Friday, May 13, 2005

Panel Solicits Comments on Compensation and Other Issues :: PNNOnline :: the nonprofit news and information resource

Panel Solicits Comments on Compensation and Other Issues :: PNNOnline :: the nonprofit news and information resource: "Panel Solicits Comments on Compensation and Other Issues
Posted by: laurakujawski on Friday, May 13, 2005

The Panel on the Nonprofit Sector invites the nonprofit community to comment on the draft recommendations it will review for its June report to the Senate Finance Committee. The recommendations concentrate on practices, policies and procedures deemed important to ensuring good governance, transparency, and ethical conduct of charitable organizations.


Since the release of the Panel�s Interim Report on March 1, the more than 100 members of five specialized Work Groups and the Expert Advisory Group have held discussions resulting in a set of draft recommendations for consideration by the Panel. Additionally, 15 field meetings across the country were convened by the Panel to invite additional input, and organizations have been encouraged throughout the process to send in comments on those issues outlined at the back of the Interim Report.


The initial recommendations of the Work Groups are posted on the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector Web site and additional recommendations will be posted within the next 24 hours. However organizations are encouraged to begin responding as soon as possible to the posted recommendations to facilitate the process of sharing feedback with the Panel.


These recommendations will be part of the deliberations by the Panel as it prepares the report it will present to the leaders of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee in June."

Charity Commission sees record website traffic :: PublicTechnology.net :: e-Government & public sector IT news from

Charity Commission sees record website traffic :: PublicTechnology.net :: e-Government & public sector IT news from: "Charity Commission sees record website traffic
This was published: 2005-05-12 06:30:00


A new record was broken by the Charity Commission as it announced record traffic to its website last financial year.

The announcement comes ahead of a facelift planned for the website this Summer, which will see the launch of a number of new on-line services available to trustees and the public."

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY-Social Justice Philanthropy:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: "Social Justice Philanthropy:
The Latest Trend or a Lasting Lens for Grantmaking?
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
April 2005


When it comes to effecting social change, does philanthropy matter?

That question�more or less�was posed to NCRP staff recently at a forum in San Francisco, at which the grantmaking strategies of politically conservative foundations were discussed. The person who asked the question asserted that right-wing philanthropy had done little to help the country reach its current conservative state of affairs. Instead, this person theorized, corporations and their influence in society and public life were responsible for the country�s conservative path. She suggested that it was a �quant notion� that philanthropy had played any role in effecting social change in this country�either left or right, backward or forward"

Winston-Salem Journal | Professor calls for all Americans to join in on a 'Generosity Revolution'

Winston-Salem Journal | Professor calls for all Americans to join in on a 'Generosity Revolution': "Revolution'


By Mary Giunca
JOURNAL REPORTER>> America is in danger of losing its 375-year legacy of generosity, says a professor who has written a book about how philanthropy drives the American economy.
Claire Gaudiani, a professor at New York University and the author of The Greater Good, was in town yesterday for the Winston-Salem Foundation's annual community meeting"

Asia Times Online -The new Chinese philanthropy

Asia Times Online :: China News, China Business News, Taiwan and Hong Kong News and Business.: "The new Chinese philanthropy
By Michael Mackey



SHANGHAI - China is not only a place where fortunes are being made, but increasingly a place where they are being given away, as the new wealthy become the philanthropists of today and tomorrow.

A double - possibly even triple - take is needed to understand the significance of this phenomenon: the millionaires in allegedly communist China giving their money, or at least part of it, away voluntarily. Furthermore, there are enough benefactors for someone to have compiled a list - namely, the the 2005 China Philanthropy 50 compiled by Euromoney China - recording who gave how much to whom and releasing this to the public. That this is the second year the list has been compiled suggests growing corporate maturity. "

News-Leader.com | Lifestyle | Nurturing a giving spirit

News-Leader.com Lifestyle Nurturing a giving spirit: "Nurturing a giving spirit


By Tresa McBee
News-Leader staff

The application wasn't supposed to win.
No way was Delaney Sweeney going to place in a national competition for a project she hadn't enjoyed or wanted to finish.
But she did. And she won.
No one was more surprised than Delaney, 13, and her mother, Cleta, when they learned the teenager had been nam"

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Benefactor's Legacy Facing A Bulldozer

Benefactor's Legacy Facing A Bulldozer: "Benefactor's Legacy Facing A Bulldozer
By Marc Fisher

Tuesday, May 10, 2005; Page B01
When Rachel Paxton, widow of a railroad man who built one of Leesburg's finest mansions, died in 1921, she left behind a five-page will written in her elegant, clear hand. The stilted, formal language that Paxton's attorneys imposed on her could not hide the grief and sorrow that saturated the latter half of her 95 years.
Rachel Paxton's only child, Margaret, bore a son, Charles, who died one month after his fifth birthday. Margaret mourned that boy for all her days. All evidence portrays a family crushed across the generations by the passing of the little guy. Rachel Paxton resolved to channel that anguish into something lasting and good."

Pastor Accused of Running Out Dems Quits - New York Times

Pastor Accused of Running Out Dems Quits - New York Times: "Pastor Accused of Running Out Dems Quits
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 11, 2005
Filed at 6:01 p.m. ET
WAYNESVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- A Baptist pastor accused of threatening to banish from his church anyone who didn't vote for President Bush has chosen to depart, saying he spoke out on candidates' stances but did not make political endorsements.
The Rev. Chan Chandler, 33, walked out of the East Waynesville Baptist Church, which he had led for three years, "

Channelnewsasia.com-French charity denies Aussie report on "refunded" tsunami donations

Channelnewsasia.com: "The international medical charity Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) denied claims that it was returning huge amounts of money contributed by donors for victims of last year's killer Asian tsunami because it had received more than it could use.



According to the Sydney Morning Herald, in Australia alone the charity had sent out more than 4,000 letters telling donors it could not use their money for tsunami victims, and was therefore proposing to refund them if the donors did not want their money channelled into other causes.

The paper said the charity had had 172 requests for refunds totalling 93,000 Australian dollars (72,540 US dollars) while about 1,700 donors specified other appeals and the rest left the matter up to the charity's discretion. "

Las Vegas SUN: Habitat for Humanity Sues Ousted Founder

Las Vegas SUN: Habitat for Humanity Sues Ousted Founder: "Habitat for Humanity Sues Ousted Founder
By ELLIOTT MINOR
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALBANY, Ga. (AP) - Habitat for Humanity International is suing the group's ousted founder and his new charity, saying its name - Building Habitat Inc. - could confuse prospective donors and hurt the global nonprofit's reputation.
The lawsuit filed in federal court Tuesday asks that Millard Fuller be ordered to pay unspecified damages and stop using the Habitat name. Building Habitat, which Fuller started last month, aims to raise money for Habitat for Humanity International. "

Bill Gates Sr. urges Idahoans to donate to local charities

Business - The Idaho Statesman - Always Idaho: "Bill Gates Sr. urges Idahoans to donate to local charities
Microsoft founder's father says small gifts add up

Jason Kauffman

The Idaho Statesman Edition Date: 05-12-2005
No matter how small, acts of philanthropy add up and make a difference.

That was the message of Bill Gates Sr. Wednesday when the co-chairman of the nation's largest philanthropic institution spoke at the Idaho Community Foundation's annual meeting.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda created the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with shares of Microsoft stock in 2000 to focus on global health, education, public libraries and at-risk families. Its assets are approximately $28.8 billion."

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

How to ask (nicely) for your inheritance

How to ask (nicely) for your inheritance: "As a wave of baby boomers prepares to receive inheritances from their aging parents, the estate-planning industry is pitching a new twist on an old technique.
The new approach is called an 'inheritor's trust,' and it is part of a growing range of services, seminars and estate-planning strategies designed to capture what is expected to be the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in history -- while reducing the tax hit.
Traditionally, parents planning a bequest to their children or grandchildren might set up a trust themselves for their heirs' benefit. In an inheritor's trust, people who expect to receive an inheritance take matters into their own hands by designing trusts to collect the windfall. It is essentially "

Canada NewsWire Group-Students award $250,000 to 50 Toronto Charities

Press Release

Canada NewsWire Group: "Media Alert: Event/Photo Advisory - Students award $250,000 to 50 Toronto Charities
The Toskan Foundation's Youth and Philanthropy Initiative celebrates
student participation in the community

--The founders of MAC Cosmetics and the MAC Aids Fund channeling their
success into today's youth--

TORONTO, May 11 /CNW/ - How would you spend $250,000 dollars? For 200
students in the Greater Toronto Area, they are giving it to charity. The Toskan Foundation's Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) is celebrating the efforts of 50 student teams who have won grants on behalf of their selected charitable organizations. This day-long celebration includes innovative workshops, spectacular entertainment, engaging guest speakers and culminates with the Toskan Foundation granting $250,000 to grassroots organizations"

Nonprofit boards must treat money like their own | TheNewsTribune.com | Tacoma, WA

Nonprofit boards must treat money like their own | TheNewsTribune.com | Tacoma, WA: "Nonprofit boards must treat money like their own
THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Last updated: May 11th, 2005 02:40 AM

Recently I was reviewing a video we use in board training, �Meeting the Challenge,� by BoardSource. The video had a clue in it to resolving what some call the crisis in nonprofit governance.
Jan Masaoka, executive director of CompassPoint and editor of �Board Caf�,� pointed out that if board members had thousands of dollars of their own money invested in their agencies, they would pay more attention.
Why is it, then, that many board members are so lackadaisical when it comes to oversight of thousands � often millions � of dollars in the nonprofits they lead? As some would say, �Go figure.� I can�t.
Not a week goes by without some report touting the latest �solution� to nonprofit governance problems. Solutions are needed. That�s true. But they don�t take much to implement. Mostly it�s knowledge and common sense."

Worthy Workouts

Worthy Workouts: "Worthy Workouts
Getting fit for a good cause

In January, 2004, Robbie James, 38, made three resolutions: to get in shape, meet new people, and do something to support a worthy cause. James, the owner of Home Helpers, a four-person home-care agency in El Segundo, Calif., hit the resolution trifecta when she signed up for Train To End Stroke. The organization coaches both experienced athletes and couch potatoes so they can compete in endurance events such as marathons. In return, racers are asked to raise anywhere from $3,500 to $5,000 for the American Stroke Assn. Advertisement

On the weekends, James pounded the pavement with other first-time marathoners. Weekdays, she followed a workout schedule designed by a coach from Train To End Stroke. By June, she had lost 12 pounds and was ready to tackle the Kona marathon in Hawaii with her workout buddies. 'I was happy, and I felt good about completing it,' says James.

Train To End Stroke is just one of several national health-related nonprofits that train novices and experienced athletes alike for major sports events as a fund-raising tactic. "

Philanthropy Journal-Your online source for news about nonprofits, social issues, and policy change - newsarticle

Philanthropy Journal-Your online source for news about nonprofits, social issues, and policy change - newsarticle: " << Back to US/World



African-American philanthropy


Wealth and giving grow among blacks, but lag overall population, study says.
05.11.2005 -

African Americans earned and gave more from 1992 to 2001 but did not keep pace with the overall population, a new study says.
The study, 'Wealth Transfer Estimates for African American Households,' conducted by the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College, analyzes the state of African-American income, wealth and giving, and projects future wealth transfer between generations."

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Charity returns tsunami money | Breaking news | Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au (11-05-2005)

Charity returns tsunami money Breaking news Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au (11-05-2005):
This story is also cross posted on the AFP Blog Tsunami Relief

"GLOBAL relief agency Medecins sans Frontieres is tracking down hundreds of thousands of tsunami donors worldwide and offering them their money back.
Hundreds of Australians have asked for $93,000 in refunds after the charity told them it had four times the 20 million euro ($A33.35 million) it needed to fund its response to the Boxing Day disaster, it has been reported.
They refused the charity's offer to redirect their donations to lower profile cases like Sudan or the Democratic Republic of the Congo."

Ervin sells 2000 gold for charity - Sport - theage.com.au

Ervin sells 2000 gold for charity - Sport - theage.com.au: "Ervin sells 2000 gold for charity
By Michael Cowley
May 11, 2005
While most athletes will tell you an Olympic gold medal is priceless, the one that American Anthony Ervin won in Sydney five years ago now carries a fixed monetary value.
Ervin, who won gold when he dead-heated with teammate Gary Hall jnr in the 50 metres freestyle in 2000, auctioned the medal online and said he would give the proceeds to Unicef's Tsunami Relief Fund. A 10-day auction, which ended on the weekend, resulted in the medal's sale to an American buyer for $US17,100 ($A22,100)."

Fidelity donates Archipelago shares to charity

Latest News and Financial Information Reuters.com: "Fidelity donates Archipelago shares to charity
Mon May 9, 2005 01:11 PM ET
BOSTON, May 9 (Reuters) - Fidelity Investments, the No. 1 mutual fund firm, made a charitable donation of 2.7 million shares of electronic trading company Archipelago Holdings Inc. (AX.P: Quote, Profile, Research) , according to a recent filing."

STLtoday - News - Editorial / Commentary

STLtoday - News - Editorial / Commentary: "GIVING: Government must do its part
By FRANCIE BRODERICK


05/10/2005

Charitable giving is seasonal, not dependable. Everyone - including Congress and state legislatures - has a lasting responsibility to help others.

I had just returned from a conference in Detroit designed to help nonprofit agencies shift from primary dependence on government funding to 'a culture of philanthropy and private giving' when I read Amy White's column last week titled, 'It's up to us to help the needy.'

The Kresge Foundation chose my agency, Places for People, as one of seven nationally that met a standard of being well run and having an impact with little or no history of private support. We are part of an experiment to see if we can increase our unrestricted private donations to supplement or, in some cases, replace government funding. Obviously, White's article held special meaning for me. "

The Seattle Times: Living: Discovery Shop, similar organizations need new volunteers to replace aging ranks

The Seattle Times: Living: Discovery Shop, similar organizations need new volunteers to replace aging ranks: "Discovery Shop, similar organizations need new volunteers to replace aging ranks
By Sherry Stripling
Seattle Times staff reporter

GREG GILBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Volunteer Lillian Beste, 90, irons clothes to be sold at the Discovery Shop on Roosevelt Way in Seattle to raise money for the American Cancer Society.
A bench laden with used appliances awaits a 'fix-it' volunteer who will plug things in to see if they work. In the back room of the American Cancer Society's tucked-away Discovery Shop on Roosevelt Way, mounds of upscale used clothing get sorted, washed and ironed by women who have given all of their lives as wives, mothers, professionals.
Like the goods at the Discovery Shop, many of the volunteers have a lot more constructive life remaining, but some are sticking to their posts awaiting replacements who do not come. Nearly half are in their 80s. Almost all have been touched by cancer or lost someone they love. "

Public TV and Radio to Receive Big Grants - New York Times

Public TV and Radio to Receive Big Grants - New York Times: "Public TV and Radio to Receive Big Grants


By LORNE MANLY and ELIZABETH JENSEN
Published: May 10, 2005
The Ford Foundation, the main financial backer of public broadcasting in its formative days, is undertaking its largest initiative to support nonprofit media in more than 25 years, officials said yesterday.

Forum: TelevisionThe initiative will funnel $50 million over five years to a baker's dozen of public television, radio and other media organizations. A major focus of the effort will be to spur the creation and distribution of public affairs programming, particularly programs dealing with international affairs.
The Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio will receive the largest grants, $10 million and $7.5 million respectively. But less well-known entities will also share in the wealth, including Link TV, a television network devoted to explaining the rest of the world to the United States; the Sundance Documentary Fund, which supports documentaries about human rights issues; and New California Media, a consortium of more than 600 print, television, radio and Internet outlets devoted to ethnic news."

Monday, May 09, 2005

newsobserver.com | Local & State

newsobserver.com | Local & State: "Church boots 9 over politics
Politics divides Baptists in Waynesville

By KRISTIN COLLINS, Staff Writer

A Western North Carolina church expelled nine members this week because they refused to support their pastor's Republican views, members say.
The members, three of them deacons at East Waynesville Baptist Church, were voted out Monday night at the church in Haywood County, just west of Asheville.
All nine walked out after Pastor Chan Chandler told them he expected them to sign forms supporting his political and moral beliefs. After they left, members who remained voted to boot the dissenters.
'He went on and on about how he's going to bring politics up, and if we didn't agree with him we should leave,' said Isaac Sutton, 75, a deacon who was voted out after 12 years at the church. 'I think I deserve the right to vote for who "

Black Facades that Harm the community

Black Facades that Harm the community: "Black Facades Harm: A Case for Trust-building
by
Frank A. Jones
5/7/05

Some years ago, I took a job as the CEO of a small corporation that held itself out as a Black philanthropic organization. That agency, having existed for 21-years, had a budget of $250.000, and no assets. That budget was hardly enough to pay its few staff.
So tragic and flawed was this reputed effort at philanthropy that the one year I was there, this agency (as was their custom) hosted an annual 'fundraiser.' That agency spent $57,000+ on that one night, black tie event, at a very expensive San Francisco hotel. "

Building Black Philanthropic Infrastructure

Building Black Philanthropic Infrastructure

An Abstract of the concept
These forums have a specific purpose and that purpose is not to raise money; the revenue for establishing financially significant foundations in the black community is already present, but before the actual establishment of institutions that will last, grow, and function in the normal ways such institutions function in communities, there should be, as a first step, the mental, cultural, and psychological infrastructure set into our community. How that can be done is what these forums are calling upon the collective wisdom of those assembled to develop—an educational model to eradicate a present mindset that militates against foundation building and, instead, one to instill a culture that will build and support Black Community Foundational institutions as a normal aspect of any healthy community. That educational model may function as a prototype capable of being replicated in other black communities

Charities bureau Registry Search for NEW YORK

Charities: "Charities Bureau Registry Search
Office of New York State Attorney General
The Charities Bureau registry contains approximately 50,000 nonprofit entities required to register under the New York Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL), or Article 7-A of the New York Executive Law (Article 7-A) or both. These laws govern charitable activity and solicitation of contributions in New York State, respectively. Click here to learn more about these laws. "

onPhilanthropy - Moves Management In Our Digital Age

onPhilanthropy - Moves Management In Our Digital Age: "Moves Management In Our Digital Age
By: Nathan Shaver, 05/06/05
�I know I was supposed to do something today!� For years, the calendar on the wall showed what everyone in the office needed to do to ensure success. But like so many staples of the 20th Century, paper and dry-erase boards are becoming obsolete in the non-profit universe. The moves management systems of today do more to coordinate and complement an organization�s fundraising efforts than ever before.

Blackbaud�s popular Raiser�s Edge program now has the ability to track, analyze, and report on all �touches� with donors and prospective donors. Using �Actions,� a nonprofit can record just about every piece of vital data collected during a phone call, meeting, or solicitation. According to Blackbaud�s Whitepaper entitled �Embracing Technology for Moves Management Success,� �Tracking solicitor actions � phone calls, personal meetings, correspondence, appeals or anything else done on behalf of a prospect � is just as important as keeping tabs on a prospect�s personal information. Being able to see what communication has taken place with a particular constituent, as well as what was said in each of those exchanges, is invaluable in the planning and management of solicitor Moves.*�"

Winston-Salem Journal | All gifts count: You can keep supporting causes in will

Winston-Salem Journal All gifts count: You can keep supporting causes in will: "All gifts count: You can keep supporting causes in will


Winston-Salem Journal
One of the encouraging trends in our society today is that more people are providing for charitable causes in their financial and estate planning.
As we plan where our assets will go after our death, it makes sense that we provide for the very causes to which we have contributed during our lifetime.
Interestingly, however, though about 70percent of Americans give to charities during their lifetime, less than 6 percent leave money to charities in their wills."

If the I.R.S. Gets Less, Does Charity Get More? - New York Times

If the I.R.S. Gets Less, Does Charity Get More? - New York Times: "If the I.R.S. Gets Less, Does Charity Get More?

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By DANIEL ALTMAN
Published: May 8, 2005
SINCE he became president, George W. Bush has made charity an important part of his political platform. Time and again, he has suggested that charitable groups, especially those with religious affiliations, could take over social services traditionally offered by the government.


Giving More With LessThis view captured the essence of compassionate conservatism: individuals should choose how much money to redistribute to their fellow citizens, instead of relying on the government to decide for them.
Just read this passage from the 'Citizen's Guide' to President Bush's first budget proposal: 'Federal tax policy must spark an outpouring of private philanthropy in America, spurring billions more annually in charitable giving to neighborhood-serving groups, both sacred and secular.'"

The Chronicle, 5/12/2005: Win, Lose, or Draw?

The Chronicle, 5/12/2005: Win, Lose, or Draw?: "The biggest problem we're seeing is that most organizations don't have the expertise to run poker events, so they are hiring third parties to run them for them,' says Paulette V. Maehara, president of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, a trade group in Alexandria, Va. 'Some of these third parties charge from 15 to 75 percent of the take. Much of the time, what they charge is just too much.'"

Gazette.com -AFA alumni group faulted

Gazette.com
snip snip>>
: "key is in trends, said Michael Nilsen, public affairs director for the Association of Fundraising Professionals in Washington, D.C. Escalating costs over a five- to 10-year period could flag problems.

The Air Force Academy association�s fundraising budget has exploded by 363 percent since 2000.

Shaw isn�t happy with the numbers but doesn�t apologize. "

Private foundations give more

Private foundations give more: "Private foundations give more
In 9 years, they tripled funding to Arizona needs
Susie Steckner
The Arizona Republic
May. 9, 2005 12:00 AM
Charitable giving by Arizona's private foundations has more than tripled in nine years, funneling about $100 million more to social services, health care, the arts and many other state needs.

The boost came as the number of such foundations exploded in that time, with the Valley seeing the biggest increase at 194 new organizations"

Donor backs out of pledge to shelter

Donor backs out of pledge to shelter: "Donor backs out of pledge to shelter



By Andrew Wolfson
awolfson@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

Action Loan owner Gus Goldsmith is refusing to pay almost half of a $1 million pledge he made five years ago to the Center for Women and Families.
Goldsmith, who has made a fortune providing high-interest loans to people with bad credit, said he is unhappy with the center under its new president, Jane W. Burks. But the center's lawyer said Goldsmith defaulted on the pledge nine months before Burks started.
In an interview yesterday, Goldsmith also complained that the center had used some of his money on 'deluxe office space,' rather than on beds."

Stinginess Amid the Affluence of Suburbia

Stinginess Amid the Affluence of Suburbia: "Stinginess Amid the Affluence of Suburbia
Md.'s Wealthiest Residents Fall Short in Charitable Giving
By Susan DeFord
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 8, 2005; Page C04
Peter Horowitz and his wife, Elizabeth, started writing checks to Howard Community College a couple of years ago. Before long, the retired Columbia couple had given $1 million to the college, not just to fund new buildings, he said, but also to 'stimulate others into giving.'
Horowitz hit upon what local charities and national surveys have said for years: In affluent Howard County, philanthropy is lackluster. The county that boasts the state's highest median income ranks in the bottom half of counties for giving."

Wisconsin State Journal-Applying business skills in social area

Wisconsin State Journal: "Applying business skills in social area
00:00 am 5/09/05
James Edward Mills Wisconsin State Journal
Lessons in business and philanthropy aren't usually taught together. But a new class that just wrapped up at the UW- Madison School of Business showed MBA candidates that they can apply entrepreneurial skills to social problems.
Students who took the class 'Social Entrepreneurship: Redefining Markets and Organizations' said the course opened their eyes to a world possibilities.
'I'm really excited that I could take a class that was about entrepreneurship that really focuses on that world of non-profits and for-profits working together,' said student Heather Good. 'I'm in the arts administration program. Entrepreneurship is something that artists need to learn these days.'"

Charity Village� NewsWeek: Cover Story-Yesterday and today: The nonprofit sector as a women's workplace

Charity Village� NewsWeek: Cover Story: "Yesterday and today: The nonprofit sector as a women's workplace "