Black-History Museums: Breaking Barriers
Nearly $1-billion in new projects is putting the spotlight on the role of African-Americans in the United StatesThe Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture resides in Baltimore’s bustling Inner ALSO SEE:SPECIAL REPORT: America’s Charity BoomBlack-History Museums: A…
By BRENNEN JENSEN
Contributor
Photo Essay: Innovation –Â and a Personal Touch –Â Get Priority at New Charities
ELIZABETH GRIVAS Benjamin Levy, who founded the Levy Dance Company in 2003, was named by Dance magazine to its “25 to watch” list. Critics have described his works as athletic and lyrical, brainy and sexy. Here, Cambria Garell, a dancer in Mr. Levy’s San Francisco troupe, strikes a pose.
Database of Listeners Aids Radio Station
Minnesota Public Radio is tapping into the power of the Internet to expand the network of people that its reporters turn to in their reporting. Over the last two years, the organization’s Public Insight Journalism program has built a database of 8,000 listeners, with information they provide such…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Pa. Arts Groups Get Technology Help
Arts and cultural organizations in the Philadelphia area have a new service to turn to for help in solving everyday technology problems. TechConnection for the Arts Help Desk offers arts groups 24-hour telephone assistance with their hardware and software questions. The service is provided by the…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Research Project Taps Free Computing Power
The World Community Grid, a new project started by the IBM Corporation, in Armonk, N.Y., aims to solve big social problems using relatively small amounts of donated computer power from millions of users. Through the project, computer users can donate their machines’ unused processing power for…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
The Tech Museum of Innovation has presented its annual awards honoring the creative use of technology to benefit society in the areas of economic development, education, the environment, equality, and health. Among the winners, who received $50,000 each: International Development Enterprises, in…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Free Software Offered to Filter Out Spam
Mailshell, a San Francisco software company, is working with the nonprofit site TechSoup.org on a campaign to help charities fight unwanted e-mail messages. The effort will culminate in Mailshell’s giving copies of its spam-filtering software free to American and Canadian nonprofit organizations…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Colleges and Schools Send E-Mail Appeals
In a survey of college and private-school fund raisers, conducted by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, in Washington, about half of the 510 respondents said their institutions had started making annual-fund appeals via e-mail. The study found that e-mail solicitations still make…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Software Company Expands Its Reach
Kintera, a San Diego company that provides Web-based software for nonprofit organizations, has signed an agreement with Intuit to acquire American Fundware, which makes accounting software designed for charities and government agencies. Intuit, a Mountain View, Calif., company that produces…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Bits: Webby Awards Includes Best Charitable-Organization Web Site Category
The 2005 Webby Awards competition will include a new category for best charitable-organization Web site. The fee to submit an entry for consideration is $95, and the deadline is December 17. For more information: Go to http://www.webbyawards.com. On October 26, the Philanthropic Initiative, a…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Web Site Ranks Cities by Charity Efficiency
Charity Navigator, a watchdog group in Mahwah, N.J., has added an interactive, online chart to its Web site that allows users to see how 25 major cities stack up in 16 measures of nonprofit performance. Charity Navigator looked at financial data from 1,500 nonprofit groups, as reported on their…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
New Database Assists Myeloma Research
The Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium is using a powerful shared database to link four leading medical-research centers to try to accelerate the development of drugs to treat the disease. A cancer of the plasma cell, multiple myeloma has no known cure. In 1998, after she was diagnosed with the…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Spam Filters Snag Charity Messages, Study Finds
A new study of 40 nonprofit organizations found that at least one in five e-mail messages sent over seven months was misclassified as spam. Mindshare Interactive Campaigns, a company in Washington, used five accounts to subscribe to e-mail lists maintained by 40 nonprofit organizations. The company…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Bits: GWU Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet Publishes Online Fundraising Guide
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education is conducting a survey to learn how colleges and universities use e-mail to solicit donations. Institutions that participate will receive a free copy of the results. The deadline to complete the survey is September 30. To get there: Go to…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Web Site Offers Vast Radio-Program Collection
After its first year, the nonprofit PRX Public Radio Exchange has received a clear signal that its idea of linking radio programs with stations in search of content is working. Some 1,000 digital radio stories have been licensed through the site for broadcast on public radio stations. The…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Nonprofit Groups Offer New Technology Tools
Two charities that help small to medium-size nonprofit organizations raise money online plan to expand the array of services they offer. Groundspring.org, a San Francisco organization that provides charities with tools that allow them to communicate with their supporters via e-mail and accept…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor