New Standards Issued on Calculating Worth of Planned Gifts
To help nonprofit organizations determine the value of charitable annuities and other planned gifts, the National Committee on Planned Giving introduced new gift-valuation standards last week. The standards, which are designed to help organizations determine the charitable impact in today’s dollars…
By Brad Wolverton
Contributor
Founder of eBay Announces New Approach to His Giving
Pierre M. Omidyar, the 36-year-old founder of eBay, the giant online marketplace, has always said he wanted to take an uncoventional approach to giving away the bulk of his fortune, estimated to be worth at least $10-billion. Last month he made that clear by announcing he would fold his foundation…
By Brad Wolverton
Contributor
Congressman Seeks Hearings on Nonprofit Groups
The chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, Rep. Bill Thomas, wants to hold hearings on the activities of nonprofit organizations to determine if certain groups deserve to keep their tax-exempt status. Mr. Thomas, Republican of California, told a recent gathering of the Federation of…
By Brad Wolverton
Contributor
Charity Measure Gets New Life in Congress
A major charity measure that had stalled in Congress has breathed new life, as two U.S. senators announced that they would add the legislation to a jobs bill that is almost certain to pass the House and Senate. Sen. Rick Santorum, Republican of Pennsylvania, and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat…
By Brad Wolverton
Contributor
Environmental Group Makes Changes in Board Policies
Responding to continuing investigations of its financial dealings by the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Senate, the Nature Conservancy, in Arlington, Va., has announced that it will restructure its governing board to improve oversight of the organization. The changes include creating board…
By Brad Wolverton
Contributor
Study Shows Which Charities People Trust
Doctors Without Borders, Habitat for Humanity, and the Salvation Army earned the highest scores among 20 charities graded on their trustworthiness, according to a new survey by Harris Interactive, a research company in Rochester, N.Y. Among those 20, Global Exchange, an international human-rights…
By Brad Wolverton
Contributor
Giving to Colleges, Private Schools Drops for Second Year in a Row
For the second consecutive year, private donations to colleges, universities, and secondary schools declined, according to new figures from the Council for Aid to Education. Donations to colleges and ALSO SEE:Giving to Colleges, Private Schools Drops for Second Year in a RowGiving to Colleges and…
By Brad Wolverton
Contributor
Salvation Army Sued Over Employee Policies
In what experts are calling the first legal challenge to the Bush administration’s plan to direct government money to religious groups, the New York Civil Liberties Union last week sued the Salvation Army, saying the charity illegally discriminates against its employees based on their religious…
By Brad Wolverton
Contributor
Many groups are curbing their retirement benefits Last year, the United Way of America, the umbrella group for 1,400 local United Ways, infused $2-million into its pension plan -- three times the amount it had put in three years earlier -- to ensure that it could fulfill its obligations to workers…
By Brad Wolverton
Contributor
Salvation Army Receives $1.5-Billion Donation From McDonald’s Heiress
In one of the largest gifts ever to a charity, the estate of Joan B. Kroc, the McDonald’s heiress, announced that it plans to give more than $1.5-billion to the Salvation Army. The bequest, which represents 75 percent of the estimated $2-billion estate of Mrs. Kroc, who died of brain cancer in…
By Brad Wolverton
Contributor