Case Study: Lessons From a Midsize Charity’s Donor-Database Upgrade
How a summer education program in San Francisco worked through a complicated and challenging change with a consultant.
By Rebecca Koenig
Contributor
Obesity Charity Led by Disgraced ‘Subway Guy’ Made No Grants
Former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle’s anti-obesity nonprofit, which announced plans in 2008 to allocate $2 million a year to schools and community groups to promote healthy lifestyles, has not issued any grants, USA Today reports.
U. of Wisconsin Foundation Draws Millions From Health Gift
The university’s nonprofit fundraising affiliate has collected more than $30 million in fees from a $600 million contribution to medical research and education by Blue Cross Blue Shield United of Wisconsin in 2003, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Philadelphia Foundation Looks to Retool Under New Leader
With a new president in place and several years of stagnant fundraising behind it, one of the country’s oldest community foundations is rethinking its strategy and mission, with a close eye on what other big-city grant makers are doing, writes The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Australian Fund Manager at Leading Edge of Pro Bono Trend
The Wall Street Journal looks at an emerging trend of money-management firms whose stock pickers work without pay and a portion of proceeds go to charity, focusing on Australian firm Future Generation Global Investment.
Budget-Cutting Brings Top-Level Exits at Colorado History Museum
Four top officials at the Colorado History Museum, includings its chief executive, are leaving the institution as part of a buyout program instituted by the museum’s strapped nonprofit parent organization, writes The Denver Post.
Smithsonian Tops Crowdfunding Goal for Armstrong Space Suit
The National Air and Space Museum raised $720,000 on Kickstarter to conserve the space suit Neil Armstrong wore on his historic moon walk, wrapping up a campaign that surpassed the Smithsonian’s goal by more than 40 percent, writes the Associated Press.
Okla. Lawmaker Pleads Guilty in $1.8-Million Nonprofit Fraud
State Sen. Rick Brinkley resigned from his seat on Thursday after admitting in court to defrauding a nonprofit business group he led, The Oklahoman and the Associated Press report.
Ousted Head of Fla. Nonprofit Fires Back Over Dismissal
The former CEO of a Florida cancer charity who was fired earlier this month amid allegations that he used a business arrangement to draw money from a subsidiary of the group has filed a lawsuit claiming his former employer owes him more than $300,000 in wages and benefits, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune writes.
Inside New York Humanitarian Group’s Nepal Mission
The New Yorker reports on the successes, frustrations, and calculations of providing emergency medical aid through the prism of a trip by emergency relief group NYC Medics to Nepal in April to treat earthquake victims.
Memphis Symphony CEO Departing as Group Rights Fiscal Ship
Roland Valliere, who was hired last year to turn around the financially ailing Memphis Symphony Orchestra, will step down in November after slashing costs by reaching a deal with musicians to take steep pay cuts, reports The Commercial Appeal.
Charity’s Collapse Casts Shadow on Britain’s ‘Mother Teresa’
Bloomberg examines the unraveling of Kids Company, a British youth charity that was held up as a model of the government’s Big Society effort and received millions of dollars in taxpayer funds but shut down earlier his month after running out of cash.
Ice-Bucket Money to Fund Gene-Mapping of ALS Patients
The ALS Association will invest $3.5 million of the $115 million it raised in last year’s ice-bucket challenge in a project to map the genes and clinical traits of 1,500 people with the degenerative nerve disorder, Bloomberg reports.
Opinion: Fund Managers Win Big in College Endowment Gains
Growing university endowments have benefited financial managers far more than students, paying out hundreds of millions of dollars a year in compensation and fees, a law professor writes in a New York Times column proposing minimum-spend requirements for colleges’ investment funds.
Graham’s $880,000 Pay Raises Eyebrows at Christian Groups
Religion News Service looks at the issue of pay for megachurch pastors and Christian nonprofit leaders in the wake of media reports that Samaritan’s Purse CEO Franklin Graham earns $880,000 a year from the Christian aid group and his separate ministry.
Planned Parenthood Pushes Back as States Target Funding
While several Republican-controlled states seek to cut off government funding for Planned Parenthood, the organization appears to be gaining legal and regulatory traction in the controversy over its provision of fetal tissue for medical research, according to reports in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.