Giving kiosks offer convenience to donors, but critics question their effectivenessOn her way to church most Sundays, Meagan Cummins used to have to make a detour to an automated teller machine to withdraw money for her weekly donation. But sometimes she would be running too late or forget to stop…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Increasingly sophisticated technology is making it cheaper and easier for many charities to connect with supporters and volunteers. Charities are relying more heavily on social networks like Facebook and harnessing new Internet communication technologies to advance their work. Among the new…
The following awards have been presented for work in advocacy, fund raising, nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, and other areas: Community development. Enterprise Community Partners (Columbia, Md.) has presented its 2007 Jim and Patty Rouse Award to the East L.A. Community Corporation (Los…
Charity Executive Combines Business Prowess and Passion
Robert Boyd’s peripatetic career has led him from serving on the board of a federal savings bank with assets ALSO SEE: BIO: About Robert Boyd, chief operating officer, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools of $4.5-billion, to starting operations in several states for DonorsChoose, an online…
By MARTY MICHAELS
Contributor
Effectiveness of a Youth Mentorship Program Examined
NEW BOOKS Making a Difference in Schools: The Big Brothers Big Sisters School-Based Mentoring Impact Study, by Carla Herrera, Jean Baldwin Grossman, Tina J. Kauh, Amy F. Feldman, and Jennifer McMaken, with Linda Z. Jucovy, reports on this mentoring program’s effectiveness in schools. Focusing on 10…
By Anne W. Howard
Contributor
‘Fortune’: Charities Seen as Good Employers
Several nonprofit organizations are included in Fortune magazine’s new list of the 100 best places to work (February 4). Most of the groups that were included focus on health care. The highest-ranked organization was Methodist Hospital System, in Houston, which took spot No. 10, behind companies…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
‘The New Yorker’: Seeking Medical Cures
Kathy Giusti runs the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, a nonprofit group she founded to fight the lethal blood cancer, like a business, writes The New Yorker (January 28). Her staff includes four scientists who track myeloma research around the world, advising her on which projects are most…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
Local Charities See Drop in Donated TV Airtime
Broadcast and cable networks donate an average of 17 seconds an hour to airing free public-service advertisements, according to a new study sponsored by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, in Menlo Park, Calif. The donated time represents one-half of 1 percent of all television programming. The…
By nicole lewis
Contributor
Las Vegas Pastor Criticized for Potential Endorsement
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a watchdog group, has sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service asking the agency to investigate a preacher’s apparent endorsement of a presidential candidate. Under federal law, nonprofit organizations are not allowed to engage in partisan…
By Sam Kean
Contributor
Form 990 Instructions Expected Soon
The Internal Revenue Service will release the new informational tax return, known as Form 990, on a staggered schedule, the agency announced at a meeting of tax lawyers last month. The final draft of the revised 990 will be unveiled in the middle of the year, but the agency will release…
By Sam Kean
Contributor
Charity Coalition Pushes Congress for Tax Breaks
Independent Sector, the coalition of major charities and foundations, has asked Congress to extend two tax incentives that help charities — one to encourage donations from individual retirement accounts and the other to promote food donations — as a way to stimulate the economy. “I state…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
Senate Expert on Charities Plans to Step Down
Dean A. Zerbe, who has been instrumental in leading the Senate’s efforts to fight charity abuses, says he will leave his job at the end of February. Mr. Zerbe, the senior counsel to Sen. Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican, will join the Washington office of the Alliant Group, a Houston…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
White House Seeks Extension of ‘Charitable Choice’ Rules
In his State of the Union address last week, President Bush asked Congress to pass legislation that would “permanently extend” steps that his administration has taken to allow religious charities to compete more easily for federal funds. Mr. Bush said that, over his seven years in office,…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
Fund-Raising Strategies for Troubled Times
By Holly HallAn economic downturn often brings a basic fund-raising principle into sharp relief: Charities need to develop ALSO SEE:ARTICLE: Bracing for Tough TimesARTICLE: How a Recession Would Affect Fund Raising: Certain Gifts Could GrowGRAPHS: How the Economy Affects Giving to Different Types…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Charity Hopes to Benefit in Slow Market by Raffling a Historic Home
At least one charity is trying a creative way to reap fund-raising benefits from the depressed housing ALSO SEE:ARTICLE: Bracing for Tough TimesARTICLE: How a Recession Would Affect Fund Raising: Certain Gifts Could GrowGRAPHS: How the Economy Affects Giving to Different Types of CharitiesARTICLE:…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
How the Economy Affects Giving to Different Types of Charities
HOW CHARITABLE GIVING HAS FARED IN RECESSION YEARS