Pay Policy Costs Charity a Donor
To the Editor: Regarding your article “Rank and File,” on the Salvation Army’s pay policy for married couples (January 27): You can be sure that I will never be putting a penny in a Salvation Army bucket again. Lisa McGregor-Mirghani
Don’t Pick a President on ‘Charity Issues’ Alone
As the presidential primary season heats up, there is plenty of cause for optimism in the philanthropic world. Each of the major candidates has left no doubt that he favors measures to encourage an increase in charitable giving and a larger role for non-profit groups in providing social services.…
By LESLIE LENKOWSKY
Contributor
Civil-Society Laws Have a Major Effect
To the Editor: In his opinion piece “Global ‘Civil Society': Not Inevitable” (January 13), Leslie Lenkowsky states that the development of civil society “is not just a matter of laws and organizations that are relatively easy to create.” Although much of what Mr. Lenkowsky says is on the right…
Profiles of 2 Community Foundations: a Striking Contrast
To the Editor: Having worked with a number of community-based groups interested in generating resources to support their efforts -- as well as having had a bit of experience in and around community foundations -- I found your piece on the Kansas City version in the hands of president Janice C.…
The ‘Virtue’ of Charity: Debunking an American Myth
Few institutions in American society are as sacrosanct or vaunted as our charitable organizations. At least rhetorically, one of the few things that seems to unite business and labor, liberals and conservatives, Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Muslims, whites and non-whites, is the provision of…
By DAVID WAGNER
Contributor
Watchdog Group Urges IRS to Review Gore Church Visit
Americans United for Separation of Church and State has asked the I.R.S. to investigate Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church, in New York City, after the church invited Vice President Al Gore to its Sunday worship service. The watchdog group charged that the church’s pastor, the Rev. Floyd…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
Don’t Rush Judgment on Biggest Givers
To the Editor: Congratulations on your special report on the history of American philanthropy in the January 13 issue. I take exception, however, to Thomas J. Billitteri’s conclusion that Bill Gates’s giving “still outpaces that of Mr. Carnegie and Mr. Rockefeller.” (“Who Gave the Most: Carnegie,…
Filer Redux: Philanthropy at a Crossroads
Twenty-five years ago, the Commission on Private Philanthropy and Public Needs issued its historic report -- which, among many other positive things, firmly established the importance of non-profit organizations in helping to sustain America’s democracy. The panel -- known as the Filer Commission,…
By PABLO EISENBERG
Contributor
Charity-Business Ties: Proceed With Caution
To the Editor: The opinion piece by Shirley Sagawa and Eli Segal (“Break Down Barriers to Business-Charity Partnerships,” My View, December 16) paints a rosy picture of the benefits generated by partnerships between businesses and charities, and argues for a loosening of regulations and restraints…
Doubts About Community-Foundation Group
To the Editor: No matter what they say, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck, it’s a duck. The same can be said of the newly formed Community Foundations of America (“New Organization to Help Community Foundations,” December 16). The claim that C.F.A. will not compete…