Foundations Seek Games With Social Benefits
Foundations are paying for two new efforts to support the burgeoning field of video games designed to promote social change and better health. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, in Chicago, has awarded a $450,000 grant to Games for Change and Parsons New School for Design, both in…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
GuideStar Database Adds ‘Donate Now’ Feature
Donors have a new option when making charitable gifts online. GuideStar, a nonprofit organization in Williamsburg, Va., has added a “donate now” feature to its Web site, which provides reports on nonprofit groups based on the informational tax returns they file and other data. “An important part of…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Giving Sites End Year With Big Gains
Two giving portals that allow donors to make contributions to the charities of their choice saw big jumps in online fund raising in 2007: Online gifts made through Network for Good, in Bethesda, Md., totaled $53.5-million in 2007, compared with $35.4-million in 2006, an increase of 51 percent.…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Charities Urged to Set Online Guidelines Following One Group’s ‘Lapse’
After a nonprofit group this month punished two employees for using online aliases to promote its services, charities are being advised to set guidelines about how workers represent themselves on the Internet. Just a few days after the New Year’s holiday, the Board of Directors of GiveWell, in New…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
Texas Chapter Sues Habitat International in Disputes Over Affiliates’ Autonomy
The San Antonio branch of Habitat for Humanity International has sued the housing organization, alleging that a new agreement that all chapters are being asked to sign undercuts local control and could reduce the number of houses it builds locally. Habitat for Humanity of San Antonio contends that…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
As global hot spots boil, relief groups look for skilled hands and cool heads Help wanted: New opportunity working in international hot spot. Competitive pay and benefits. Dismal living conditions, poor medical care and danger likely. The advertisements that relief and development organizations…
By Scott Westcott
Contributor
Nonprofit Organizations Urged to Be Cautious When Getting Involved in Election-Year Politics
Nonprofit groups that want to ask candidates in the 2008 elections questions about their positions on ALSO SEE:ARTICLE: Nonprofit Primary Pursuits social issues, or about how they would strengthen the nonprofit world as a whole, must navigate Internal Revenue Service rules barring charities from…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
New effort seeks to get candidates to focus on the charitable world By Suzanne PerryAs the selection of the next U.S. president races toward Super Tuesday next month, leaders of the Nonprofit Primary Project ALSO SEE:ARTICLE: A New Generation, a New Commitment to ChangeARTICLE: Nonprofit…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
A Former U.N. Official Leads a New ‘Green Revolution’
By Caroline PrestonNamanga Ngongi had planned to spend his retirement from the United Nations growing oil-palm trees ALSO SEE: ARTICLE: About Namanga Ngongi, President, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa on a hillside farm in his hometown of Buea, Cameroon. But then two of the biggest…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
Study Finds That Private, For-Profit School Management Improves School Outcomes
NEW BOOKS Impact of For-Profit and Non-Profit Management on Student Achievement: The Philadelphia Experiment, by Paul E. Peterson and Matthew M. Chingos, was prepared by two Harvard researchers who examined a restructuring of the Philadelphia public-school system. In 2002, 30 low-performing…
By Anne W. Howard
Contributor
Study Shows That Poor Gifted Students Have Worse Educational Outcomes Than Rich Gifted Students
NEW BOOKS Achievement Trap: How America Is Failing Millions of High-Achieving Students From Lower-Income Families, by Joshua S. Wyner, John M. Bridgeland, and John J. Dilulio Jr., finds that even academically talented poor students do not fare as well as their richer peers. The report looks at…
By Anne W. Howard
Contributor
College Group Issues Guide for Nonprofit Studies
An association of universities that offer courses on nonprofit management has released new guidelines devoted to shaping undergraduate study of the philanthropic world. The guidelines, the first to focus on nonprofit-management studies at the undergraduate level, provide universities with advice…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
As giving circles — donor clubs that allow people to pool their money — grow in popularity, their members are doing more than just giving money. Some are also contributing free professional help such as legal aid or technology assistance, says Kiplinger’s magazine (January). The Full Circle Fund,…
‘Smart Money’: Donors’ High Expectations
Elaine Vasquez, a community-newspaper publisher in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who donated $100,000 last year to local charities, says she wants an opportunity to manage the use of her money. For example, before she agreed to give money for a new geriatric-education database to Nova Southeastern…
‘Portfolio’: Wall Street’s Most-Generous Donors
The 100 largest foundations set up by people in the financial-services industry — including hedge funds, investment banks, and private-equity firms — hold $6.3-billion in assets, says Portfolio magazine (January), which based its estimate on the informational tax returns filed by the grant makers.…
‘The Weekly Standard’: a Philanthropy Czar
The next president of the United States — Republican or Democrat — should nominate Sen. Charles Grassley, Republican of Iowa, to a new White House job of philanthropy czar, writes John J. DiIulio Jr., a University of Pennsylvania scholar, in The Weekly Standard magazine (December 10). Mr. DiIulio,…