To the Editor: In your recent article “Majority of Private Foundations Pay Their Trustees, Survey Finds” (September 18), you reported the study’s findings that the Kimbell Art Foundation paid “the highest fees in 1998.” The Kimbell Art Foundation does not pay and has never paid trustee fees. It…
Arrogance in the Name of Vision
To the Editor: Taking potshots at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has long been a favored pastime in Kansas City’s nonprofit sector (“A Divided Vision,” October 2). By far the largest philanthropy in the region, the foundation built a veritable palace on the banks of Brush Creek in the heart…
Criticism of Fund-Raising Group Was Rehash of Old News
To the Editor: In the October 2 issue of The Chronicle, Henry Goldstein addressed a letter to Paulette Maehara, president and CEO of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (“Fund Raisers Made Bad Political Choices”). The purpose of this letter is not to try to change Mr. Goldstein’s views,…
Reweaving America’s Tattered Social Fabric
Anyone who has watched the struggles of the Bush administration to channel government money to faith-based groups knows that the president’s plan has been rife with controversy. The fire erupts at the “wall of separation of church and state,” Thomas Jefferson’s metaphor in an 1802 letter. Those…
By Barbara J. Elliott
Contributor
All Credit Counselors Are Not Alike
To the Editor: As president of Cambridge Credit Counseling Corp., a nonprofit credit-counseling organization that was mentioned in Debra Blum’s article, “Checking Up on Credit Charities” (August 21), I want to commend your publication for bringing attention to what we too believe are troubling…
Charities Need Fairer Ways to Count Deferred Gifts in Capital Drives
As capital campaigns are practically perennial activities these days, charities should be savvier about how they count deferred gifts toward the amount they tell the world they plan to raise. Too many charities exaggerate their totals by including gifts that will not materialize for several years,…
By DOUG WHITE
Contributor
Praise, Not Flak, for Nonprofit Group
To the Editor: I was deeply troubled to read The Chronicle’s story regarding allegations that Independent Sector censored Emmett Carson’s opinion piece on the accountability crisis (“Major Nonprofit Group Accused of Wrongly Stifling a Critical Essay,” September 18). Facing the threat of legal…
Why Social-Services Groups Must Mobilize
The Census Bureau has just reported what many nonprofit organizations have known for some time: For the second year in a row, poverty is getting worse in the United States. That this happens as increasing numbers of charitable organizations are attempting to minister to the needy ought to send a…
By MARK ROSENMAN
Contributor
An Evaluation of the Possibilities and Problems of the Faith-Based Initiative
Faith-Based Initiatives and the Bush Administration: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, by Jo Renee Formicola, Mary C. Segers, and Paul Weber, offers several perspectives on the president’s efforts to steer government money to religious groups that provide social services. The authors -- all…
By Jessica Kronstadt
Contributor