Financial Calamity at California United Way Stirs Blame and a Bonanza of Gifts
After teetering on the brink of financial collapse, the United Way of Santa Clara, Cal., is on safer ground thanks to a $14-million bailout from some of Silicon Valley’s wealthiest tycoons and foundations. But the organization’s 18-member board of directors faces blistering criticism for its role…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Gains on Wall Street Help Strengthen Giving to Colleges, Private Schools
The booming stock market and a rise in personal wealth among many Americans helped raise private gifts ALSO SEE:A Giving BoomReport’s Numbers Are No True Measure of Charity, Critics Say1998 Figures from Giving USA1998 Figures on Giving to Colleges1998 Figures on Giving to Private Schools to…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
United Ways Hope to Enhance Their Profiles With New Marketing Technique
Federal Express does it. ALSO SEE:‘Branding': a Hot Trend for Charities So do Kmart and I.B.M. And now United Way of America is doing it too. The national organization is undertaking a pilot program aimed at enhancing its institutional identity -- or “brand” image -- as an organization that listens…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
‘Branding’: a Hot Trend for Charities
Groups try to stay ahead of rivals by adopting a marketable identity After Daniel Aukin became artistic director of New York’s Soho Repertory Theatre last September, a member of ALSO SEE:United Ways Hope to Enhance Their Profiles With New Marketing Technique the board gave him some advice about how…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Bowling Organization Loses Charity Status
The I.R.S. has revoked an amateur-bowling organization’s tax-exempt status because it furthered the private interests of its officers, directors, and others, and failed to carry out its charitable mission. The non-profit organization, which the I.R.S. did not identify as a matter of policy, said on…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Brutality in Kosovo Turns Many Charity Relief Workers Into Refugees
Once they were the caregivers. Now they are part of the great Balkan diaspora. Among the tens of thousands of refugees who have fled from Kosovo in recent days are scores of ethnic-Albanian charity employees who worked for Catholic Relief Services, ALSO SEE:Kosovo Crisis Bedevils Aid EffortsBalkan…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Kosovo Crisis Bedevils Aid Efforts
Charities are stretched to the limit in chaotic struggle to help refugees Arsim Osmani, an ethnic-Albanian exile from the war in Kosovo, gazed past acres of white tents ALSO SEE:Brutality in Kosovo Turns Many Charity Relief Workers Into RefugeesBalkan Turmoil Could Signify Turning Point for Giving…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
‘Affinity Card’ Revenue Not Taxable, Court Says
In a closely watched case that could affect thousands of non-profit organizations that receive money from royalty agreements, the U.S. Tax Court has ruled for a second time that the Sierra Club does not owe tax on revenue from an “affinity” credit-card program. The Tax Court rejected Internal…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
*U.S. Reps. Philip M. Crane, Republican of Illinois, and Richard E. Neal, Democrat of Massachusetts, have introduced a bill, HR 1311, that would allow people age 59 1/2 and older to donate assets from their individual retirement accounts to a charity without incurring an income-tax liability. Mr.…
‘Fortune’: Bill Gates and His Charitable Giving
Microsoft founder Bill Gates faces a daunting challenge in deciding how to give away his wealth, according to a story in Fortune magazine (March 15). His two foundations, the William H. Gates and the Gates Learning Foundations, are “so large that they will have to give away some $325-million a year…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor