Philanthropy's "Innovation Pile Up" | Impatient Optimists

Philanthropy's "Innovation Pile Up" | Impatient Optimists: Welcome to my new blog series on Impatient Optimists, where I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the Gates Foundation and philanthropy. Every six weeks I’ll be posting a new blog discussing a pressing issue at the foundation or addressing some of the challenges and opportunities facing the philanthropic community. More than anything else, this is a space for a conversation. So please submit your questions, share your feedback, and let me know if there are any topics you would like to hear about. For my first post, I want to discuss a challenge at the foundation that’s been on my mind lately. It’s called the “innovation pile up”. Let me explain.

Analysis: Impact measurement - How do you test your strength?

Analysis: Impact measurement - How do you test your strength?: Measuring effectiveness is a growing priority for charities, but questions abound. David Ainsworth looks at the methodologies and Andy Hillier talks to charities that have put them into practice

In recent years, there has been a sea change in impact measurement by charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. Less than a decade ago it was little-used and ill-defined, but now it has greater importance.

Opinion: The Corcoran’s Board Has Lost the Public's Faith - Philanthropy Today - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas

Opinion: The Corcoran’s Board Has Lost the Public's Faith - Philanthropy Today - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas: Opinion: The Corcoran’s Board Has Lost the Public’s Faith

October 8, 2012, 11:50 am

An opinion piece in the Washington Post suggests that it might be time for the Corcoran Gallery of Art and College, an important Washington cultural institution, to consider firing all of its board members.

In Eastern Europe, homegrown giving and volunteerism is taking root | JTA - Jewish & Israel News

In Eastern Europe, homegrown giving and volunteerism is taking root | JTA - Jewish & Israel News: he raising of substantial funds locally is a sign of something that was almost unthinkable just a few years ago in former Soviet bloc countries. For years, the Jewish communities there subsisted on Western help for welfare and community building. But as these communities grow up, they are becoming increasingly self-reliant -- something that’s evident both in the growing culture of local volunteerism and homegrown philanthropy.

“Over the past few years, we see more volunteering by young Jews and more donations, which are aspects of the same trend of giving,” said Matvey Chlenov, deputy director of the Russian Jewish Congress.

Watchdog Plans Review of Charity Fundraising Appeals - Prospecting - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas

Watchdog Plans Review of Charity Fundraising Appeals - Prospecting - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas: A prominent charity watchdog is stepping up its efforts to protect donors from fundraising appeals that include misleading or false statements.

The BBB Wise Giving Alliance said this week it will begin to review direct-mail solicitations, commercials, and telemarketing scripts from randomly selected charities beginning in January. The group will also review materials from nonprofits that have been the subject of complaints to its local chapters or that have been singled out in media reports.

Watching the Charity Watchdogs: Vignettes from the NAASCO Annual Meeting - NPQ – Nonprofit Quarterly - Promoting an active and engaged democracy.

Watching the Charity Watchdogs: Vignettes from the NAASCO Annual Meeting - NPQ – Nonprofit Quarterly - Promoting an active and engaged democracy.:Regardless of which candidate wins on November 6th and no matter what Congress and the President decide to do or not do regarding sequestration, the unresolved question of how to bolster nonprofit accountability through sector self-regulation and governmental oversight will persist. Neither party has a bead on the issue. In fact, neither party nor their bevy of candidates for office seems to have anything to utter on the topic.

Whatever conversation there is on this topic occurs in meetings of the state charity officers located in attorney generals offices. These are the government officials for whom charity accountability is their bread and butter. The one-day public session of the National Association of State Charity Officials (NASCO) on October 1st didn’t include much commentary from the state charity officials themselves, who were relatively close-mouthed about their work (for fear of getting into specifics about ongoing investigations). But the various presentations and Q&As revealed much about the current debates in nonprofit accountability—and some issues that should be debated thoroughly in the sector. What follows is a series of vignettes documenting what we heard at the NASCO gathering.

Steven Culbertson: Young People Who Serve Have Right to be Heard This Election

Steven Culbertson: Young People Who Serve Have Right to be Heard This Election: We need youth ASAP this election! That's my way of saying that we not only need youth to be engaged as soon as possible, but also that we need youth Awareness, Service, Advocacy, and Philanthropy. To really address big issues, we need youth to employ all four strategies: public education and awareness raising, direct volunteering and service, advocacy and policy change, and philanthropy. When combined, these strategies will lead to lasting community change.

Audi Motorsport Blog: A closer look at The Arc Audi Racing Program with Don Istook

Audi Motorsport Blog: A closer look at The Arc Audi Racing Program with Don Istook: The team have been supporting The Arc, a national organisation for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Running under the entry name of The Arc Audi Racing Program, the team employs crew members with disabilities to show what they are capable of, and to be part of a professional racing team. The Arc also sends a group of members to the race meetings to introduce them to the team and its crew.

Kevin Riordan: Musicians will gather in Cherry Hill for charity performance - Philly.com

Kevin Riordan: Musicians will gather in Cherry Hill for charity performance - Philly.com: nd starting Friday, his Jacobs Music store in Cherry Hill will host a three-day, outdoor "perform-athon" featuring 70 professionals, semiprofessionals, and students playing for charity.

Holocaust charity refuses donation funded by sale of Nazi memorabilia

Holocaust charity refuses donation funded by sale of Nazi memorabilia: A UK charity set up to protect the memory of the Holocaust has refused a donation from an auction house after it sold Nazi memorabilia.

National Conference on Philanthropic Planning | Nonprofit Community

National Conference on Philanthropic Planning | Nonprofit Community: This year’s conference features a number of our Wiley nonprofit authors participating in a variety of sessions, panels, and author signings over the course of three days.

Sessions/Panels

Several Wiley authors will be speaking at the conference this year. Brian Sagrestano will be speaking about the need for philanthropic planning as a result of changing generational cohorts and Julie Walker is leading a session of how to make your board effective members of the fundraising team. Robert Wahlers takes part in a panel on building your career in philanthropy. Be sure to check them out!

Why Nonprofits Should Invest More in Advertising - Dan Pallotta - Harvard Business Review

Why Nonprofits Should Invest More in Advertising - Dan Pallotta - Harvard Business Review: otal annual U.S. marketing expenditures for all purposes are estimated to be about $730 billion. A rough estimate of annual nonprofit sector marketing spending puts it at $7.6 billion. Take away nonprofit universities, museums, and other quasi-businesses, and a liberal estimate of annual health and human service nonprofit marketing spending is $1.9 billion — one dollar for charity, $384 for something else. In 2005 Save the Children (one of the larger charity advertisers) spent about $6.4 million on advertising. The Walt Disney Company — or Entertain the Children — spent about $2.4 billion — 359 times more — about the equivalent of the difference in height between the Sears Tower and a 4 year-old child. It's a testament to the dearth of advertising in the sector that the I.R.S. Form 990 doesn't even have a specific line item for reporting it.

Former President Clinton gets $2 bln in pledges to tackle world's woes | Reuters

Former President Clinton gets $2 bln in pledges to tackle world's woes | Reuters: With its theme of "Designing for Impact" and an emphasis on improving the lives of women and girls in the developing world, heads of states, business leaders and humanitarians at the eighth annual Clinton Global Initiative made 150 new pledges valued at about $2 billion to tackle some of the world's woes.

Edgar Allan Poe House to Get Lifeline From Train Museum - Philanthropy Today - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas

Edgar Allan Poe House to Get Lifeline From Train Museum - Philanthropy Today - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas: Edgar Allan Poe House to Get Lifeline From Train Museum

October 4, 2012, 10:43 am

Baltimore’s Edgar Allan Poe House, threatened with closure by municipal budget cuts, will get a lifeline via a city-funded plan to enlist another local cultural institution to help promote the literary landmark, The Baltimore Sun writes.

The city’s Board of Estimates approved a proposal Wednesday to pay the B&O Railroad Museum $180,000 to put the Poe House on th

NY appeals court: Philanthropist Vilar can be freed on bail pending appeal of conviction - The Washington Post

NY appeals court: Philanthropist Vilar can be freed on bail pending appeal of conviction - The Washington Post: NEW YORK — An opera-loving philanthropist convicted of a multimillion-dollar fraud will soon be freed from prison on bail after a federal appeals court signaled on Tuesday he might be succeeding in proving his case deserves a second look.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a one-page order requiring Alberto Vilar and a co-defendant, Gary Alan Tanaka, be released before it issues its opinion on the legality of their convictions.

The AFP Blog: Enhancing Inclusion in Philanthropy

The AFP Blog: Enhancing Inclusion in Philanthropy: One of the most exciting projects AFP has ever undertaken regarding inclusion is a new three year program just launching in Ontario that is designed to increase giving among a number of ethno-cultural and immigrant groups, First Nations/M�tis/Inuit peoples, women, youth, individuals with disabilities, Francophone-Ontarians and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered populations.

Sources of Attitudes on Nonprofit Compensation: A Conversation with Paul Light - NPQ – Nonprofit Quarterly - Promoting an active and engaged democracy.

Sources of Attitudes on Nonprofit Compensation: A Conversation with Paul Light - NPQ – Nonprofit Quarterly - Promoting an active and engaged democracy.: Editors’ note: NPQ contributing editor Jon Pratt sat down with NYU’s Dr. Paul Light to talk about social attitudes about compensation in public service jobs. In his usual integrative style, Light provides an excellent overview of the frameworks Americans use when they think about executive pay. This follows a string of articles and commentaries on concepts of nonprofit compensation by Lester Salamon, Tom Pollack, and Rick Cohen, which continue to provide strategic guidance in the area. Light is the Paulette Goddard Professor at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University and an online columnist for the Washington Post. He is also author of, most recently, Driving Social Change: How to Solve the World’s Toughest Problems (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2011).

Gene Tempel nominated as founding dean for new School of Philanthropy at IU: IU News Room: Indiana University

Gene Tempel nominated as founding dean for new School of Philanthropy at IU: IU News Room: Indiana University: Gene Tempel nominated as founding dean for new School of Philanthropy at IU


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 28, 2012

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Chancellor and Executive Vice President Charles R. Bantz have announced the appointment of Gene Tempel to be the founding dean of IU's new School of Philanthropy, subject to the approval of the IU Board of Trustees at its next business meeting Oct. 12.

Thanking Your Donors - NPQ – Nonprofit Quarterly - Promoting an active and engaged democracy.

Thanking Your Donors - NPQ – Nonprofit Quarterly - Promoting an active and engaged democracy.: How important are those thank-you letters?

Hungry For Jewish Donors

Hungry For Jewish Donors: sing a new storage facility, the organization will deliver 35 percent more kosher food during this year’s five-week High Holy Day season than it did last year.

With the new facility has come a new push to find more Jewish supporters for the kosher program. Jennifer Szapiro, a City Harvest fundraiser, is cold-calling Jewish family foundations, networking and appealing to existing City Harvest donors.

D.C. Financier's $1-Billion Giveaway to Go to Education and Job Training - Philanthropy Today - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas

D.C. Financier's $1-Billion Giveaway to Go to Education and Job Training - Philanthropy Today - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas: D.C. Financier’s $1-Billion Giveaway to Go to Education and Job Training

September 27, 2012, 10:55 am

Washington, D.C., financier William Conway, who last year solicited ideas from the public on how to best donate $1-billion to promote long-term job creation, said Tuesday that he will invest the money in education and training programs, The Washington Post writes.

Mary Porter Bequest: Philanthropist Mary Porter's trust donates $40 million to Foundation - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Mary Porter Bequest: Philanthropist Mary Porter's trust donates $40 million to Foundation - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com: The 98-year-old humanitarian from Pottstown, Pa., had been working with the Community Foundation of Broward since 2000, Carter said, doing charitable work with a wide variety of Broward non-profit organizations.

Porter died of a sudden illness in 2009 and had no surviving relatives.

A challenge of her Wills and Trusts soon followed in Broward civil court, involving former personal assistants, financial advisors, Citibank and some of its subsidiaries, and the Community Foundation of Broward, as plaintiffs.

Treasury Issues Proposed Regs Regarding Qualifying Grants to Foreign Organizations | Planned Giving Design Center

Treasury Issues Proposed Regs Regarding Qualifying Grants to Foreign Organizations | Planned Giving Design Center: Treasury has issued proposed regulations regarding the standards for making a good faith determination that a foreign organization is a charitable organization, grants to which may be qualifying distributions and not taxable expenditures. The regulations will affect private foundations seeking to make such good faith determinations.

Public Charity or Private Foundation - Why Does It Matter? | Planned Giving Design Center

Public Charity or Private Foundation - Why Does It Matter? | Planned Giving Design Center: For many charitable organizations classified as a public charity, reclassification as a private foundation can have significant implications for sustainability and mission accomplishment. In this article, North Carolina-based CPA and philanthropic consultant Dennis Walsh provides an overview of key operating, administrative, and financing issues associated with private foundation status, as well as helpful planning tips that will help organizations maintain their public charity status.

The Third Deadly Sin of Nonprofit Strategy: Over-Emphasis on Fundraising | Nonprofit Community

The Third Deadly Sin of Nonprofit Strategy: Over-Emphasis on Fundraising | Nonprofit Community: Like so many sins, this one starts out innocently enough.

An organization has financial challenges and decides it needs a big new fundraising campaign—maybe even a capital campaign. Then someone remembers that a big fundraising effort will need to be explained as being part of a strategic plan. So they hasten to throw together a strategic plan that justifies the campaign. The final product says “Strategic Plan,” but it is essentially a fundraising plan.

What the Warhol Foundation’s art sale tells us about artists’ foundations - The Art Newspaper

What the Warhol Foundation’s art sale tells us about artists’ foundations - The Art Newspaper: he announcement by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts that it has sealed a deal with Christie’s to liquidate its remaining art holdings of reportedly 20,000 works has left many people scratching their heads. The foundation bearing the name of one of the most influential artist of our times intends to own none of his art? Always the most visible member in this small but fast-growing community, the Warhol Foundation has just demonstrated that artist-endowed foundations are not all alike and that it is, as always, among the most distinctive. Indeed, research by The Aspen Institute’s National Study of Artist-Endowed Foundations, the first comprehensive examination of the topic, confirms that we presume one-size-fits-all for these entities at the risk of misunderstanding this important, emerging field.

Fundraising Lessons From BRAC's $500 Million Clinton Global Initiative Commitments | Fast Company

Fundraising Lessons From BRAC's $500 Million Clinton Global Initiative Commitments | Fast Company: BRAC holds the answer to the half-a-billion-dollar question. Yes, BRAC, an organization that many of you have never heard of. BRAC, which didn’t have an office outside of Bangladesh as of 2006, much less a phone line in New York City. BRAC, which had the audacity to commit to raise $250 million at CGI’s second annual meeting in 2006, and to commit to raise another $271 million at the third annual meeting in 2007. BRAC, which actually exceeded these two goals and went on to make and achieve even further commitments in subsequent years

Philly Arts Worth $3.3 Billion - TheNonProfitTimes

Philly Arts Worth $3.3 Billion - TheNonProfitTimes: he arts and cultural sector in Philadelphia, Pa., has a $3.3-billion impact on the region’s economy, employing 44,000 jobs and is outperforming the nation as a whole, according to research published by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance.

The Arts, Culture and Economic Prosperity in Greater Philadelphia report details how spending by cultural organizations and their audiences ripples through the economy, generating revenues for businesses, families and local governments.

SOI Tax Stats - What's New

SOI Tax Stats - What's New: 2012 Spring SOI Bulletin—Statistics of Income (SOI) has released the 2012 Spring SOI Bulletin. Articles included in the publication provide the most recent data available from various tax and information returns filed by U.S. taxpayers.

Michael Solis: Insanity at the 2012 Nexus Global Youth Summit

Michael Solis: Insanity at the 2012 Nexus Global Youth Summit: The 2012 Nexus Global Youth Summit in New York City wasn't just a gathering of hundreds leaders from the business world, the nonprofit sector, and philanthropic circles. It also happened to be a reunion of what seemed like the world's most insane minds -- visionaries of Generation Y who seek to fix all of the problems inherited from Generation X.