Big Bequests: Burdens or Blessings?
The $1.5-billion gift to the Salvation Army made by the late Joan Kroc, widow of McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc, was just the most recent in a growing list of super gifts that have been made by wealthy philanthropists in the past few years. Instead of using their assets to endow grant-making or…
By LESLIE LENKOWSKY
Contributor
Campaign Finance: Philanthropy’s Agenda
Late last year the Supreme Court, with vigorous rhetoric but by the thinnest of margins, upheld the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, the most sweeping campaign-finance reform legislation in a generation. In McConnell v. FEC, the court said the campaign law, often called McCain-Feingold, after…
By Mary O’Connell
Contributor
Nonprofit Groups Should Help Get Out the Vote
People are drawn to work with nonprofit organizations because they believe that one person can make a real difference in this world, even if slowly and incrementally. Yet, when it comes down to voting, where individual effort can have tremendous, immediate, and significant consequence, nonprofit…
By MARK ROSENMAN
Contributor
More Than 300 Nonprofit Groups Protest a Federal Proposal on Advocacy
Washington More than 300 nonprofit groups have urged the Federal Election Commission to reject a proposal that they say would make it harder for them to express opinions on public-policy issues. An advisory opinion drafted by the commission’s legal staff proposed that any communication that…
By Harvy Lipman
Contributor
Preserving the Nonprofit World
To the Editor: Lester Salamon’s commentary (“Nonprofit World Faces Many Dangers,” January 8) argues that nonprofits are now at a crossroad because steps nonprofit groups have taken to stave off threats to their survival “pose risks to the very qualities that make such organizations so valuable.” I…
Nonprofit Management Education: What’s Missing
To the Editor: I was very heartened by the extensive coverage you gave to the topic of nonprofit education in your January 8 issue (“Gaining Success by Degrees”). I wish to take issue, however, with a number of elements of the coverage. First, there seems to me to be a pervasive preference among…
The Ironies of Foundation Regulation
As Congress gets back to work, legislation on charitable giving will struggle to command attention from lawmakers focused on the 2004 elections. But few members of Congress remain focused on reining in foundation spending on administrative expenses and seeking ways to encourage grant makers to…
By Peter Frumkin
Contributor
Changes at Denver’s Daniels Fund: Politics or Prudence?
Is Denver’s Daniels Fund involved in a reorganization, or a political cleansing? Several people familiar with the Daniels Fund, including a board member and several former staff members, ALSO SEE:Rocky Times at Colorado Foundation fear that the recent layoffs of 21 workers may be setting the stage…
By Ben Gose
Senior Editor
Donors Set Up Grant-Making Groups, Then Borrow Back Their Gifts
The owners of a successful truck-stop business contributed $1.4 million to their foundation and took the tax deduction for the contribution — then borrowed more than half of that money to pay off loans and make investments.
By Harvy Lipman
Contributor
Changes at Pew: Columnist’s Response
To the Editor: Rebecca Rimel’s letter (“Change in Pew’s Structure Is in the Public Interest,” January 8) in response to my opinion article (“Pew’s Shift to Charity Status Goes Against What Is Best for the Public,” December 11) deserves some comment. Ms. Rimel contends that the IRS’s decision to…