1 in 10 Foundations Offers Domestic-Partner Benefits, Survey Finds
One in 10 foundations offers medical or other benefits to its employees’ unmarried domestic partners, ALSO SEE:Grant Makers: Benefits Provided to Staff MembersEmployment Policies at FoundationsPercentage of Foundations That Offer Different Types of Leave to Workers according to a new survey by the…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
United Way Reaches Settlement in Dispute on Software Deal
United Way of America has reached a settlement with a technology company over a $12-million software system that the organization scrapped because of what it said were irreparable defects. The charity said it reached “an amicable settlement” through non-binding mediation with Cap Gemini America, an…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Who Gave the Most: Carnegie, Rockefeller, or Gates?
Among the dozens of wealthy people who have become important charitable benefactors over the past century, three names stand out as giants of philanthropy: ALSO SEE:A SPECIAL REPORT on philanthropy at the millennium: looking ahead and looking back. Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and Bill…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Donors Big and Small Propelled Philanthropy in the 20th Century
In the waning years of the 19th century, the steel baron Andrew Carnegie set the tone for a transformation in American philanthropy that will no doubt continue well into the new millennium. He told wealthy people that they would be disgraced if they died without having donated their surplus money…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
On-Line Giving and Increased Activism: Predictions for a New Millennium
The rise of the Internet. ALSO SEE:A SPECIAL REPORT on philanthropy at the millennium: looking ahead and looking back. Demands for greater financial accountability. Expanding grassroots activism. The growth of international partnerships between charitable groups. Such forces will help to reshape…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Technology and Accountability Will Shape the Future of Philanthropy
From his office at Arizona State University, in Tempe, Robert Ashcraft has a window on the non-profit world in the 21st century. ALSO SEE:A SPECIAL REPORT on philanthropy at the millennium: looking ahead and looking back. Mr. Ashcraft, director of a university program that trains students to work…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
‘The Industry Standard’: Allure of the Web
Many non-profit groups have been slow to make use of the Internet, but some advocacy and social-service organizations are finding innovative ways to use Web sites to engage the public on such issues as the environment, civil rights, and children’s issues, says The Industry Standard (December 6), a…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
‘Business Review’: on Trustee Skills
Business executives beware: Using traditional corporate-management skills on a non-profit board can be hazardous to the health of the charity. “Non-profit work involves more than just having your heart in the right place,” F. Warren McFarlan, a Harvard Business School professor and veteran…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Bishops Cite Government’s Duty to Poor
While praising the work of Catholic humanitarian organizations, the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops declared in a new document that governments have a responsibility to protect the neediest citizens, in part because charities may lack the resources to do so. In a pastoral letter issued last month…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
‘Business Week’: on Giving by America’s Most Wealthy
Melinda Gates and her husband, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, are taking a “decidedly different” approach to philanthropy than are another wealthy couple, corporate investor Warren Buffett and his wife, Susan, Business Week magazine says in a pair of stories (October 25). Mrs. Gates and her…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor