‘U.S. News’: Guide to Charitable Giving

The signs that the economy is recovering are likely to mean that more charities will step up their solicitations this holiday season, Eugene Tempel, executive director of Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy, predicts in a U.S. News & World Report guide to year-end giving (December 8.) “An economic pickup enhances the prospect that donors might respond,” he says.

The magazine offers tips for making shrewd donations, examines the financial problems facing charities, and looks at the reports of excessive pay and other abuses at nonprofit organizations. In addition, it reviews the lawsuits donors have waged over the use of their charitable funds and profiles Patty Stonesifer, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Ms. Stonesifer says she first learned about the impact of organized philanthropy in Indianapolis, where the Lilly Endowment helped her father run a soup kitchen.

“Lilly did a lot in Indianapolis,” she told the magazine. She said Lilly and other grant makers laid the groundwork for today’s big donors: “I’ll bet 10 of [Gates’s] health initiatives are based on Rockefeller programs.”

The articles are available online at http://www.usnews.com.