Group Goes for Laughs and Donations
Using a Web 2.0 brand of humor — along with e-mail, video, and outreach to social networks — the Nonprofit Technology Network raised more than $10,000 for scholarships to its annual technology conference in San Francisco. “You guys answer each other’s questions, give each other encouragement, point…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
IRS Says Charity’s Web Site Crossed Lines
A new ruling by the Internal Revenue Service could have broad implications for charity Web sites, nonprofit tax and technology experts say. The IRS ruled that a local chapter of a national charity violated the prohibition against politicking by including the political-campaign materials of an…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
More Grant Makers Support Efforts to Help Charities Operate Effectively, Study Finds
A growing number of grant makers nationwide are taking innovative steps to ensure good governance in the nonprofit world, says a new report. While grant makers have pushed nonprofit groups to do a better job of getting results over the past decade or so, they more recently have started to finance…
By MARTY MICHAELS
Contributor
One in Five Charities Considering Mergers to Help Survive Hard Economic Times
Nearly one in five charity leaders are looking at mergers and acquisitions as a potential way to ride out the turbulent economy, according to a new survey. A poll of 117 executive directors taken in November found serious interest in merging with other nonprofit groups. A related study found that…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Charities Say President’s Call to Service Prompted Surge in Volunteers
Charities around the country have been inundated with volunteers as the economy has worsened. In a spot check of charities, all but one of the 17 groups contacted by The Chronicle reported that, in the past two months, more Americans have been inquiring about volunteer opportunities and attending…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
Last year, as a president of an Atlanta bank, Paul Broughton negotiated and managed multimillion-dollar commercial loans. These days, he helps people balance their checkbooks. Mr. Broughton was laid off from Neighborhood Community Bank in December and is seeking a new position in the banking world.…
By BRENNEN JENSEN
Contributor
A Board-CEO Dispute Gains Steam at a Restaurant Meeting
The lawsuit filed by the five people seeking permanent reinstatement to the governing board of Feed the Children, one of the nation’s largest antipoverty charities, presents one side of the controversy by outlining a dramatic story. The suit says the board members were supposed to attend a…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
A bitter court battle over the control of Feed the Children, one of the nation’s biggest antipoverty charities, reveals an organization in turmoil and a power struggle that pits the group’s founder, Larry Jones, against his daughter, a top official who was fired in December, according to documents…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
The following awards have been presented for work in advocacy, fund raising, nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, and other areas: Education fund raising. The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (Washington) has presented the 2009 Independent Schools Awards to individuals and…
Lessons Learned Early Continue to Guide a Veteran Fund Raiser
I was fired from my first job. I was at the Metropolitan Opera, in the major-gifts department. I was the low woman on the totem pole. I was in the hallway, in the conference room, in a cubiclen — wherever they could put me. I wanted to be around music. My grandmother, whom I’m named for, was a…
A Grant Maker’s Upbeat Plans for the Big Easy
More than three years after Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, the Gulf Coast remains scarred by the storms’ wrath. Yet Albert Ruesga is decidedly hopeful as he surveys the region that has just become his new home. “The storms had an enormous impact on the city and its people, but there’s an incredible…
By Jennifer C. Berkshire
Contributor
Automated Legal Documents Assist People Without Lawyers
Navigating the legal system can be difficult, especially if you don’t have a lawyer. Unfortunately, legal-aid organizations are able to represent only a relatively small percentage of the people who qualify for assistance. The most recent study by the Illinois Bar Association put the figure in that…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
An Analysis of a Big Victory for Donor Intent
NEW BOOKS The Robertson v. Princeton Case: Too Important to Be Left to the Lawyers, by Neal B. Freeman, analyzes the lawsuit and settlement of Robertson v. Princeton University, the large, lengthy donor-intent case settled in late 2008, with commentary from Pablo Eisenberg, a senior fellow at the…
By Cassie J. Moore
Contributor
What Grant Seekers Should Know About Grant Makers
NEW BOOKS 20 Tips Every Strategic Grant Seeker Should Know, by Jonathan Peizer, offers a grant maker’s perspective on how foundations give money. Mr. Peizer, a consultant and former chief technology officer and director of the Open Society Institute’s Internet Program, provides tips on bringing…
By Cassie J. Moore
Contributor
Bits: mHealth Alliance To Promote Use of Mobile Tech in Health Programs
The Rockefeller, United Nations, and Vodafone Foundations have announced the formation of the mHealth Alliance to promote the use of mobile technologies in health programs in developing countries. A new report, “mHealth for Development,” details 26 such efforts, including a program in Thailand in…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Online Charity Asks Programmers for Help
Kiva uses the Internet to match entrepreneurs in developing countries with people who want to lend them money to build their businesses. Now the San Francisco charity is asking programmers to develop new online tools to further promote its microfinance mission. The group has created an…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor