Social Entrepreneur blog for the world changers
Archive for September, 2009
Importing Goods? Adhere to the Rules
Sep 30th
Trade preferences can offer big duty savings, but mind the paperwork.
Designing From Scratch
Sep 30th
With little background, a husband-and-wife duo brought their graphic design business to the forefront of the industry.
Dozens of Charities Use Fictional Gift-Annuity Pitch
Sep 30th
Forbes reports that dozens of charities are using an off-the-shelf solicitation for charitable gift annuities that includes an endorsement from a fake person.
The online plugs, fashioned from materials provided by a California company called Crescendo Interactive and used by the Salvation Army, the Family Research Council, and numerous smaller organizations feature a testimonial from a woman claiming to be “delighted” with the 8 percent return on her annuity. The American Council on Gift Annuities says such rates are unavailable to most buyers.
The woman’s name and picture vary on different sites, but the pitch is the same. A footnote on a separate summary page states that “pictures and names may be representative of the actual donors.”
Crescendo sells contribution- and donor-management software to charities. The company’s chief executive, A. Charles Schultz, said he has urged customers to replace the “generic” donor examples the firm supplies with examples of their own.
Michael Jackson’s Lawyers Sue ‘Heal the World’ Charity
Sep 30th
Lawyers for Michael Jackson filed suit Tuesday against a California charity they claim is using the late pop superstar’s name and phrases associated with him to scam fans, reports Reuters.
Administrators for Mr. Jackson’s estate say the Heal the World Foundation’s online fund-raising materials use terms such as “King of Pop” and “Heal the World” to imply that donations support the singer’s favored causes. The foundation and United Fleet, an affiliated entity also named in the suit, have registered six Jackson-related trademarks and applied for 41 more, according to the suit.
Lawyers say the plaintiffs have no relationship with the Jackson family or the original Heal the World Foundation, a now-defunct charity that Mr. Jackson started in 1992.
Gates Takes Stronger Hand as Foundation Navigates New Financial Waters
Sep 30th
The Financial Times reports on changes in the past year in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s operations, prompted by the recession and co-founder Bill Gates’s greater involvement in management decisions.
The article cites a memo Mr. Gates circulated last year strongly critiquing the world’s largest philanthropy’s strategy, grants, and budget process and listing his own top interests, such as a focus on vaccines.
The foundation has seen the value of its endowment decline from nearly $40-billion to just over $30-billion during the downturn. It is also experimenting with a shift away from traditional grant making into “program-related investments,” such as loans, guarantees, and equity investments that could support for-profit as well as nonprofit activities.
(Free registration is required to view this article.)
Charities Get Little From Popular D.C. Comedy Fund-Raising Event
Sep 30th
The annual “Funniest Celebrity in Washington” contest, in which politicians and prominent media figures do an evening of stand-up comedy to raise money for charity, has made no contributions in the past five years to its intended beneficiaries, The Washington Post reports in its Reliable Source column.
According to tax records, virtually all revenue from the event, for which tickets start at $200, has gone to the costs of putting it on, other administrative expenses, and a salary for the group’s founder and host, Richard Siegel. Most of the charities listed as the contest’s beneficiaries from 2004 to 2008 told the Post they had not received money from the association.
Mr. Siegel said the charities did not live up to agreements to sell $20,000 worth of tickets and sponsorships for the contest, past winners of which included Arianna Huffington and Mike Huckabee.
(Free registration is required to view this article.)
In the Arts: Smithsonian Offers Buyouts, New Boss at Milwaukee Theater
Sep 30th
The Smithsonian Institution is offering its first employee buyouts in six years in a bid to cut spending and meet the goals of a five-year reorganization proposed last week by Secretary G. Wayne Clough, The Washington Post reports.
The voluntary plan was announced Monday in an e-mail to the institution’s 6,000 workers, two-thirds of whom are federal employees. Eligible staff members have until November 6 to apply for the buyout, which carries a payout of up to $25,000.
In other arts news, Amy S. Jensen has been hired to lead Milwaukee’s Skylight Opera Theatre, capping a turbulent summer for the locally beloved company, the Journal Sentinel reports. Ms. Jensen, chief financial officer for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Skylight’s former finance director, replaces Eric Dillner, who resigned in August amid protests over his budget cuts and layoffs of longtime Skylight hands.
Also, the Los Angeles Times reports on the death of Henry T. Hopkins, former director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and a key figure in the development of the Los Angeles art scene. Mr. Hopkins died Sunday at the age of 81.
(Free registration is required to view the Post and Times articles.)
Downturn and Rise in Poverty Hit Service Providers With One-Two Punch
Sep 30th
The Associated Press reports on the nationwide fallout for charities from a simultaneous double-digit drop in donations and growing poverty.
Donations to nonprofit social-service providers declined 12.7 percent last year, according to the Giving USA Foundation. At the same time, strapped state and local governments are cutting back on grants or delaying payments, and a rise in the national poverty rate to an 11-year high of 13.2 percent is swelling the ranks of those seeking help.
Read The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s coverage of the latest Giving USA report.
(A paid subscription or temporary pass is required to view the Chronicle article.)
Give and Take: Debating Whether to Give to Harvard U.
Sep 30th
Randy Cohen, author of The Ethicist column in The New York Times Magazine, says Americans who are inclined to make a contribution to Harvard University should give half of their intended donation to less well-off institutions, notes Give and Take, The Chronicle’s column summarizing the most-interesting blog posts about the nonprofit world.
Plus, in Wednesday’s roundup:
- Foundations in the northwest get creative amid plan to decrease their giving in 2009 by 10 percent or more.
- Questions about the value of supporting scholarships for students in developing countries.
- Nonprofit online newspapers quickly learn how to raise money.
Prospecting: Donors Reluctant to Take on New ‘Child Sponsorships’
Sep 30th
Typically a consistent source of revenue for the nonprofit groups that rely on them, so-called child sponsorships may be suffering as a result of the recession, according to a study conducted for World Vision, reports Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online column about charity efforts to collect private donations.
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