Charities Can Expect $1-Trillion From Transfer of Wealth, Researcher Estimates
For years, fund raisers have anticipated a huge windfall from the “transfer of wealth” now under way as the parents of baby boomers die and dispose of their assets. But no one has come up with a good estimate for how much of the total transferred -- which two Cornell University economists predict…
By Vince Stehle
Contributor
Clarification of Controversial Accounting Rule Fails to Quiet Critics
The Financial Accounting Standards Board has attempted to clarify one of its most complicated -- and controversial -- accounting rules for non-profit groups. But the explanation it has offered does little to appease United Ways and other organizations that have raised objections to the rule. At…
By Jennifer Moore
Contributor
Some Charity Promotions Violate State Laws
“Now the long-distance calls you make can help save wolves, dolphins, elephants, grizzlies, panthers, wild birds, tigers, and other important wildlife,” declares a brochure promoting a Sprint telephone calling card. For every call, Sprint vows, a contribution will go to the Defenders of Wildlife, a…
By Susan Gray
Contributor
Former War Prisoner Rises to Germany’s Philanthropic Elite
If it were up to him, Reinhard Mohn, chairman of the Bertelsmann Foundation, would not have returned to his native Germany at the end of World War II. Captured by American forces in North Africa, where he served under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, Mr. Mohn spent two and a half years as a prisoner of…
By Vince Stehle
Contributor
German fund imports U.S. ideas -- and also sends some back In building the German company Bertelsmann into a global media giant, Reinhard Mohn recalls that “as soon as I did not understand a problem, I said, Who knows in the United States?” Now, as president of the Bertelsmann Foundation, he is…
By Vince Stehle
Contributor
German Fund Is Making Its Mark
Bertelsmann shakes up thinking on both sides of the Atlantic The German media conglomerate Bertelsmann A.G. shook up the business world this spring when it took over Random House and became the largest publisher of English-language books anywhere. The $14-billion company, owned primarily by a…
By Vince Stehle
Contributor
Levi’s Is Uncharitable Toward Its Workers
To the Editor: In the article “Philanthropy Is in the Family Genes,” heirs to the Levi Strauss fortune describe how charity begins at home through donations to local groups. But Levi Strauss & Company should also start showing responsibility to the garment workers whose labor made the Haases one of…
Overlooked Branch of a Generous Family
To the Editor: Your excellent article “Philanthropy Is in the Family Genes” (May 21) describing several generations of philanthropic members of the Haas family was a much-deserved tribute to an extraordinary tradition. Thoughtful and compassionate funding has marked many decades of benefit to…
Fund-Raising Ethics and Earning a Living
To the Editor: While ethics matter, Henry Goldstein’s opinion piece on ethical fund raising (“Taking the Lead on Ethical Fund Raising,” June 4) largely ignores the root causes of a compensation dilemma facing the development profession. As The Chronicle regularly reports, philanthropy is a…
Philanthropy Needs Input of ‘Out’ Groups
Although the desire of foundations and academics to respond more effectively to increasingly urgent social, economic, and political needs is understandable, few of the commissions, strategy groups, and organizations that have recently come together to look at the future of philanthropy have found…
By PABLO EISENBERG
Contributor