Citizen Academy programs teach volunteers to strengthen their skills and increase their activism Michelle Nunn and her colleagues spent a decade building a grass-roots organization that matched busy people with volunteer opportunities at charities in cities across the country. The organization…
By Lauren Kafka
Contributor
How Much Companies Gave to Tsunami-Relief Efforts
Cash donations Total cash and product donations Johnson & Johnson (New Brunswick, N.J.) $10,000,000 $90,000,000 Pfizer (New York) 10,600,000 50,600,000 Coca-Cola Company (Atlanta) 17,300,000 19,800,000 Chevron Corporation (San Ramon, Calif.)* 12,000,000 12,000,000 General Electric Company…
Where to find the latest IRS rules governing car donations
Q. How can I find the charity world’s top 25 donors? A. Check out the Chronicle’s annual survey of the 60 people who gave the most to charity in 2004 here Results from the 2005 survey were released in March. Be sure to use the database, which allows you to search the donors by their source of…
By Alison Stein Wellner
Contributor
Directory of Groups That Underwrite Progressive Causes
Grant Seekers Guide: Foundations That Support Social & Economic Justice, Sixth Revised Edition, edited by James McGrath Morris and Laura Adler, lists foundations that make grants to further economic and social equality. It profiles 200 grant makers and provides an overview of their giving interests…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
Emerging Areas of Volunteering, edited by Jeffrey L. Brudney, explores how volunteering opportunities have changed over the past few decades. Scholars of public affairs and related fields discuss trends such as the rise of the “episodic volunteer,” who provides short-term assistance, and the…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
Guide to Artist-in-Residency Programs
Artists Communities: A Directory of Residencies That Offer Time and Space for Creativity, Third Edition, edited by Deborah Obalil and Caitlin S. Glass, lists more than 350 organizations that provide artists, writers, and musicians with opportunities to pursue their craft. Updated since its previous…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
Faith and a Focus on the Elderly Poor Motivates a Foundation Leader
Shale D. Stiller probably understands better than anyone what Harry and Jeanette Weinberg wanted their philanthropy to accomplish. Mr. Stiller, a lawyer, helped write the charter for their foundation before Mr. Weinberg, a real-estate magnate, died in 1990. He also has spent the past 10 years as a…
By Michael Anft
Contributor
Tax Agency Web Site Adds Information
The portion of the IRS Web site designed for charities and other tax-exempt organizations now includes a page of recent testimony at Congressional hearings by key officials of the revenue service. The testimony focuses on such topics as government enforcement of tax laws and its oversight of…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
Charitable Deductions Fell in 2003, IRS Says
New statistics released by the Internal Revenue Service show that deductions claimed for charitable contributions declined in 2003, falling from $140.6-billion in 2002 to $139.7-billion in 2003, a drop of less than 1 percent. The IRS will revise the statistics in coming months before making them…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
Logistical Problems Marred Tsunami Relief Efforts
Humanitarian organizations’ efforts to deliver aid to South Asia in response to the devastating tsunamis that struck just over six months ago were marred by a lack of logistics experts, inadequate methods for tracking the flow of relief supplies, and insufficient planning and assessments, a new…
By BRENNEN JENSEN
Contributor
Advice on moving up to midlevel management and beyond
Q. I am in my 20s and currently work for a nonprofit organization. I want to climb into midlevel management in the next three to five years, and eventually into senior management at a charity. I have a master’s in education, but little work experience. What should I be doing now to ensure that I…
By Alison Stein Wellner
Contributor
Bits: Council on Foundations Launches ‘Emerging Issues’ Blog
The Council on Foundations, in Washington, has started a Web log, “Emerging Issues,” to highlight new trends in philanthropy. Among the topics discussed so far: a book about the repeal of the estate tax and recent foundation projects. To get there: Go http://blogs.cof.org/emergingissues.…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Nominations Sought for New Internet Awards
A new awards program plans to honor innovative uses of the Internet by charities. The International ePhilanthropy Awards will recognize nonprofit excellence in four categories: fund-raising campaigns; event registration or membership campaigns; community building, volunteerism, or advocacy…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
E-Mail Advocacy Efforts Face Hurdles, Report Says
Electronic messages generated by online advocacy campaigns are overwhelming Congressional offices, and may, in some cases, be falling on deaf ears, according to a new report by a Washington nonprofit group. Staff members on Capitol Hill have mixed feelings about the increase of correspondence that…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
A Commitment to Diversity Drives a Cleveland Housing Advocate
I grew up in Cleveland’s Detroit Shoreway neighborhood, where I now live and work, but I spent my teens in the suburbs. My mother’s family immigrated here from Italy in the 1890s, and my father’s parents came from Tennessee after the Second World War to work in the steel mills. When I was 19 and…
Ideas raised by Senate aides Panel on the Nonprofit Sector Current law CONFLICTS OF INTEREST Laws designed to prevent conflicts of interest and “self-dealing” among foundations would also apply to charities. Penalty fees for those found guilty of legal abuses would be increased. The Internal…