Foundation Leader Is on a Roll With an Unusual Fund-Raising Tool
On this Wednesday morning, Brian Payne, president of the Central Indiana Community Foundation, starts off his group’s monthly staff meeting with an unusual question. “What was something wonderful or meaningful that happened to you this summer?” he asks the assembled collection of employees, grant…
By Alison Stein Wellner
Contributor
In the Portland, Ore., metropolitan area, the challenge was clear: More than 300,000 people lacked health insurance, a number only likely to climb, given a weakening economy and national trends. Such uninsured people usually end up relying on charity care — physicians and hospitals that provide…
By Alison Stein Wellner
Contributor
Ex-Supreme Court Justice Promotes Game Project
Sandra Day O’Connor does not play video games. But she believes in their potential. In her keynote speech at the Games for Change conference in New York this month, the retired Supreme Court justice discussed her latest project, Our Courts, an online interactive digital game and civics curriculum…
By Alison Stein Wellner
Contributor
Grants Awarded to Test Ideas for Healthy Games
Games continue to capture the attention of the nonprofit world as potential tools for change. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is giving more than $2-million in grants through its Health Games Research program for a dozen studies that explore how video games can motivate people to take steps to…
By Alison Stein Wellner
Contributor
Supreme Court Justice champions social-change movement
By Alison Stein Wellner
Contributor
A Phoenix museum seeks to make peace with patrons after an edgy exhibit draws fireNo museum director relishes a sit-down talk with angry donors — and Frank Goodyear was no exception. As the director of the Heard Museum, a small institution focused on Native American arts and culture in Phoenix, Mr.…
By Alison Stein Wellner
Contributor
Creating Eye Candy for Charity
Chic window displays help organization raise money onlineBy Alison Stein Wellner For window shoppers, thrift shops — with their clutter of bedraggled fur coats, wedding dresses on plastic hangers, and cardboard boxes filled with belts — rarely warrant a second glance. But the windows that herald…
By Alison Stein Wellner
Contributor
A children’s hospital’s efforts to build a grass-roots advocacy network pay off in legislative victories
By Alison Stein Wellner
Contributor
Many charities dream of advancing their cause on the big screen, where the payoff, and risks, can be hugeSpecial Olympics encourages mentally disabled people to take risks and pursue intense athletic competition. The charity took a risk of its own when it decided to work with Bobby and Peter…
By Alison Stein Wellner
Contributor
Phone Calls and Cocktail-Party Pressure
Trustee’s tenacity pays off in capital campaign as San Francisco museum opens its doors once moreThis month, a San Francisco institution for more than a century, closed for five years, opened its doors once more. The de Young Museum, which houses a diverse array of art and objects from nearly 30…
By Alison Stein Wellner
Contributor