors are stepping in to help nonprofit groups mitigate some of the damage done by Bernard Madoff’s alleged investment scheme, reports the Associated Press.

The activist group MoveOn.Org organized an end-of-year fund-raising drive for four organizations that depended on grants from foundations that lost money with Mr. Madoff. In three days, the group helped raise $635,000 for the Brennan Center for Justice, Human Rights Watch, Advancement Project, and the Center for Constitutional Rights. The Open Society Institute and another foundation, the Atlantic Philanthropies, have offered to match up to $300,000 each.

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

Citgo Petroleum Stops Charitable Donations of Oil

Citgo Petroleum Corporation, the U.S. oil refiner owned by the Venezuelan government, will stop charitable contributions of home heating oil to poor U.S. households, citing falling oil prices and the world economic crisis, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Former U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II said Venezuela would stop deliveries to his Boston Group, Citizens’ Energy, which last winter received $100-million worth of fuel that was distributed throughout the Northeast.

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Chesapeake Bay Foundation Sues U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation yesterday led a coalition of environmentalists, watermen, and former government officials in filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, despite agreements to do so and $6-billion spent on the effort, reports The Washington Post.

William C. Baker, the charity’s president, said he hoped the lawsuit would prompt the Obama administration to treat the Chesapeake as a priority. Benjamin H. Grumbles, an EPA assistant administrator, said that the lawsuit asked for some things that the agency did not have the authority to do on its own. He said he worried the lawsuit could impede the Bay cleanup effort.

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Update: Wikipedia's Fund Raising

The foundation that supports Wikipedia, the nonprofit online encyclopedia created entirely by volunteers, met its $6-million fund-raising goal for fiscal year 2008 after an end-of-year appeal, reports the Associated Press.

The Wikimedia Foundation, in San Francisco, said about 50,000 contributors chipped in a total of $2-million in eight days, bringing the total number of donors to more than 125,000.

Fire at Homeless Shelter Kills Five

On Monday, a fire at Seed Sowers Christians in Action, a homeless shelter in Paris, Tex., killed five men who were staying there, reports The New York Times. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, reports the newspaper.

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Give and Take: Google Revamps Charitable Program

As part of a change in its international-development work, Google.org, the charitable arm of the technology company, will no longer support efforts to help entrepreneurs in poor regions of the world, notes Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Plus: the debate over whether Bill Clinton should keep raising charitable donations.

From The Chronicle: Charity Governance Policies

More than one out of four nonprofit groups have revised their investment policies within the past year, according to a new survey, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

January 06, 2009

Seattle Lung Charity Ordered by Court to Cut Ties to National Group

A superior court judge in Seattle ordered the Northwest chapter of the American Lung Association to stop using the word “lung” in its name and stop using donor lists belonging to the national organization, reports the Associated Press.

The national organization says the chapter breached its contract because it gave its Seattle headquarters building, and $600,000, to a different, new charity, the news agency reports. Mike Alderson, chief executive of the organization, said the new charity was created to do high-caliber fund raising to benefit his chapter and other lung-health-related organizations, the AP reports.

The dispute may be resolved in mediation, which was ordered by the judge, but a trial date has been set for June in case that fails.

Bush Library Foundation Will Not Disclose Donors

The foundation raising money for President Bush’s future presidential library at the Southern Methodist University campus in Dallas does not plan to disclose its donors’ identities, reports the Associated Press.

As of August, the George W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation had raised less than $3-million of the $300-million goal for the project, which will break ground in the fall of 2010, the news agency reports.

No law requires presidential library foundations to make donor names public, but Bill Clinton decided to do so after his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, was named secretary of state.

(Free registration is required to view this article on the Los Angeles Times site.)

Judge Rules in Favor of Islamic Charity on Wiretapping Complaint

A federal judge in San Francisco has agreed with an Islamic charity that says it might have been the target of government wiretapping conducted without court approval, reports the Associated Press.

The now-defunct Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, a group with headquarters in Saudi Arabia that maintained an American branch in Ashland, Ore., can now move forward with a lawsuit against the Bush administration’s Terrorist Surveillance Program, the news agency reports. The United States government considers the charity a terrorist organization.

As Times Get Tough, Museums Debate Stance on Selling Artworks

Tough economic times have forced museums to reconsider a long-held ethics policy on selling art from their collections, notes an article in The New York Times. But the issue is controversial.

Carmine Branagan, director of the National Academy Museum, in New York, faced more backlash than she had anticipated when the museum’s board decided to sell two Hudson River School paintings for about $15-million. The Association of Art Museum Directors responded to the sale with an e-mail message to its 190 members, denouncing the academy for “breaching one of the most basic and important of A.A.M.D.’s principles” and calling on members “to suspend any loans of works of art to and any collaborations on exhibitions with the National Academy.”

Ms. Branagan says the withdrawal of loans was a “death knell” for the museum.

Supporters of the ban on selling art to cover operating costs warn that institutions that do will suffer irreparable damage.

“Selling an object is a knee-jerk act, and it undermines core principles of a museum,” said Michael Conforti, president of the museum directors’ association and director of the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass. “There are always other options.”

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Opinion: Independence Is Philanthropy's Strength

The independence of the nonprofit world and its ability to take risks make it a valuable resource for President-elect Barack Obama as he faces the challenges awaiting him when he takes office this month, writes Jane Wales, in a column in The San Francisco Chronicle.

Ms. Wales, vice president for philanthropy and society at the Aspen Institute, argues that preserving the freedom of philanthropy will be vital to its partnership with the new administration.

Give and Take: Celebrity Activists

Angelina Jolie topped a poll of the best celebrity activists of the year, notes Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Prospecting: Online Fund Raising

Online donations appear to be thriving even in the recession, according to a new study cited in Prospecting, The Chronicle’s fund-raising column.

From The Chronicle: The Outlook for 2009

Read the transcript of today’s discussion about the outlook for nonprofit groups this year.

January 05, 2009

Foundations Seek Active Role in Shaping Health Policy

California foundations and think tanks are adopting new approaches to push for changes in health-care policies both in the state and nationally, reports The Los Angeles Times.

Hoping to educate legislators in support of their ideas, several foundations have set up offices in Sacramento and hired former advisers to lawmakers to pursue advocacy efforts. Such tactics present new challenges for foundations, the newspaper notes, since they face legal prohibitions on partisan activities.

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Clinton Foundation Gift Attracts Scrutiny

Former President Bill Clinton’s foundation received a $100,000 donation in November 2004 from a New York developer whose mall project received millions of dollars in federal assistance around the same time it secured the help of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, reports The New York Times.

Weeks before the donation was made, Mrs. Clinton helped establish legislation that allowed Robert J. Congel to use tax-exempt bonds to help pay for the construction of the Destiny USA entertainment and shopping complex in Syracuse, N.Y. About nine months after the donation was made, she also helped obtain a provision in a highway bill that allocated $5-million for Destiny USA roadway construction.

Mr. Congel and Philippe Reines, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, both said there was no connection between Mr. Congel’s gift and her legislative efforts on behalf of his project. Mr. Reines said Mrs. Clinton supported the project “purely as part of her unwavering commitment to improving upstate New York’s struggling economy, and nothing more.”

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Insurance Company Lobbied Lawmaker Who Sought a Charitable Gift

Less than a month after Rep. Charles B. Rangel, Democrat of New York, met with officials of the American International Group to request a donation to a school of public service that City College of New York plans to build in his honor, the insurance company sought out the congressman for help securing a tax cut, reports The New York Times.

The company never made a gift to the college, but Mr. Rangel’s interaction with A.I.G seems to contradict public statements he has made concerning questions about his fund-raising for the college. “I can’t think of one piece of legislation that impacts them, and there has never been a time that they’ve raised any legislation to me,” The Washington Post quoted Mr. Rangel as saying in July.

Furthermore, in Mr. Rangel’s submission to the House ethics committee concerning his use of Congressional stationery in soliciting money for the school, he wrote, “So far as I am aware, none of those whom I wrote had any pending requests into my office, lobbied me regarding any legislation before my committee, or asked me for assistance on legislation in which they had a special interest.”

Mr. Rangel allowed the A.I.G. measure into the bill, but his aides say he had made up his mind about the provision before the company approached him.

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Arts Salaries in Minn. Prompt Debate

In response to the recent disclosure that Joe Dowling, longtime director of the Guthrie Theater, in Minneapolis, was paid $682,229 in salary and benefits in 2007, the city’s arts organizations have been debating whether such a large compensation package is justifiable, reports the Star Tribune.

“Minnesota is the 21st-largest state, and the Twin Cities are the 16th-largest metro area, but in many categories our nonprofits, including arts organizations, rank in the top three,” said Jon Pratt, executive director of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits. “If our top-compensated people rank in the top tier, it’s because our organizations rank in the top tier.”

Others approach it from a different perspective. “I don’t know if it’s reasonable or not, but the fact that [Dowling’s pay] is the highest in the country — that certainly would be a red flag,” said Kate Barr, executive director of the Nonprofit Assistance Fund, in Minneapolis. “I would want to ask the board, which represents the public interest, what basis of comparison are they using for setting this compensation?”

Board members of the Guthrie Theater quoted in the article disagreed on whether the pay was appropriate, and Mr. Dowling declined to comment for the article.

Maryland Police Monitored Many Advocacy Groups

The surveillance of advocacy groups by the Maryland State Police was significantly more extensive than previously acknowledged, reports The Washington Post.

Records show that troopers monitored, and labeled as terrorists, activists of causes focusing on a diversity of issues, including human rights and animal rights. The operation, which began in 2005 with preparations for the scheduled executions of two men on death row, has been called a “waste of resources” by the current police superintendent and “undemocratic” by the governor.

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Opinion: Debating Grant Making to Minority Groups

Efforts to push foundations to give more to minorities is justifiable, writes Al Piña, chairman of the Florida Minority Community Reinvestment Coalition in a letter to the editor in The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Piña’s letter to the editor comes in response to a recent editorial that criticized Mr. Piña and his colleagues for their “call for the redistribution of charity to minority-led organizations as a “shakedown,” describing it as the “latest trend in racial extortion.”

“We focus on communities of color because we realize that our communities are this country’s future,” writes Mr. Piña. “Florida and our country are in dire need of leaders with an inclusive vision and the courage to see it through.”

For more on this issue, see The Chronicle’s latest article on the response by California foundations to a challenge similar to the one in Florida.

Give and Take: How Small Funds Can Avoid a Madoff-Style Scandal

A nonprofit legal expert offers a list of low-cost steps family foundations can take to avoid losing money with an unscrupulous investor, in Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Plus: Charity experts are discussing the need for nonprofit workers to be better paid and for donors to support management training, technology upgrades, and related administrative costs.

Prospecting: Seizing the Opportunity During Hard Times

Nonprofit groups must avoid adopting a hunker-down mentality in the face of the current recession, urges a fund-raising consultant cited in a new post in Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online fund-raising column.

From The Chronicle: Arts Groups and the Recession

As social services become a priority for donors amid the recession, many arts and cultural organizations are laying off staff members, scaling back on programs — and even facing the possibility of closing, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy. And a new report shows that nearly 80 percent of cultural groups in New York City have made cuts or other changes because of the recession, says The Chronicle.

Plus, hear the author of these articles discussing arts financing issues on The News Hour With Jim Lehrer.

Online Discussion Tomorrow: 2009 Outlook

What will 2009 mean for your charity’s fund-raising, grant-seeking, and budgeting efforts? What will the economic meltdown and shifting demographics mean to your bottom line?

Join us tomorrow at noon for an online discussion with experts from New York University’s Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. They will discuss economic trends, changes in Washington, donor demographics, and other key issues that will be relevant to your organization’s operations this year.

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

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

January 02, 2009

N.Y. Telephone Solicitors Kept More Than 60% of Donations, Study Finds

The New York Charities Bureau says a new study of telemarketing companies in the state found that 39 cents of every dollar raised for charities by commercial telemarketing companies actually go to the nonprofit cause, and the balance is used to pay fees and expenses, reports The New York Times.

The report, “Pennies for Charity, Where Your Money Goes: Telemarketing by Professional Fund Raisers,” examined 553 fund-raising campaigns that were conducted in 2007 on behalf of 442 charities.

California and Massachusetts recently issued similar reports.

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Automakers Scale Back Giving

Reduced giving by General Motors, Ford Motor, and Chrysler is affecting nonprofit groups nationwide, reports the Associated Press

The United Negro College Fund, Nature Conservancy, and a women in jazz education and cultural preservation project are among the scores of national recipients being affected by the industry’s woes.

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

Hospitals Hit Hard by Recession

Squeezed by tight credit, rising borrowing costs, investment losses, and an increase in the number of patients unable to pay their bills, many of the nation’s hospitals may soon close or go bankrupt and are resorting to layoffs, cost-cutting, and delaying building projects to stay afloat, reports Associated Press.

(Free registration is required to view this article on the Los Angeles Times site.)

Parents Tapped by Schools for Support

Hurt by state and local government cuts, public schools nationwide are relying on charitable appeals to parents as an alternative source of cash, reports The Wall Street Journal.

In addition to raising money for activities like class trips, school events, and after-school clubs, many parents say they now are giving money to pay for curricular items that were previously supported by local governments, such as classroom supplies and teachers’ salaries.

“One of the things we’ve always said to our members is, ‘Your purpose is not to be a cash cow’” to cover regular school expenses, says Jan Harp Domene, president of the National Parent Teacher Association. “But we know they are playing a critical part in making sure children still have services that were once part of the budget, from music programs to adequate custodial supplies. These are not frills.”

Violence in Mexico Hinders Charity From Texas

Texas charities are reducing their work in nearby parts of Mexico due to escalating violence, reports the Associated Press.

The drug-cartel war has prompted at least two church groups to stop sending members over the border to aid the needy. “It pains us. The violence is out of hand. We actually had a parishioner who was kidnapped, so it’s too close to home,” said Monsignor Arturo Banuelas, of El Paso’s Roman Catholic diocese.

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Online Game Promotes Charity Online to Accomplish Charity Offline

Good Egg Studios, in Atlanta, creates online games that lets kids build virtual homes for charity— and the more online homes that are built, the more real homes for poor people will be built, reports the Associated Press.

Liz Kronenberger, who founded the company with her husband, Craig, recently unveiled “GoodQuest,” a challenge to gamers to build 10,000 virtual homes in a month. If successfully accomplished online, the couple will pay for four new homes to be built by Habitat for Humanity in a needy town in Honduras.

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Book Examines Gates's Ideas About Capitalism and Philanthropy

The speech given by Bill Gates at last year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in which he called on capitalism to devise creative solutions to reduce social problems around the world, is the subject of discussion in the book Creative Capitalism, by Michael Kinsley and Conor Clarke, notes a book review in The Wall Street Journal.

In the book, economists, journalists, and executives of nonprofit organizations offer assessments of Mr. Gates’s speech and its theme of social entrepreneurship. Leslie Lenkowsky, a professor at Indiana University and a Chronicle of Philanthropy columnist, says the most interesting idea in the book is that “‘philanthropic business activity is in fact at odds with what is best about capitalism itself and therefore counterproductive.”

You can read an article about Mr. Gates’s speech and a column by Mr. Lenkowsky on creative capitalism in the Chronicle.

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Opinion: Redistribution of Charity Money to Groups Serving Minorities Is 'Racial Extortion'

The efforts of Al Piña, chairman of the Florida Minority Community Reinvestment Coalition, to distribute grant money to minority-led organizations is the “latest trend in racial extortion,” according to an editorial in The Wall Street Journal.

In response to Mr. Piña’s efforts to enlist the support of the U.S. Congress to insert new requirements in federal law, the editorial makes a sharp call to action: “It’s about time that leaders of the foundation world — those who care about results more than politics — stand up and call this the race-baiting money grab it is.”

For more on this issue, see The Chronicle’s latest article on the response by California foundations to a challenge similar to the one in Florida.

Government and Politics Watch: Promoting Volunteerism as a Way to Spur the Economic Recovery

Several coalitions of groups promoting community and national service are urging President-elect Obama and Congress to include a “nonprofit stimulus package” as part of the economic-recovery plan they are drafting, reports Government and Politics Watch, a Chronicle online column.

Plus:

The U.S. Agency for International Development today issued a final version of controversial rules governing the screening of aid workers — but it put off until President-elect Obama takes office a provision that had aroused the most ire among international charities.

The Case Foundation is running a contest to send a Good Samaritan to Washington for the presidential inauguration.

Charities urge Congress to abolish the $100,000 limit that applies when older people want to make gifts from their individual retirement accounts to charity without paying any withdrawal penalties.

Prospecting: Last-Minute Gifts Aid a Charity

Washington’s community foundation was surprised by a surge in year-end gifts after a tough fund-raising year, reports Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online fund-raising column.

Plus: The five top fund-raising topics viewed by Prospecting readers in 2008.

Give and Take: Foundations Respond to the Madoff Scandal

Two big foundations have teamed up to assist civil-rights groups and legal-aid organizations that have lost donors due to the alleged financial scheme of Bernard Madoff, reports Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts in the nonprofit world.

Plus, the five best-read Give and Take posts of last year.

From The Chronicle: The Biggest Gifts of 2008

Even as the economy slipped into recession, America’s wealthiest individuals were giving record sums to charity. At least 16 people made gifts of $100-million or more last year, according to The Chronicle’s tally of the largest donations of 2008.

From The Chronicle: Knight Foundation Plans Cuts in Administrative Spending

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation plans to meet its existing philanthropic commitments but is cutting administrative costs due to investment losses, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Online Discussion Next Week: 2009 Outlook

What will 2009 mean for your charity’s fund-raising, grant-seeking, and budgeting efforts? What will the economic meltdown and shifting demographics mean to your bottom line?

Join us on Tuesday, January 6 at noon for an online discussion with experts from New York University’s Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. They will discuss economic trends, changes in Washington, donor demographics, and other key issues that will be relevant to your organization’s operations this year.

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

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