Cross-Country Tour-Bus Driver Among 14 Honored as ‘Points of Light’
Following are the people and organizations that have most recently been named to receive President Clinton’s daily “Points of Light” award. The awards, which are given to those who have done exemplary volunteer work, take their name from President Bush’s description of people who do community…
Report Says Giving in Connecticut Is Too Low
While Connecticut has the nation’s highest per-capita income, it ranks 36th in charitable giving per person, a new study by an organization of grant makers has found. Using data from federal tax returns filed with the Internal Revenue Service, the report said that among state residents who itemized…
Hotel Sale May Help 2 Family Foundations
Two family foundations in Portland, Ore., stand to receive an estimated $90-million infusion from the sale of a hotel owned by the funds’ founders. After the sale is completed on April 21, 80 per cent of the proceeds from the sale of the Claremont Hotel and Resort, in Berkeley, Cal., will go to the…
End of Estate Dispute Aids New Foundation
The resolution of a bitter legal battle is expected to pave the way for the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation to receive the bulk of the late media mogul’s estate, which is believed to be worth at least $500-million. The estate of Mr. Cooke, who owned the Washington Redskins, will reportedly give his…
Urban Revitalization Faces Challenges
Community-development corporations -- non-profit organizations that strive to improve inner cities by building low-cost housing and working to attract businesses -- have made much progress in recent years, a new report finds. But the organizations still face challenges that hinder their ability to…
Experts Say Just Preaching Abstinence Will Not Deter Teen-Age Pregnancy
A sexuality-education provision in federal welfare legislation may do more harm than good, many non-profit leaders say. The provision, which was passed by Congress as part of the 1996 overhaul of the welfare system, requires that programs that receive earmarked federal funds teach youngsters that…
By DOMENICA MARCHETTI
Contributor
Abstinence programs and those for boys, prepubescent girls on rise At the Brotherhood Program in Indianapolis, teen-age boys from many of the city’s roughest neighborhoods meet three times a week to talk, among other things, about sex and sexuality. And to reinforce their sense of self-discipline,…
By DOMENICA MARCHETTI
Contributor
Toni Kipnis remembers feeling despondent every time she walked outside and faced her house’s peeling, “obnoxious green” exterior, which hadn’t seen a fresh coat of paint since 1974. But the 68-year-old San Francisco resident lacked the money to have it painted. Last year, a group of volunteers who…
Federal Judge Orders Brooklyn Private School to Return $3-Million Gift
A federal judge has ordered a private school in Brooklyn, N.Y., to return a gift of nearly $3-million because the building it was intended to finance was not constructed by the deadline imposed by the donor. Despite the financial problems that returning the gift will cause the charity, the judge…
By Stephen G. Greene
Contributor
Heiress Bequeaths Major Paintings to 3 Museums; Other Recent Gifts
The philanthropist and art collector Betsey Cushing Roosevelt Whitney, who died March 25 at age 89, has bequeathed 16 paintings by early-modern masters to three museums. The value of the works has been estimated as high as $300-million. The National Gallery of Art, in Washington, will receive eight…
Fund-Raising Fatigue Drove Environmentalist Into Business
Michael Martin cares deeply about the environment, but he never cared much for the fund raising required to keep a conservation group afloat. For eight years, Mr. Martin ran Concerts for the Environment, a Minneapolis non-profit group that organized free concerts nationwide. The concerts featured…
By Susan Gray
Contributor
Entrepreneur Brews Plan for Do-Good Businesses
Jeff Reifman has set out to be a modern-day Johnny Appleseed: He intends to start a crop of socially conscious coffeehouses, record stores, and other enterprises which will in turn create yet more businesses that do good works. Mr. Reifman has started his quest by creating Habitat Espresso, a…
By Susan Gray
Contributor
Business Makes Sure Coffee Growers Get an ‘Equal Exchange’
In the 1980s, three managers of a Cambridge, Mass., food cooperative were becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the policies of the organization. The co-op had good intentions. It bought food directly from producers around the world in order to cut out distributors, whom the co-op felt jacked up…
By Susan Gray
Contributor
Company Taps Inner-City Web Talent
Ever since Nick Gleason spent a year in the early 1990s doing social work in Oakland, Cal., he has been determined to find a way to help poor people in the inner cities earn more money. Mr. Gleason, 30, considered starting a charity. He had worked for Habitat for Humanity in Oakland and thought the…
Environmentalist Makes His Cause Work for Him, Too
Tom Soto didn’t mind spending his early 20s as a penniless environmental activist. The charismatic leader was president of the Coalition for Clean Air in California, a board member of the California League of Conservation Voters, and board secretary of the Mono Lake Committee, which he helped…
By Susan Gray
Contributor