Corporate Citizenship Detailed Online
By NICOLE WALLACEInvestors who want to know if the companies in which they own stock are good corporate citizens can turn to a new online resource. The Corporate Social Research Center rates 1,000 companies on their commitment to fair labor practices, the environment, product quality and safety,…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Sports and Computers Help Detroit Youngsters
By NICOLE WALLACEThink Detroit combines balls and bats with bits and bytes to offer educational and athletic opportunities to the city’s children. This year more than 1,400 children from ages 5 to 14 competed in baseball, basketball, soccer, and softball leagues organized by the Detroit charity.…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
‘Smart Money’: Ranking Charities
Smart Money (December) rates 100 big charities to determine which ones are most efficient. To develop the ratings, the magazine looked at three years’ worth of financial data and calculated how much of an organization’s budget goes to charitable programs. That ratio was given 60 percent weight in…
‘Worth’: Charity as Status Symbol
Charity is today’s ultimate status symbol among the newly wealthy, declares Worth magazine on the cover of its December issue. The issue contains several articles on various facets of philanthropy: A profile of the philanthropists featured on the cover, Steve and Michele Kirsch. Mr. Kirsch, 43,…
‘Fortune’: United Ways Face Challenges
United Ways help millions of people who desperately need assistance, observes Fortune magazine (November 27)."But at a time when donors question the need for an organization that processes money to other charities, the organization has been convulsed by internal squabbling over how it will govern…
Maine College Forges Community Ties Through Students’ Service Work
By ELIZABETH SCHWINNHispanic farm workers in the small city of Lewiston, Me., needed health care but were ALSO SEE:Offering More Than a Degree not using the local clinic, its doctor discovered. She assumed the language barrier was one problem, but she didn’t speak Spanish, and she couldn’t afford…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
Colleges devise new ways to meet students’ desire to volunteerThe Salvation Army in Charlottesville, Va., is one of thousands of charities nationwide ALSO SEE:Maine College Forges Community Ties Through Students’ Service WorkPercentage of Colleges That Offer Students Opportunities to Volunteer in…
By Meg Sommerfeld
Contributor
GOP House Leader Slams IRS on Internet Issue
By GRANT WILLIAMSHouse Majority Leader Dick Armey has criticized the I.R.S. for the tax agency’s recent announcement that it is “considering the necessity” of putting out guidance that would clarify how the tax code should be applied to the use of the Internet by charities and other nonprofit…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
Court Rules Bequest Qualifies for Charity Break
By GRANT WILLIAMSA federal appeals court has decided that the I.R.S. was wrong to deny a charitable-contribution deduction to an estate after a controversy over exactly what a now-deceased Indiana man intended to do for charity. As he neared death, Kenneth E. Starkey signed a will that left a…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
IRS Says Think Tank Wrongly Involved in Politics
By GRANT WILLIAMSA charity improperly intervened in a political campaign by the way it allowed fund-raising letters to be signed on its behalf by a candidate for public office, the Internal Revenue Service’s national office has ruled. The revenue service did not identify the organization under…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
Bits: The Hunger Site Expands Its Efforts; Online Information for Donors
By NICOLE WALLACE The Hunger Site, a popular Web site where corporate sponsors make a gift every time a visitor clicks on the site’s “Donate free food” button (The Chronicle, February 24), is expanding the reach of its hunger-relief efforts. The site, which since its creation in June 1999 has…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Web Site Provides Data on Services for Disabled
A new Web site, TheArcLink.org, offers a database of organizations that provide services to mentally retarded people in Indiana and New Mexico -- and has the ambitious goal of eventually listing service providers across the country. The site is a joint project of The Arc of the United States and…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
CD-ROM Helps Charities Assess Risks
By NICOLE WALLACEA new CD-ROM helps charities evaluate whether they are taking the necessary precautions to protect themselves from lawsuits, accidents, and other hazards. The Nonprofit Risk Management Center, in Washington, created the Nonprofit Computer Assisted Risk Evaluation System, or…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Activists Use E-Mail to Combat Torture
By NICOLE WALLACEAmnesty International USA last month activated its new Internet advocacy network by asking members to send e-mail appeals to Turkish authorities on behalf of Sehmuz Temel. Mr. Temel is a Kurd who was being held at police headquarters in Istanbul and had been severely tortured…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
One Man’s Hunger to Change the Way Food Charities Operate
By GRANT WILLIAMSRobert Egger says his organization’s approach to feeding the poor can be seen in the way the ALSO SEE:No Relief for Nation’s Food Banks D.C. Central Kitchen recently handled its first-ever direct-mail campaign. The fund-raising company hired to do the mailing felt that the group…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
No Relief for Nation’s Food Banks
Demand for aid surges in wake of welfare overhaulNonprofit food banks and soup kitchens are changing their operations to cope with swelling demand from needy Americans. ALSO SEE:One Man’s Hunger to Change the Way Food Charities Operate Many are expanding the types of services they provide, such as…
By Harvy Lipman
Contributor