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Archive for August, 2009
Update: Entertainment-Industry Charity Confirms Closure of L.A. Nursing Home
Aug 26th
The Motion Picture and Television Fund is pressing on with plans to close its nursing home and hospital for show-business veterans by year’s end, reports The New York Times.
Residents of the Los Angeles center received notice of the decision Tuesday. The fund says it can no longer afford to operate the home without endangering its other services to elderly actors, directors, and crew members. It has outlined plans to help move clients to other care facilities.
The proposed shutdown has generated months of intense controversy in Hollywood, with the families of residents vowing to fight the closure of the 150-bed hospital and care center. A mediation effort failed last month, and the battle is now expected to move to court.
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In the Arts: Museums Offer Up Corporate-Curated Exhibitions
Aug 26th
Going beyond the traditional role of lending out particular works or sponsoring museum-curated shows, corporations are increasingly providing ready-made shows, and museums are growing more receptive to mounting them, The New York Times reports.
Financial houses that have amassed substantial collections, notably Bank of America, have stepped up their offerings of self-chosen shows. Critics of the practice say it threatens curatorial independence, but many museums, particular small and midsize institutions, have welcomed the turnkey exhibitions as the economic crisis has forced them to cut back on costly curated shows.
In other arts news, Bloomberg reports that the American Museum of Natural History’s president, Ellen V. Futter, has taken a 5 percent pay cut amid declining donations and staff reductions at the New York institution. Ms. Futter received $1.1-million in salary and benefits in the 2007-8 fiscal year.
And the Star-Tribune reports on the potentially large impact that relatively small stimulus grants could have on Minnesota arts organizations.
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Parks Chief Drew Both Salary and Consulting Fees
Aug 26th
The compensation and payments made to the driving force behind New York’s much-praised new High Line park represent “something of a rarity in the world of nonprofit compensation,” according to The New York Times.
Robert R. Hammond, president and executive director of the nonprofit Friends of the High Line, currently earns a $250,000 annual salary, making him one of the highest-paid leaders among the city’s 10 major parks conservancies. His company, 215 Argyle, was also paid $200,000 in 2005 and 2006 for fund-raising consulting, according to tax documents.
Mr. Hammond dissolved the firm several months before the June 2009 opening of the High Line along a former elevated railway line through Manhattan.
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From The Chronicle: Americans Report $47-Billion in Noncash Gifts
Aug 26th
Americans reported making donations of $46.8-billion in noncash gifts in 2006, counting only the taxpayers who took total deductions of more than $500 for such gifts during the year, according to the Internal Revenue Service, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. The figure represents a 14 percent increase over the previous year.
Give and Take: New Comedy Series Skewers Philanthropy
Aug 26th
Showcase, a Canadian cable channel, next month will premiere The Foundation, a half-hour comedy series that viciously satires philanthropy, notes Give and Take the Chronicle’s picks of the most interesting opinions and ideas written about the nonprofit world.
And items noted in Wednesday’s roundup:
- A tribute to Sen. Edward Kennedy’s role in national service.
- Advice for recruiting “highly committed, talented, and generous board members.”
- An explanation of “cloud computing” — and how it can work for small and midsize charities.
- How to use discount coupons from CommonKindness to raise money.
- Ways to build donor empathy.
- Charity job losses in New Jersey.
Government and Politics: Scholars Urge Obama to Revamp Foreign Aid
Aug 26th
President Obama needs to revamp foreign assistance programs and should look at the work of foundations and other institutions to do so, argue two scholars at conservative think tanks in Washington, notes Government and Politics, an online column from The Chronicle.
Plus: President Obama this week appointed Helene Gayle, chief executive of CARE, to be chairwoman of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.
Prospecting: Ramadan, Video Contest, and Online Dating With a Twist
Aug 26th
Charities are striving to restore donor confidence in Muslim organizations and encourage giving this Ramadan, which began on Friday, notes Prospecting, the Chronicle’s fund-raising blog. Muslim Advocates, a nonprofit legal and civic-education group in San Francisco, says that three organizations have completed an accreditation program it started last year with the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance.
Plus:
- A new competition to find the best online fund-raising video.
- An online dating site that promotes “flirting in the name of philanthropy.”
Online Discussion Next Week: How to Build a Successful Board
Aug 26th
Join us Tuesday, September 1, at noon U.S. Eastern time for a live online discussion on how charity leaders can recruit trustees whose outlook and agenda will aid their organization in reaching its goals.
The guests will be:
*Hildy Gottlieb, president of the Community-Driven Institute and Help 4 NonProfits in Tucson, Ariz., and author of The Pollyanna Principles: Reinventing “Nonprofit Organizations” to Create the Future of Our World.
- Emily Heard, a consultant at BoardSource, in Washington. Previously, Ms. Heard served as director of education and professional services at the International Business Ethics Institute and managed research projects for the Corporate Executive Board.
- Simone P. Joyaux, a consultant on fund raising, board and organizational development, and strategic planning. She is the author of Strategic Fund Development: Building Profitable Relationships That Last.
The Chronicle’s online discussions are free and open to everyone. People who ask questions in advance have a better chance of getting answers.
Building Community Online
Aug 26th
More and more people use the internet to guide them in their philanthropy. Every organization has a donor culture, most have several. It is important as you develop and grow your online community that you have an intentional culture. What are your online goals? Are your goals: to have more people learn and read about your issues, to secure more online donations, or to be as up-to-date as other nonprofits?
Create some kind of opportunity for your community to engage you online via a comment box, forum, or Facebook page. As people visit your website you are sending a message regardless of if you try to or not. Potential donors will look at your website and evaluate you. Are you an organization that they can give money to? Can donors ask questions and have a conversation about the difference their money has made? That is not always important to all donors, but is important for younger donors and emerging philanthropists.
Our local opera has a special group for young opera goers to which they have created their own board and run private youth-focused events. I think this is a great way to bring a younger generation into the opera world. When you are creating an online community, you want to think about your audience this way too. Who is reading your website? Where is your reader’s place there? Have a post that is catered to that group or talk about an issue that they would be specifically interested in.
Related posts:
- Question: Building Community
- Online Strategy: Capital Campaign Interview
- Online Fundraising is Hard
- Online Giving Thoughts
Trusted Traders Affected by Enforcement Emphasis
Aug 25th
Take these steps to ensure security of international imports and expedite processing.
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