‘Dark Money’ Dominating Ad Buys in 2016 Campaign Season
Nonprofits and other entities that are not required to reveal their financial supporters have accounted for nearly two-thirds of spending on political advertisements thus far in the election season, Bloomberg writes.
Embattled Aid Charity Changing Name and Leaving Washington
International Relief and Development, a global aid organization accused by the government last year of mishandling federal development funds, is moving its headquarters to Madison, Wisc., and changing its mission and brand, the Milwaukee Business Journal writes.
TV Report Hits Wounded Warrior Project on Event Spending
A CBS News investigation raises questions about spending by the Wounded Warrior Project, a prominent national veterans charity that has vastly increased expenditures on meetings and conferences in recent years.
Abortion Foes Charged Over Planned Parenthood Video Sting
A Texas grand jury convened to investigate claims that Planned Parenthood illegally trafficked in fetal tissue has instead indicted the head of an anti-abortion activist group whose secretly shot videos fueled the allegations, reports The New York Times.
To Build Causes Into Movements, Look Beyond Hashtags
Traditional organizing and emotional attachment to a charity’s work must accompany clever messages.
By CASSANDRA EVARD
Contributor
Gates Foundation and Britain Team Up on $4 Billion Malaria Effort
The foundation will provide $150 million to $200 million annually for the five-year effort to end malaria deaths, supplementing funding from the British government, Reuters and BBC News report.
What Foundations Want From Grantee Evaluations
An association of small foundations shares grant makers’ opinions on different types of evaluations and tells how to measure the intangible, such as increased hope or confidence.
By Eden Stiffman
Senior Editor
Union of Atheist Nonprofits Forms Biggest U.S. Secular Group
The U.S. branch of British scientist and author Richard Dawkins’s atheism foundation has merged with the like-minded Center for Inquiry, creating the largest secularist organization in America, reports the Religion News Service.
Deal to Push STD Testing Ends AIDS Group’s Feud With Tinder
Popular mobile dating app Tinder will post links to sites for sexually transmitted disease testing in a deal that will see the AIDS Healthcare Foundation take down billboards linking the “hook-up” service to the spread of a chlamydia and gonorrhea, Reuters reports.
Rockefeller Fund Commits $130 Million to Cutting Food Waste
The program unveiled by the Rockefeller Foundation on Thursday in Davos aims to tackle hunger by slashing waste all along the global food-production chain, The New York Times reports.
Report Hits Gates Foundation on Agenda and Corporate Ties
The study by activist group Global Justice Now assails the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s agenda and activities, accusing the world’s largest philanthropy of using its financial clout to distort global development priorities and benefit corporate partners, The Seattle Times writes.
David Koch Exits Board of N.Y. Natural History Museum
The billionaire industrialist, whose ties to major U.S. science museums have drawn criticism from climate researchers and major environmental groups, left the American Museum of Natural History’s board last month after a 23-year tenure, reports The New York Times.
Livestrong Leader Steps Down Less Than a Year After Hiring
Chandini Portteus cited family reasons in announcing her resignation as president and chief executive of the high-profile cancer charity she was appointed to lead 10 months ago, the Dallas Morning News and the Austin American-Statesman report.
DiCaprio Announces New $15 Million Round of Green Grants
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio announced $15 million in new foundation funding for environmental and conservation efforts and ripped “corporate greed” in the energy industry in a speech Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Associated Press and Variety report.
Charity Research Leader Urges Sector to Be Stronger Advocate for Itself
Elizabeth Boris of the Urban Institute reflects on the power of data to help policy makers and the public understand the nonprofit world.
By Alex Daniels
Senior Editor, Foundations
Leader at Haas Jr. Fund Stepping Down After Leading Marriage-Equality Fight
Under Ira Hirschfield’s leadership, the grant maker “hung in during lean and bad times” to help turn the tide in the movement, says one admirer.
By Alex Daniels
Contributor