Boy Scouts of America

Taking the first step toward a possible face-off over the Boy Scouts of America’s ban on openly gay adult members or employees, the organization’s New York affiliate said on Thursday that it had hired a gay Eagle Scout to work in a scout camp this summer. The New York group, the Boy Scouts’ Greater New York Councils, announced the hiring of Pascal Tessier, an 18-year-old Eagle Scout. He became a prominent figure among those speaking out against the ban on gay people over 18 in scouting.

California has banned state court judges from belonging to the Boy Scouts. The move extends an earlier ban on judges belonging to groups that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, but had an exemption for youth groups. Judges have one year to sever their ties with the Boy Scouts. Judges are already banned from joining lots of groups that other people can belong to. For example, they can't be members of country clubs that don't admit Jewish people or women.

A West Virginia constitutional amendment will allow the Boy Scouts of America to rent out a property without losing its tax exemption. Voters approved the West Virginia Nonprofit Youth Organization Tax Exemption Amendment last Tuesday. The Boy Scouts sought to rent out facilities it owns at the Bechtel National Scout Reserve in Fayette County to raise money for its operations. The facilities would be used for concerts and sporting events.

Online fundraising platform RallyBound recently unveiled the "Top 5 Wildest Nonprofit Fundraisers," highlighting five extremely creative — and successful — peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns.

Blackbaud, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLKB) today announced enhancements to Blackbaud CRM™, including new membership features, a simplified user interface accessible on mobile devices and intuitive duplicate management options.

Alabama Gives Day, which ended at midnight Thursday, raised $743,985 for nonprofit agencies around the state. The event encouraged people to make online donations to an array of nonprofit agencies. More than 1,000 organizations signed up.

It certainly helped Care Assistance for the Aging and Homebound of Madison County, which assists about 3,800 elderly and homebound clients. The organization hoped to raise $5,000 and ended with $5,370. Some of the Huntsville nonprofits that raised funds included Crisis Services of North Alabama $4,020, Merrimack Academy of Performing Arts $2,540 and HudsonAlpha Institute $1,095.

In an astounding demonstration of support for Colorado nonprofits, donors from across the state contributed $12 million as part of Community First Foundation’s Colorado Gives Day 2011 — an increase of more than 40 percent compared to Colorado Gives Day 2010, which raised $8.4 million.

Individual contributions were received over an extended 36-hour period — 12 a.m. Dec. 6 until noon Dec. 7 — at GivingFirst.org. Donations ranged from $10 to $500,000. Almost half of all donations made were either $50 or $100.

The University of Pittsburgh announced that well-known and highly respected business leader, investor, author and philanthropist William S. Dietrich II plans to make a gift of a $125 million fund in support of the university. This is the largest individual gift to Pitt in its 225-year history and is one of the 10 largest gifts made by an individual to a public university in the United States. The fund will become operational upon Dietrich’s passing.

Jim Justice has fond memories of exploring West Virginia as a Cub and Boy Scout. The chief executive officer of Justice Family Group LLC announced a $25 million gift to the Boy Scouts of America, the largest single philanthropic donation he has made.

The money will support the creation of the Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, a 10,600-acre park near his home in Lewisburg, W.V., that will host the organization’s 2013 National Scout Jamboree.

Add this to the annals of extreme fund raising: jumping off a 41-story building to raise money for charity.

Endurance events, such as marathons and bike cross-country expeditions, have long held appeal for participants who ask their friends and relatives to “sponsor” them by making donations. But another  type of event has entered the extreme fund-raising circuit—and is raising hundreds of thousands of dollars.

More than 100 rappelling events have occurred since 2008, when Over the Edge, a Canadian company, brought the concept to the United States.