More graduate students are gaining hands-on experience while providing free services to charities Matt Forti would like to run a nonprofit group one day. But for now he must content himself with helping to manage organizations run by others. Fortunately for Mr. Forti, 27, a graduate student at…
By Michael Anft
Contributor
Ideas to Protect the Environment, Reduce Crime Prove Popular
Following were the ideas that gained the most votes in a contest to offer suggestions for improving the quality of life Washington. The contest was run by D.C. Appleseed Center for Law and Justice: First prize: Organize a broad effort to clean city streets by forming coalitions of public schools,…
Contest Sparks Wealth of Ideas for Bettering Life in D.C.
By Ian WilhelmWashington Could chocolate milk solve a city’s problems? What if public water fountains began serving it? Might people smile more often? Might ethnic tensions ease? Might road rage all but vanish if hungry drivers could get a quick dose of sugar and calories to fill their stomachs?…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
The following awards have been presented for work in advocacy, fund raising, nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, and other areas. Disabilities. The Disability Funders Network (Falls Church, Va.) has given its William Diaz Impact Award to the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation (Arlington, Va.).…
Founder of Social-Justice Charity Seeks Common Ground
Alan Jenkins had what seemed like the ideal platform for someone who has dedicated his career to promoting social justice. As director of human-rights grant making at the Ford Foundation, in New York, Mr. Jenkins helped set the agenda for one of the world’s largest philanthropies. It was the type…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor
Court Denies State Aid to Christian Charity’s Prison Program
In a legal decision that may hinder the use of federal dollars to support religious charities, a federal judge in Iowa said that a Christian nonprofit group’s efforts to rehabilitate prisoners violates the Constitution. U.S. District Judge Robert W. Pratt said the charity program — run by the…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
Most Colleges Keep Mum on Holdings
Two-thirds of the nation’s colleges and universities do not make public the holdings in their endowments, according to a survey by the Sustainable Endowments Institute, in Cambridge, Mass. The institute, a project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisers, also found that nearly three-quarters of the…
By Harvy Lipman
Contributor
U.S. Tax Court Denies Easement Deduction
TAX WATCHIThe IRS has won a round in its efforts to crack down on abuses of a legal tool designed to protect private land from development. The U.S. Tax Court has ruled that a Virginia couple’s gift of a development restriction on a 29-acre piece of land does not qualify for a charitable deduction…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
Coalition of Housing Groups Battles Ruling by Tax Agency
TAX WATCHSome nonprofit organizations that give down-payment assistance to home buyers are fighting an IRS ruling that says they may lose their tax-exempt status if the money for down payments is provided by the sellers of the homes. An alliance of down-payment assistance groups, including…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
Senator Chides IRS on Enforcing Charity Laws
TAX WATCHThe Internal Revenue Service isn’t doing enough to go after the charitable world’s “bad actors,” including nonprofit hospitals that don’t provide enough benefits to society to justify their tax-exempt status and charities that overpay their board members and trustees, according to a…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
$268.5-Million Donated to Charity by Federal Workers
Washington Federal employees last year pledged $268.5-million to the Combined Federal Campaign, the government’s annual charity drive, more than has ever been raised in the appeal. The campaign raised about $11.6-million — or 4.5 percent — more than 2004’s total of $256.9-million, according to the…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
Screening-Process Changes Promised by Federal Agency
By Suzanne Perry and Grant Williams Washington Government officials who oversee the Combined Federal Campaign have vowed to improve the screening of organizations that raise funds through the annual charity drive for federal workers after the release of a scorching outside review of the campaign’s…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
Landing a job in events planning
Q. My background is in sales, and I have experience in arranging events for my employers. I’m also bilingual (English and Spanish). I’d like to be an event coordinator for a charity. How do I get started? A. Planning charity balls and golf tournaments for a living may seem like a fun and glamorous…
By Rebecca Gardyn
Contributor
‘Clear Path’ Led Lawyer to Charity That Helped Her Cope
When I graduated from college with an English degree in the early 1970s, I didn’t have any big career aspirations. I was engaged at the time, and my husband-to-be was going to law school. I’d also briefly thought about going to law school, but it just wasn’t feasible for us both to go…
Good Intentions, Bad Presentations
A new study shows that few presentations for nonprofit causes make a positive impression By Candie JonesNonprofit officials are so focused on educating the public that they frequently resort to boring, data-saturated presentations that fail to connect with their audiences emotionally, according to…
By CANDIE JONES
Contributor
More kids and parents seek volunteering opportunitiesMargaret Brewer knew her colleagues had doubts when she started a formal effort to encourage families to volunteer together at the Aquarium of the Pacific, in Long Beach, Calif. The first family to sign up about two years ago, a mother and her…
By Leah Kerkman
Contributor