IRS Panel Says Donors Exaggerate Value of Artwork
The I.R.S.'s Art Advisory Panel has reviewed hundreds of pieces of artwork donated by taxpayers to charity and found, as always, that many people exaggerated the value of paintings, sculpture, and other items. In cases where the objects were left to heirs, however, many people placed too small a…
Health Charities Try to Turn Mergers Into Fund-Raising Gains
John H. Graham IV, chief executive of the American Diabetes Association, believes that overhauling his charity’s management and financial structure will help spur fund raising to new heights. “I’m certain that we will be successful and that we will grow,” he says. “It’s just a question of how…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
National Health Charities Face Challenge of Preserving Local Focus Amid Mergers
A cool $500,000 a year. That’s what the American Cancer Society’s Great Lakes Division -- formed from the recent merger of the society’s Indiana and Michigan divisions -- expects to save in accounting, clerical, and other costs as a result of the consolidation. The money, says Theresa Bentz, chief…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Medical charities merge affiliates to cut costs, but some chapters rebel Mississippi is the nation’s poorest state and one full of people in desperate need of medical care, a predicament that binds charity executives Teresa Humphrey and Mary D. Fortune in a common cause. Ms. Humphrey is executive…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Charitable Deductions Up Sharply, IRS Says
Preliminary statistics released by the Internal Revenue Service show that the deductions Americans claimed for charitable contributions rose from $75-billion in 1995 to an estimated $84.3-billion in 1996, a rise of 12.4 per cent (see chart at right). The jump was nearly twice as high as the 6.3 per…
Group Calls for Modest Cut in Gift-Annuity Payout Rate
Charities should reduce slightly the payout rates offered to donors of gift annuities, an influential organization of planned-giving experts recommended last week. Noting that interest rates, on which annuity payouts are based, are relatively low, the American Council on Gift Annuities suggested…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
‘Emerge’: Philanthropists and Affirmative Action
With help from conservative philanthropists and Ward Connerly, a black California businessman, a well-organized force of activists is aggressively seeking to undo affirmative-action laws around the nation, says Emerge magazine (March). Meanwhile, defenders of the laws are struggling for money and…
‘George’: Do-Gooders in Hollywood
George magazine (March) has selected the Hollywood celebrities it considers the most effective in doing good works. The magazine says that when it set out on the task, it wanted to know “What is the truth? Are Hollywood celebs actually doing good, or are they just getting good press?” The answers…
The Rules on Who Can Sue Are Constantly Evolving
In the early 1970s, a group of patients at a non-profit hospital in the District of Columbia accused the hospital’s trustees of engaging in financial mismanagement and self-dealing. The hospital tried to argue that the patients had no right to sue. But the late Gerhard A. Gesell, then a District…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Rethinking Who Can Sue a Charity
Hospital conversions spur push to expand rights to general public For 109 years, the Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester, Mass., has been a big part of Joseph E. Garland’s family. His great-grandfather was a founder of the hospital, his grandfather its first chief of staff, and his father -- a…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor