National Public Radio Tunes In a New Listener in Chief
For years, Vivian Schiller has counted herself among the millions of devoted listeners who enjoy National Public Radio shows such as Morning Edition and Wait Wait ... Don’t Tell Me! But in January, her interest in the programs switched from casual to professional when she took over as president of…
By Eric Frazier
Contributor
Grant Makers Should Support Public-Policy Advocacy
NEW BOOKS Why Supporting Advocacy Makes Sense for Foundations, offers an argument for and information on foundation-sponsored public-policy efforts. The report explores what public-policy advocacy comprises, including research and dissemination of the findings, grass-roots community organizing,…
By Cassie J. Moore
Contributor
How a Foundation Is Helping Needy People Find Jobs
NEW BOOKS Connecting People to Jobs: Neighborhood Workforce Pipelines, by John E. Padilla, is part of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Making Connections program to help poor families and children. Mr. Padilla, a senior fellow at the foundation, focuses on how organizations can help needy people…
By Cassie J. Moore
Contributor
National Heritage Foundation Files for Bankruptcy After Court Orders Payout
The National Heritage Foundation, a Virginia charity ordered last fall to pay millions of dollars to donors who said they had been misled by the organization, last month filed for bankruptcy. Jan H. Ridgely, vice president of the National Heritage Foundation, says the organization, which manages…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
IRS Suffers Another Setback in Effort to Conduct Audit of a Minnesota Church
The Internal Revenue Service has suffered another setback in its effort to pursue an audit of a church in Minnesota in a case that has ramifications for the tax agency and churches nationwide. A U.S. District Court judge in Minneapolis ruled that the Living Word Christian Center, in Brooklyn Park,…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
President Drops Prohibition on Abortion-Counseling Aid
Family-planning groups are welcoming Barack Obama’s repeal last month of a policy that prevented government money from supporting charities that counsel women overseas on the availability of abortion. Known as the “global gag rule,” the policy was first adopted by President Reagan and later…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
Habitat for Humanity Mourns Death of Its Founder
Millard Fuller, founder and former longtime leader of Habitat for Humanity International, the house-building charity, died of congestive heart failure last week at age 74. Since 2005 Mr. Fuller had led the Fuller Center for Housing, a charity he formed in Americus, Ga., following a somewhat…
By BRENNEN JENSEN
Contributor
Conservative Groups Turn to Grass-Roots Efforts to Seek New Donors
Fund raising is particularly thorny for conservative groups because many of their contributors are either elderly people living on fixed incomes or stock dividends, or members of financial firms — all people who have suffered in the recession. For instance, the Heritage Foundation, a think tank in…
By Michael Anft
Contributor
Even with Republicans out of power in Washington, the grant makers and groups that gird the conservative political movement are eyeing mostly subtle changes in how they operate, including focusing more on economic research and expanding their political advocacy efforts outside of the nation’s…
By Michael Anft
Contributor
Pentecostal Minister Is Obama’s Choice to Head Religious-Charities Office
President Barack Obama last week was poised to appoint Joshua DuBois, a young Pentecostal minister, to lead a White House effort to help religious groups and charities fight poverty and other social ills. Mr. DuBois, 26, will head the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships,…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
Charities Urge Congress to Aid Them in Economic-Stimulus Plan
As debate over an economic-stimulus plan moved to the Senate last week, nonprofit groups pushed to head off spending cuts to social programs and to insert new measures to help charities and foundations weather the recession. Many Republicans in both houses were stepping up pressure to cut spending…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
Crafting a Plan for Social Innovation
President Obama is starting to lay plans to carry out his campaign pledge to provide government help to innovative nonprofit groups that are working on the country’s most pressing problems. One clue: The official White House Web site lists an Office of Social Innovation. The office has not been…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
In a Tight Job Market, Charity Workers Urged to Sharpen Skills
As nonprofit groups nationwide cut their job rolls, even veteran nonprofit workers with highly marketable skills may find themselves facing a tough challenge looking for a new position. While laid-off workers may get despondent as they look at the tightening job market, it is important to recognize…
By MARTY MICHAELS
Contributor
Charity Outlook Is Bleak, Financial Unit Says
Nonprofit organizations are in for a tough year of tightening credit markets and a deepening recession, according to two new reports from Moody’s Investors Service, a credit-rating agency, in New York. According to the report, which tracked bond ratings in 2008 for 742 nonprofit borrowers, ratings…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Sherilyn Adams, executive director of Larkin Street Youth Services, began bracing for an $800,000 hole in her charity’s budget last summer. She started by making small incisions, such as reducing travel and training costs. Then last month, after discussions with board and staff members, the San…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
Foundations Make Changes in Investments in the Wake of the Global Financial Crisis
American foundations are making changes in their investment policies after their assets dropped by nearly 28 percent last year, according to a new report from the Council on Foundations, an organization that represents grant makers. A survey of 127 council members, conducted in January, found that…
By MARTY MICHAELS
Contributor