Guest guest Posted June 11, 2001 Report Share Posted June 11, 2001 FYI, MM / NSIF ----- Original Message ----- From: Philanthropy Update Philanthropy Update List Sent: Friday, June 08, 2001 5:32 PM Subject: Philanthropy Update ========================================================== PHILANTHROPY UPDATE ========================================================== Today’s items: Gates even pearlier School reformers vs. unions Should cities tax nonprofits? Gypped scholarship winners going to college after all ========================================================== Philanthropy Update (June 8, 2001) Bill and Melinda Gates Add $2 Billion to Endowment, Seattle Post-Intelligencer. There they go again. The most generous couple in the world (you can look it up) have added another $2 billion to their foundation’s asset pool. Despite the near-constant stream of mega-grants the foundation has been issuing over the past year or so, their assets now stand at nearly $24 billion. A School Succeeds, A Union Fails, New York Daily News. Columnist Stanley Crouch breaks down the battle over school reform and opines that it is becoming increasingly clear that in many cases the two “sides” pitted against each other are reformers and teachers unions. At a recent event celebrating the 10th anniversary of Harlem’s highly successful Family Academy, Crouch was struck by how sharp this contrast has become. “As one left-wing acquaintance of mine said earlier that day: ‘That’s a hard piece for progressives to face these days—that the union itself is the obstacle to better education for working and underclass people.’” Crouch thinks “that’s because the union is dedicated not to excellent education, but rather to employment, salary increases and benefits. All unions should have those concerns. But the teachers union also should be able to let the proverbial chips fall where they may when it is obvious that a member is out of line or performing incompetently.” Some Nonprofits Should Ante Up to Aid Baltimore, Baltimore Sun. It’s a tension that’s been flaring up in a number of big cities that have a lot of acreage devoted to nonprofits: how to extract money from the nonprofits to offset the cost of city services and foregone tax revenue. The mayor of Baltimore, facing a budget crunch, has suggested that the city’s nonprofits “do their part” by agreeing to pay an energy tax. Guess what? Charities don’t like the idea. Here, the president of s Hopkins University, perhaps the largest nonprofit in the city, argues that taxing tax-exempt groups is a road he doesn’t want to see taken. “We have indicated to the mayor repeatedly that, while we oppose taxation of nonprofits on principle, we are willing to work with him on other ways of addressing the problem.” Joint Effort Makes Good on Scholarships, Washington Times. Remember the Washington-area students who were stiffed out of college scholarships when the “philanthropist” who promised them all scholarships turned out not to have the money? “I couldn’t believe that. It was frustrating. I didn’t know what to do,” one frustrated parent told the Times. Like the other parents of the scholarship “winners,” she hadn’t saved enough money to pay for college. Shortly after the story broke a few months ago, another local philanthropist (who did have money) tried to put together enough to honor the pledge. Now, with the help of a local government task force that responded to the story by matching the students with private donors, the students will be going to college after all. “Thanks to the funding that has been raised, we are excited about attending college in the fall,” said the class president, speaking for the 42 restored scholarship winners. =========================================================== =========================================================== The Philanthropy Roundtable (www.philanthropyroundtable.org) offers this daily summary of current information for donors and others interested in giving and issues related to it. “Philanthropy Update” covers the popular press throughout the United States and other relevant sources. This is a free service. To subscribe a colleague, simply email us with the word “subscribe” in the subject line. To unsubscribe, simply send email with the word “unsubscribe” in the subject line. If you have trouble accessing a link below, please call us at (202) 822-8333 and we will fax or email the requested article. If your email program is having difficulty interpreting links on the Update, let us know and we will switch you to the “plain text” version. =========================================================== =========================================================== Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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