Keeping Charity-Owned Businesses Afloat in the Economic Downturn: Tips From Experts
Daunting economic conditions make it more challenging than ever for nonprofit groups to start a business or keep one afloat. Experts offer the following suggestions: Don’t panic. The fundamentals of business don’t change, even in a downturn, says Rolfe Larson, who runs a consulting company that…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Nonprofit Organizations Look to Build Recession-Proof Business Ventures
With the economy making it challenging for nonprofit organizations to start or expand businesses that provide revenue for their programs, many groups are looking for ventures that will still be popular no matter how long the recession lasts. For instance, now that it is harder to sell produce…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
The last 18 months have been tough for Trosa Moving, the largest of the five businesses run by Triangle Residential Options for Substance Abusers, a nonprofit organization that runs a free, two-year treatment program in Durham, N.C. Last year diesel prices soared. Then, as the national economy…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Company’s Nonprofit Academy Helps Prepare Leaders
About two of every three senior-level nonprofit jobs filled in the past 18 months were taken by people who already worked in the nonprofit world, says a new study of hiring patterns by the Bridgespan Group, which provides management consulting and executive recruitment for nonprofit clients. Many…
By HEATHER JOSLYN
Contributor
Despite the wave of layoffs washing over the nonprofit world, a study to be released this week predicts that at least 24,000 senior-level nonprofit jobs will be open this year. Twenty-eight percent of organizations said they intended to make such hires in 2009. Retirements by baby boomers will…
By HEATHER JOSLYN
Contributor
Layoffs and Other Cutbacks at Charities
African American World Cultural Center The arts and culture organization has dissolved. (Milwaukee) Asia Society (New York) The pan-Asian cultural organization has cut 18 positions through layoffs and attrition, an 11-percent decrease in the size of its staff. Atlanta Symphony The symphony’s…
Alzheimer’s Assocation (Chicago): Appointed Robert J. Egge, executive director of the Alzheimer’s Study Group (Washington), to be vice president of its public policy and advocacy division. Amfar: the Foundation for AIDS Research (New York): Appointed Gregory L. Boroff, senior vice president for…
Obamas Donated 6.5% of Income to Charity Last Year
Obamas donated 6.5% of income to charity last year
Peruvian Immigrant Finds a Better Life, and Nonprofit Career, in California
I was born in Lima, Peru, and was the eldest of four children. My father was a taxi driver and my mother was a stay-at-home mom. I always knew that I was going to come to the United States — I had an uncle in Miami and an aunt in California — to get a job so I could send money back to my family. In…
A University Administrator Follows a Daughter’s Lead in Creating a Charity for India’s Children
I came to the United States in 1968 as an immigrant from India. I landed at JFK in the middle of a snowstorm, without proper winter clothing. I already had a degree in engineering, and ended up sharing an apartment with graduate students from India while I started looking for work. I left India…
By RAY UMASHANKAR
Contributor
A Rwandan Charity Has Roots in the Holocaust’s Aftermath
When Rwandans commemorate the 15th anniversary this month of the genocide that took place in their country, a group of students on a hilltop village in eastern Rwanda will be remembering in their own way as they attend classes, learn modern farming techniques, and draft papers in their computer…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
Court Backs IRS in Dispute Over Easement Facade
A federal judge has ruled that owners of a house in a historic district in Oak Park, Ill., cannot take a $216,000 charitable-contribution deduction for donating a facade easement on their home to a preservation group. Under the terms of the easement, the owners cannot change the front or two sides…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
Nonprofit Groups Urge Action on Estate Tax
Two umbrella groups of nonprofit organizations are asking the House and Senate to make the estate tax permanent and at levels that are already in effect this year. Under current law, heirs can exempt $3.5-million from taxes ($7-million for couples), with amounts above that taxed at 45 percent. In…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
The following awards have been presented for work in advocacy, fund raising, nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, and other areas: Fund raising. The Association of Fundraising Professionals (Alexandria, Va.) has announced the following winners of its 2009 Awards for Philanthropy: — Award for…
Charity Map Project Tracks Playground Options
Kaboom, a charity that builds playgrounds, is trying to enlist people across the United States to help create an online map of the country’s play spaces. Anyone can set up a profile on the organization’s Web site and then post a review and photographs of neighborhood recreation centers, skateboard…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
A New Community-Service Bill: Highlights of the Measure
EXPANDING AMERICORPS Would incrementally increase the number of participants in this national-service program — from 75,000 this year to 250,000 in 2017. In fiscal year 2010, which begins in October, the number would be 88,000. Most AmeriCorps money goes to nonprofit groups and public agencies,…