Donors prefer to support health charities that oppose research on animals, says a new survey conducted by a Washington group that is trying to end such research. The poll by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine found that 56 percent of respondents said they would be more likely to…
To the Editor: We read with great interest your articles on groups that help teenagers involved in prostitution or in other aspects of the commercial sex industry (“Shining the Light on a Hidden Tragedy,” November 1). However, we were astonished that the words “gay” and “HIV” never appeared in your…
Internet Giving Will Aid Small Charities as Well as Big, National Ones
To the Editor: Andrew Blau, as usual, hits the nail on the head when he asks whether a big-gets-bigger world is “the revolution we wanted” from online giving (“Internet Giving: Not the Perfect Revolution,” November 1). He also rightly calls attention to several trends from the September 11 response…
Attacks Challenge America’s Foundations to Stand Up to Corporate Opportunism
If foundations are concerned about promoting democracy and curbing the corrosive power of big corporations, as some of them profess, they will have to become more activist and risk-taking than they have ever been. This fall’s terrorist attacks have thrown them the gauntlet. How they respond will…
Restoring Faith in Charities Means Giving a Voice to Donors
Perhaps a fair and honorable way exists out of the bureaucratic morass that has arisen over the question of what to do with donations for victims of the terrorist attacks. But we will reach that point only if we first accept the truth that everything changed after September 11 -- a truth that…
Attack Response Marred by Charities’ Missteps
Donations for the victims of the September 11 attacks now total about $1.2-billion, a level of compassion and generosity that is astonishing, indeed awe-inspiring -- and ultimately misguided. The scale of the giving has not been about victims’ needs, which no one assessed before the donations…
Sesame Workshop Misrepresented
To the Editor: The unrecognizable portrait of Sesame Workshop in the Chronicle of Philanthropy (“The Business of Charity,” October 18) is at best an innocent misrepresentation and at worst a smear on the Workshop’s activities, along with those of other prominent nonprofit groups. The article…
To the Editor: I am writing in response to your article “Charities Brace for Lean Fund-Raising Season in Tragedy’s Wake” (October 4), and specifically to a statement you included by Jeane Vogel, a fund-raising consultant in St. Louis. Ms. Vogel said, “Some of this is very Darwinian, it’s survival…
How Strategic Mistakes Derailed the Bush Faith-Based Plan
By Peter Frumkin The events of September 11 eclipsed President Bush’s plan to funnel more government money to religious charities, and in recent weeks the White House has decided against fighting to get Congress to approve its entire plan. In the short run, at least, the President will try to…
Poor Management at Red Cross Has a Long History
To the Editor: Your November 1 article (“Turmoil at the Red Cross”) places blame for low morale at the American Red Cross on its now-departing president, Bernadine Healy. I would suggest that blame should be shared with its former president, Elizabeth Dole, as well. I worked at the National Red…