Volunteering Leads to Longer and Healthier Life, Report Finds
Older Americans who volunteer receive significant health benefits from their charitable efforts, including added years to their lives, says a new report. While people often say they feel a “helper’s high” after volunteering, during the past 20 years scientific research has shown that there are…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
Charity Work Isn’t the Solution for All Older Americans
As the oldest of the 78 million baby boomers approach retirement, more and more people are promoting ways to get older Americans involved in volunteering with nonprofit and other organizations to help fill unmet community and social needs. Compared with the apocalyptic scenario, favored by the news…
By Marty Martinson
Contributor
Baby Boomers Seek a Purposeful Direction in Later Life, Study Finds
What do baby boomers want? Many charities and foundations have been asking that question now that the oldest members of the generation that is expected to redefine retirement are entering their 60s. Do they plan to work or volunteer for nonprofit groups, or to look for programs to stimulate them…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
Offer by iTunes Benefits Charity Work in Darfur
Customers at iTunes, the online music site, can download new versions of classic John Lennon songs and help victims of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. Amnesty International is using music to raise awareness about — and much-needed money for — the conflict, which has killed more than 300,000…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Database Offers New Hope in Tuberculosis Fight
A new database could be an important tool in the battle against tuberculosis. Scientists finished sequencing the genome of the tuberculosis bacterium in 1998. Through a process called expression profiling, they can analyze infected tissue samples and determine which of the bacterium’s 4,000 genes…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Rockefeller Foundation Offers ‘Ideas Portal’
The Rockefeller Foundation has been testing something it calls an ideas portal on its Web site, which provides visitors with an online form through which they can share thoughts about problems they would like to see the foundation tackle and specific projects it should support. More than 1,700…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
IBM Collaborates With Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy and IBM hope to harness the power of technology to conserve the world’s great rivers. By working together, the charity and the information-technology giant plan to develop a computer-modeling system that will bring together multiple sets of data about water quantity, climate,…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
United Way of America Plans Big Increase in Program to Strengthen Family Finances
United Way of America announced last week that it is creating a program to help low- and moderate-income people improve their finances, saying millions of Americans are struggling to survive in an economy marked by growing income inequality. The giant social-service group said it would increase its…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
From Pennies to Millions of Dollars: Fund Raising Ideas That Work
Special Event Mimics Speed Dating to Match Grant Makers and SeekersCoupling speed dating with grant seeking has proved to be a winning match for Canadian charities and grant makers. In February, the Hamilton Funders Network, in Ontario, taking a page from the increasingly popular approach to…
By Sue Hoye
Contributor
Concern for Environment Is High, Survey Says
The vast majority of Americans — 88 percent — say they are just as concerned, or more so, about environmental issues now as they were a year ago, and many of them are using that interest to shape their buying and giving decisions, a new study finds. Of the 1,066 adults who responded to an online…
By Jennifer Moore
Contributor