American Hiking Society (Silver Spring, Md.): Appointed Gregory A. Miller, division vice president at the Nature Conservancy (Arlington, Va.), to be president. American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (Memphis): Appointed John Moses, a lawyer in…
Winners of Yale Business-Plan Contest for Charities
Following are winners and finalists in the business-plan competition organized by the Yale School of Management-Goldman Sachs Foundation Partnership on Nonprofit Ventures: Top winners: $100,000 each EcoLogic Finance (Cambridge, Mass.) To provide low-cost loans to locally owned enterprises, such as…
The right new leader, a lot of hard work, and a little luck help turn around a struggling charityThe classified advertisement seeking a new executive director for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the East Bay sounded promising. “This is an exciting and demanding position where a dedicated and…
By Mary E. Medland
Contributor
One Woman’s Obsession With Hair Grows Into an Act of Charity
Columbus, Ohio Eight years ago, when doctors first told Patricia Wynn Brown that she had melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, two thoughts flashed through her head: Oh, God, what if I lose my hair? Followed by, Oh, God, what if I die? This locks-over-life ranking of her fears speaks…
By BRENNEN JENSEN
Contributor
Onetime Refugee Takes Helm of International Aid Coalition
Mohammad Akhter, the new chief executive of a coalition of international aid organizations, knows firsthand the important work charities do abroad. When he was 3, his family fled India to Pakistan during the sectarian fighting and turmoil that followed the separation of the two countries in 1947.…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
Credit-Counseling Charity May Be Sued, Court Rules
A federal law that bars lawsuits against certain tax-exempt organizations does not prevent a Massachusetts couple from suing a credit-counseling charity, a federal appeals court has ruled. At issue was whether Andrew and Kelly Zimmerman could sue Cambridge Credit Counseling Corporation in…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
Government Releases Rules for Donations of Vehicles
The Treasury Department has issued guidelines to explain how donors of vehicles can take tax deductions for the gifts under a new law. The guidelines say that donors can take a larger deduction for vehicles that are eventually sold by charities to poor people for less than their real value. The…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
Author Investigates Why People Give
Mega Gifts: Who Gives Them, Who Gets Them, Second Edition, by Jerold Panas, examines what motivates donors to make a big gift to charity. Mr. Panas, who has written extensively on fund raising, says that donors don’t give for the tax deductions, or simply because they have been asked. If donors are…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
Report Explores ‘New Era’ in Philanthropy
Looking Out for the Future: An Orientation for Twenty-First Century Philanthropists, by Katherine Fulton and Andrew Blau, examines trends in the world at large, as well as changes within nonprofit organizations and foundations, that are transforming how American philanthropy operates. Based on a…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
New Techniques for Experienced Grant-Proposal Writers
Grantwriting: Proven Strategies Professionals Use to Make Their Proposals Work, by Michael K. Wells, provides experienced grant-proposal writers with techniques for making their applications stand out. Mr. Wells, a consultant who teaches proposal writing at Portland State University, describes how…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
Grant Makers Should Support the Arts for Their Intrinsic Benefits, Report Says
Gifts of the Muse: Reframing the Debate About the Benefits of the Arts, edited by Kevin F. McCarthy, Elizabeth H. Ondaatje, Laura Zakaras, and Albert Brooks, provides a new rationale for foundation and government support of the arts. The report says that policy debates in recent years have focused…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
Tips for Grant Making That Better Serves Women and Girls
The Case for Better Philanthropy: The Future of Funding for Women and Girls says that foundations and nonprofit groups should develop new arguments for helping women and girls. Instead of simply supporting programs to rectify inequities between men and women, like unequal compensation or access to…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
Endowments Produced Returns of 11.4% in 2004
Foundations and other nonprofit organizations produced an average return of 11.4 percent on their investments last year, according to preliminary results of a new study by the Commonfund Institute. In fiscal 2003, the institutions gained an average of 17 percent. Foundations and other organizations…
By Erin Strout
Contributor
Baby Boomers Want Public-Service Jobs
By Brennen Jensen Nearly half of people age 50 to 70 hope that after they retire they will be able to take jobs that improve the quality of life in their communities, a new survey says. Fewer than 15 percent of people in that age group, however, think it will be very easy to find such jobs, and a…
By BRENNEN JENSEN
Contributor
Boards Urged to Do More to Focus on Charity Missions
Some nonprofit boards may be focusing too much energy on their legal responsibilities as board members and too little time on making sure a charity is a doing a good job of fulfilling its charitable mission, says the leader of the major national organization that advises charity and foundation…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
Conservation Charities Come Under Questioning by the Senate
Washington Laying the groundwork for broad legislation that could affect all types of nonprofit groups, key senators took aim this month at one of the country’s best-known charities, while calling into question improper practices at many organizations. During three hours of intense questioning into…
By Brad Wolverton
Contributor