Defending Scouts’ Freedom to Choose
To the Editor: I am sorry, but I just do not get it. So much controversy has arisen over the standards one organization sets for itself. I am referring, of course, to the Boy Scouts of America and the national policy not to include homosexuals among its leadership and members (“Divided in Support…
Who, Exactly, Are the ‘Customers’ of a Nonprofit Organization?
By MARK KRAMERProfit-making corporations have it easy: They know exactly who their customers are. For nonprofit organizations, things are considerably more confusing. No organization can develop an effective strategy without knowing its customer. But who is the customer of a nonprofit group? Unlike…
Hewlett’s $400-Million Grant Respected Donor’s Wishes
To the Editor: Readers of Rick Cohen’s comments on the Hewlett Foundation’s $400-million gift to Stanford University deserve an accurate description of its nature and circumstances ("$400-Million Grant Wasted an Opportunity,” Opinion, May 17). The following facts were made clear in the press…
Foundations and Journalism: an Awkward Fit
By RICK EDMONDSThree years ago, I began a research project on the relationship between foundations and the news media, thinking, on some level, that the two would be a natural match. Foundations have money to mount influential programs; many news organizations need money to do serious, ambitious…
By Rick Edmonds
Contributor
Dialogue Needed on Sexual Violence
To the Editor: Thank you for publishing the fabulous article on Eve Ensler and V-Day (“Staging an End to Abuse,” April 19). Ms. Ensler’s movement-building approach is inspiring. You showed the impressive work she is doing to address violence against women -- an issue that has received insufficient…
$400-Million Grant Wasted an Opportunity
By RICK COHENThe foundation created by William Hewlett, the computer pioneer, portrays itself as “society’s risk taker,” a fund that makes “big bets with big potential payoffs.” With its recent $400-million grant to Stanford University -- the largest foundation award ever made to an institution of…
Boy Scouts of America Shouldn’t Impose Its Views on Others
To the Editor: I find it ironic that Greg Shields, national spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America, says, “We don’t force our beliefs on anyone; we simply ask that our values be respected and tolerated. It’s ironic in our pluralistic society that some who champion individualism, tolerance, and…
Lessons Learned: Fighting Inequity in Schools
By WENDY KOPPFoundations, corporations, and individual donors have poured billions of dollars into efforts to overhaul the nation’s educational system, but they have not yet succeeded in solving a pernicious problem: the disparity in achievement between students in affluent neighborhoods and those…
By Wendy Kopp
Contributor
Private Foundations and Estate Tax
To the Editor: Little attention has been given to the economic impact that eliminating the estate tax would have on the future creation of private foundations and the consequences for charities in general. A generation-skipping transfer tax was enacted in 1986 to avoid the use of a favorite tool of…
Nonprofit Groups Must Do More to Fight Harmful Presidential Policies
By PABLO EISENBERGThe conservative policies of the Bush administration threaten to undermine scores of antipoverty programs, environmental safeguards, work-site rules, and consumer-protection regulations. And yet nonprofit organizations are doing little in response, despite their potential to wield…
By PABLO EISENBERG
Contributor