Volunteer Network Gets $1.1-Million Grant
CityCares, a network of 31 charities that organize short-term volunteer projects, has received a $1.1-million grant from the Omidyar Foundation, a fund in Palo Alto, Calif., created by the founder of the eBay online auction site and his wife. More than $600,000 of the grant will go toward the…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Foundation Offers Grants for Charity Software
The Open Society Institute, in New York, is accepting proposals for the development of software designed to help nonprofit organizations carry out their missions. The grant program is for software designed specifically for charities doing work in the following areas: human rights, legal services,…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
House Rejects $100-Million Supplement for AmeriCorps
Washington The U.S. House of Representatives dealt AmeriCorps another blow last month when it denied the embattled national-service program $100-million that would have prevented the program from having to significantly reduce the number of participants this year. The House voted 219 to 200 not to…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
Economic downturn yields better rental opportunities for charities, even as would-be buyers face sticker shockThe bursting of the technology boom has opened up possibilities for charities looking for cheaper office space. Even in regions such as the San Francisco Bay Area -- only a few years ago…
By Maura Webber
Contributor
Groups look for better ways to prevent employee theftTen days after Cathy Adcock became chief financial officer of the Capital Area United Way, in East Lansing, Mich., last December she noticed during an internal review that dozens of checks were missing from the organization’s records. When the…
By Brad Wolverton
Contributor
Sellers of Fraudulent Annuities Ordered to Pay $4.4-Million
An Arizona judge has ordered a Scottsdale company and its two principals to pay $4.4-million in restitution to elderly investors to whom they sold fraudulent charitable gift annuities. The two -- Michael A. Diaz and Michael A. Maksudian -- failed to appear for a court hearing last month, and arrest…
Growth at United Ways Lags Behind Many of Its Competitors, Report Says
Charitable pledges from individuals to United Way campaigns are growing at a slower rate than those to non-United Way ALSO SEE:How Donations Have Grown in On-the-job Drives drives, says a new report. From 1996 to 2001, pledges to so-called alternative funds -- federations of charities that operate…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
Home Depot venture could be a sign of the futureShoppers strolling the vast aisles of Home Depot stores will find among the offerings several products bearing the ALSO SEE:Marketing Ventures With Companies: How Much Charities Earn National Wildlife Federation’s logo, including half-gallon jugs of…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
Bequest to Metropolitan Opera Challenged
Representatives of Sybil B. Harrington, a Texas oil heiress who died in 1998, are suing the Metropolitan Opera, in New York, to recover $5-million of Mrs. Harrington’s donations that they say were misappropriated by the organization. The opera has denied any wrongdoing. Before she died, Mrs.…
By Brad Wolverton
Contributor
Britain’s Largest Charities Face Slowdown in Private Donations
Income growth among Britain’s largest charities slowed significantly during the past two years, according to a new report. What growth occurred was fueled much more by an increase in grants from government agencies than by a rise in private donations. The country’s 500 largest charities saw their…
By Stephen G. Greene
Contributor