Lilly Fund Grants $26.6 Million to Fight Indianapolis Blight
The Lilly Endowment donation could help the nonprofit Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership reach a longtime goal of purchasing and maintaining abandoned homes until they can be rehabbed, reports The Indianapolis Star.
Girl Scouts Expand Use of Tech to Boost Flagging Membership
The youth organization is expanding its digital efforts, including a year-old program enabling cookie sales through mobile apps, in hopes of reversing a long-term decline in membership, writes the Associated Press.
Muslims Lead Crowdfunding Effort for San Bernardino Victims
An online fundraising campaign spearheaded by U.S. Muslims has raised more than $100,000 for the families of victims of last week’s mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., the Los Angeles Times reports.
Volunteerism Rate Inches Downward to New Low
One in four Americans volunteered with an organization last year, but the percentage has been declining for the past decade.
By Megan O’Neil
Contributor
Microsoft Co-Founder Backs Contest to Find Traffic Solutions
The tech billionaire Paul Allen is supporting a multimillion-dollar prize announced by the U.S. government to encourage innovative solutions to traffic and transportation problems, reports Seattle TV station KOMO.
Del. Nonprofit Sues State Over Use of Bank-Settlement Money
A suit filed on Monday accuses Gov. Jack Markell and other top officials in Delaware of misusing tens of millions of dollars from a settlement with big financial institutions by using the money to balance the budget rather than for programs to help victims of the financial crisis, the Associated Press and The News Journal of Wilmington report.
Poll Finds Strong Support for Disclosure in Political Giving
More than three-quarters of Americans favor requiring groups that work to elect candidates, including nonprofits, to publicly identify their financial contributors, according to a new Associated Press survey.
Gates Sees Low Oil Prices Hampering Anti-Poverty Efforts in the Gulf
Traveling in the Gulf states to raise money for a $2.5 billion fund to tackle poverty in the Muslim world, Bill Gates said the global plunge in oil prices is having an impact on the effort, Reuters reports. But he said a growing culture of giving in the region could counter the impact of the oil decline.
Israeli Newspaper Says U.S. Donors Gave $220 Million for Settlements
American nonprofits raised more than $220 million over five years to support Jewish settlements in the West Bank, in effect subsidizing an Israeli policy the U.S. government has long opposed, writes the Associated Press, citing an investigation by Haaretz.
Zuckerberg-Chan Plan: ‘The Prize’ Author and Others Weigh In
Journalist Dale Russakoff, whose book dissected the missteps that followed Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation to the Newark, N.J., school district, writes in The Washington Post that the Facebook chief executive’s new $45 billion philanthropic plan shows he learned important lessons from that controversial earlier project.