Nonprofits See Cloudy Giving Forecast, but the Facts Suggest Sunshine
There are plenty of reasons to doubt the dark spin charity leaders have put on last year’s growth in donations and their pessimism about the outlook for 2018, giving experts Suzanne Garment and Leslie Lenkowsky write.
By Suzanne Garment and LESLIE LENKOWSKY
How to Get More Volunteers Involved in Your Next Advocacy Campaign
Mobilisation Lab, a nonprofit spinoff of Greenpeace that helps organizations encourage supporters to take action on behalf of a cause, poses questions that can help charities share control.
By HEATHER JOSLYN
Contributor
Special Breed of Grant Makers Hunts for New Ways to Solve Bedeviling Problems
Strategists from more than a dozen foundations are at the forefront of a movement to identify off-the-radar needs where philanthropy could make a big difference.
By Alex Daniels
Senior Editor, Foundations
Credit-Card Donors Gave 4% More in 2017, Report Says
Donors who give monthly or at other set intervals are providing a bigger share of charities’ total contributions, according to a new analysis of Mastercard transaction data.
By HEATHER JOSLYN
Contributor
Affluent Younger Investors Are Gravitating to Impact Investments, Study Says
A Fidelity Charitable survey found that some 70 percent of millennial and Gen X investors are seeking social and environmental as well as financial returns, more than double the rate for older generations.
By Megan O’Neil
Contributor
Craigslist Founder’s $20 Million Gift Signals Ongoing Commitment to Journalism
Billionaire Craig Newmark says his donation to the City University of New York’s graduate journalism program is part of a campaign to counter fake news and “bad actors” who are undermining democracy.
By Alex Daniels
Contributor
Daily News Roundup: $50 Million Gift to Cincinnati Zoo
In other articles, the former chairman of Wells Fargo is giving $20 million to DePauw University; the Gates Foundation is starting a nonprofit biotech in Boston; a little-known conservative Midwestern couple is wielding big influence in philanthropy; “design thinking” can help nonprofits with fundraising; how to get narcissists to give to charity; and other articles about legal news and investing and opinion and much more.
New CEOs Named at Taproot and de Beaumont Foundations
Also, the Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund names a new president, and the Kinder Foundation reshuffles its parks-program leadership.
By M.J. Prest
Senior Editor, Solutions
Daily News Roundup: Mo. House Drops Attempt to Get Records From Greitens Nonprofit
In other articles, the Danish drugmaker Lundbeck has agreed to pay $52.6 million to resolve a U.S. inquiry into its financial support of patient-assistance charitable foundations; the Shubert Foundation is giving $30 million to more than 500 performing-arts groups; families on the Gaza Strip are increasingly needy due in part to the freezing of U.S. aid; and more news and features.
Daily News Roundup: David Koch Leaves Conservative Nonprofit
The billionaire industrialist and philanthropist is in declining health. In other articles, money for the universal basic income experiment in California is coming from the Economic Security Project, co-chaired by one of Facebook’s founders, Chris Hughes; the Lichtenstein Foundation is giving big while winding down; the Kellogg Foundation is starting a $10 million small-business loan fund for Battle Creek, Mich.; and more news and opinion.
Why Money Shouldn’t Trump Mission When Choosing Board Members
When nonprofits fill their boards with megawealthy people, mission suffers and differing viewpoints are lacking. Here’s why economic diversity among trustees is good for nonprofits and how to make it happen.
By Isa Catto
Contributor
Grants Roundup: Stanford Receives $15 Million for Women’s Leadership
Also, the Ikea Foundation invests $2.3 million in clean electricity for 1 million people in India and East Africa, and the Kentucky Derby Museum will use $1 million for an expansion project.
By M.J. Prest
Senior Editor, Solutions
Daily News Roundup: Anti-Gun-Violence Teens on Get-Out-the-Vote Drive
The March for Our Lives youth movement will go on a bus tour across the country this summer to register young people to vote. In other articles, the Gates Foundation found it benefited from offering 52 weeks of paid parental leave; some wonder if the IRS’s scrutiny of blue states’ tax workarounds will also bring more attention red states; among the options Starbucks’s Howard Schultz is weighing is philanthropy; and more news.
Corporations Use Charitable Giving to Influence Lawmakers, Study Finds
Grants from big-business foundations flow to causes favored by legislators with clout on issues of company interest, creating what one economist involved in the research calls a “tax-advantaged form of lobbying.”
By Alex Daniels
Contributor
Nonprofit Founders Can Make or Break a CEO Transition
A study of 2,000 organizations found that organizations thrive when charities find a way to allow founders to share their knowledge without getting in the way of a new leader.
By Donald Yeh
Contributor
New Foundation Jobs Focus on Diversity; Women’s Philanthropy Leader Departing
In other news about people in philanthropy, Deepak Bhargava, president of the Center for Community Change, plans to depart after the 2018 midterm elections.
By M.J. Prest
Senior Editor, Solutions