College Endowments Grew With Stock Market Last Year
Endowments at American colleges and universities earned substantially more last year than they did in the previous few years, according to two new reports. Endowments reported average returns of 14.7 percent in 2004, according to the annual Commonfund Benchmarks Study, released by the Commonfund…
By Harvy Lipman
Contributor
Report Calls for Federal Charity Database, Other Changes to Improve Oversight
A new report by a national panel of nonprofit experts urges charities and foundations to make dozens of changes in their operations to strengthen their governance and accountability and to help prevent legal abuses in the nonprofit world. The report comes in response to a request from key members…
By Brad Wolverton
Contributor
Median Pay for Foundation Chiefs Was $110,000 Last Year, Study Finds
Employees of the nation’s foundations last year received a median pay raise of 4 percent, according to a new report ALSO SEE:Salaries and Benefits at Foundations by the Council on Foundations, barely outpacing the 2004 inflation rate of 3.3 percent. Chief executive officers at all types of…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Fund raisers strain to capture attention of donorsIn Grand Rapids, Mich., where the average high temperature at this time of year hovers just above freezing, the local Salvation Army is relying on donors to give generously so it can help needy people pay heat and utility bills. But DeWayne Duskin,…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Coalition of Grant Makers Issues Document Outlining Its Goals for the Next Five Years
The Council on Foundations, in Washington, made public last week a report outlining its goals for the next five years. While the report touches upon several topics, it emphasizes that the council’s primary objective is to assuage the concerns of members of Congress and state regulators about…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
$750-Million Donated to Vaccine Fund
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in Seattle, has donated $750-million to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, which the foundation helped create in 2000 to increase the number of children in the developing world who get vaccinated. The foundation previously had spent $754-million…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
$40-Million Committed for Scholarships; Other Gifts
Five institutions have received large gifts:
$597-Million Raised by U.S. Charities for Tsunami Relief
American relief charities have raised more than $597-million to aid victims of the deadly earthquake and tsunamis ALSO SEE:Homegrown Help in Sri Lanka in South Asia. That amount now far exceeds the $350-million pledged by the United States government. In fact, so much money has come in that several…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Start-up relief charity benefits from local connections Ulle, Sri Lanka Savantha De Saram, a 31-year-old Sri Lankan lawyer, says that, before last December, he rarely left the nation’s ALSO SEE:$597-Million Raised by U.S. Charities for Tsunami Relief capital. “I didn’t travel out of Colombo at…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor