Proposed New Benchmarks Would Step Up Antipoverty Grant Making
A watchdog group is pushing grant makers to spend at least half of their grant dollars to help poor people and minorities, arguing that many foundations are ignoring the needs of charities that serve disadvantaged people even as demand rises due to the economic downturn. The proposal by the…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
A Sampling of the Latest Grants Given to Cover Emergency Social-Service Needs
CAPE COD FOUNDATION For basic human services: $30,000 to be divided among 22 local organizations. CHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST To purchase food for needy people: $250,000 to the Greater Chicago Food Depository and $100,000 each to the Chicago Anti-Hunger Federation and the Northern Illinois Food Bank…
Court Rules Helmsley Trustees Not Bound by Donor’s Instructions
The trustees of the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust do not have to limit the distribution of their grants to charities focused on the care and welfare of dogs, a New York judge ruled last month. The ruling is significant because it allows the foundation’s trustees to go against Ms.…
By Ben Gose and Maria Di Mento
Charity Leaders Dissect Google.org’s Shift in Strategy
As Google.org, the technology company’s charitable arm, revamps its approach to philanthropy and changes its leadership, new questions are being raised about what’s next for the organization’s grant making. Larry Brilliant, a physician with an eclectic background who was appointed to lead…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
Despite Grim Outlook, Some Corporate Philanthropists Stay Upbeat
Like most corporations, General Electric has been suffering a string of punches to the gut of late. Its profits fell 46 percent in the last quarter of 2008, and the bad economy forced it to pursue cost-cutting measures such as laying off workers and slashing its dividend — for the first time since…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
America’s Biggest Foundations Won’t Increase Their Giving in 2009, Says a New Report
In the wake of the tumbling stock market and heavy asset losses suffered by virtually all the nation’s wealthiest foundations, only two have said they plan to increase their giving this year, according to a new advisory report by the Foundation Center, in New York. In his recent “annual letter,”…
By MARTY MICHAELS
Contributor
Obama Budget Proposes National-Service Expansion
President Obama has proposed a spending increase for AmeriCorps and other national-service programs, as well as the creation of a “social-innovation fund” for nonprofit groups, as part of his 2010 budget priorities. The president, making good on a campaign pledge to get more people involved in…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
Federal Agency Examines How Donors Report Charitable Contributions
The U.S. Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, is looking into the “misreporting” of cash contributions to charity by individuals. In a summary of the study’s parameters, the federal agency said that data from the Internal Revenue Service show that “individual…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
Economists Try to Calculate the Impact of Tax Changes on Charitable Giving
Virtually everyone agrees that President Obama’s proposal to limit the tax breaks wealthy people can get for charitable contributions would dampen giving. The question is, by how much? And would other parts of the president’s budget plan act as a counterweight? “The evidence suggests that many…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
Amid the debates over President Obama’s proposal to reduce tax breaks for affluent donors, a study released last week shows that half of wealthy Americans say their charitable giving would be unaffected by the elimination of federal tax provisions designed, in part, to spur philanthropy. Nearly 52…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
When President Obama outlined a plan last month to “transform our economy for the 21st century,” he dropped a bombshell that surprised the charitable world. To help pay for a plan to reshape the country’s health-care system — which he called a huge drag on the economy — President Obama proposed…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
(Photograph by Tom Salyer) Prospective nurses often encounter challenging situations in their course work. But for students at the Chamberlain College of Nursing, in St. Louis, the list can include trekking to remote jungle villages along the Amazon and slashing through dense brush with a machete.…
By MARTY MICHAELS
Contributor
Buffett and Kellogg Pledge Millions for Early-Childhood Efforts
Several major grant makers are working together to pour millions of dollars into efforts to help improve education for children from troubled families. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation this month announced that it would spend $16.5-million over the next three years on projects started or championed by…
By Ben Gose
Senior Editor
How Foundations Are Responding to the Recession: a Sampling of New Grants
FAIRFIELD COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION To provide emergency energy assistance to low-income families and elderly residents in Fairfield County, Conn.: $30,000 to Operation Fuel (Bloomfield, Conn.). INASMUCH FOUNDATION To provide emergency services, including food, housing, and clothing to those in…
By Eugene McCormack
Contributor
Grant Making by Big Foundations Rose in 2007 Despite Worrisome Economic Signs
The nation’s largest foundations distributed 13.2 percent more in 2007 than they did in 2006, reaching $21.6-billion, according to a new survey by the Foundation Center. The increase came despite signs, particularly in the latter half of the year, that the economy was in a downturn, says the report…
By MARTY MICHAELS
Contributor
(Photograph by Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times/Landov) Every weekday morning at 6, the kitchen at New Course in downtown Washington fills with its crew, including up to 20 apprentice chefs learning to carve turkey and roast beef and make biscuits, chicken salad, and other items from…
By MARTY MICHAELS
Contributor