Billionaires Weigh Changing Models for Giving Away Wealth
The world’s 1,826 billionaires, many of them relatively newly minted moguls reared in Silicon Valley, are challenging traditional foundation and donation models in ways that could redefine philanthropy, the Financial Times writes.
Selecting and Managing a Donor Database
Advice and templates for selecting a vendor, getting buy-in from staff members, and more.
Arts Giving Is a Low Priority for Data-Driven Millennial Donors
A new generation of donors committed to social causes and sympathetic to the tenets of “effective altruism” could create long-term fundraising problems for cultural nonprofits, according to The Seattle Times.
Groups Use Digital Means to Preserve Mideast Antiquities
Cultural organizations are harnessing high-tech tools like laser scanning to amass lasting 3D models of ancient sites in Iraq and Syria that could come under threat from Islamic State militants, writes The New York Times.
Reader’s Choice: This Year’s Top Resources
Topping the list are articles to help you measure results, seek grants, and appeal to millennials.
Reader Favorites in 2015: Year in Review
What caught the attention of Chronicle subscribers last year? Stories about new developments in fundraising were hot, as were reports on the science of giving, and pay and hiring.
Billions at Stake as IPO Charity Set-Asides Become Routine
After years of sporadic interest, the technology start-up community is embracing the practice of setting aside company stock before going public, creating the potential for windfalls for nonprofits.
By Rebecca Koenig
Contributor
Microsoft Restyles Philanthropy Unit Under New Name and Leader
The tech giant announced Tuesday that it will expand its charitable activities under a newly named division, Microsoft Philanthropies, The Seattle Times and CNET report.
AmazonSmile Program Leaves Some Nonprofits Frowning
The online shopping site’s gigantic customer base is tantalizing for charities, but many say tiny financial returns and the company’s refusal to share data make it a dubious effort.
By Eden Stiffman
Senior Editor
Self-Made Billionaires Average $180 Million in Giving, Study Finds
Over their lifetimes, they donate more than six times what typical ultra-high-net-worth individuals worldwide give, Fortune writes, citing new data from research firm Wealth-X.
Tech Moguls Team Up to Build $1 Billion Artificial-Intelligence Nonprofit
Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and other prominent Silicon Valley figures announced a joint project Friday to establish a research center to develop “digital intelligence” that benefits humankind, reports The New York Times.
Girl Scouts Expand Use of Tech to Boost Flagging Membership
The youth organization is expanding its digital efforts, including a year-old program enabling cookie sales through mobile apps, in hopes of reversing a long-term decline in membership, writes the Associated Press.
Microsoft Co-Founder Backs Contest to Find Traffic Solutions
The tech billionaire Paul Allen is supporting a multimillion-dollar prize announced by the U.S. government to encourage innovative solutions to traffic and transportation problems, reports Seattle TV station KOMO.
Zuckerberg Responds to Criticism of New Philanthropy Vehicle
In a Facebook post Thursday, Mark Zuckerberg defended the corporate structure he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, plan to use to put almost all of their wealth into achieving social ends and funding community projects, The New York Times writes.
A Roundup of Views on the Zuckerberg Pledge
A Wall Street Journal column says the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative takes “a new approach to the kinds of problems with which philanthropy has long struggled.” Fast Company, The New York Times, and Politico, among others, have also weighed in.
Tech Aids Help Food Banks Handle Holiday Surge
Food charities are taking technological cues from e-commerce to meet the spike in both donations and demand for their services during the holiday season, The Wall Street Journal writes.