Tips on getting training as a grant-proposal writer
Q. I am interested in writing grant proposals. How can I get some guidance in getting started? A. Plenty of resources are available to help you, says Gail Vertz, executive director of the American Association of Grant Professionals, in Kansas City, Kan. With such a wide range of tools, you can…
By Cassie J. Moore
Contributor
An Expert on Philanthropy Takes Think-Tank Job
The Aspen Institute, a think tank with headquarters in Washington, conducts public-policy research on two dozen topics, including poverty, the environment, and the Middle East. ALSO SEE: BIO: About Jane Wales, vice president for philanthropy and society, the Aspen Institute But the institute’s…
By Kristine Henry
Contributor
IRS Weighs Suggestions for Changes in Instructions
The Internal Revenue Service has made public the advice it received from nonprofit organizations, lawyers, and others on how to revise and refine the draft instructions it recently released for its redesigned Form 990, the primary tax document that charities file each year with the federal…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
Bequests to Charities Examined in IRS Study
A study of estates by the Internal Revenue Service shows that in 2004 — the most recent tax year for which information is available — people who died and left larger estates were more likely to make a charitable bequest than those with smaller estates and, on average, gave away a larger portion of…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
Congress Extends Tax Break for Land-Conservation Gift
Nonprofit organizations have won an extension of a generous tax incentive for donations of land and property that are important for conservation or historic purposes. A two-year extension of the so-called conservation-easement deduction was included in a bill to protect farmers, which became law…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
IRS Finds Huge Drop in Car Donations
A new government report shows that a federal law designed to stop donors from inflating the value of gifts of used cars has had a big effect. In 2005 — the year the law took effect — the number of automobile donations declined 67 percent from the previous year, from about 900,000 in 2004 to 297,000…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
Are Foundations Hurting Nonprofit Groups by Requiring Too Much Paperwork?
NEW BOOKS Drowning in Paperwork, Distracted From Purpose: Challenges and Opportunities in Grant Application and Reporting, studies how grant-reporting requirements affect grant makers and grant seekers. The publication, produced by a coalition of philanthropy associations and funds, argues that as…
By Anne W. Howard
Contributor
A Look at the Cost-Benefit Ratios of Various Youth Programs
NEW BOOKS Current-Generation Youth Programs: What Works, What Doesn’t, and at What Cost?, by Megan K. Beckett, provides the results of research conducted by the RAND Corporation and sponsored by Growth & Justice, a think tank in St. Paul. Comparing out-of-school programs for children and youths…
By Anne W. Howard
Contributor
Bits: Microsoft Donates to the National Fund for Workforce Solutions
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is holding a workshop entitled “Amassing a Grass-Roots Army to Engage in Election 2008" in Washington on June 17. Another workshop, “Intelligence, Media Monitoring, and Tracking the Buzz,” is scheduled for September 30. For more information: Go to…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Grants Awarded to Test Ideas for Healthy Games
Games continue to capture the attention of the nonprofit world as potential tools for change. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is giving more than $2-million in grants through its Health Games Research program for a dozen studies that explore how video games can motivate people to take steps to…
By Alison Stein Wellner
Contributor
‘The New Yorker’: Nourishing Creativity
The Church of the Holy Apostles, in New York, “is a church only two-sevenths of the time,” writes Ian Frazier in The New Yorker (May 26). The rest of the time, it’s the largest soup kitchen in New York City, serving roughly 1,200 meals each day. Mr. Frazier, who’s long taught a writer’s workshop at…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
‘Town & Country’: Women and Charitable Giving
Forty-two percent of women consult their spouse when deciding where to give, and the same percentage consult no one, according to a new online poll of women conducted by Town & Country magazine for its annual philanthropy issue (June). Among the other findings: Ten percent never open fund-raising…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
Boy Scouts Sue Philadelphia in Dispute Over Membership
A local chapter of the Boy Scouts has sued the City of Philadelphia, saying the city violated the charity’s constitutional rights by telling the scouting group to stop banning gays and atheists from its ranks or start paying market-rate rent on its city-owned offices. The Boy Scouts chapter had…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Pennsylvania Legislators Focus on Charity Causes
An alliance of nonprofit groups in Pennsylvania has worked with the state’s General Assembly to set up the Pennsylvania Charitable Nonprofit Caucus, a grouping of state legislators that will discuss charity-related issues. The Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations and the United Way…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
Betsy Poirier recently landed a plum job in the for-profit world — as manager of new business development for Toys “R” Us. But she also had a nonprofit goal that many young professionals would not dare to reach for so early in their careers: to serve on a museum board. Ms. Poirier, who this month…
By EMAN QUOTAH
Contributor
American Jewish Historical Society (New York): Appointed Evan M. Kingsley, deputy director for external affairs at the International Center of Photography (New York), to be executive director. Arizona State U. (Tempe): Appointed Karen Bisko, a fund-raising and public-relations consultant in…