Organization That Promotes Public Service by Older People to Break Into Two Groups
Experience Corps, a program that recruits older people to mentor and tutor inner-city schoolchildren, is preparing to break away from its parent group, Civic Ventures, and establish itself as an independent charity. Experience Corps, which has grown from a pilot project in 1995 to a program that…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
Software Company Decides Not to Go Public Due to Concerns About Stock Market
Convio, a company that provides Web-based software for nonprofit organizations, has withdrawn its bid to go public, citing unfavorable market conditions. The Austin, Tex., company, had filed a statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in August 2007 announcing its intention to sell…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Charities Create a New Effort to Bolster Confidence in Muslim Organizations
A watchdog group and a nonprofit legal organization last week announced a new effort designed to restore donor confidence in Muslim charities and protect them from unfair government scrutiny. The voluntary accreditation program — run jointly by the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance and…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
Senate Nonprofit Specialist Joins Obama Campaign
The Senate Finance Committee has temporarily lost a key philanthropy specialist, Kristin Bailey, to Sen. Barack Obama’s Democratic presidential campaign. Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat who chairs the committee, hired Ms. Bailey last year as a policy analyst specializing in tax-exempt…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
Hedge-Fund Managers Could Get Giving Incentive
Tax bills proposed in both the House and Senate would give hedge-fund managers a generous new tax deduction for charitable donations as a way to promote philanthropy. Hedge funds use a wide range of investments to protect or hedge against a range of changing market conditions. Under the proposed…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor
IRS Publishes Information on Gifts and Advised Funds
The IRS has published proposed rules aimed at making sure donors keep proper records to prove they made gifts of cash and property to charities. And it has released new guidelines to clarify for its agents how to process applications for tax-exempt status from organizations that maintain…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
Rate Change for Car Use Gains Steam in Congress
Momentum seems to be building on Capitol Hill for legislation that would increase the tax deduction for people who use their automobiles as part of their volunteer work. Under federal law, volunteers who drive their cars for charitable purposes may deduct 14 cents a mile for their car costs or be…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
Nonprofit leaders work to persuade young professionals who arrived after Katrina to call city homeNot long after Jonathan Graboyes graduated from college last year, he headed to New Orleans in search of nonprofit work. “I sort of made a leap of faith in the city,” says Mr. Graboyes, now 23. “I…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
How a Charity Pitches Its Plan
Seed America, a charity in Alpharetta, Ga., wants to raise $100-million to build a business school that bases its curriculum on Christian values. But its approach to raising the money doesn’t focus on the big gifts, direct mail, or special events that are the backbone of most capital campaigns.…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor
Charity’s plan to raise money through property deals faltersWhen Quebecor World closed its 685,000-square-foot printing plant in Salem, Ill., in 2002, it left a huge hole in the small city’s economy. More than 800 jobs were gone. A signature industrial building was left vacant. A city with fewer…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor
Ad Executive Campaigns for Charity
I was a true product of the 60s, and I thought, How can I find an occupation where I can do good and have an enriched life? I enjoyed literature and I’ve always been a reader, so my goal upon graduating from San Francisco State University was to teach. I taught an Englishcompetency course at San…
The YMCA Gives New Power to Its Diversity Leader
When Bank of America acquired LaSalle Bank, in Chicago, late last year, it announced plans to lay off or eliminate the jobs of 2,500 employees in Illinois. David Thomas, then group senior vice president and head of diversity and inclusion at LaSalle Bank/ABN AMRO Bank North America, was among them.…
By Cassie J. Moore
Contributor
How to Create Programs That Include Disabled Children and Youths
NEW BOOKS Paths to Inclusion: A Resource Guide for Fully Including Youth of All Abilities in Community Life, seeks to help nonprofit leaders modify their youth programs to ensure that disabled children can participate. The publication presents basic background information on what “inclusion” is,…
By Anne W. Howard
Contributor
Group Fails to Qualify as Church, IRS Rules
The Internal Revenue Service has told an organization that says it operates “for the advancement of Christianity and for other charitable purposes” that it does not qualify for a federal tax exemption as a church. In its application for tax-exempt status, the group said it conducts “street…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
IRS Reviews Charity Use of Overseas Companies
The Internal Revenue Service is looking at whether charities are using offshore accounts and other tactics to avoid paying taxes on income earned in the United States. Frank Ng, commissioner of the IRS’s Large and Mid-Sized Businesses Division, told the Senate Finance Committee that the tax agency…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor
Bits: Mal Warwick Associates To Acquire Donordigital
Mal Warwick Associates, a fund-raising consulting company in Berkeley, Calif., has announced that it intends to acquire Donordigital, a consulting company in San Francisco that specializes in online fund raising. For more information: Go to http://www.malwarwick.com or http://www.donordigital.com.…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor