MAY 1995
VOLUME 2, ISSUE 9 / $5.00
PhiktitbropyJournal
Pledge-season blues
Rick Steves, host of the show, Travels, helps out during WUNC-TV's record-breaking $2 million pledge drive.
Photo courtesy of WUNC-TV
Public radio, TV turn to airwaves for cash
With government funding cuts to public
broadcasting looming, public radio
and TV stations are depending on
their on-air pledge drives more than
ever. But it’s a ^icult and delicate
art to master, they say.
By SusMi Gray
P ublic radio and television stations
take pride in their dignified use of
airwaves, transmitting classical
mnsic, nature programs and news analysis
to the public - all uninterrupted by com
mercial plugs for cars or beer.
But once a year - or, these days, as
often as two or three times a year - non-
MEDIA
profit stations take to the air to practice
their own form of marketing: asking the
audience to give money to keep the sta
tions afloat.
In March and April, pledge drives
sprouted across the state’s FM radio band,
which is home to 14 full-time public radio
stations, and on the state’s major public
TV station, the University of North
Carolina Center for PubUc Television.
March and April are when most public
stations hold on-air spring fundraisers.
But with government budget cuts to public
broadcasting looming, fundraising took on
a special urgency this year.
Some station managers say they even
may add an extra on-air fundraiser this
summer to compensate tor any funding
loss. It’s an unsavory idea, they say,
becanse as everyone in public broadcast
ing agrees: fundraising over the airwaves
is anything but easy.
First, public stations face an uphill bat
tle to convince their audience - accus
tomed to free access to radio and non
cable TV - to contribute money.
“We need to get people to understand
the concept of paying for public radio,”
says George Campbell, co-manager of
WZRU, an 8-month-old pubUc radio station
in Roanoke Rapids. “Commercial radio is
Look for PLEDGE, page 9
Barber Scotia
pins hopes on
new president
Plagued by debt and declining enrollment. Barber
Scotia College in Concord hopes to get back on
track with the approaching appointment of a
new president and major fundraising and
recruiting efforts.
By Ealena Callender
Concord
A fter a year-long, national search. Barber Scotia
College is on its why to choosing a new president.
When the Philanthropy Journal went to press, the
search had been narrowed to one candidate to succeed
interim President Mable McLean at the historically
black liberal arts col
lege in Concord.
While they had not
released any details
at press time, the board of trustees was expected to
announce a new president during the first week of this
month.
The new administrator will arrive at a time when
Barber Scotia is in the midst of a major fundraising
campaign aimed at addressing the twin troubles of sig
nificant debt and declining enrollment.
Trustees are hopeful that a new president will pro
vide the leadership the school needs to ensure a more
prosperous future.
“Because we’re at a crossroads, this is probably the
most critical search we’ve ever been throng,” says Tom
Ramseur, a member of the Barber Scotia board of
trustees and head of the search committee.
Barber Scotia College was founded in 1867 by the
Presbyterian Church. Originally named Scotia
Seminary, it was established to educate newly-freed
black women.
In 1991, enrollment at Barber Scotia had increased
to more than 600 - an enrollment large enou^ to cause
the school to turn some students away becanse the
school lacked the facilities to house them.
With plans for campus renovations and expansion
of academic programs, then-president Joel
Nwagbaraocha set the goal of building enrollment to
1,000 by this year.
Look for SCHOOL, page 22
Nonprofit hospital sales bring philanthropy windfalls
Across the country, sales of nonprofit
hospitals to for-profit health-care
organizations are creating new
foundations.
By Barbara Solow
Charlotte
When The Sisters of Mercy
announced in January that they were
selling two nonprofit hospitals in
Charlotte to a for-profit health-care
authority, they had a means of allaying
community concerns: The formation of
an approximately $115 million-asset
foundation that would continue the reU-
gious order’s nonprofit mission.
Although the sale of Mercy Health
Services Inc. to the Charlotte-
Mecklenburg Hospital Authority has not
been completed. The Sisters of Mercy
expect the new foundation to be up and
running by late this year or early in
1996.
Similar foundations are being creat
ed across the country as more nonprofit
hospitals are purchased by for-profit
businesses. Federal law requires that
HEALTH
the assets of 501(c)(3) nonprofits be
given to charity if their status changes.
State regulators, foundation officials
and health-care leaders are still trying
to make sense of the trend. Nobody
seems to know how widespread it will be
or what it ultimately will mean for phil
anthropy or health care.
Still, it’s hard to complain about the
addition of charitable resources.
“In all cases, this enriches the com
munity by providing some badly- needed
assets to help deal with the whole range
of health and social issnes we’re facing,”
says Bill Spencer, president of the
Charlotte-based Foundation for the
Carolinas. “Obviously, it’s a welcome
development.”
In addition to the foundation formed
from the pending sale of Mercy Hospital
and Mercy Hospital South in Charlotte,
other recent examples in the Southeast
include:
• The Assisi Foundation in Memphis,
Look for HOSPITALS, page 19
Nonprofit lead
ers find lessons
in recently ended
trial of William
Aramony, former
head of United
Way of America.
Page 4.
NSIDE
Connections 3
Corporate Giving 12
Fund Raising 14
Grants and Gifts 17
In May 16
Job Opportunities 20
Opinion 10
People 17
Professional Services...18
Bracing for cuts
Family tradition
Bridging the gap
Hometown giver
Housing nonprofits ore con
Established in 1953, the
To increase diversify in
Community leaders in
cerned that proposed cuts
Blumenthol Foundation in
nonprofit leadership posi
Albemarle says business
in federal funds will halt
Charlotte has resources and
tions, Network 2000
owner C.B. Crook has been
progress on affordable
reputation. Nonprofit lead
recruits, trains and helps
the heart and soul of a
housing.They ore working
ers soy the volunteer hours
place minority profession
number of key nonprofit
to persuade legislators
that members of the
als on the boards and
fundraising campaigns.
about the need for their
Blumenthol family devote to
committees of nonprofit
support.
charitable causes are as
important os their dollars.
agencies.
• Page 4
• Page 6
• Page 8
• Page 12
Regional magnet
The quality of life in
Asheville has attracted
numerous nonprofits and
volunteers. But community
leaders worry that the grow
ing number of organizations
is ovenvhelming donors.
• Page 14