The nation's largest foundations only gave $1 out of $3 to benefit the economically and socially disadvantaged, according to the Criteria for Philanthropy at Its Best: Benchmarks to Assess and Enhance Grantmaker Impact, released yesterday by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.
House Republican Leader John Boehner calls President Barack Obama’s proposal to limit high earners’ charitable tax deductions a “sharp blow to charities at a time when they are hurting during the economic downturn.”
A new Foundation Center research advisory, "Grantmakers Describe the Impact of the Economic Crisis on Their Giving," examines how foundations expect their 2009 giving to be affected by the economic downturn. The advisory looks at public statements made by more than one-third of the 100 largest U.S. foundations by giving and 35 other foundation and corporate funders that have described their plans, ranging from raising payout rates to reducing administrative costs to cutting programs altogether.
When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping.
A majority of affluent Americans say their charitable giving would be unaffected by the elimination of federal tax provisions designed, in part, to encourage philanthropy, according to a new study by Bank of America and Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.
The North Carolina Symphony has all the money it needs. But in this economy, the orchestra isn't allowed to touch it.
As President Obama seeks to reduce the value of the charitable deduction for wealthy Americans, fund raisers and other nonprofit experts are divided over whether his idea would cause any substantial change in charitable giving.
Charitably inclined people are anxious. Charities, like businesses and families, have suffered in the economic maelstrom, while their services are needed more than ever. But donors fear they can no longer afford to give as much as they once did.
A Bridgespan Group poll of nonprofit executive directors found 20% of 117 respondents stated that mergers could play a role in how they responded to the economic downturn. This finding dovetails with Bridgespan’s new, far-reaching study of more than 3300 nonprofit deals across four states over 11 years. The longitudinal research finds nonprofit merger and acquisition activity occurring at the same rate in the nonprofit sector as in the for profit sector, but with a heavy skew to small deals born of financial distress or leadership vacuums. Few nonprofits pursue mergers for longer-term strategic goals and mergers involving large nonprofits happen at just one tenth the rate of such deals in the corporate sector, a watch out as nonprofits turn to mergers in tough times.
Bernard Amadei, founder of Engineers Without Borders-USA (EWB-USA), has been named one of 25 newsmakers for 2008 by ENR (Engineering News Record) magazine, a publication of The McGraw-Hill Cos., New York City.
