Environmental Site Offers Donors ‘Stock’ Option
Reduce, reuse, recycle — and, now, retire. The Clean Air Conservancy plans to add a fourth R to the familiar three by allowing people to purchase “carbon credits” — stocks that regulate how much carbon dioxide companies emit — and donate them to a charitable fund that holds the stocks, essentially…
By Sam Kean
Contributor
Russian Lawmakers Attack American Charities
Russian legislators have accused the United States of using nongovernmental organizations to interfere in the country’s domestic affairs. The State Duma, or lower house of parliament, has unanimously passed a resolution condemning what it said were “unprecedented attempts” by the United States to…
By Bryon MacWilliams
Contributor
Bushes and Cheneys Provide Charitable-Giving Data
President Bush and Vice President Cheney and their wives have released information about their contributions to charities last year. The White House said that Mr. Bush and the first lady, Laura Bush, gave $78,100 to churches and charitable organizations, a figure that represents 12 percent of their…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
75 Foundations Honored for Outstanding Communications Materials
The Council on Foundations this week honored 75 foundations for creating outstanding annual and biennial reports, newsletters, public-information campaigns, special reports, and Web sites. The 23rd annual Wilmer Shields Rich Awards — named for the council’s first executive director, who led the…
By Anne W. Howard
Contributor
Charities Face Trouble Keeping Volunteers and Attracting New Ones, Study Finds
Nonprofit groups face significant challenges ALSO SEE: TABLE: Volunteering in the United States in keeping their volunteers loyal and attracting new people to help their causes, according to a government study released last month. Of the 65.4 million adult Americans who volunteered in 2005, 20.9…
By MARTY MICHAELS
Contributor
Humanitarian Groups Struggle With Challenges of Providing Aid
International aid groups have helped persuade the U.S. government that fighting global poverty should be considered a top foreign-policy goal, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told nonprofit organizations gathered here. This year the State Department made “reducing widespread poverty” one of the…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
Social Entrepreneurs Urged to Improve Business Skills
Carl J. Schramm, the head of one of the nation’s biggest foundations, challenged the 600 charity and business leaders gathered here late last month to wrestle with what it means to approach tough social problems in an entrepreneurial fashion — but also to recognize that social entrepreneurship…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
From Charity Watchdog to Charity CEO
Selection of the IRS head to lead the Red Cross draws both praise and criticism from nonprofit expertsThe American Red Cross’s decision to hire the head of the Internal Revenue Service as its next leader — after a year-long search — is drawing praise from many charity and government officials,…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
Katrina Donations Raise Concern About IRA Gifts
A law that prompted an estimated $11-billion in charitable giving ALSO SEE:ARTICLE: Mission to RebuildARTICLE: Grass-Roots Groups Vow Equitable Rebuilding of Ravaged New Orleans in the months following Hurricane Katrina cost the U.S. Treasury more than $3-billion in tax revenue — far more than…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Grass-Roots Groups Vow Equitable Rebuilding of Ravaged New Orleans
Representatives of grass-roots and advocacy organizations that are helping ALSO SEE:ARTICLE: Mission to RebuildARTICLE: Katrina Donations Raise Concerns About IRA Gifts people recover from the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita vowed at a meeting here last month to join forces to rally the…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor