6 Ways to Evaluate Personal Risk Before Joining a Nonprofit Board
An insurance expert suggests ways to assess your risk of liability before accepting the role of nonprofit trustee.
Report Examines Afghan Forces’ Role in Hospital Bombing
The New York Times Magazine delves into the U.S. airstrike that destroyed a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, last October and whether hostility toward the medical charity on the Afghan military’s part was a contributing factor in the attack, which killed at least 42 people.
Gates Fund Commits $80 Million to Close Gender ‘Data Gap’
Announcing the three-year funding program Tuesday at the Women Deliver conference in Copenhagen, Melinda Gates aligned the data effort with the United Nations goal to achieve gender equality worldwide by 2030, reports bdnews24.com, a Bangladeshi news website.
San Francisco News Outlets Unite for Day of Reporting on Homelessness
Led by the San Francisco Chronicle, 30 news organizations are devoting resources to flooding local media with coverage of homelessness in the city, The New York Times writes.
High Court Kicks Contraceptive Mandate Back to Lower Courts
The Supreme Court unanimously agreed Monday not to decide on the clash between the Obama administration and religious nonprofits over the Affordable Care Act’s requirements on birth-control coverage, instead calling on the parties to resolve the divisive issue in the lower courts, Bloomberg and CNN report.
Opinion: Dan Pallotta Says Major Nonprofit Groups Should Merge
Nonprofit advocacy, leadership, watchdog, and policy groups should join forces to build a strong, unified voice for the nonprofit sector, the Charity Defense Council head writes in a piece in the Harvard Business Review.
Gates Foundation Further Cuts Fuel Holdings, Selling BP Stake
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has shed all its shares in the British oil giant, a further sign that the world’s largest philanthropy is pulling back from investments in fossil fuels, The Guardian writes.
Powell Jobs Heads Magazine’s List of Philanthropy Leaders
Town & Country named its top 50 philanthropists of 2016, citing celebrities, tech moguls, nonprofit leaders, and others the wealth and lifestyle magazine says “are using money, influence, and family name to change the game in big ways.”
How — and Why — to Keep Jargon Out of Fundraising Appeals
Eliminate words and phrases that trip up donors in your direct mail, emails, and other fundraising pitches.
By Timothy Sandoval
Contributor
Nonprofits Need to Talk About Race, Not Just Diversity
Impassioned exchanges at recent philanthropy conferences showed a bracing willingness to put racism on the table.
By Tamara Copeland
Contributor
Foundations’ Flint Pledge Fuels Debate on Philanthropy’s Role
The Christian Science Monitor looks at this week’s commitment by 10 foundations to pump $125 million into Flint, Mich., and what it portends about philanthropy’s role in responding to crises to which governments contribute or are slow to address.
Obama Urged to Rescind Memo Allowing Bias by Faith Groups
A group of prominent constitutional lawyers is calling on the White House to withdraw a George W. Bush-era legal memo that allows religious nonprofits to discriminate in hiring for federally funded programs, ProPublica writes.
Global Charities Say More Relief Aid Should Go to Local Groups
Major international aid organizations say humanitarian crisis response could be drastically improved if more relief money from governments and the United Nations went directly to nonprofits based in the conflict and disaster zones, according to a survey by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Supreme Court Decision Undoing Cities’ Anti-Panhandling Laws
A free-speech ruling that allowed a pastor in Arizona to put up signs directing people to church services is having a ripple effect on communities’ efforts to clamp down on begging on the street, Bloomberg reports.
Homegrown Giving Blooms Among Growing Ranks of Rich Africans
Economic growth in Africa is fostering a cohort of wealthy moguls and a concurrent jump in large-scale philanthropy, leading online news and culture magazine Ozy to posit that the next Bill Gates could come from the continent.
12 Ways to Be Sure Your Board Is Active and Committed to Your Cause
Steps any nonprofit can take to involve its trustees more fully in fundraising and governance.
By Susan Schaefer and Bob Wittig