Mr. Gates: Seize the Chance to Transform Philanthropy
Bill Gates’s creation of the nation’s largest foundation climaxes an evolutionary shift in American philanthropy, a turn that began three decades ago in California on a former plum farm. In the years since David Packard and William Hewlett made their first billions from microprocessors, a whole new…
By Mark Dowie
Contributor
To the Editor: Cheers to Henry Goldstein for putting the Public Broadcasting Service list-exchange incident into perspective (“PBS-List Debate: a Lot of Hot-Air Time,” Opinion, August 12). Once again, it seems charities -- especially “liberal” charities -- make an easy mark and hot press. Why is…
Panhandling Project Is a Disservice
To the Editor: How can it be, when so many charities and government agencies have worked so long and so hard to encourage the citizenry to give money to bona fide charities rather than to panhandlers, that we are given a Web site which proposes to help us analyze our encounters with panhandlers --…
A Social Science of the Arts Is Needed
To the Editor: An informed debate over a national cultural policy is long overdue (“Pew to Emphasize Cultural Policy,” August 12). The Pew Charitable Trusts is to be applauded for recognizing that the debate over whether or not to have a national cultural policy and what that policy might look like…
A Limited View of Puerto Rican Giving
To the Editor: It is sad to see that your article on philanthropy in Puerto Rico and the work of Ethel Rios de Betancourt (“Building a Tradition of Giving,” August 12) does not make any reference to prior serious research on philanthropy in Puerto Rico. Many of Mrs. Rios de Betancourt’s arguments…
Ad Attacking Group: Petty and Irrational
To the Editor: My jaw dropped in astonishment when I opened your September 9 issue. I find it incredible that The Chronicle would carry a bizarre and petty ad chastising the Catholic Campaign for Human Development simply because C.C.H.D. refuses to underwrite abortion and homosexual political…
Business Districts Deserve Praise, not Scorn
The older I get, the more I realize that some aphorisms really do hold true. Regarding Mark Rosenman’s opinion piece “A Class of Charity That’s Bad for the Public Good” (My View, August 12), the old saw “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing” is fitting. Sadly, Mr. Rosenman is looking for an…
By ELIZABETH JACKSON
Contributor
A Fair and Just Verdict in Boy Scouts Case
The New Jersey Supreme Court’s unanimous decision against the Boy Scouts of America’s anti-gay policy stands as a persuasive, respectful, and important vindication both of members’ rights and civil-rights laws. But Leslie Lenkowsky’s opinion piece on the case (“Let Scouts, not Courts, Determine…
By Evan Wolfson
Contributor
Bill Gates’s Philanthropy: Giving the American Way
To the Editor: It seemed that for months my development colleagues were telling Bill Gates that he should give or give more, or that he should be supporting this or that program. I was puzzled, having always believed that the act of giving a charitable gift was one of free will. Otherwise, it can…
Foundations and Charities: Ties Worth Preserving
Working together, foundations and their non-profit partners have made extraordinary contributions to the quality of life of individuals and communities, and to the national well-being. But the nature of that partnership and the bedrock values that have long undergirded America’s non-profit world…
By Peter Goldberg
Contributor