2013 Highlights: The Year’s Hot Topics

Detroit Tests What Foundations Can Do to Rescue Troubled Cities
Grant makers are plowing hundreds of millions of dollars into efforts that some experts say will show what works best to rescue troubled cities.

Girl Scouts’ Financial and Leadership Woes Threaten 100-Year-Old Group
The charity faces a slip in donations, big losses in its pension plan, and fissures over its leadership and restructuring.

Innovative Nonprofits Help Poor People Build Their Savings
Creative new efforts are drawing grant-making support, but now charities are seeking ways to vastly expand the number of Americans they reach.

Former Fundraiser Now Crusades Against Telemarketing Firms
Pearl Cohen reported the solicitation company where she worked to authorities and is now doing all she can to expose practices she says cheat charities and mislead donors.

Foundations Split on Their Response to Fracking
High-powered donors and foundations are taking an array of approaches to deal with issues related to hydraulic fracturing for natural gas.

Impact Investing Requires Foundations to Think and Act in New Ways
It’s more complicated than grant making, and evaluating its effectiveness can be difficult.

A Foundation Risks All of Its Endowment on Creating Jobs
The F.B. Heron Foundation has attracted attention with its effort to put all of its investments and grants into projects and companies that fight poverty.

Sparks Fly Over TED Talk about Charity vs. Capitalism
Dan Pallotta’s speech on combating poverty, hunger, and disease has attracted more than 2 million views, but he has divided nonprofits with his message and his controversial background.