Philanthropy Today - Philanthropy.com

These are items on other Web sites that are of interest to the nonprofit world. The Chronicle has no control over their content or availability. To reach the Philanthropy Today staff, send an e-mail message to daily.news@philanthropy.com

Compiled by Noelle Barton, Caroline Bermudez, Maria Di Mento, Candie Jones, Heather Joslyn, and Cassie Moore.

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January 06, 2009

Seattle Lung Charity Ordered by Court to Cut Ties to National Group

A superior court judge in Seattle ordered the Northwest chapter of the American Lung Association to stop using the word “lung” in its name and stop using donor lists belonging to the national organization, reports the Associated Press.

The national organization says the chapter breached its contract because it gave its Seattle headquarters building, and $600,000, to a different, new charity, the news agency reports. Mike Alderson, chief executive of the organization, said the new charity was created to do high-caliber fund raising to benefit his chapter and other lung-health-related organizations, the AP reports.

The dispute may be resolved in mediation, which was ordered by the judge, but a trial date has been set for June in case that fails.

Bush Library Foundation Will Not Disclose Donors

The foundation raising money for President Bush’s future presidential library at the Southern Methodist University campus in Dallas does not plan to disclose its donors’ identities, reports the Associated Press.

As of August, the George W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation had raised less than $3-million of the $300-million goal for the project, which will break ground in the fall of 2010, the news agency reports.

No law requires presidential library foundations to make donor names public, but Bill Clinton decided to do so after his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, was named secretary of state.

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Judge Rules in Favor of Islamic Charity on Wiretapping Complaint

A federal judge in San Francisco has agreed with an Islamic charity that says it might have been the target of government wiretapping conducted without court approval, reports the Associated Press.

The now-defunct Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, a group with headquarters in Saudi Arabia that maintained an American branch in Ashland, Ore., can now move forward with a lawsuit against the Bush administration’s Terrorist Surveillance Program, the news agency reports. The United States government considers the charity a terrorist organization.

As Times Get Tough, Museums Debate Stance on Selling Artworks

Tough economic times have forced museums to reconsider a long-held ethics policy on selling art from their collections, notes an article in The New York Times. But the issue is controversial.

Carmine Branagan, director of the National Academy Museum, in New York, faced more backlash than she had anticipated when the museum’s board decided to sell two Hudson River School paintings for about $15-million. The Association of Art Museum Directors responded to the sale with an e-mail message to its 190 members, denouncing the academy for “breaching one of the most basic and important of A.A.M.D.’s principles” and calling on members “to suspend any loans of works of art to and any collaborations on exhibitions with the National Academy.”

Ms. Branagan says the withdrawal of loans was a “death knell” for the museum.

Supporters of the ban on selling art to cover operating costs warn that institutions that do will suffer irreparable damage.

“Selling an object is a knee-jerk act, and it undermines core principles of a museum,” said Michael Conforti, president of the museum directors’ association and director of the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass. “There are always other options.”

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Opinion: Independence Is Philanthropy's Strength

The independence of the nonprofit world and its ability to take risks make it a valuable resource for President-elect Barack Obama as he faces the challenges awaiting him when he takes office this month, writes Jane Wales, in a column in The San Francisco Chronicle.

Ms. Wales, vice president for philanthropy and society at the Aspen Institute, argues that preserving the freedom of philanthropy will be vital to its partnership with the new administration.

Give and Take: Celebrity Activists

Angelina Jolie topped a poll of the best celebrity activists of the year, notes Give and Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Prospecting: Online Fund Raising

Online donations appear to be thriving even in the recession, according to a new study cited in Prospecting, The Chronicle’s fund-raising column.

From The Chronicle: The Outlook for 2009

Read the transcript of today’s discussion about the outlook for nonprofit groups this year.

January 05, 2009

Foundations Seek Active Role in Shaping Health Policy

California foundations and think tanks are adopting new approaches to push for changes in health-care policies both in the state and nationally, reports The Los Angeles Times.

Hoping to educate legislators in support of their ideas, several foundations have set up offices in Sacramento and hired former advisers to lawmakers to pursue advocacy efforts. Such tactics present new challenges for foundations, the newspaper notes, since they face legal prohibitions on partisan activities.

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Clinton Foundation Gift Attracts Scrutiny

Former President Bill Clinton’s foundation received a $100,000 donation in November 2004 from a New York developer whose mall project received millions of dollars in federal assistance around the same time it secured the help of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, reports The New York Times.

Weeks before the donation was made, Mrs. Clinton helped establish legislation that allowed Robert J. Congel to use tax-exempt bonds to help pay for the construction of the Destiny USA entertainment and shopping complex in Syracuse, N.Y. About nine months after the donation was made, she also helped obtain a provision in a highway bill that allocated $5-million for Destiny USA roadway construction.

Mr. Congel and Philippe Reines, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, both said there was no connection between Mr. Congel’s gift and her legislative efforts on behalf of his project. Mr. Reines said Mrs. Clinton supported the project “purely as part of her unwavering commitment to improving upstate New York’s struggling economy, and nothing more.”

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