Probe Threatens Charity Status of Olympics Group
The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the non-profit group organizing the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City in the wake of accusations that the group bribed the Olympics officials who decide where the Games are to be held. Although the focus of the investigation is unclear, the…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Grant Makers Giving More, Report Says
As the assets of the nation’s biggest foundations have increased significantly, so too have the number and size of grants awarded by those foundations, a new study has found. ALSO SEE:Grants From Large Foundations, 1997Foundation Grants of $8-Million and OverState-by-State Distribution of Grants…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Company Offers Big Award for Creative Web Sites
A telecommunications-equipment maker plans to offer $250,000 in cash and in-kind services to non-profit organizations that come up with creative ideas for new Web sites. Ericsson, which is based in Sweden and has nearly 170,000 employees worldwide, will this month introduce the first annual…
By Debra E. Blum, Marilyn Dickey and Holly Hall
* The Gilbert Center, a Seattle organization that provides technology help to charities, has created an e-mail discussion list on topics related to non-profit “intranets” -- private, internal computer networks that can be used only by people associated with a particular organization. “Extranets,”…
By Debra E. Blum, Marilyn Dickey and Holly Hall
Report Says Charities’ E-Mail Is Unlikely to Sway Congress
Charities increasingly have been using e-mail as a way to try to get their messages into the hands of members of Congress. But a new report says electronic messages may not pay off as much as charities had hoped. The report, “Speaking Up in the Internet Age,” was published by OMB Watch, a…
By Debra E. Blum, Marilyn Dickey and Holly Hall
‘The Nation’: Dimming of Civil-Rights Groups
The vitality that once animated America’s civil-rights movement has largely dissipated -- but has not disappeared entirely, writes the novelist George Packer in The Nation (December 14). The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Congress of Racial Equality, and the Student Nonviolent…
By Debra E. Blum and Stephen G. Greene
‘Moment’: A Revolution in Jewish Philanthropy
Some of America’s richest and best-known Jews are at the “vanguard of a revolution in Jewish philanthropy,” according to an article in Moment magazine (December). The giving habits and plans of such figures as the moviemaker Steven Spielberg and the Wall Street wizard Michael Steinhardt demonstrate…
By Debra E. Blum and Stephen G. Greene
Phone Billing Option Offered to Encourage Donations
Some 150 charities are now offering donors the chance to give on line though donations that are charged to their telephone bills. The new service is designed to appeal to donors who are leery about giving out their credit-card account numbers over the Internet. Here’s how it works: After a donor…
By Debra E. Blum and Holly Hall
New Shopping Sites Benefit Charities
Charities may soon benefit from the billions of dollars consumers spend making purchases on line. Three new companies -- 4charity.com, Millennium Projects On Line, and Shop2Give -- have each introduced Web sites in recent months that allow users to shop on line and direct a portion of the price of…
By Debra E. Blum and Holly Hall
Studies Find Big Rise in Contributions to the Arts by Corporations and Foundations
Foundations and businesses have given more and more money to the arts this decade, according to two new reports. ALSO SEE:Business Giving to the ArtsGiving to the Arts by Foundations: How Arts Grants Grew Compared to All Causes, 1992-96 Where Arts Grants Went Grants Awarded to Specific Causes, 1996…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor