News Briefs for March 13, 2014

Share of American Volunteers Dropped 1% Last Year to Lowest Rate Since 2002

The percentage of Americans who did volunteer work last year was lower than at any time since the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics began gathering the data in 2002. About 62.6 million people, or 25 percent of the public, volunteered at least once from September 2012 to September 2013. That’s down from the 27 percent who volunteered in 2012. While the volunteer rates for both men and women declined, women continued to volunteer at a higher rate than men, the federal agency reports.

Foundations Pledge $200-Million More to Help Black and Latino Men

More than two dozen foundations announced $200-million in new grants over the next five years for programs designed to improve the lives of young black and Hispanic men. The announcement was made in response to a plea from Mr. Obama to the Executives’ Alliance to Expand Opportunities for Boys and Men of Color. The money comes on top of the $150-million that members of the group pledged last year.

Disney to End Support for Boy Scouts

The Walt Disney Company is severing charitable ties with the Boy Scouts of America next year because of the organization’s policy banning gay adult leaders. The entertainment conglomerate provided “small grants to local Scout troops and packs” through an employee volunteer program, a Boy Scouts of America spokesman said in a statement. “We are disappointed in this decision because it will impact our ability to serve kids,” the spokesman said.

For-profit Solicitors Kept 62% of Funds Raised for Charities in New York State

Telemarketers in New York kept 62 percent of the $249.3-million they raised for charities, according to charity regulators at the New York Attorney General’s Office. That means only 38 percent, or $94.5-million, of donors’ contributions snagged by telemarketers went to charities, according to the office’s latest “Pennies for Charities” report, which studied 2012 results. “In the last 11 years, charities have never retained more than 42 percent of the funds raised by telemarketers in a single year,” the report says.

Mandatory Electronic Filing of Tax Returns by Nonprofits Gets Strong Support

Nonprofits would be required to file their informational tax returns electronically under plans proposed by both President Obama and Rep. Dave Camp, a Michigan Republican who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee. The goal is to make nonprofit data more easily available in machine-readable format so donors, public-policy officials, and others can use the information on the forms.

150 Lawmakers Donated Shutdown Pay

During the 16-day partial federal government shutdown late last year, many members of Congress vowed to reject the pay they earned during the impasse. A Washington Post analysis found that about 150 of the 237 lawmakers who pledged to forgo part of their pay donated a total of nearly $500,000 to charity or returned it to the U.S. Treasury.

Google Gives Nearly $7-Million to Provide Free Transportation to Poor Kids in S.F.

Google is donating $6.8-million so that public-transit authorities in San Francisco can provide free passes to low-income young people in San Francisco. The money will extend a city program for two years after its pilot phase runs out of money in June. Some of the company’s critics say the technology firm’s donation is intended to counter protests that have arisen over its private shuttles that use local public bus stops to pick up and drop off its employees who work at the company’s Bay Area headquarters.

Two Universities Get Big Gifts

Two universities last month received multimillion-dollar donations from billionaire alumni. Kenneth Griffin, who made his fortune in hedge funds, gave $150-million to Harvard University, earmarked for scholarships. Al Warrington IV and his wife, Judy, pledged $75-million to the University of Florida for endowed professorships at the business school. The Florida institution is required to raise money from other sources to match the gift from Mr. Warrington, who ran the company that was the precursor to the company now known as Waste Management.