Michigan Asks Ford Foundation to Show It Is Following Donor’s Intentions
In a move that has generated concern in the nonprofit world, Michigan’s attorney general has started an investigation into the Ford Foundation, saying the fund has ignored the Ford family’s philanthropic wishes by reducing support for charities in the state. The attorney general, Mike Cox, has also…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
Ford Plans to Expand Global Fellows Program
Idemudia Lawrence is a busy man. Last week he helped hearing-impaired athletes compete in Nigeria’s National Sports Festival while spending his free time revising his plan to curtail begging by deaf people in the streets of Abuja, the African nation’s capital. Mr. Lawrence, chairman of the Abuja…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
Gates Foundation to Support New Causes
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in Seattle, announced last week that it is changing how it operates and expanding the number of causes it supports with its $29-billion endowment. The foundation plans to provide more money to agricultural projects and to efforts that expand financial services…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
How One Grass-Roots Literacy Charity Keeps Hope Alive
Washington On a Tuesday afternoon, four students sat before a dry-erase board and tried to match a few words with their categories: person, ALSO SEE:ARTICLE: Building a Nation of Readers place, thing, or idea. “Is ‘Olympic’ considered a place?” asked one student. The teacher, Marja Hilfiker, shook…
By nicole lewis
Contributor
Nonprofit groups struggle to meet demand for literacy trainingIn Brownsville, Tex., an aging recreational vehicle trolls the streets, parking outside businesses and churches for several hours ALSO SEE: TEXT: Adult Literacy: a Sampling of Recent Grants ARTICLE: How One Grass-Roots Literacy Charity…
By nicole lewis
Contributor
San Diego Theater Receives $20-Million From Inventor; Other New Gifts
Three institutions have received big gifts: Donald and Darlene Shiley have given $20-million to the Old Globe Theatre, in San Diego, for endowment and artistic expenses. Mr. Shiley is co-inventor of Pfizer’s Bjork-Shiley heart valve and retired owner of Shiley Inc., a medical-device manufacturer in…
Two New York Universities Receive $200-Million Gifts
Columbia University, in New York, and New York University have each received $200-million gifts for new research institutes. The donations rank among the 15 largest private gifts received by any college or university in the United States, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Dawn M.…
By Sun Jung Kim
Contributor
The Dells Find Patience Is Key When Trying to Measure Social Progress
Michael S. Dell hopes lessons he learned from a business crisis more than a decade ago could help the foundation ALSO SEE:A Focus on Efficiency that he and his wife, Susan, created make charities more effective in the future. In 1993, the Dell computer company was in deep trouble: A new product…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
Dell company’s founder applies practical approaches to his givingAustin, Tex. Michael S. Dell built the multibillion-dollar company that bears his name not by inventing new products or services, but by ALSO SEE: The Dells Find Patience Is Key When Trying to Measure Social Progress Michael and Susan…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
Refugee camps for people who have fled civil wars, orphanages for children who have lost parents to AIDS, and shelters for survivors of natural disasters are notfun places to be. But one charity hopes that a little clowning around — and maybe even some juggling — can lighten the atmosphere and…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
USC’s School of Fine Arts Receives $23-Million; Other Gifts
Five institutions have received big gifts: The University of Southern California’s School of Fine Arts, in Los Angeles, has received a $23-million pledge from Edward P. Roski Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Majestic Realty, in Los Angeles, and his wife, Gayle Garner Roski. The donation…
President Appeals to Companies to Expand Giving to Religious Groups
Speaking at a White House conference this month, President Bush called on corporations and foundations to follow the federal government’s lead and make more money available to religious groups that provide social services. But some philanthropy leaders pointed out significant obstacles to making…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
How Data on Grants Was Gathered
The Chronicle’s annual survey of the nation’s largest private foundations is based on financial information provided by 147 grant makers. Among the 122 foundations that ALSO SEE:DATABASE: Giving Trends at Big FoundationsARTICLE: Slow Growth at the Biggest FoundationsTABLE: How Much Foundations…
By HEATHER JOSLYN
Contributor
Oregon Foundations Team Up to Aid Their State’s Public Schools
When Sue Hildick interviewed in 2004 for the job of president at the Chalkboard Project, a new foundation-supported education group in Portland, Ore., she was struck by something ALSO SEE:DATABASE: Giving Trends at Big FoundationsARTICLE: Slow Growth at the Biggest FoundationsARTICLE: How Data on…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor