Foundation Investments Grew by Nearly 10% Last Year, Study Finds
Despite a slowing economy, American foundations reported an average annual return on investments of 9.9 percent for 2007, a rate that was down from the year before but higher than the average foundations had said they hoped to achieve, according to a report released last week by the Commonfund…
By Kathryn Masterson
Contributor
A Destructive Storm Gives Birth to a Charity Leader
My parents came from Alabama, but I was born in Biloxi. My mother was an only child and my father was one of 13, and together they had the six of us. When I was growing up in Biloxi there were a lot of mom-and-pop businesses on Main Street: My parents owned the Kitty Kat Restaurant, and all
Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure (Washington): Appointed Max Wallace, chief executive officer of TheraLogics (Chapel Hill, N.C.), to be chief executive officer, effective August 1. AMD3 Foundation (Pittsburgh): Appointed Alana S. Kulesa, director of education programs at 3 Rivers Connect (Pittsburgh),…
Government Drops Inquiry Into Obama Church
The Internal Revenue Service has dropped its investigation into allegations the United Church of Christ violated federal laws on electioneering. In a letter to the church, the IRS said the church’s responses to its inquiry had satisfied the tax agency that the organization had not broken any laws.…
By Grant Williams
Contributor
House of Representatives Passes IRA Incentive
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that would renew a tax break that encourages older Americans to give money from their individual retirement accounts to nonprofit causes. Until December 31 of last year, donors age 70 or older were able to transfer up to $100,000 to charity from…
By Grant Williams
Contributor
Six groups have joined to create a fund that will teach workers to engage in “contemplative practices,” in an effort to encourage collaboration and prevent burnout among employees of charities that promote social change. Last November, the newly formed Seasons Fund for Social Transformation awarded…
By Cassie J. Moore
Contributor
Inside a $5-Million Effort to Aid the Nonprofit World’s Next Generation
Christopher Mateo had a life-transforming experience last summer. Working as an intern at the Latino Commission on AIDS, in New York, he watched as people heaped praise on the organization’s president, Dennis deLeon, during an award banquet in Mr. deLeon’s honor. The award was nice, Mr. Mateo…
By Eric Frazier
Contributor
Jon Funabiki loved his work as a program officer in the Ford Foundation’s media, arts, and culture unit. In 11 years there, the onetime newspaper reporter made grants that helped train the next generation of Asian-American journalists — a cause dear to his heart. But as much as he enjoyed his job,…
By Eric Frazier
Contributor
Hoong Yee Lee Krakauer, executive director of the Queens Council on the Arts, in Woodhaven, N.Y., had a problem: how to restructure her organization’s board. “We had loose bylaws, my board didn’t understand its roles and responsibilities, and they weren’t doing things they should’ve been doing,”…
By Darlene M. Siska
Contributor
The following awards have been presented for work in advocacy, fund raising, nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, and other areas: Community service. The Marin Community Foundation (Novato, Calif.) has presented its 2008 Beryl H. Buck Awards for Achievement to Cesar Lagleva, who will receive…
An Investment Banker Will Head Nation’s Largest Environmental Group
Mark R. Tercek did not take a traditional path to the leadership of the nation’s largest environmental charity. But Mr. Tercek, a 51-year-old investment banker, believes his mix of skills has prepared him well for his new role as the chief executive of the Nature Conservancy. Mr. Tercek, a managing…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor
Choice of New NAACP Leader Rankles Some Board Members
The nation’s oldest civil-rights group, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in Baltimore, will soon be led by the youngest president ever in its nearly 100-year history. Benjamin Todd Jealous, 35, will take the helm of the organization in September. Mr. Jealous is…
By BRENNEN JENSEN
Contributor
IRS Uses Controversial Test to Deny Charity Status
In a ruling that could have implications for many charities, the Internal Revenue Service has denied a tax exemption to an organization in part because the group did not spend enough of its money on charitable programs. This is the first public sign that the revenue service is using a controversial…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
Agency Issues Guidelines on Business-Form Release
The IRS has updated its guidelines that explain how charities must make public their filings of the Form 990-T, which lists business activities not directly related to a charity’s mission. As part of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, charities that file the Form 990-T must now disclose their…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor
IRS Reminds Small Groups of ‘e-Postcard’ Deadlines
The Internal Revenue Service is reminding the smallest nonprofit groups about their deadlines to comply with a new federal requirement to file annual informational returns. Tax law requires nonprofit groups with $25,000 or less in annual revenue to file the new Form 990-N, known as an “e-postcard,”…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Judge Gives Red Cross Right to Use Logo on Products
A federal judge in New York has rejected an effort by Johnson & Johnson to prevent the American Red Cross from using the charity’s logo on retail products. U.S. District Court Judge Jed S. Rakoff, in a ruling this month, said the American Red Cross has the right to use its red-and-white logo on…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor