Rockefeller Foundation Offers ‘Ideas Portal’
The Rockefeller Foundation has been testing something it calls an ideas portal on its Web site, which provides visitors with an online form through which they can share thoughts about problems they would like to see the foundation tackle and specific projects it should support. More than 1,700…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Charity thrives on zealous pursuit of church-state separationMembers of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a charity that advocates ALSO SEE: TEXTBOX: Freedom From Religion Foundation the strict separation of church and state, go by a variety of labels: atheists, agnostics, nonbelievers,…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Foundations Collaborate to Promote Easy Access to Fresh Food
The Lumpkin Family Foundation, in rural Illinois, wants to ALSO SEE:ARTICLE: What’s for Dinner?ARTICLE: Grant Maker Pledges $500-Million to Help America’s Kids Slim DownARTICLE: A Philadelphia Effort to Spread ‘Local Food’ Raises Its Ambitions improve the local economy of the farm communities in…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
A Philadelphia Effort to Spread ‘Local Food’ Raises Its Ambitions
Danilo Burgos, owner of a grocery and takeout store in West Philadelphia, wants to ALSO SEE:ARTICLE: What’s for Dinner?ARTICLE: Grant Maker Pledges $500-Million to Help America’s Kids Slim DownARTICLE: Foundations Collaborate to Promote Easy Access to Fresh Food offer his customers the big juicy…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Grant makers come to the table to support local foodJon M. Jensen of Cleveland’s George Gund Foundation has a theory ALSO SEE:ARTICLE: Grant Maker Pledges $500-Million to Help America’s Kids Slim DownARTICLE: A Philadelphia Effort to Spread ‘Local Food’ Raises Its AmbitionsARTICLE: Foundations…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
A Hollywood Movie Helps Inspire Donors to Support Nonprofit Causes
The Ultimate Gift, a movie released this month that features James Garner, Brian Dennehy, and Abigail Breslin (the star of Little Miss Sunshine), took in an estimated $1.3-million at the box office the first weekend after it opened. But the film’s producers speculate that it has reaped even more…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Mixed Signals on Text Messages
Charities try cellphone appeals to raise money and awareness, but the cost is highAfter Hurricane Katrina, the American Red Cross raised $116,000 in eight weeks by working with ALSO SEE: Excerpt: Ghost Town Novella Web site: Ghost Town Novella Web site cellphone companies to run one of the nation’s…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Unusual Alliance: Land Trusts Forge Ties to Housing Groups
Supporters of land conservation and proponents of low-cost housing are usually at odds over land use, but now they are increasingly looking for common ground. Literally. Especially in fast-growing cities and towns, where natural areas are threatened and the ability of low-income residents to pay…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Conservation Groups Growing Fast, Study Finds
Each year, two million acres of forests, farms, wetlands, and other of America’s open spaces are taken over ALSO SEE: Graphs: The Growth of Land-Conservation Efforts by new homes, shopping malls, highways, and other development. But, according to a new report, hundreds of local charities dedicated…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
New tax breaks are creating a boom in conservation effortsAbout a decade ago, an East Coast investment banker offered Rick Berg millions of dollars to buy his scenic cattle ranch — thousands of acres of prairie, timbered hills, big-game habitat, and a river bottom set between two mountain ranges in…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor