‘Business Week’: on Giving by America’s Most Wealthy
Melinda Gates and her husband, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, are taking a “decidedly different” approach to philanthropy than are another wealthy couple, corporate investor Warren Buffett and his wife, Susan, Business Week magazine says in a pair of stories (October 25). Mrs. Gates and her…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Technology Bits: Survey on On-Line Donations and the ‘Digital Divide Summit’
* In a survey conducted for America Online by Roper Starch, 29 per cent of the 505 participants said they would be interested in making on-line donations to charity. Interest among young people was particularly strong -- 53 per cent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 24 said they were…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Non-Profit, Commercial Sites Match Donors and Charities
Two new Web sites -- one commercial and one non-profit -- ALSO SEE:Correction are using the Internet to match donors and non-profit organizations. GrantMatch.com, a company founded by lawyer Lawrence M. Elkus in Southfield, Mich., allows charities to post appeals for either general operating costs…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Web Site Links Food Banks to Surplus-Food Donors
The Hewlett-Packard Company, based in Palo Alto, Cal., has teamed up with America’s Second Harvest, a network of food banks, to create a new Web site, ResourceLink. The site matches food manufacturers that have surplus products to donate with charities that can distribute the food to the hungry.…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Charity Data Goes On Line — and Then Off
At the end of last month, Philanthropic Research posted more than 190,000 Forms 990, the informational tax returns that charities file with the Internal Revenue Service, on its GuideStar Web site -- but had to take them down after some documents were found to include information about donors. The…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
International Group of Volunteer Doctors Receives 1999 Nobel Peace Prize
The international medical-relief organization Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) has been named the winner of the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize. The organization each year arranges for 2,000 medical professionals from around the world to volunteer to work in more than 80 countries. It…
A Call for College Classmates to Reunite in Behalf of Public Service
If Ralph Nader and other members of the Princeton University Class of 1955 are successful, college reunions will no longer be about rowdy all-night drinking parties and the strong-arming of classmates into making big gifts. ALSO SEE:Class ActionAppleseed Foundation Instead, the focus will be on…
By Anthony Giorgianni
Contributor
Arkansas Charity Challenges State Telemarketing Law
An Arkansas charity is challenging a 1997 state law intended to protect consumers from aggressive telemarketers. The National Federation of the Blind of Arkansas last month asked a state court to permanently bar state officials from enforcing the law, which the lawsuit contends is too vague and…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
IRS Acts to Put a Stop to Type of ‘Abusive’ Charitable Trust
The Internal Revenue Service has moved to shut down a controversial form of charitable remainder trust that is designed to help wealthy donors avoid paying capital-gains taxes on assets that have appreciated in value. The technique, nicknamed a “chutzpah” or “full Monty” trust for its brash…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Charities Win Marketing Awards
Four fund-raising appeals by World Vision, the Christian humanitarian organization that operates in more than 100 countries, dominated the honors won by charities in the 70th Annual International Echo Awards competition sponsored by the Direct Marketing Association, in New York. Charities garnered…
By Stephen G. Greene
Contributor