Partnerships Are Key to the 4-H Program
To the Editor: While we applaud the National 4-H Council for seeking new strategies to support the 4-H program, we also feel that the federal, state, county, and private partners -- which include more than 700,000 youth and adult volunteers -- were “damned with faint praise” in the article in your…
San Francisco’s Disclosure Proposal: Onerous and Unnecessary
To the Editor: I am a member of one of the coalitions of non-profit organizations whose formation was catalyzed by the proposals of San Francisco City Supervisor Tom Ammiano to regulate charities that contract with the City of San Francisco (“San Francisco Considers Disclosure Law for Charities…
Charities Must Make Innovation an Ordinary Act
For most non-profit organizations, innovation is a disruptive act that challenges the prevailing wisdom about the way the world should work. An act of innovation might save money, might generate good media coverage, and might even win a foundation grant, but it is first and foremost about solving…
By PAUL LIGHT
Contributor
Charities Must Work to Build on Successes in Fight Against Poverty, Report Says
Non-profit organizations need to develop better management and fund-raising skills, and must be bolstered by government funds, to successfully combat the social problems caused by poverty, a new report says. While charities ranging from youth clubs to economic- and neighborhood-development groups…
By DOMENICA MARCHETTI
Contributor
Diverse groups unite in quest for ways to deal with lawbreakers As crime has been dropping in many American cities, a growing number of charities and foundations have begun to focus on a new worry: the exploding cost of the nation’s prisons and jails. More than 1.7 million people are now held in…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Rethinking Who Can Sue a Charity
Hospital conversions spur push to expand rights to general public For 109 years, the Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester, Mass., has been a big part of Joseph E. Garland’s family. His great-grandfather was a founder of the hospital, his grandfather its first chief of staff, and his father -- a…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Be Mindful of Laws on Giving Abroad
To the Editor: Small foundations should be aware that there are legal is- sues involved with making grants abroad (“Giving Abroad,” January 15). If the grant is to a foreign organization, care must be taken to insure that the grant is a “qualifying distribution” if the foundation expects to count…
Most Readers Embrace Philanthropy Magazine
To the Editor: I would like to correct some of the misconceptions presented in Thomas Billitteri’s article in your January 29 issue (“Philanthropy Magazine Faces Some Questions -- and a New Competitor”). Last April, I was recruited by Randy Jones, chairman of The American Benefactor, to be senior…
Religion Can’t Replace Opportunity
To the Editor: I was happy to contribute to The Chronicle’s discussion of the role of religion in addressing social problems (“Solutions to Poverty Must Be Based on More Than Faith,” My View, December 11). However, I was not happy that my writing was so distorted in a recent letter to the editor by…
Making Donors Make Good on Their Pledges
You may have heard the joke about the man who was so moved by the appeal at a fund-raising event that he leaped to his feet and pledged $50,000 to the cause. Everyone at the event was agog at the generosity of the donor. But as the weeks and months passed and the donor didn’t fulfill his pledge,…
By IRVING WARNER
Contributor