Skoll Creates $100-Million Fund to Tackle Global Threats
The founder of the Skoll Foundation, which supports nonprofit leaders working on innovative social projects, is putting $100-million into a new fund to take on world problems that he believes have the potential to make social change moot. Jeff Skoll, the first president of eBay, says the Skoll…
By Ben Gose
Senior Editor
Bill Gates Sr. Shares Insights on Education, Philanthropy — and His Son
Following are excerpts from an interview The Chronicle conducted with Bill Gates Sr. just before the release of his new book, Showing Up for Life: Thoughts on the Gifts of a Lifetime. Why did you decide to write this book? It started off as a project simply to create a personal memoir for my family…
By Ben Gose
Senior Editor
Bill Gates Sr. was a respected lawyer and community leader here long before his son became the richest man in the world, but he will be known to posterity as the man who helped the biggest foundation of our time get off the ground. In Showing Up for Life: Thoughts on the Gifts of a Lifetime,…
By Ben Gose
Senior Editor
Survey Tracks Shortage of Volunteer Consultants
Survey tracks shortage of volunteer consultants
By Ben Gose
Senior Editor
IRS Count of American Charities Can’t Tell How Many Are Active, Defunct, or Dormant
Trying to divine what the nonprofit world will look like when the economy finally stabilizes is a challenge. Even today, experts don’t have a good estimate of how many charities are operating as opposed to existing merely in the files of the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS reported in March that…
By Ben Gose
Senior Editor
For years, many foundation leaders and nonprofit experts have argued that the nonprofit world is bloated and in bad need of consolidation. The deep recession seems likely to fulfill that vision — even though few people are taking any joy from what will surely be a painful process. Many charities…
By Ben Gose
Senior Editor
Amid the difficult environment for charities, groups that focus on causes like human rights, criminal justice, and reproductive health are enduring an especially grim period, as two of the biggest grant makers to such causes were forced out of business by the Bernard L. Madoff fraud. The JEHT and…
By Ben Gose
Senior Editor
Court Rules Helmsley Trustees Not Bound by Donor’s Instructions
The trustees of the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust do not have to limit the distribution of their grants to charities focused on the care and welfare of dogs, a New York judge ruled last month. The ruling is significant because it allows the foundation’s trustees to go against Ms.…
By Ben Gose and Maria Di Mento
New Jewish Charities Have Attracted Diverse Clients, Study Finds
Jewish charities created in the past 10 years are serving a diverse clientele, with more than a quarter of participants in the organizations having no other meaningful connection to Jewish causes, according to a survey of new Jewish organizations. The survey, conducted in December, also suggests…
By Ben Gose
Senior Editor
Buffett and Kellogg Pledge Millions for Early-Childhood Efforts
Several major grant makers are working together to pour millions of dollars into efforts to help improve education for children from troubled families. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation this month announced that it would spend $16.5-million over the next three years on projects started or championed by…
By Ben Gose
Senior Editor