Grass-Roots Groups Must Admit Their Failures
To the Editor: I have spent the past 10 years leading a small environmental organization, but I cannot agree with Mark Dowie’s simplistic “Robin Hood” strategy (“Support Grass-Roots Environmentalists,” April 20). Mr. Dowie’s theory is that we need more aggressive local activism by small, ad hoc…
A New Approach to Grant Making
A new grant-making approach is paving the way for philanthropies to better support people and causes that are too often ignored — and offering an opportunity to cultivate new nonprofit leaders and donors. Community-based “focus funds” are small, vibrant grant-making organizations created by people…
By Robert K. Ross
Contributor
Court Denies Charity Status to Donor-Advised Fund
TAX WATCHA donor-advised fund does not deserve tax-exempt status because it improperly shielded donors’ wealth from taxation, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims has ruled. The court case is among the first involving a donor-advised fund, which allows people to set aside money in a special fund, claim…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
Opinion: Michigan’s Case Against the Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation should not be required to focus its grant making on supporting institutions in and around Detroit, as the Michigan attorney general says it should, writes John J. Miller in The New York Times. Mr. Miller writes that while Attorney General Mike Cox is right to monitor the…
Corporate chief executives should donate a big percentage of their pay increases to charity, writes a corporate-philanthropy expert in USA Today. Curt Weeden, who previously oversaw corporate giving at Johnson & Johnson and now heads the Association of Corporate Contributions Professionals, in…
The Challenges Facing the Illiterate
LETTERS TO THE EDITORTo the Editor: Low literacy levels in adults affect each and every one of us, as pointed out in your article (“Building a Nation of Readers,” April 20). Annually, billions of dollars are lost due to preventable health problems and lost or lower productivity on the job directly…
The Role of a Charity’s Trustees and Volunteers
LETTERS TO THE EDITORTo the Editor: As a relatively young CEO of a nonprofit who came to this role 19 months ago from a development position, I read your article “Turning Fund Raisers Into CEO’s” (April 6), with great interest. Based on my personal experiences, I thought the article was accurate in…
A Turning Point for the White House’s Effort to Aid Religious Charities
The announcement that H. James Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, will be leaving in June marks a turning point in the Bush administration’s most distinctive domestic-policy effort. But less certain is what the future holds in store for the plan to…
By LESLIE LENKOWSKY
Contributor
President Bush and Religious Groups
LETTERS TO THE EDITORTo the Editor: Your article about President Bush’s efforts to encourage companies to support religious groups is disturbing (“President Appeals to Companies to Expand Giving to Religious Groups,” March 23). What happened to the constitutional concept of separate church and…
Nude Calendars Are ‘Unacceptable’
LETTERS TO THE EDITORTo the Editor: The article regarding the nude charity calendar done by the Topeka Civic Theatre (“Charity Calendars Show More Than Date,” April 6) is appalling. Was the final profit of less than $9,000 really profitable? In a day and age where sex is everywhere a person looks…