Board Member Applies a ‘Light Touch’
The Jewish Federation/Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago draws such a high number of donors to its annual fund-raising campaign that nearly any charity would envy it. Nearly 40,000 people give to the organization each year, from a community with roughly 100,000 Jewish households whose…
By Ben Gose
Senior Editor
Fund-Raising Power Comes From Trustees
Recruiting board members who do a great job of seeking money is a key to success for many of the charities on the Philanthropy 400, The Chronicle’s ranking of the organizations that raise the most money from private supporters. But many people who serve on charity boards hate asking for money. In a…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Going Green and Offering Donor Retreats: How Charities Thrive in Hard Times
The nation’s most successful charities are trying an array of new approaches as they seek to keep fund raising vibrant in tough economic times. Among their tactics and techniques: Going global. Junior Achievement Worldwide (No. 179), which educates children about finance and entrepreneurship,…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
How The Chronicle Compiled This Year’s Philanthropy 400 Survey
The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual Philanthropy 400, now in its 18th year, ranks nonprofit organizations based on the amount of money the groups raised in the previous year from individuals, foundations, and corporations. Charities are allowed to count cash and other gifts such as stock, real…
By Noelle Barton
Contributor
Charities seek ways to lessen pain from the global financial crisis The economic downturn has started to cause trouble for many of the nation’s most sophisticated fund-raising organizations. Gifts from people of modest means and some multimillion-dollar commitments from wealthy donors and big…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Navigating the rules about splitting an administrative position
The best situation is for the for-profit company to offer the services of the human-resources director to its nonprofit division at no charge.
Advice for giving money to needy students
The simplest way to give money to a needy student is simply to give it to a college and earmark it for a specific purpose.
A Social-Service Charity Shares How It Survived a Trial by Fire
By Candie Jones In March, a fire accidentally sparked by repair work burned down the shelter of New Moms, a charity that provides homeless teenage mothers in Chicago with temporary housing and other services, such as parenting classes, educational development, and career preparation. Fortunately,…
By CANDIE JONES
Contributor
Nonprofit Leaders Seek Guidance in Building Rapport With Boards
Mark Slocum, head of the Heart Connection Children’s Cancer Programs, a charity in Des Moines, has endured his share of uncomfortable board meetings. “I’ve found as executive director that, a lot of times, board members kind of look at you like you have a hidden agenda or are trying to slide…
By Darlene M. Siska
Contributor
Tips for seeking an economic-development job
Q. I’m looking to re-enter the nonprofit work force after a long period off that I spent tending to family obligations. I worked for Fannie Mae, but I am not looking for a job that is solely housing-related. I care passionately about helping low-income, minority neighborhoods and about how they…
By EMAN QUOTAH
Contributor
Economic-Development Group Taps Business Executive
For 37 years, Opportunity International, in Oak Brook, Ill., has provided small loans mostly to poor women overseas to help improve their lives and the lives of others in their towns and cities. Now the charity is seeking more donations from women in the United States to help reach its goal of…
By nicole lewis
Contributor
Gov. Palin Reveals Charitable-Giving Amounts
In 2007, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican candidate for vice president, and her husband, Todd Palin, donated $2,500 to charity in cash donations and $825 in noncash gifts, for a total of $3,325 — 2 percent of their adjusted gross income, according to the couple’s federal tax returns. The…
By Eric Kelderman
Contributor
IRS Asks Colleges to Disclose New Details
As part of its efforts to police nonprofit organizations, the Internal Revenue Service will ask some 400 colleges to disclose intimate financial details, including spending on perks like housekeeping services for executives, and their income and losses on business activities like catering and…
By Eric Kelderman
Contributor
Meetings Will Explore Education and Social Justice
Two nonprofit technology gatherings will be held next month. The Community Technology Centers’ Network, a national association of nonprofit groups that provide technology access and education in underserved areas, will hold its annual conference in Los Angeles November 12-14. Among the topics that…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Gift of Handheld Devices Transforms Health Surveys
A program to help sub-Saharan African countries collect good, up-to-date health data using handheld devices instead of relying on slower, more expensive paper surveys has gotten a big boost. The Vodafone Foundation and United Nations Foundation Technology Partnership has committed more than…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
The following awards have been presented for work in advocacy, fund raising, nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, and other areas: Architecture and design. The University of Kentucky College of Design (Louisville) has announced the winner of the Curry Stone Design Prize, which recognizes designers…