Also in the News

Family Giving News, May 2004

This section of Family Giving News features brief overviews of a variety of other interesting and timely articles and perspectives on philanthropy. If you have a suggestion for a future edition of FGN, please email Sarah Trzepacz or contact the National Center at 202.293.3424.

Interview with Grantmakers for Effective Organizations' Executive Director Kathleen Enright
April 7, 2004, Philanthropy News Digest

Kathleen Enright discusses Grantmakers for Effective Organizations' mission to encourage its members to evaluate the effectiveness of their grantmaking strategies and mechanisms. GEO advocates an overhaul of application and reporting systems to lessen the administrative and financial burdens on non-profits; a larger number of long-term, general operating grants; and broader solicitation of grantee feedback by funders. In establishing a wide network of grantmakers and grantmaking organizations, Enright hopes that GEO will help funders "find new ways to combine our financial and intellectual assets, to share power and information, to breakdown traditional boundaries, and to work in new ways to collectively provide a larger value to society than we could do alone."
 

£100 Million: Scotland's Richest Tycoon Gives Away Fortune to Charity
April 19, 2001, Sunday Mail (Glasgow, Scotland)

Profoundly influenced by the example of Scottish-born philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, Tom Hunter, a Scots businessman worth over £500 million, pledges £100 million to various children's and educational charities. Initially Hunter dispensed grants by simply sending out checks, but this left him feeling frustrated. Now he applies the same business sense that amassed his fortune to his charitable endeavors: founding the Hunter Foundation and partnering with other charitable organizations and even the devolved Scottish government. The Foundation recently appointed Carnegie Corporation President Vartan Gregorian to its board and has begun to work with that organization on an educational innovation initiative.  Of his wealth and philanthropic goals, Hunter said: "Making money is only half the equation. It's what you do with it that makes you who you are."
 

Teresa Heinz Kerry's Philanthropy and the 2004 Race
April 22, 2004, National Public Radio

Following Teresa Heinz Kerry's announcement that she would continue her work on behalf of the Heinz Endowments were husband Senator John Kerry to be elected President, this National Public Radio report considers how her philanthropic works would be affected by her post as First Lady. Experts predict increased scrutiny of Heinz Charities' grantmaking choices to rule out conflicts of interest, and less latitude for creative grantmaking.


Giving's Power Couple
April 25, 2004, The Mercury News (San Jose, CA)
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Three years after winning the lottery, Alcario and Carmen Castellano have given away more than $700,000 to over 50 organizations that support Latino arts, culture, and leadership. Continuing a family tradition of service that predates their financial windfall and founding the Castellano Family Foundation—one of the few Latino family foundation's in the nation—the couple has brought capital into a community already blessed with a cultural philanthropic tradition. Of the day they discovered their $141 million stroke of good luck, Carmen said: "When we learned that we had won, it was early in the morning, too early to call our children . . .We sat down and wrote a list of groups that we wanted to help.''

Oregonians Open Up Their Pockets
April 25, 2004, The Oregonian

After several disappointing years of giving, Oregon rises from 40th to 15th among states for nonprofit giving. The Oregonian credits, in part, the work of the Oregon Community Foundation for its efforts to encourage donors of all income levels to become involved in local causes. Allowing donors to use a variety of assets to set up their donor-advised funds—including cash, stocks, real estate and bequests—the OCF has fostered giving in local communities and doubled its assets in the past five years to $505 million.

New Pew Trusts Merging Works into One Body 
April 27, 2004, New York Times
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After deciding to become a public charity, Pew Charitable Trusts is taking one step closer to centralizing operations of seven of its programs to form the Pew Research Center. By managing the consolidated organization rather than outsourcing management, Pew will eventually save $1 million a year in administrative costs. Says Andrew Kohut, future president of the Research Center: "There will be some economic benefits, but most importantly, when you get so many smart people together in one location under one roof, it will spur good ideas."

Lobbing Millions to Charity
April 29, 2004, Chronicle of Philanthropy
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A profile of the Andrι Agassi Charitable Foundation and its work on behalf of children's causes, this article take an in-depth look at the tennis star's commitment to creative philanthropic solutions. Inside Agassi's progressive charter school in his hometown, Las Vegas, his commitment to helping children acquire discipline and achieve success are clearly displayed. In addition, the article details an initiative backed by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation called the Sports Philanthropy Project, which is designed to encourage other successful professional athletes to follow suit. 

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