Diana Aviv

Technology’s power to rapidly mobilize swarms of individuals for social causes — bypassing traditional institutions like religious organizations and established charities — poses significant new problems for the nonprofit world, said Diana Aviv, chief executive of Independent Sector.

"When their particular interest has been fulfilled or their passion has diminished, whichever one comes first, they disband and there is no social capital that’s built," Aviv said.

It is one of a number of major challenges facing nonprofits, gleaned from more than a year of Independent Sector-led research, detailed by Aviv Friday.

Washington, D.C., July 28, 2009 — Today Independent Sector kicked off an innovative, collaborative initiative focused on strengthening the future of America’s 1.4 million charitable organizations. Drawing on people with wide-ranging nonprofit expertise, this effort is designed to empower individual organizations and the charitable sector as a whole to make a greater impact on lives and communities.

WASHINGTON, July 2, 2009 — BoardSource, the nation's leading resource on nonprofit governance, has collaborated with Independent Sector to produce a new tool to help nonprofits, foundations, and corporate philanthropy programs examine and improve their governance practices. The Principles Workbook: Steering Your Board toward Good Governance and Ethical Practice is designed to help the nonprofit community meet its commitment to upholding the highest standards of accountability -- and do so in a cost-effective way.

President Obama defends his proposal to cut the tax deductions that wealthy Americans can claim for their charitable donations by arguing that the shift would not have an adverse effect on giving, but two independent analyses concluded that the proposal could result in a drop of as much as $3.87 billion for the already reeling nonprofit sector.

Like many for-profit companies, charities are seeking help from the government, and they are upset that policy makers do not understand how much the recession has hurt them.

On Tuesday, the board of Glass Youth and Family Services in Los Angeles voted to file for bankruptcy protection, unable to overcome falling state reimbursements, rising costs and dwindling donations.