Chronicle of Philanthopy - Philanthropy Today

The heirs of the late businessman and philanthropist Norman Levy have reached a settlement with the Bernard Madoff bankruptcy trustee to pay $220-million to settle a claim over the money in the estate that came from the Madoff fraud, according to papers filed Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, says Bloomberg.

The trustee, Irving Picard, will not pursue the family’s charitable foundation, he said, because the money had been given to charity.

College endowments lost an average of 18.7 percent on their investments last year, the worst showing by far in the nearly 40-year history of the National Association of College and University Business Officers’ annual survey, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.

The poor returns, combined with a significant drop in giving, sent the value of endowments down by 23 percent on average, according to the study, results of which were announced Wednesday. In a reversal of past trends, the largest endowments took the biggest hits, with the five biggest — Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, and the University of Texas — reporting investment losses of 22.6 to 27.3 percent for fiscal 2009.

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The Associated Press reports that music impresario Quincy Jones is planning a new version of “We Are the World,” one of the first major all-star charity recordings, to benefit Haiti relief.

The 1985 hit was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie to raise money to combat famine in Africa and featured Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, and dozens of other performers. Mr. Jones said the new recording will take place Monday in Los Angeles.

Also: A global education organization is offering emergency grants of up to $2,000 for Haitians studying in the United States who are facing financial difficulties following the Haiti earthquake, according to the Associated Press.

The New York Institute of International Education says more than 850 Haitians are attending U.S. colleges on student visas. Schools can nominate eligible students for the aid.

You can find an archive of Chronicle articles about the Haiti disaster here.

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The Getty Foundation announced a $3.1-million round of grants to support an ambitious group of exhibitions devoted to post-World War II art in Southern California, reports the Los Angeles Times.

“Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A., 1945-1980,” is scheduled to open in fall 2011 in more than two dozen museums and galleries. Getty had already committed $3.6-million to the project, which has been in the works since 2002.

In other arts news, the Los Angeles Opera unveiled a trimmed-back schedule for 2010-11, its 25th season, the Times reports.

The opera will present 42 performances of six productions, down from peaks of 75 performances and 10 productions in 2006 and 2007. The opera has struggled with the financial demands of its upcoming production of Wagner’s Ring cycle and last month took a $14-million emergency loan from Los Angeles County.

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Abortion-rights groups are calling on CBS to pull an advertisement by the Christian advocacy organization Focus on the Family, which the network has accepted for airing during next month’s Super Bowl, write The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.

The critics cite past instances in which the network rejected advocacy ads from groups such as the liberal organization MoveOn.org and the pro-gay-rights group United Church of Christ.

CBS said it had already altered its policy on such commercials before it agreed to sell time to Focus on the Family for an ad featuring University of Florida football star and evangelical Christian Tim Tebow and his mother. The network said it would “continue to consider responsibly produced ads from all groups for the few remaining spots in Super Bowl XLIV.”

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Nonprofit Continuum Health Partners, one of New York’s largest hospital systems, has made an offer to take over the financially ailing St. Vincent’s hospital, the city’s last Catholic general hospital, and turn it into an outpatient center, reports The New York Times.

St. Vincent’s has been losing millions of dollars a month and is facing a possible second bankruptcy three years after emerging from its first. The Greenwich Village hospital gained iconic status in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, when it became a gathering place for people searching for loved ones.

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President Obama gave few clues in his State of the Union speech Tuesday night about what his proposed 2011 budget might hold for social services or other areas of interest to nonprofit groups, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

Fifteen days after the massive earthquake struck Haiti, donors have contributed more than $528-million to 40 U.S. nonprofit groups, a Chronicle tally finds.

While President Obama was on Washington’s Capitol Hill reflecting on his first year in office during his State of the Union speech Wednesday night, another top White House official was in Los Angeles urging foundations to take greater risks, reports The Chronicle’s Government and Politics Watch column.

In a mock letter to foundation leaders, a charity executive lays out her problems with how grant makers treat nonprofit groups, notes Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Plus:

• Why nonprofit groups should push for changes in state fiscal policies.

• A response to questions about “processing gifts made to the embattled Yéle Haiti Foundation.”

• An examination of giving by the Gannett Foundation.

• A critic moderates his view of the Product Red campaign.

While President Obama was on Washington’s Capitol Hill reflecting on his first year in office during his State of the Union speech Wednesday night, another top White House official was in Los Angeles offering her views on the challenges for government, foundations, and other nonprofit organizations.

Sonal Shah, head of the White House’s Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, urged foundations to take greater risks, saying one of the lessons she learned in her first year is that the federal government is not easily able to finance experiments with new efforts to treat social problems.

“It’s hard to take risks when you have 535 board members,” she said, referring to Congress’s role in overseeing government spending.

She said we need some “creative destruction” to figure out what ideas were worth government investing in — whether it be to reduce child mortality, improve education, or solve other social problems.

“Just as business tries ideas, and some things stay and some things fall away, we need more risk taking by foundations.”

In a speech to a conference held by the University of Southern California’s Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy, Ms. Shah said that when she took the job, she thought her office would have been able to move more quickly but learned that resistance to cultural changes and legal constraints made it hard for government to be agile and try new approaches to finding and financing the most effective and innovative nonprofit groups.

She also said that much of her work has been hobbled by a lack of detailed data and statistics about nonprofit groups and how public policies affect them and the people they serve. Without reliable data, she says, it is often hard for her and her colleagues to get support for ideas that might help nonprofit groups.

Ms. Shah also urged nonprofit executives to be more aggressive and collaborative in pushing the federal government to adopt policies that will be effective in solving social problems. She said White House officials need to hear from nonprofit organizations more often.

“We will do our part, but we need you to do your part, “ she said.

(Read an article about the creation of the Social Innovation Office from The Chronicle’s archive.)

President Obama gave few clues in his State of the Union speech tonight about what his proposed 2011 budget might hold for social services or other areas of interest to nonprofit groups.

The president, who will present his budget plan on Monday, defended his proposal, announced earlier, to freeze parts of domestic spending for three years.

A failure to rein in the budget deficit “could damage our markets, increase the cost of borrowing, and jeopardize our recovery,” he said.

Mr. Obama told Congress some of that effort would be paid for by ending tax cuts for oil companies, investment fund managers, and people earning over $250,000 a year. But he did not say whether spending in areas like the arts, poverty, or national service would be affected.

The White House is proposing a “top-line freeze” for spending in areas outside of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, defense, and national security. Officials say budgets in some individual programs could be cut and in others increased.

Mr. Obama countered criticism that spending should not be frozen “when so many are still hurting.” The freeze, he said, would not take place until 2011, “when the economy is stronger.”

Lobbying Rules

The president mentioned several other proposals that could affect nonprofit groups:

• Further restrictions on lobbyists, following limits on their ability to hold administration jobs. “It’s time to require lobbyists to disclose each contact they make on behalf of a client with my administration or Congress,” Mr. Obama said. Some nonprofit groups have criticized the president’s crackdown on lobbyists for failing to distinguish between those fighting for the public interest and those who aim to increase private profits.

• More openness about earmarks, or special federal spending on state and local projects. The president said Congress should publish all earmark requests on a single Web site “so that the American people can see how their money is being spent.” A variety of nonprofit groups benefit from Congressional earmarks.

• A request for a jobs bill that he can sign “without delay.” The House passed a jobs bill in December that would provide $200-million in fresh money to AmeriCorps, the national-service program, but the Senate has not yet acted.

— Suzanne Perry

Donors have contributed more than $528-million to help earthquake relief efforts in Haiti, more than the amount donated in the same period following the 2004 Asian tsunamis.

Aid to Haiti has gotten a big lift from a star-studded telethon that was broadcast on major television networks last week. By Wednesday, donations made in response to the telethon totaled $66-million.

Among the results:

• The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee had raised more than $2.2-million as of Monday.

• American Jewish World Service had raised about $5-million as of Wednesday.

• American Red Cross had raised approximately $185-million as of Wednesday at 4pm Eastern time. Of that amount, more than $29-million was received via text message.

• AmeriCares had raised more than $7-million as of Wednesday.

• Brother’s Brother Foundation had raised more than $480,000 from 3,200 donations as of Wednesday.

• CARE USA had raised $10.3-million as of Monday.

• Catholic Medical Mission Board had raised $1.1-million in cash as of Tuesday. The organization has also received donations of medicines and medical supplies worth $3.2-million.

• Catholic Relief Services had secured $26.5-million in gifts and pledges as of Wednesday. Approximately $13-million was donated online.

• ChildFund International had raised more than $136,300 as of Wednesday.

• The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund had raised $17-million from more than 168,000 donations as of Tuesday.

• The William J. Clinton Foundation had received $8.8-million from more than 95,000 donations as of Tuesday.

• Concern Worldwide US had raised $1.8-million as of Monday.

• Cross International had raised $189,141 through its radio programs as of Tuesday, while the Cross International Alliance had raised $598,246 online.

• Direct Relief International had raised roughly $2-million in cash as of Thursday, January 21.

• The Doctors Without Borders U.S. operations had raised $36.5-million for work in Haiti as of Wednesday. As of Friday, January 22, the organization had also received $11.9-million for its general Emergency Relief Fund.

• Feed the Children had raised $700,000 as of Monday.

• Friends of the World Food Program had raised about $3.9-million as of Wednesday.

• Habitat for Humanity had raised $1.65-million as of Wednesday morning.

• The Humane Society of the United States/Humane Society International had raised more than $1-million as of Wednesday morning.

• International Medical Corps had raised roughly $3.2-million as of Monday.

• The International Rescue Committee had raised more than $4-million as of Wednesday.

• Internews Network, a nonprofit group that promotes journalism abroad, received $200,000 from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to help the news media in Haiti recover from the disaster and broadcast critical information about the relief efforts.

• Islamic Relief USA had raised more than $1.2-million, mostly through the Internet and fund raising at mosques, as of Monday.

• Lutheran World Relief had raised $1.8-million as of Wednesday.

• Medical Teams International had raised more than $900,000 as of Tuesday.

• Mercy Corps had received about $8.6-million as of Wednesday.

• Operation USA had raised $800,000 in donations as of Wednesday.

• Oxfam America had raised $10.4-million as of Wednesday.

• The Pan American Development Foundation raised $30,000 online as of Wednesday, January 20, twice what it did after flooding in Haiti in 2009. But the group estimates that it will need $10-million just for recovery efforts.

• Partners in Health had received donations totaling about $40-million as of Wednesday.

• Plan USA had raised $735,000 as of Wednesday. The group’s international affiliates had raised $8-million.

• Population Services International had raised more than $106,000 from individuals and corporations for Haiti.

• Project HOPE had raised $1-million in cash and pledges as of Wednesday.

• Relief International had raised $280,000 as of Tuesday, January 19.

• The Salvation Army had raised $8.3-million as of Tuesday. Of that amount, at least $82,500 came in via text message.

• Save the Children USA had raised more than $14.6-million as of Wednesday. The organization’s international affiliates had raised $18-million.

• The U.N. Foundation had raised more than $3.2-million as of Monday.

• The University of Miami had received more than $3.9-million as of Tuesday for its relief efforts in Haiti. The university runs a community health program and other projects in Haiti, and more than 100 of its doctors, nurses, and other staff members have traveled to Haiti since the earthquake.

• The U.S. Fund for Unicef had received $31.5-million as of Wednesday.

• World Vision’s U.S. operations had received $18.4-million in cash as of Tuesday.

Companies and charities that process online donations have seen a heavy volume of activity since the January 12 earthquake.

Among the results:

• Convio, the company that provides software to charities, had processed more than $195-million through Wednesday. As a yardstick, the company processed $20-million on December 31, 2009, typically the biggest fund-raising day of the year.

• GlobalGiving had received $912,629 from 12,164 donations as of Wednesday. Roughly $350,000 in matching money from companies has also been committed.

• JustGive, an online charity portal, had processed relief gifts totaling more than $3.1-million as of Monday.

• Network for Good, which collects online gifts for nonprofit groups, had raised $5-million for more than 140 charities providing aid to Haiti as of Wednesday.

Caroline Preston, Nicole Wallace, and Ian Wilhelm compiled this list.

Contributions continue to pour in for relief efforts in Haiti. Fifteen days after the massive earthquake struck, donors have contributed more than $528-million to 40 U.S. nonprofit groups, a Chronicle tally finds. (See a list of tallies from the organizations.)

The pace of giving for Haiti is running ahead of the amount donated in the same period after the September 11 attacks in 2001 and the Asian tsunamis in 2004 but slower than the outpouring of gifts after the flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

In the eight days after the flooding started in New Orleans, Americans gave at least $580-million for relief efforts.

In the nine days after the Asian tsunamis, major U.S. relief groups raised $163-million, and in the 10 days after September 11, Americans donated $239-million.

Last week’s star-studded telethon, organized by the actor George Clooney, had brought in $66-million as of Wednesday. The Entertainment Industry Foundation, a nonprofit group that collected the telethon money, has released information about how the funds will be distributed among seven relief organizations.

Many groups are raising large sums for relief efforts in Haiti online and through text messages. So far, the American Red Cross has received $29-million through its campaign to encourage $10 gifts through texts.

That’s a record for the group in terms of text messages. In contrast, it raised $200,000 from texts during the 2008 hurricane season.

Over all, the Red Cross had raised approximately $185-million through Wednesday.

Small Charities Win Big Donations

Less-well-known organizations, too, are benefiting from donors’ generosity. Network for Good, an online charity portal, has processed $5-million in donations for relief efforts in Haiti.

While some of that money went to high-profile organizations, Network for Good says that smaller charities that had been working in Haiti before the earthquake — such as Angelwish, Beyond Borders, and Hope for Haiti’s Children Ministries — have raised tens of thousands of dollars as well.

Charity officials say the pace of online and text giving, in particular, have slowed in the last few days. But they say they expect contributions from corporations and foundations to continue to add up.

“Some of the bigger corporations that have worked with Brother’s Brother will give larger checks,” said Karen Dempsey, vice president in charge of fund raising with the Pittsburgh aid group. “The $25 checks are starting to wane.”

Charity-watchdog groups, aid workers, and others have gone online to offer advice for donors on how best to give.

Meanwhile, former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush are working together to raise money for the relief effort.

Corporations are also stepping up. The Business Civic Leadership Center, a nonprofit group affiliated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, announced on Tuesday that 299 companies had contributed more than $122-million to the relief effort.

Friday’s star-studded telethon has raised more than $66-million so far for Haiti relief and recovery efforts — more than three times the amount raised via telethon after the 2004 Asian tsunamis.

So what’s happening with all that money?

An “advisory committee” of nonprofit and Haiti experts has been formed that will, along with the Entertainment Industry Foundation, help decide that question.

The committee includes people like Diana Aviv, the head of Independent Sector; Brian Concannon, director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti; and Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation.

The committee members will meet this week to review information submitted by the charities already chosen by the Entertainment Industry Foundation with assistance from the Bridgespan Group to get a share of the telethon money.

The beneficiaries are the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, Oxfam America, Partners in Health, the Red Cross, UNICEF, the United Nations World Food Programme, and the Yéle Haiti Foundation.

Based on those charities’ plans for using the money, the committee will decide how much each group will get and also give advice on how to ensure the money is well spent.

Some money will start to be distributed next week.

“Our top priority is ensuring that proceeds from the telethon are distributed as quickly, responsibly, and effectively as possible,” said Lisa Paulsen, president of the Entertainment Industry Foundation, a nonprofit group that collected the telethon money.

— Caroline Preston

As relief work in Haiti continues, a wave of volunteer technology efforts has sprouted up using social media and mobile phones to help the earthquake victims, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

The actor John Travolta landed in Haiti Tuesday with a plane full of emergency supplies and members of the Church of Scientology, of which he is a prominent member, reports the Guardian.

Mr. Travolta, who holds a pilot’s license, flew his private Boeing 707 from Florida with six tons of military rations and medical supplies. He also carried Scientologists, who fanned out across Port-au-Prince applying a technique the church believes relieves trauma.

His arrival prompted some grumbling among aid agencies, which have complained about landing priorities at Port-au-Prince’s airport. Hundreds of aircraft are awaiting permission to land at the airport, which has a backlog of at least 800 flights and is under U.S. military control.

In other news, the Hope for Haiti Now album will debut at No. 1 when Billboard’s latest weekly pop chart is issued Wednesday.

The download-only album contains 20 performances from Friday’s Hope for Haiti telethon and will be the first exclusively digital release to top the Billboard 200 chart. Proceeds from the album will go to Haiti relief efforts.

The Burnham Institute for Medical Research, in La Jolla, Calif., has received a $50-million gift from T. Denny Sanford, the South Dakota mogul’s second major donation to the facility, reports The San Diego Union-Tribune.

In 2007 Mr. Sanford gave $20-million to the center, which has now been renamed the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute. The new money will support institute programs that are not eligible for government grants, with a focus on turning the facility’s research into real-world applications.

A San Diego relief charity that provides aid to Uganda has taken home the $1-million first prize in the Chase Community Giving contest, determined in an online vote, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

Invisible Children was declared the winner of the JPMorgan Chase giveaway after the voting on social site Facebook closed late Friday night. The group plans to use the prize on water, education, and awareness projects in the African nation, and also pledged $100,000 to Haiti relief.

The contest generated some 11th-hour controversy as the Isha Foundation, a Tennessee charity working in India, gained tens of thousands of votes on the final day, many from users with suspicious-sounding names and largely inactive Facebook accounts, the article says.

The founder and chief executive of the Whole Foods supermarket chain has donated most of his 2009 pay to an animal-welfare charity, Inc. reports.

John Mackey gave Global Animal Partnership $379,636, his after-tax earnings on compensation valued at $653,671.

Since 2007 Mr. Mackey, a critic of high CEO wages, has set his salary at $1. The remainder of his pay comes from an incentive bonus plan, the level of which has been frozen.