Church Fund’s Commercial Plans Are Disturbing and Mutinous
To the Editor: The Presbyterian Church (USA) Foundation has unfurled plans that are disturbing and unworkable (“Putting Faith in a Trust Company,” January 15). Unfortunately, the plan will create problems for contributors to the church, its local congregations, and related institutions. It also…
Rising to the Challenge of For-Profit Competition
From health care to job training and from prisons to public schools, the private sector is making significant advances into the non-profit world’s historic turf. Fueled by local governments’ willingness to privatize services in their continuing quest for lower costs and greater efficiency, more and…
By EDWARD SKLOOT
Contributor
Falling Price of Reader’s Digest Stock Is Big Blow to Wallace Funds
The DeWitt and Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Funds were among only a handful of major foundations that saw their assets drop last year despite a soaring stock market. The principal reason: Both foundations still hold large blocks of stock in the publishing company started by Mr. and Mrs. Wallace. As…
By Vince Stehle
Contributor
Advice to IRS: Don’t Retreat From Filing Line
Memo to the I.R.S.: Don’t do it. An Internal Revenue Service proposal to raise the threshold above which charities must file informational tax returns -- in effect requiring fewer charities to do so -- is a mistake. Form 990, as the return is known, is the only public report that non-profit…
Arts Endowment’s Critics Aren’t ‘Yahoos’
To the Editor: In his opinion article “Clinton Makes a Grand Ole Pick to Head the Arts Endowment” (January 15), Henry Goldstein hurls a rude epithet at members of Congress who favor the elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts: He calls them “yahoos.” According to Webster’s Dictionary, a…
We Should Blame Bad Policies, Not Bad People, for Poverty
To the Editor: It is obvious from his claim that poverty is at root a moral and spiritual problem, not an economic one, that the Rev. Robert A. Sirico has never been poor (“The Poor Need More Than What Government Can Provide,” Letters to the Editor, January 29). Although some poor people may lack…
Grant Makers Must Do More to Help Grantees Succeed
Too few grant makers recognize the potential they have to improve charity operations. From the proposal stage to the completion of a grant, grant makers can do many things to help non-profit groups. Through their guidelines for grant proposals, grant makers can educate charities -- even those that…
By Jerry Musich
Contributor
For New York Art Group’s Failed Catalogue, Lack of Money Mattered
Running a business, even if it appears to be headed toward success, can be fraught with perils for non-profit organizations. That lesson was learned recently by the leaders of Art Matters, a New York group that provides small grants to support individual artists. Created in 1985 with an endowment…
By Vince Stehle
Contributor
Theater Group’s Modus Operandi: Information Technology
More and more non-profit arts groups are exploring new ways to generate revenue. But few organizations have taken the steep path toward independence blazed by the Modus Ensemble in San Francisco. Five years ago, the founders of the experimental theater troupe simultaneously started the Content…
By Vince Stehle
Contributor
Radio Station Brings In Cash, Builds Audiences for Seattle Music Groups
The Bullitt family, which built tremendous wealth through its successful broadcasting empire, has long been in the forefront of philanthropy in Seattle. Over the years, family members have given away millions of dollars to environmental causes and local arts groups, and they have played a key role…
By Vince Stehle
Contributor