Following are summaries of recent reports by the BBB Wise Giving Alliance. This private group reports on whether charities meet standards for fund raising, governance, financial management, and public information. The alliance does not approve or disapprove of charities, and urges potential donors…
Is It Legal to Make a Part-Time Employee Work Full Time With No Benefits?
Many states maintain laws relating to the payment of wages and benefits to employees.
By Rebecca Gardyn
Contributor
Can you recommend a volunteer position focused on program management?
In the nonprofit world, management aspirations require layering business skills on top of human-services skills and passions.
By Rebecca Gardyn
Contributor
A CEO Plans to Update and ‘Professionalize’ a Venerable Youth Charity
Felix A. Urrutia Jr. points to a large gold-framed canvas hanging on one wall of his office as head of the ALSO SEE: Biographical Information: About Felix A. Urrutia Jr., executive director of the Police Athletic League Police Athletic League. The painting, which shows a 1940s-era police officer…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
Lessons on Empowering Low-Wage Workers
NEW BOOKS Investing in Low-Wage Workers: Lessons from Family Child Care in Rhode Island, by Anne Roder and Dorie Seavey, studies the Day Care Justice Co-op, an advocacy organization for family day-care providers. Founded in 1999 and led by a multiracial group of low-income women, the organization…
By Anne W. Howard
Contributor
N.H. Supreme Court Issues Property-Tax Ruling
New Hampshire’s Supreme Court has ruled that a nursing-home operator meets the standards of being a nonprofit organization and should not be required to pay property taxes. In doing so, the court offered nonprofit groups in the Granite State a look at what they must be able to prove to maintain…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor
IRS Makes Changes to Charity Tax Forms
The Internal Revenue Service has just made available its 2006 Forms 990 — a version that includes changes to a controversial requirement that charities disclose information about financial relationships between board members and the organizations. The changes come one year after the IRS expanded…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor
Bits: Public Interest Registry Seeking Nominations for .Org Advisory Council
The Microsoft Corporation, in Redmond, Wash., has announced a $5-million grant to NPower that is contingent on the organization’s raising an equal amount of money. There is no deadline by which NPower has to raise the money, but the national network of 12 organizations that provide technology…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Technology Meetings Scheduled for April
This year’s Nonprofit Technology Conference, which last year drew more than 800 charity technology officials, consultants, and company representatives, will take place April 4-6 in Washington. The meeting, entitled “Reinventing Politics: Creating Social Change From the Group Up,” is organized by…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Foundation Seeks Ideas for AIDS-Awareness Game
Socially minded video games have been used to raise awareness about poverty in the developing world, genocide in Darfur, and environmental degradation. Next on the list of topics to be tackled: HIV and AIDS. The Kaiser Family Foundation, in Menlo Park, Calif., and MTVu, an MTV network broadcast on…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Conservation Charity’s Site Tracks Fatal Attacks on Birds
Pet owners may consider the dead birds that cats leave on their doorstep just one of the quirks of owning a cat. But the American Bird Conservancy says that, added together, those offerings represent a significant pressure on bird populations already struggling with the effects of habitat loss,…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Getting experience in wooing major donors
Q. I have written grant proposals for a dozen years and have had lots of experience in many areas of fund raising except the one I’m most interested in: soliciting major gifts, working one-on-one with affluent donors. How do I break into this field? A. It will be tough for you to land a job as a…
By Rebecca Gardyn
Contributor
Charities Win Travel Exception in Senate Ethics Legislation
Nonprofit groups and others that lobby Congress would face new restrictions on their dealings with U.S. senators and stricter reporting requirements under an ethics bill that was approved by the Senate last month. However, charities won an exception to a provision that bans groups from paying for…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
Nonprofit Leaders Debate Proposed Principles for Self-Regulation
A proposal urging charities and foundations to adopt a set of principles to govern ethical behavior has sparked a debate over how far-reaching such standards should be and whether self-regulation is the best way to curb abuses. The proposal, which was developed by nonprofit leaders, outlines 29…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
A Social Worker Finds a Pet Cause in Rescuing Animals
I grew up just outside New Haven, Conn., where my father was a professor at Yale University. My mother had been a professor, but retired to raise her children. By the time I was 14 I had a job running a stable and teaching horseback riding to children, which really gave me a sense of responsibility…
Nonprofit Workers Fall Short in Retirement Savings
Employees who work for charities, government agencies, and other tax-exempt organizations aren’t ALSO SEE:ARTICLE: Tips to Help Nonprofit Employers Get Ready for New IRS Rules on Retirement Savings PlansARTICLE: Updating a Program to Help Nonprofit Organizers SavePlans coming close to saving as…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor