Where Most Needed

Boston Catholics Transfer Adoptions to Low Profile Agency

Child & Family Services of New Bedford operates with practically no public contributions.

NY Times Faults Red Cross for Not Pursuing Dead Thief

Reporter Stephanie Strom goes to great lengths to give voice to Red Cross critics. 

Johns Hopkins Capital Investment Survey Shows Wide Sector Differences

In the realities of nonprofit financing, differences of mission, program, and scale outweigh the similarities.

American University Trustees Balk at Reforms

Sen. Grassley finds limits of persuasion with AU board after its huge severance agreement with deposed president Benjamin Ladner, despite its Congressional charter.

Alabama's GOP Governor Prefers Government over Private Charity

Hurricane Katrina may have undermined the foundation of the Reagan Revolution.

Churches Come Last for Bush Clinton Katrina Fund

In a remarkably low-key way, the Bush Clinton Katrina Fund has finally gotten around to helping the churches in the affected area.  The Washington Post reported in early March that churches were still waiting for a promised $20 million of the $114 million fund proceeds, quoting Bishop T.D. Jakes of the funds advisory panel: "I am annoyed. I am frustrated. I am angry."  But it was only last Friday that the New Orleans Times Picayune announced that the process had begun.  The first grant applicant workshop was held Saturday, April 22.  This molasses-slow process has gotten none of the media attention that his been lavished on complaints about the American Red Cross. 

The Times Picayune report says that the Bush Clinton fund will end up distributing $40 million to state-based funds, $30 million to colleges & universities, $20 million to churches and "the balance" (which I calculate as $24 million) in "discretionary grants," like the recently publicized restricted donation by Barbara Bush for her son Neil's software firm. 

The application form indicates that grants will be for a maximum of $35,000, of which up to $4,000 can be for temporary relocation of the congregation and up to $5,000 an administrative stipend for the clergy leader.  The grant process will be open until the end of July and all funds are expected to be disbursed by the end of October.  The church must own the property to be built on and (an interesting requirement) the church must have a bank account in its own name. 

An organization called Public Private Venture (EIN 23-2048721 Form 990) will handle the processing of the grants.  P/PV, based in Philadelphia, looks like a nonprofit think-tank with a focus on urban issues (former Philadelphia mayor Wilson Goode is listed as a senior advisor).  Its current head is Rev. Fred Davie, who has had experience with faith-based initiatives in New York City government and with the Ford Foundation. 

P/PV is one of those charities that shows $11 million in contributions, $19 million in government contributions (grants) and no fund raising expense.  It is also unusual in that it includes in the list of "officers, directors and key employees" five vice presidents with incomes in the low six figures.  There is compensation of a few thousand dollars for nearly every director.  This might cause arched eyebrows among the charity press and self-appointed charity watchdogs, but it is likely that all of the contributions of the organization come from foundations who are not really interested in fund raising ratio analysis or whether board members are reimbursed for their time. 

Nonprofit Gets the Lighthouse, Government Cleans the Restrooms

A lighthouse can be a powerful metaphor.  Here, it's a metaphor for the relationship between charities and government.  The county commissioners of Currituck County, North Carolina, have come to an agreement with Outer Bank Conservationists (EIN 58-1424689 Form 990) over the operation of the Currituck Beach lighthouse after taking them to court. 

The OBC had restored the lighthouse and keeper's house under a 20-year lease from the Federal government it received in 1991.  But in 2000, Congress changed the law to allow the government to turn over lighthouses outright.  OBC competed for the title against the county and won in 2003.  At that point, the county sued to require the nonprofit to meet county codes about parking and restrooms. Both of these were on adjacent land, owned by the county, but managed by a different charity, the Whalehead Preservation Trust  (EIN 56-6424298 Form 990). 

The difference between the two charities is this:  the OBC receives about a half million dollars a year in fee income (admissions from 80,000 annual visitors and rentals for weddings and the like).  The form 990 shows that about half was used for operating expenses last year, leaving the organization with a hefty surplus.  The Whalehead organization gets over a million a year, but that is almost exclusively government funding.  So this appears to be the classic case where a nonprofit organization is getting the cream while the government is expected to provide the infrastructure (at its most basic: restroom maintenance). 

Under the agrement, OBC will start paying 17% of its gross income to the Whalehead group, to be put in trust for maintenance of the parking lot and restrooms.  Pure poetry. 

Poll: Tastes in Giving Change with Age

The Wall Street Journal is providing public access to the results of a Harris Interactive DonorPulse survey telephone survey about attitudes toward giving.  The report suggests that older people volunteer more and are more likely to give, but that they are more skeptical about charity performance and trustworthiness. 

On the other hand, the report also shows that 85% of the respondents did not have strong feelings about charity performance one way or the other, with adults from 30-64 just slightly more likely (17% vs 15%) to have strong feelings than older or younger folks.  What many people in the charity and fund raising business tend to forget is that most donors are not strongly interested in what charities do and how they do it. 

Another interesting survey result shows how the popularity of giving to different charity causes varies by age group.  The oldest donors favor churches, disaster relief, community organizations, groups that serve the aging, and hospitals. 

The youngest donors 18-24 favor human service organizations, avoid culture, environment, and groups that serve the aging. 

The 25-29 year olds turn strongly to other healthcare and environmental organizations to the relative exclusion of most other causes. 

Those in their thirties favor arts & culture and educational institutions and are least inclined to give to church. 

In the forties, youth groups become popular, but not to the exclusion of other causes. 

People in their fifties give widely, having no area that they can call their own, but none they avoid, either. 

	Most Popular for	Least Popular for
Churches or religious organizations	65+ (58%)	30-39 (38%)
Disaster relief organizations	65+ (51%)	25-29 (42%)
Community groups and programs	50-64 & 65+ (37%)	25-29 (14%)
Human service organizations	18-24 (37%)	25-29 (28%)
Organizations that serve youth and children	40-49 (35%)	25-29 (14%)
Educational organizations	30-39 (30%)	25-29 (10%)
Other healthcare organizations	25-29 (20%)	18-24 (4%)
Conservation and environmental organizations	25-29 (17%)	18-24 (9%)
Arts and culture organizations	30-39 (18%)	18-24 (8%)
Organizations that serve the aging and elderly	65+ (22%)	18-24 & 25-29 (1%)
Hospitals	65+ (11%)	25-29 (2%)

Nonprofit Support Center Merges with United Way

Many communities want to give small nonprofits technical and infrastructure support, but there's no agreement on how best to do it or pay for it.  So each locality has its own solution.  The Pueblo Business Journal reports that the Colorado Springs Center for Nonprofit Excellence (CEO Lynn Telford) (No EIN found, just a web site) is merging into the Pikes Peak United Way (CEO Jerry Smith)(EIN 84-0511799 Form 990). 

The article quotes a representative of the Alliance for Nonprofit Management (EIN 52-2089750 Form 990), an association of nonprofit support organizations, that about 63% of their 600 members are independent, the rest affiliated with another organization like United Way. 

This group seems to have tried different strategies, starting as a program of the Chamber of Commerce, then going it alone, now trying the affiliation with the United Way.  For a small group like this, merger has the benefit of eliminating the need for additional administrative support and perhaps fund raising. 

Bloomberg: Gala Glut in NYC

It's Bloomberg News, but you can imagine the complaint coming from NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg himself: there are too many charity events in the Big Apple.  The article cites an astounding statistic (without attribution) that there are 130,000 "events" every year.  That's a gala starting every 4 minutes.  A Wall Street banker explains that he may get 100 invitations in the spring season, he'll donate to 10 and may actually attend 5 of them. 

Of course, not all galas are equal.  A private Rolling Stones concert at Radio City Music Hall brought in 5,600 guests and raised $11.4 million for the Robin Hood Foundation (EIN 13-3441066 Form 990), a group which, despite its name, was founded by two commodities traders back in 1988. 

Lesser events from popular causes may have tables filled up by junior staff.  Other groups are trying more family-oriented alternatives to the black-tie standards, like a Sunday matinee benefit for the Children's Museum of Manhattan (EIN 13-2761376  Form 990), which featured actors from "The Lion King" with a top ticket of $50,000 for a birthday party of 40. 

Depite the glut, more events than ever are on tap, since Wall Street had a good year last year.  The bonus pool for 2005 was $21.5 billion, enough to fuel an additional fund raiser or two.