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News Briefing
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a guide to key developments
philanthropy.com
JUDGE DENIES OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY’S
ATTEMPT TO RECOUP MONEY
A federal court has denied a Cowboy Athletics effort
to get back $33-million it paid in life-insurance premiums for policies it bought on more than two dozen donors. The nonprofit group is part of Oklahoma
State University, which sued Lincoln National Life
Insurance after Cowboy Athletics abandoned a fund-raising plan it thought would produce as much as
$350-million when the donors died.
JIM HARRISON
TAX STATUS OF THINK TANK IN KOCH BROTHERS’
DISPUTE COULD BE IN DANGER
The advocacy group Common Cause has asked the
Internal Revenue Service to investigate whether the
structure of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think
tank, violates federal nonprofit law. The action came
after Charles and David Koch, the billionaire brothers active in Tea Party politics, sued Cato to ensure
their control over its board. Common Cause noted
that Marcus Owens, a former head of the tax agency’s charity division, told The Chronicle that the lawsuit and other documents show that Cato gave ownership shares to its founders—including, it appears,
the right to sell the organization. Bruce Hopkins, a
lawyer for Cato, said the structure is unusual but
consistent with federal law.
PITCHING A GOOD CAUSE
Nonprofit leaders offer advice on what makes a
good “elevator speech” to get donors and others
interested in helping a nonprofit. Page 25
SWIMSUIT DEAL PROMPTS DEBATE
AT BIG ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP
ANDy S TERNBERg
BEHIND THE TOM’S SHOES CAMPAIGN
The Nature Conservancy’s chief executive apologized to staff members and supporters when
he learned that the charity was involved in a
deal to promote the swimsuit edition of Sports
Illustrated magazine. Page 12
Blake Mycoskie’s promise to deliver shoes to
needy people raises many basic questions about
what philanthropy means and the best ways to
help the poor. Learn about the concerns in Tiny
Spark, a Chronicle podcast.
GETTING COMPETITORS TO COOPERATE
Find out how two nonprofit hospitals in Nebraska learned to work together to save money
and better serve the poor in Making Change, a
Chronicle podcast.
own Hobby Lobby, bought the property from Northfield Mount Hermon School in 2009 and made $5-
million in improvements, with the goal of giving it to
a Christian institution. In a letter to the chairman of
Northfield Mount Hermon’s trustees, alumni called
Liberty a “homophobic and intellectually narrow institution” and asked the board members to urge the
Green family not to give the property to Liberty University.
For details, go to: philanthropy.com/extras
FEDERAL PROSECUTORS SAY CHARITY
MISREPRESENTED JOB-PLACEMENT SUCCESS
Seedco, a nonprofit that collaborated with New York
Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s job-creation efforts, is
the subject of an inquiry by federal prosecutors after
a city investigation revealed that the charity inflated
the number of people it has helped find work. City
officials said they would shift the group’s $7-million
contract to another provider. Seedco is cooperating
with the federal inquiry and says the employees who
faked information have left the organization.
Opinion
WALKATHONS AND ATHLETIC EVENTS RAISE
MORE MONEY IN 2011
The top 30 fundraising races, walks, and other athletic events raised $1.69-billion last year, an increase
of almost 2.5 percent over 2010, according to the Run
Walk Ride Fundraising Council’s sixth annual study.
It was the second year in a row of overall growth.
RESEARCH FINDS THAT SOCIAL PRESSURE
PROMPTS DOORSTEP DONATIONS
Much of the money collected in house-to-house charity solicitations comes from people who want to avoid
the awkwardness of opening the door and saying no,
according to a forthcoming article in The Quarterly
Journal of Economics. The study was based on an
experiment in which researchers knocked on 7,700
doors in Chicago-area towns.
Too many foundations exhibit attention-deficit disorder, and that is impeding their
ability to solve big problems, writes Joel
Orosz, a former W.K. Kellogg Foundation official. Page 43
Corrections
The viral video “Kony 2012” is just one of
many nonprofit social-media campaigns that
offers lessons on how activists can infleunce
power, writes Vincent Stehle, a Chronicle columnist. Page 46
MASS. SCHOOL ALUMNI SEEK
TO BLOCK SALE OF CAMPUS TO LIBERTY U.
Graduates of a Massachusetts college-preparatory
school are working to prevent the donation of the institution’s former campus to Liberty University, the
college founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell. The
Green family, the Oklahoma City billionaires who
It’s not just the economy that is challenging nonprofit fundraisers but the lack of faith
Americans show in all institiutions, write two
communications consultants who offer tips on
how to navigate the problem. Page 43
INSIDE
Directory of Services .............................................. Page 30
Philanthropy Careers .............................................. Page 47
Don’t blame the culture wars for the problems faced by Susan G. Komen for the Cure. It
was simply bad management, write two former
nonprofit chief executives. Page 44
Newly announced grants ....................................... Page 39
Deadlines for grants and awards .......................... Page 31
People ................................................................... Page 27
The New York Times erred in abandoning
philanthropy as a specific assignment for a reporter, writes Pablo Eisenberg, a Chronicle columnist. Page 45
Technology.............................................................. Page 24
n An article about how charities spend money to lobby Congress (March 8) improperly
characterized a position of Larry Ottinger,
president of the Center for Lobbying in the
Public Interest. While charities can often raise
significant money to lobby on issues such as
health care or gun control that are related to
their missions, issues that affect a large number of nonprofits, such as the charitable deduction, often attract fewer supporters, Mr. Ottinger says.
n The results of a lobbying campaign by
the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, in North
Carolina, were stated incorrectly in an article
on how to use social media (March 8). The library enlisted enough support from patrons to
persuade officials in their county to close only
four—rather than 12—of its branches in fiscal
2011.
Book Briefing .......................................................... Page 29
Awards ................................................................... Page 26
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