Scouts Told Not to Bar Homosexuals
A New Jersey appeals court ruled last week that the Boy Scouts cannot exclude gay members or leaders from its ranks. The Scouts say they will appeal. Earlier, a lower court ruled that the charity was within its rights when it ousted Eagle Scout James Dale because he was gay. The New Jersey court…
By Susan Gray
Contributor
Bits: Grants for Scientists; Healthy Communities
* The Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the American Association for the Advancement of Science have started a new Web site to provide free information on grants to scientists (http://www.grantsnet.org). “GrantsNet” now has about 50 listings and expects to have a searchable data base of more than…
By MARINA DUNDJERSKI
Contributor
Anti-Hunger Group Updates Web Site
Second harvest, the country’s largest chain of food banks, has revamped its Web site. The site now features legislative updates, a section on the grocery industry that highlights a “donor of the month,” and an on-line version of the Second Harvest Update magazine. The charity has also started a Web…
By MARINA DUNDJERSKI
Contributor
Foundation Uses Internet to Fight Flood Damage
The Fargo-Moorhead Area Foundation, in North Dakota, is using a World-Wide Web site to help stem the tide of problems that continue to surface from last year’s flooding in the upper Midwest. The clearinghouse was started in November with the help of a $75,000 grant from the Bush Foundation in St.…
By MARINA DUNDJERSKI
Contributor
Foundations Slow to Embrace Technology, Report Says
Foundations and corporate grant makers are not making much use of computer and Internet technologies as part of their day-to-day work, says a new report released by the Council on Foundations this month. A survey of 771 grant makers found that many did not use such Internet-related communications…
By MARINA DUNDJERSKI
Contributor
Controversy Follows Election of New NAACP Chairman
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People celebrated the election of the veteran civil-rights activist Julian Bond as chairman of its Board of Directors last month. But it almost immediately found itself mired in controversy over the roles of two trustees who have pleaded…
By Paul Demko
Contributor
U.S. News on Graduate Schools; Slate on Big Donors
* In its annual ranking of graduate schools, U.S. News & World Report (March 2) includes a list of what it considers the best programs in non-profit management at the nation’s business schools. At the top was Yale University, followed by Harvard, Stanford, and Northwestern Universities. * Slate’s…
By MARINA DUNDJERSKI
Contributor
‘Emerge’: Philanthropists and Affirmative Action
With help from conservative philanthropists and Ward Connerly, a black California businessman, a well-organized force of activists is aggressively seeking to undo affirmative-action laws around the nation, says Emerge magazine (March). Meanwhile, defenders of the laws are struggling for money and…
‘George’: Do-Gooders in Hollywood
George magazine (March) has selected the Hollywood celebrities it considers the most effective in doing good works. The magazine says that when it set out on the task, it wanted to know “What is the truth? Are Hollywood celebs actually doing good, or are they just getting good press?” The answers…
The Rules on Who Can Sue Are Constantly Evolving
In the early 1970s, a group of patients at a non-profit hospital in the District of Columbia accused the hospital’s trustees of engaging in financial mismanagement and self-dealing. The hospital tried to argue that the patients had no right to sue. But the late Gerhard A. Gesell, then a District…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Leaders of a broad movement to ban land mines retool its structure after a year of tension and success The global campaign against land mines is seeking to chart its future and regain its momentum following a year of tremendous international achievement -- and internal fractures exacerbated by that…
By Stephen G. Greene
Contributor
Rethinking Who Can Sue a Charity
Hospital conversions spur push to expand rights to general public For 109 years, the Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester, Mass., has been a big part of Joseph E. Garland’s family. His great-grandfather was a founder of the hospital, his grandfather its first chief of staff, and his father -- a…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Following are summaries of recent reports by the National Charities Information Bureau. That private organization reports on whether charities meet standards for fund raising, governance, financial management, and public information. The organization does not approve or disapprove of charities, and…
Accion International (Somerville, Mass.): Appointed Roy A. Jacobowitz, senior director of resource development, to be vice-president for resource development. African Wildlife Foundation (Washington): Appointed Nina Tanner Robbins, director of development at the World Resources Institute…
The following awards have been presented for work in philanthropy, fund raising, volunteerism, and non-profit management: Associations. The American Society of Association Executives (Washington) has given its 1998 Key Awards, which recognize outstanding achievements in association management, to…
Hospital Fitness Center Retains Tax-Exempt Status
A fitness center owned and controlled by two non-profit hospitals will keep its tax exemption and avoid income tax on its operations, the I.R.S. has ruled. The center -- which has lap and therapeutic pools, aerobic track areas, and exercise equipment -- has a physical-fitness club that competes…
By Jennifer Moore
Contributor