New Charity Hopes to Infuse Non-Profit World With Business Thinking
Vanessa Kirsch, founder of the national youth group Public Allies, remembers cringing the many times she heard foundation executives tell her: “Sorry, your group is just too successful. We can’t fund you.” Ms. Kirsch pounds a fist on a table at the recollection. “What kind of disincentive is that?”…
By Susan Gray
Contributor
Scientists Warned of Strings on Gifts
Corporate gifts to academic scientists often come with ethically troubling strings attached, according to a new study. In some cases, scientists who receive such gifts are expected to use them to test company products, for example, or to give the company the right to any patentable results produced…
Lilly: $128-Million to Higher Education
The nation’s wealthiest foundation, the Lilly Endowment, in Indianapolis, has announced that it will give $128-million to help colleges and universities. That amount is almost one-third of the $413-million that the $12.7-billion fund plans to award this year. The endowment awarded $42-million to…
Rhode Island’s Accidental Philanthropist
Alan Shawn Feinstein makes fighting hunger a way of life Last month, soup kitchens and food banks across the country announced that they had raised nearly $33-million during 11 days in February. The remarkable fund-raising blitz came after Alan Shawn Feinstein, a Rhode Island man who years ago…
By Susan Gray
Contributor
The school day for 2,000 youngsters in New York City and Jersey City, N.J., includes lessons in counting out dance steps along with the usual arithmetic courses, thanks to the National Dance Institute. Once a week, instructors for the New York non-profit group hold mandatory dance classes for boys…
More people are leaving charity work to start socially responsible companies Gary Hirshberg’s enthusiasm for charity work hit an all-time low during a vacation to Disney World. Mr. Hirshberg, then the head of an environmental group, came across a giant Kraft Foods exhibit with colorful displays of…
By Susan Gray
Contributor
Pfizer Fund Will Focus On Health
The Pfizer Foundation in New York is narrowing the scope of its grant making. In the past, the foundation has supported a host of causes and groups, from art museums to colleges. Now, under new guidelines, it will focus almost exclusively on aiding health charities that serve the poor. Foundation…
$66.7-Million Raised by Princess’s Fund
The memorial fund created to benefit the causes that Princess Diana championed during her life has announced how it plans to award 13 million pounds, or about $21.7-million, in its first round of grants. And all indications are that there will be much more to give away. Donations to the Diana,…
Alumna Investor Gives $25-Million to U. of South Carolina; Other Gifts
Five universities have received big gifts: * The University of South Carolina at Columbia has received $25-million from Darla D. Moore, a 1975 alumna and president of the Dallas-based investment firm Rainwater Inc., to endow its business school. The Darla Moore School of Business, as it will be…
Charities’ Income From Sponsorships Up 10%
Charitable causes last year received $535-million through joint marketing ventures with companies -- 10 per cent more than in 1996, according to a new report. Early projections for 1998 show that charities can expect to receive $9-million more from such deals than in 1997. IEG, a Chicago consulting…
By Susan Gray
Contributor
13 ‘Points of Light’ Recognized by White House
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…
What the IRS Says About How Taxpayers Should Value Gifts of Property
How to Value a Gift of Property Donors of cars, used clothing, and household goods -- not the charities that receive them -- are supposed to calculate the fair market value of their contributions by following federal law and publications that explain the law issued by the Internal Revenue Service.…
Growth in Donated-Goods Programs Worries Some Long-Time Recipients
For decades, donations of clothing, appliances, and other goods were the province of just a few non-profit organizations, including Goodwill Industries and the Salvation Army. But in recent years, many more charities have started to seek such gifts as a way to survive amid increased competition for…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
Some Charities ‘Turn Heaps Into Hope’ for the Needy
Many people who donate cars to charity are surprised to learn that the vehicles are usually sold to dealers rather than given to people who need them. But several charities do solicit car donations not merely to raise money but also to help needy people reach the next rung on the ladder toward…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
For most children living in the nation’s capital, life on a farm is a foreign concept. It’s a good thing, then, that Hard Bargain Farm, located along the Potomac River in Accokeek, Md., is just minutes from the Capital Beltway. The working farm, which is owned and operated by the Alice Ferguson…