Congress Takes Up Major Tax-Law Changes
Congress is considering an array of tax proposals that could have a big effect on charities and their donors if the proposals are eventually passed into law. Measures in the House and Senate would slash personal income-tax rates and lower the rates on estates -- or even phase out the estate tax…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
‘Hollywood Reporter’: New Giving Strategies
Like the rest of corporate America, more companies in the entertainment industry are embracing giving strategies that marry their philanthropy to their business interests, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In a special report within its July 13-19 issue, the magazine turns the spotlight on how…
By Domenica Marchetti
Contributor
‘Chronicle’: a Call for Accountability
The $10-billion William H. Gates Foundation should help lead the way in making grant makers more accountable to the public about their practices and the impact of their work, a scholar argues in The Chronicle of Higher Education (July 23). The Gates Foundation should “devote some attention, and a…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
‘Art & Antiques’: A New Breed of Donor
Art benefactors like the late Paul Mellon and the publishing magnate Walter Annenberg represent a passing generation of donors who saw the world of collecting evolve from a “genteel domain of a privileged few to a competitive business” dominated by a new kind of wealthy patron, Art & Antiques…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Technology Bits: Microsoft To Increase Charitable Giving
* The Microsoft Corporation, in Redmond, Wash., plans to increase its charitable giving by $25-million over the next five years, using money it won in lawsuits against companies that sell pirated copies of its software programs. The funds will be awarded to charities that provide the poor with…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
NEA Site Posts Case Studies of Arts Groups’ Planning
Examples of how arts groups have used long-term planning to improve their operations are now available on line. The National Endowment for the Arts has posted 26 case studies to its Web site, “Lessons Learned: A Planning Toolsite.” Often written by the groups’ leaders, the studies look at how arts…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
On-Line Listing Eases Search for Management Courses
A new Web site is making it easier to find courses and degree programs in non-profit management. The new site profiles more than 180 colleges and universities that offer instruction in non-profit management and fund raising, and provides contact information and course titles for each institution.…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Charities Get Help With Y2K Problem
Efforts are under way to help charities in Chicago and Washington deal with potential year-2000 computer problems. The year-2000 problem arises because much of the computer hardware and software programs still in use today identify years by the last two digits, and those older systems may…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Reading and Giving Mix at New Web Site
Book lovers can now recommend their favorite titles to friends and raise money for charity at the same time. MybnLink, a new charity effort by Barnes andnoble.com, is designed to reward people who send electronic messages with their book recommendations. The sender signs up for a hypertext link…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Study Assesses Benefits to Families of Home Visits
The Future of Children: Home Visiting: Recent Program Evaluation, edited by Richard E. Behrman, is the latest issue of a journal published twice a year by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation’s Center for the Future of Children. For this issue, the center asked 25 authors to analyze six programs…
By C. Quinn Hanchette
Contributor
Advice on Amending Policies for Gay Workers
Expanding Opportunities: A Grantmaker’s Guide to Workplace Policies for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Staff begins with an introduction that covers non-discrimination policies, domestic-partnership eligibility, tips to encourage employers to adopt benefits policies for domestic partners, and a list of…
By C. Quinn Hanchette
Contributor
Healy, Former NIH Chief, Named President of American Red Cross
Bernadine P. Healy, a cardiologist and director of the National Institutes of Health during the Bush Administration, takes the helm of the American Red Cross on September 1. Dr. Healy, currently dean of Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health, succeeds Elizabeth Hanford Dole,…
By DOMENICA MARCHETTI
Contributor
Center Seeks to Develop Data Base on Giving
Frustrated by the scarcity of reliable data on charitable giving, the Urban Institute’s Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy is leading an effort to create a national repository of information on such donations. Elizabeth T. Boris, director of the Washington center, said that currently the best…
By Harvy Lipman
Contributor
Accounting Standards Board Changes Rule on How to Report Earmarked Donations
The Financial Accounting Standards Board has changed the way charitable organizations are supposed to report donations that are collected in behalf of another non-profit group. The board’s new rule, known as Standard No. 136, will mainly affect organizations -- like United Ways, Jewish federations,…
By Harvy Lipman
Contributor
Land Deals Show Promise, Pitfalls of Preservation
Across northern New England, paper companies are selling off forestland at an unprecedented rate as part of an industry-wide restructuring. ALSO SEE:Preserving Open Space for the AgesSome Recent Transactions Involving Land Trusts As governments have balked at the chance to greatly expand the stock…
By Stephen G. Greene
Contributor
Some Recent Transactions Involving Land Trusts
Several prominent land-protection agreements announced in recent months show the variety of ways ALSO SEE:Preserving Open Space for the AgesLand Deals Show Promise, Pitfalls of Preservation non-profit land trusts can now put together big deals. Among the most noteworthy: * The Trust for Public Land…
By Stephen G. Greene
Contributor