Big Business Means Big Philanthropy
Large companies forecast 11% rise in gifts, but mergers worry charities Many of America’s largest companies expect to give significantly more to charity this year than in 1997, a Chronicle survey has found. Among 66 big companies that reported their giving plans for 1998, cash donations are…
Giving to Colleges Rises by 12%
Biggest increase in past decade; larger gains for private schools Colleges and universities received $16-billion in private donations last year, a 12.3-per-cent jump from 1996, says a report to be released this week by the Council for Aid to Education. The council, a private research organization…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
‘Giving USA’ Revises Donation Figures Downward to Correct Past Flaws
Americans are not necessarily as generous as they have been previously portrayed in Giving USA, the widely cited annual report on charitable giving. This year’s edition, released last week by the American Association of Fund-Raising Counsel Trust for Philanthropy, says that in each year of the past…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Church Gifts Up; Donations to Needy Off
Gifts to Christian churches in the United States continue to grow, according to a new study. But the churches are collecting less money for “benevolences,” programs that help the needy around the country and abroad. The 1998 edition of the Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, prepared by the…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Philanthropy Should Focus on Gap Between Rich and Poor, Report Says
Non-profit groups should encourage Americans to give a greater share of their income to charities, and foundations and corporations should also give much more to organizations that help the poor, says a draft of a report written by a group of about 100 grant makers, charity leaders, government…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Charitable Fund With Commercial Ties Seeks Its Niche in Philanthropy
In the early 1990s, Robert and Sandra Kantor of Sun Valley, Idaho, began looking for a simple way for Robert’s parents to convert about $1-million of their assets -- including some real estate -- into tax-deductible dollars that would be channeled to charity. His parents were particularly…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Ruling Could Mean More Scrutiny by IRS
A recent ruling by the U.S. Tax Court that a charity’s outside fund-raising consultant could be considered an “insider” has given the Internal Revenue Service a new tool to go after charities in search of improprieties, a lawyer who represented the non-profit organization in the case told a meeting…
Treasury, Congress Review Donor Funds
Foundation leaders met last week with government officials to talk about reining in tax-exempt funds set up by for-profit companies. The foundation officials -- led by John A. Edie, senior vice-president of the Council on Foundations in Washington -- want Treasury officials and lawmakers to…
Pat Robertson’s Charity Pays Fine to IRS
The Christian Broadcasting Network has announced that it has agreed to pay a substantial penalty to the Internal Revenue Service and relinquish its tax-exempt status for 1986 and 1987, apparently because of political activity related to the failed 1988 Presidential bid of its founder, Pat…
Charities Fear New Code Will Deter Big Gifts
A revision in the National Society of Fund Raising Executives’ ethics code may cause some charities to miss out unfairly on big gifts, some fund raisers fear. The change was designed to clarify the society’s longstanding policy against paying or accepting finder’s fees to financial advisers and…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor