Study Assesses Interactivity of Non-Profit Web Sites
Most non-profit organizations are not taking advantage of the Internet’s capabilities to build relationships with the people who visit their Web sites, according to a new report. The Peppers and Rogers Group, a marketing-consulting company in Stamford, Conn., analyzed the Web sites of 20 national…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
On-Line Toy Swap Benefits Cancer Center
Children are natural traders -- and now they can turn some of those Beanie Baby and Pokemon exchanges into a donation to charity. Swap.com, a new Web site that went on line the day after Christmas, lets kids across the country trade toys, games, books, and other items with one another. Parents must…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Most Michigan Charities Have Internet Access
More than 90 per cent of non-profit organizations in Michigan have access to desktop or laptop computers and fax machines, according to a new survey. The survey -- commissioned by United Way Community Services, in Detroit, and the University of Michigan School of Social Work, in Ann Arbor, and…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Disgraced United Way Chief Entitled to $2-Million Pension
For the second time in a little more than a year, a federal judge has ruled that the United Way of America owes several million dollars in pension benefits to its former president, William Aramony, who is serving time for defrauding the charity. U.S. District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin in New York…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Kamehameha Schools Faces $165-Million Tax Bill
Following a decision last month by two former trustees to stop fighting their dismissals, Hawaii’s wealthiest charity is redoubling its efforts to settle its remaining dispute with the Internal Revenue Service. The court-appointed interim Board of Trustees of the Kamehameha Schools, which educates…
By Stephen G. Greene
Contributor
A Mississippi health-care chain contests the tax agency’s multimillion-dollar levy -- the first big penalty under a new law The first test is under way for a 1996 law designed to crack down on people who receive improper personal benefits at the expense of non-profit organizations. A Mississippi…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
IRS Adjusts Rules on Allowable Deductions
The I.R.S. has announced several changes for the 2000 tax year that adjust tax laws to reflect inflation. One change affects the way donors calculate their deductions. Federal law allows donors to take income-tax deductions only for the portions of their contributions that are outright gifts. If…
By Grant Williams
Contributor
American Friends of Rabin Medical Center (New York): Appointed Burton Lazarow, senior associate executive vice-president at B’nai B’rith International (Washington), to be executive director. ArtPace, A Foundation for Contemporary Art (San Antonio): Appointed Kathryn Kanjo, curator of contemporary…
Former Ad Executive Promotes Charity Site
A new Web site called Charity Counts is on a $1-million advertising blitz to promote its shopping, auction, and donation features, all of which benefit non-profit groups. Charity Counts has taken out two full-page paid ads in The New York Times, put up outdoor posters in New York and San Francisco,…
By Marilyn Dickey
Senior Editor, Copy
Greenpeace Directors Call It Quits
The board of Greenpeace USA resigned this month after failing to reach agreement on the best way to manage the environmental advocacy group, which has been trying to stabilize itself after a tumultuous shakeup in 1997. The action followed a year of gridlock during which the nine board members often…
By Stephen G. Greene
Contributor
‘The Industry Standard’: Allure of the Web
Many non-profit groups have been slow to make use of the Internet, but some advocacy and social-service organizations are finding innovative ways to use Web sites to engage the public on such issues as the environment, civil rights, and children’s issues, says The Industry Standard (December 6), a…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
‘Fast Company’: Profiles in Doing and Giving Back
The magazine Fast Company (December) includes four charity executives among its cover story on 16 “change agents, digital thinkers, talent scouts, designers, and dreamers.” Under the category of “social justice,” the magazine recognizes: * Alan Khazei and Vanessa Kirsch, a husband-and-wife team who…
By Jennifer Moore
Contributor
‘Business Review’: on Trustee Skills
Business executives beware: Using traditional corporate-management skills on a non-profit board can be hazardous to the health of the charity. “Non-profit work involves more than just having your heart in the right place,” F. Warren McFarlan, a Harvard Business School professor and veteran…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
More Money Raised From Fewer Donors, Educational Survey Reports
Educational Fund-Raising Campaigns 1997-1998 summarizes the results of a survey to monitor recent trends in capital campaigns. The Council for Advancement and Support of Education received responses from roughly 200 higher-education institutions and private schools. Most of the respondents reported…
By C. Quinn Hanchette
Contributor
New Charity Trust-Fund Law Expected to Benefit Ohio Groups
Ohio charities are expected to benefit from a new state law that widens the investment options for assets held in trust for non-profit groups. The statute, which may be one of the first of its kind in the country, frees third-party trustees -- such as banks -- from limiting to interest and…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
New Organization to Help Community Foundations
A group of community-foundation leaders has formed a new organization that they say is intended to meet the unique needs of their funds. The move comes after years of complaints among members of the Council on Foundations -- a Washington association that serves a variety of grant makers -- that the…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor