Foundations

Ted Hart discusses government funding with Mark McIntyre, senior vice president of federal funding and advocacy at Russ Reid, on the Nonprofit Coach.

Whole Foods Market is pleased to announce the Whole Kids Foundation, a charitable organization that will provide children with access to healthy food choices through partnerships with schools, educators and organizations.

By supporting schools and inspiring families, the Foundation aims to help children reach optimal health through the strength of a healthy body fueled by nutritious food choices.

Public school systems around the country may have spent the past several years starving for cash in this financially troubled era, but a new report shows that philanthropists doled out $684 million in private grants from 2000-08 to organizations involved in reforming the teaching profession.

The analysis, the first comprehensive examination of philanthropy activity in this area, showed that the biggest chunk of the money — 38 percent — went to teacher recruitment, while 22 percent was spent on professional development, 14 percent on teacher preparation and less than 10 percent for everything else.

Donor-advised funds are benefiting from small family foundations' closing or suffering drops in endowment assets as the costs and administrative burden of running the foundations have become too great.

“Families with private foundations are increasingly deciding to unwind foundations into donor-advised funds,” said Laura Solomon, an attorney at Laura Solomon & Associates who works with a few hundred charities and foundations. “The funds offer a cheaper solution with less administrative hassle and still allow families to further their charitable mission.”

Four fundraising experts discussed donor giving trends and what they mean for fundraisers at the Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater New York Chapter's Fund Raising Day in New York. Consultant Kathryn Slocum discussed institutional giving.

House lawmakers have introduced a bill that would change the way private foundations pay taxes on their investment income by creating a flat tax rate. The bill — which was introduced by Rep. Erik Paulsen, a Minnesota Republican, and Danny Davis, an Illinois Democrat — has the same language as proposed legislation that Sen. Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, introduced in the Senate in March.

Both the House and Senate bills call for eliminating the existing two-tiered tax rate and setting a flat tax of 1.39 percent.

Communications professionals at America’s grantmaking foundations are responding to the digital age, according to a new survey from the Communications Network. The survey of 155 foundation communicators shows U.S. foundations are making use of all forms of digital communications, especially social media, a top priority. The survey results suggest the growth of social media and other emerging digital technologies is changing the way foundations communicate with target audiences.

The Giving Pledge has inspired yet another pledge for big donors: Today more than 60 of the country’s foundations have signed Philanthropy’s Promise, a pledge to channel a majority of their grant money to needy people as well as to advocacy efforts and projects that encourage citizens to get involved in their communities.

It's difficult to resist petting these hard workers. But Freedom Service Dogs have a job to do. And the Englewood, Colo.-based organization that trains the canines and pairs them with people with disabilities who can benefit from these working dogs' help ensure that they're able to do that job.

The Center for Effective Philanthropy released a survey at its conference in Boston that injects some new data into the debate about whether foundations are doing enough — or too much, in the eyes of some — to measure their performance.

Seventy-two percent of the 537 foundation chief executives surveyed said that assessing their organization’s performance is a high priority, and 68 percent believe grant makers have made great progress in measuring their performance over the past decade.