Where Most Needed

WSJ Slams CVS Charity Golf Classic

An investigative report suggests that the high-profile charity event, a favorite of its golf-addicted CEO Thomas Ryan, provides a way for suppliers to skirt ethics rules against expensive favors to company employees.  Meanwhile, the charity itself spends most of its income putting on the event rather than giving.

Doors Closing for Small Scale Advocacy Organizations

Changing priorities at two foundations affect funding for hundreds of small scale advocacy groups across the US.  It looks as though free lance advocacy is losing out to the broader strategic objectives of political campaigning.

Fewer Donors Could Be Better

Newspapers are cutting out marginal circulation due to the rising cost of solicitation and delivery.  Charities should take note.

Tvind's Planet Aid Making Inroads against Goodwill & Salvation Army

Their clothing collection boxes are popping up all over the country, along with local stories questioning where how the group operates and where the money goes.  To no avail. 

Carnegie Mellon Buys Into Product Placement in Films

University agreed to filming on campus in return for prominent use of the college name throughout the movie.  Could be a symptom of the transformation of universities into corporate Educational Maintenance Organizations. 

Smaller Educational Institutions Falling Short in Fundraising

Big research institutions capture most of the growth in fundraising as its graduates hit the jackpot. 

Conservative Rabbis to Certify Labor Conditions at Kosher Slaugherhouses

After an exposé of the kosher "Jungle" of processing plants with substandard working conditions, two Conservative jewish associations work jointly to draft rules and enforceable standards for inspection. 

Save Darfur Coaltion: Advocacy Ads Aggravate, Director Fired

Executive director fired—it might be due to complaints from groups on the ground or from a financial company targeted in a divestment campaign.  Competing rationales pit the New York Times against the Boston Globe.

Salvation Army Embraces Centralized, Corporate Marketing

The largest charity in the US (in terms of private suport) ventures outside its comfort zone in the new century's fundraising environment. 

Palm Springs Crisis Center Locked Out

Hand-to-mouth operation suffers the consequences of bouncing a rent check because a donation hadn't cleared the bank.