New Orleans Site Hopes Shoppers Will Donate
Holiday shoppers in search of a way to do more than just add clutter to the homes of family and friends may find a new site known as Shopnola.org a helpful source of ideas. The site, started in October, promotes New Orleans businesses and charities as a way to help the city recover from Hurricane…
By Noelle Barton
Contributor
Online forums about charity offer advice and discuss controversies Albert Ruesga is not being flip when he invokes images of torture to describe his blog, White Courtesy Telephone. He’s dead serious. Mr. Ruesga, who started White Courtesy Telephone in March as an online forum about philanthropy, is…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor
Bits: GuideStar Providing Free Seven-Day Trial for Federal Workers
GuideStar, an organization that creates reports on nonprofit groups based on the informational tax returns they file and other data, is providing a free, seven-day trial of one of its key online tools to federal workers who want to make a donation through the government’s annual charity drive.…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor
Young Filmmakers Use Web to Teach About Global Issues
Believing that stories are the most powerful teachers, the nonprofit group Curriki, in Washington, has enlisted 15 filmmakers in developing countries to produce short narrative videos designed to help students learn about strife and poverty across the globe. Each of the two- to five-minute pieces —…
By Sam Kean
Contributor
Fund Spends $50-Million to Study Technology
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, in Chicago, wants to know how video games, the Internet, instant messaging, cellphones, and other tools of the digital age are changing the way young people learn and relate to one another. And it is spending $50-million over the next five years to…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor
Web Voters Pick Historic California Site
The National Trust for Historic Preservation this fall asked Internet users for a little grant-making advice. During September and October, members of the public could vote for their favorite of 25 historic sites in the San Francisco Bay Area to help determine how $1-million in preservation grants…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Database Offers Information on Federal Grants, Contracts
A new Web site features a searchable database of federal grants and contracts. FedSpending was created by OMB Watch, a government-watchdog organization, which says it started the site after years of frustration at not being able to get information about the money spent by the federal government.…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Web Site to Help Companies Improve Disaster Aid
Companies played an important role in relief efforts after the South Asian tsunamis and Hurricane Katrina. Now a new Web site hopes to encourage even more business involvement. The Partnership for Disaster Response — a committee formed by the Business Roundtable, an association of 160 corporate…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Network for Good Hits $100-Million Mark
Online donations through Network for Good, a giving portal that allows donors to contribute to any charity in the country, hit the $100-million mark on September 3 — and the Bethesda, Md., organization has published an analysis of those gifts. Network for Good says the total amount given through…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Web Campaign Raises Money for Darfur
MySpace, the Los Angeles company that runs the social-networking Web site, is spearheading a campaign to raise awareness about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur and money for relief efforts. Rock for Darfur will feature more than 20 concerts in cities across the country on October 21. Participating…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
How The Chronicle Compiled Its Annual Philanthropy 400 Rankings
The Chronicle’s 16th annual Philanthropy 400 uses financial data gathered from nonprofit organizations ALSO SEE:DATABASE: Philanthropy 400Article: A Year of Big GainsArticle: Largest Charities Focus on Campaigns’ AftermathArticle: Charities Find It’s Wise to Spend More on Fund RaisingArticle:…
By Noelle Barton
Contributor
Bits: CitizenSpeak Creator Wins Antonio Pizzigati Prize
By Nicole Wallace All six candidates for governor of Minnesota have agreed to participate in an online debate sponsored by the Blandin Foundation, in Grand Rapids, Minn., and E-Democracy.org, a nonprofit organization in Minneapolis that uses technology to try to increase civic engagement. The…
Greenpeace Among Winners of Internet Competition
By Nicole WallaceThe ePhilanthropy Foundation has presented its awards for excellence in nonprofit use of the Internet for fund raising and advocacy. Greenpeace International’s “No Whaling Virtual March” was honored as the campaign that best integrated online and offline activities. More than…
Site Compares Programs in Public-Interest Law
By Nicole WallaceProspective students can visit a new Web site to learn about — and compare — law schools’ public-interest offerings. The E-Guide to Public Service at America’s Law Schools provides information on 115 law schools. The information was compiled by Equal Justice Works, a Washington…
E-Mail Programs Undercount Who Opens Appeals
By Nicole WallaceMore people might be opening e-mail messages than charities think, a new study suggests. The proliferation of e-mail programs that give recipients the option of blocking images are probably a key reason that nonprofit groups have seen a decline in recent years in the percentage of…
Nepal Charity Wins Computer-Access Award
A nonprofit organization in Nepal has received the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s 2006 Access to Learning Award for its creative approach to providing free access to computers and the Internet and promoting literacy. The award includes a $1-million prize. Since 1991, Rural Education and…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor