An image makeover helps a peace group face the futureWhen the World Federalist Association began reinventing itself last year, most of its staff members, trustees, and constituents thought it was a great idea. Most agreed that the Washington nonprofit organization’s name was outdated and didn’t…
By Marilyn Dickey
Senior Editor, Copy
How Grant Makers Can Support New Nonprofit Groups
Working With Start-Ups: Grant Makers and New Organizations, by Ellen Arrick and Anne Mackinnon, describes the responsibilities of a foundation when helping to form a new organization. Ms. Arrick and Ms. Mackinnon both work for GrantCraft, a project of the Ford Foundation, in New York, that produces…
By Jessica Kronstadt
Contributor
Grant Makers Give Advice on Programs in Africa
Making a Difference in Africa: Advice From Experienced Grantmakers, by Rob Buchanan and Jayne Booker, offers suggestions to help foundations provide optimal financial support for projects in Africa. Mr. Buchanan, director of international programs at the Council on Foundations, in Washington, and…
By Jessica Kronstadt
Contributor
Tips for Finding and Applying for Grants
The Art and Science of Grantsmanship: Grants for Non-Profits, by John V. Tesoriero, is a guide to finding sources of nonprofit financing and writing successful grant proposals. Mr. Tesoriero, associate director for administration and outreach at the Center for Advanced Information Processing at…
By Jessica Kronstadt
Contributor
Fund-Raising Prowess Helps Land 27-Year-Old in CEO Seat
The odds were against Starsky Wilson ever making it this far. As the third of five children growing up in a single-parent household in inner-city Dallas, Mr. Wilson lost an older brother to murder, watched two of his sisters become teenage mothers, and saw many of his childhood friends get wrapped…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor
Hiring Stalls at Nonprofit Groups, Study Finds
The number of employees at nonprofit groups has barely grown in the past year, rising 0.5 percent since July 2003, ALSO SEE:Hiring Patterns at Charities and wages for charity employees have declined to their lowest level in six years, according to a report by OMB Watch, a Washington group that…
By BRENNEN JENSEN
Contributor
Economists Examine New Way to Promote Giving
Donors might significantly increase their gifts to charity if the federal government directly matched a part of their donations rather than allowing them to take charitable-tax deductions, two economists, Catherine C. Eckel of Virginia Tech and Philip J. Grossman of St. Cloud State University, say…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
IRS Seeks Comments on Receipts Rules
The Internal Revenue Service is asking charities and donors for their views on the paperwork and information required of them under regulations for a 10-year-old federal law governing donor receipts. Under the law, charities must give donors a breakdown of which deductions may be claimed when a…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
A Nonprofit Leader Navigates Controversy While Preserving a Way of Life
Chatham, Mass. In traditional New England fishing villages, the shanty is more than just a structure in which fishermen store their gear. It is also a gathering place for the men and women who make their living on the sea. On a cool, rainy Tuesday morning, Paul Parker, executive director of the…
By Jennifer C. Berkshire
Contributor
Tips for Making the Transition After Losing a Job
JOB MARKET Getting fired doesn’t mean the end of a career, but it does mean that it might be time for a new direction. ALSO SEE:Advice for Facing a Firing with Grace, Dignity, and Minimal Career Damage It also creates opportunities for introspection and soul-searching -- as well as, potentially,…
By Jeffrey Klineman
Contributor
Advice for Facing a Firing with Grace, Dignity, and Minimal Career Damage
JOB MARKET By Jeffrey Klineman David Nimmons liked his job. But more specifically, he says, he believed strongly in the mission of his ALSO SEE:Tips for Making the Transition After Losing a Job employer, the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, an organization in New York that fights the spread of HIV. So, he…
By Jeffrey Klineman
Contributor
‘Metropolis’: Helping the Schools
A year ago, Ken Smith, a landscape architect, and 120 volunteers planted a “learning garden” at a public school in Queens, N.Y., through a program financed by the Robin Hood Foundation, a New York philanthropy. When he came back a year later to check on the garden, he found that the plantings “were…
By Lauren Kafka
Contributor
‘The New Yorker’: Portrait of a Donor
Zell Kravinsky, who donated most of his $45-million fortune to charity and then gave a kidney to someone he didn’t know, has such philanthropic zeal that his views and behavior can be shocking and perplexing to those around him, according to a profile in The New Yorker (August 2). As he wrestles…
By Lauren Kafka
Contributor
‘Economist’: Good Times for Giving
Philanthropy may be on the brink of a golden age on both sides of the Atlantic, according to a special report in The Economist (July 31-August 6). “Years of accumulated wealth -- in America and in Europe -- are about to change hands, as the post-war generation dies off.” “For the first time in…
By Lauren Kafka
Contributor
Charitable Deductions Fell in 2002, IRS Says
New statistics released by the Internal Revenue Service show that deductions claimed for charitable ALSO SEE: Charitable Deductions Claimed on Tax Returns contributions declined in 2002, falling from $139.2-billion in 2001 to $136.3-billion in 2002, a drop of 2.1 percent. The decline is only the…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
IRS Questions Charities About Pay and Benefits
The Internal Revenue Service has begun contacting nearly 2,000 charities and foundations as it officially kicks off an effort to crack down on groups that are providing excessive pay or benefits to their top executives. The majority of the organizations selected by the IRS were chosen because…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor