April 17, 2003 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Several new databases provide information for charities on nonprofit business ventures, support for capacity-building efforts, and the history of philanthropy.
Community Wealth Ventures, in Washington, created a database of businesses run by nonprofit organizations and marketing partnerships between charities and corporations. A for-profit subsidiary of Share Our Strength, a national hunger organization, Community Wealth Ventures helps charities start businesses and helps companies design corporate-philanthropy programs that align with their business objectives.
Among the projects listed in the database: the Big Dig Diner, a restaurant run by Federated Dorchester Neighborhood Houses, in Boston; CFH Landscape Services, operated by the Center for the Homeless, in South Bend, Ind.; and Pioneer Construction Services, a project of Pioneer Human Services, in Seattle.
The directory is searchable by keyword, type of nonprofit organization, type of venture, and state. Entries describe the projects and provide contact information for the charities that run them.
The Philanthropic Capacity Building Resources Database lists 188 foundation programs designed to help nonprofit organizations run more effectively. Listings will be updated quarterly and include program descriptions and contact information.
The database was developed by the Human Interaction Research Institute, in Encino, Calif., with support from the Bruner, Ewing Marion Kauffman, John S. and James L. Knight, and Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundations.
PRO: Philanthropy Resources Online is a digital library of primary and secondary sources on the history of philanthropy. The collection is made up of scanned images of books, journals, pamphlets, and other materials.
Visitors to the site can read, for example, the address that Henry B. Rogers gave at the opening of the New Home for Aged Indigent Females in Boston on June 25, 1863, or research papers sponsored by the Commission on Private Philanthropy and Public Needs, which were published by the Department of the Treasury in 1977.
The collection was created by the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis University Library, which plans to continue adding material to the site.
