Controversy Follows Election of New NAACP Chairman
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People celebrated the election of the veteran civil-rights activist Julian Bond as chairman of its Board of Directors last month. But it almost immediately found itself mired in controversy over the roles of two trustees who have pleaded…
By Paul Demko
Contributor
U.S. News on Graduate Schools; Slate on Big Donors
* In its annual ranking of graduate schools, U.S. News & World Report (March 2) includes a list of what it considers the best programs in non-profit management at the nation’s business schools. At the top was Yale University, followed by Harvard, Stanford, and Northwestern Universities. * Slate’s…
By MARINA DUNDJERSKI
Contributor
‘Emerge’: Philanthropists and Affirmative Action
With help from conservative philanthropists and Ward Connerly, a black California businessman, a well-organized force of activists is aggressively seeking to undo affirmative-action laws around the nation, says Emerge magazine (March). Meanwhile, defenders of the laws are struggling for money and…
‘George’: Do-Gooders in Hollywood
George magazine (March) has selected the Hollywood celebrities it considers the most effective in doing good works. The magazine says that when it set out on the task, it wanted to know “What is the truth? Are Hollywood celebs actually doing good, or are they just getting good press?” The answers…
The Rules on Who Can Sue Are Constantly Evolving
In the early 1970s, a group of patients at a non-profit hospital in the District of Columbia accused the hospital’s trustees of engaging in financial mismanagement and self-dealing. The hospital tried to argue that the patients had no right to sue. But the late Gerhard A. Gesell, then a District…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Leaders of a broad movement to ban land mines retool its structure after a year of tension and success The global campaign against land mines is seeking to chart its future and regain its momentum following a year of tremendous international achievement -- and internal fractures exacerbated by that…
By Stephen G. Greene
Contributor
Episcopalians Sue Group Over Name
Two bishops of the Episcopal Church have filed a lawsuit on behalf of their New Jersey dioceses, charging a conservative splinter group of the denomination with trademark infringement, unfair competition, and misrepresentation. The suit asks a federal court to prohibit the conservative group from…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Men’s Group Lays Off Entire Staff
Promise Keepers, the Christian men’s evangelical group best known for holding religious rallies in sports stadiums around the country, is rallying around a new goal: raising enough money to stay in business. To keep out of the red, the organization announced last month that it was laying off its…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Overlap in Numbers Makes It Hard to Total Up On-the-Job Donations
Figuring out how much money is really raised each year through on-the-job fund-raising drives is more complicated than it might first appear. That is because competing organizations sometimes lay claim to the same dollars when reporting their totals. United Way of America, for example, says that…
By Jennifer Moore
Contributor
Templeton Prize Awarded to Briton
The 1998 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion -- worth $1.23-million -- has been awarded to Sigmund Sternberg, a champion of improved interfaith relations, especially between Christians and Jews. Mr. Sternberg, a Hungarian-born British citizen, was recognized for his efforts to help relocate a…