Bankrupt Pa. Health System Sued by Creditors Demanding $1-Billion
Creditors of the bankrupt Allegheny Health Education and Research Foundation, in Pittsburgh, have sued leaders of the non-profit health-care system for more than $1-billion. The suit, filed last month in a federal bankruptcy court, charges that seven of Allegheny’s top officials and four of its…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Technicality Lowers Charities’ Take From Retirement-Fund Bequests
Planned-giving experts say that a minor provision of federal law ALSO SEE:Going After Retirement AccountsGrowth in Retirement Assets may discourage people from bequeathing their retirement-plan money to charities. According to the provision -- which is part of the law that governs the distribution…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Going After Retirement Accounts
Fund raisers urge donors to make bequests of tax-deferred savings Two years ago, a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, ALSO SEE:Technicality Lowers Charities’ Take From Retirement-Fund BequestsGrowth in Retirement Assets told officials at St. Paul’s that she had named…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
New Group Hopes to Increase Corporate Giving to $15-Billion a Year
Some of the nation’s top business leaders, along with the actor and businessman Paul Newman, are calling for companies nationwide to increase to $15-billion the total amount of their annual charitable gifts by 2004. To help spur corporate giving, the business leaders have formed a new non-profit…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Business Leaders Announce New Crusade to Increase Corporate Giving
Some of the nation’s top business leaders, along with the actor and businessman Paul Newman, today announced the formation of a new group to help spur corporate giving. The group, called the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy, says its goal is to increase the total amount of annual…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Trends in Bequests Are Detailed by IRS
Wealthy Americans who leave money to charity when they die give the largest share of their gifts -- nearly one-third -- to educational, medical, or scientific institutions, according to figures from the Internal Revenue Service. Private foundations are the next biggest beneficiary of such bequests,…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Baptist Charity Involved in Alleged Investment Scam Files for Bankruptcy in Arizona
The Baptist Foundation of Arizona filed for bankruptcy in federal court last week, owing nearly $600-million to 13,000 people who had bought securities from the organization. The foundation’s bankruptcy marks one of the biggest financial collapses ever by a charity. Foundation officials and others…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Community Foundations See Sharp Growth in Assets
Community foundations nationwide, buoyed by a strong stock market that has boosted endowments and encouraged more donors to give big gifts, together held more than $25-billion in assets last year, according to an annual survey by the Columbus Foundation, in Ohio. ALSO SEE:Community Foundations’…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Arkansas Charity Challenges State Telemarketing Law
An Arkansas charity is challenging a 1997 state law intended to protect consumers from aggressive telemarketers. The National Federation of the Blind of Arkansas last month asked a state court to permanently bar state officials from enforcing the law, which the lawsuit contends is too vague and…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Companies Link Business, Volunteering
More and more companies are linking their employee-volunteering programs to their business goals, according to a new survey. The survey, released last month by the Points of Light Foundation, in Washington, found that eight out of 10 companies connect volunteering to their overall business…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor