Corporate Giving Spurs Sales Growth, Study Finds
For every dollar a retail company, bank, or popular-goods manufacturer adds to its charitable-giving budget, it can expect sales to grow by an average of $6, according to a study by three university researchers who attempted to quantify the economic benefit of corporate giving. In addition, a…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
Former Rockefeller Executive Found Guilty of Stealing $400,000
A former grants administrator at the Rockefeller Foundation has been found guilty of stealing more than $400,000 from the grant maker by defrauding its employee matching-gift program over a seven-year period. Cheryl McEwan, 51, who was employed at the foundation from 1990 until she was fired last…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
In 1919, Raymond Orteig, a hotel mogul, offered $25,000 to the first pilot who flew nonstop from New York City to Paris. Several aviators ALSO SEE: BIOGRAPHY: About Tom Vander Ark, president of the X Prize Foundation failed to complete the perilous journey, but in 1927 Charles Lindbergh succeeded,…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
‘Worth’: Keeping Charities Financially Stable
PRESS CLIPPINGS Many philanthropists worry “that their favorite charities are overly dependent on one source of funding — them,” says Worth magazine (February). That realization has prompted many donors to take steps to strengthen the organizations. Among the approaches: Eddie Phillips, who helped…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
‘Foreign Affairs’: Foundations and Global Health
PRESS CLIPPINGS Giving to global health has grown to unprecedented levels in the last few years, but if governments and private donors do not do more to help build medical facilities and pay the salaries of doctors and nurses in poor countries the assistance could exacerbate the problems of sick…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
Is the U.S. Treasury Secretary Giving Away His $800-Million Fortune?
Environmental charities probably celebrated last week when news leaked out that U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, a long-time supporter of conservation programs, had plans to contribute almost his entire fortune to charitable causes. An article in Financial News, an online news service,…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
Nearly Half of Large Foundations Shun Unrestricted Grants, Study Finds
By Ian WilhelmDespite a growing call for foundations to pay for charities’ operating costs, most grant makers prefer to support specific charitable programs, says a new report. Forty-nine percent of foundation leaders said they are more inclined to make grants solely to support programs, while 16…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
A Generous Helping of Safe Sex
AIDS education and family planning are among the courses served at charity-run restaurant in Thailand Near the Thai massage parlors on Sukhumvit Road here, past street vendors hawking T-shirts and ALSO SEE:Summary: Special Report: Charities and BusinessArticle: Making Money With a MissionLIVE…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
American Donors Urged to Learn Lessons From Overseas Charities
While modern philanthropy originated in the United States, other parts of the world have developed their own innovative style of giving and commitment to social causes that rivals America’s, a Ford Foundation official told participants at a conference here last month on international grant making.…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
Gates Foundation Announces That It Doesn’t Plan to Operate Forever
All good things must come to an end, as the saying goes, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is no exception. The foundation, in Seattle, announced last week it had set up a timeline for its eventual closure, as part of changes the fund is making to facilitate the $31-billion pledge the…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor