November 1996
Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina • 11
Media notebook
By Todd Cohen
Wall Street Journal
covering nonprofits
The Wall Street Journal has cre
ated a nonprofit beat and assigned it
to Monica Langley, a lawyer and for
mer Journal reporter. Langley who
is based in Knoxville, Tenn., already
has filed some hard-hitting stories on
the sector.
On Sept. 30, for example, the
Journal reported that NationsBank
Corp. in Charlotte, as executor of the
estate of Georgia editor and publish
er who died in 1945, had agreed to
establish a charitable trust that final
ly would carry out the publisher’s
will directing that the bulk of his
wealth be used to help poor blacks
with medical care.
Langley had reported several
days earlier on complaints by family
members about “the original execu
tor’s practice - continued by
NationsBank of Charlotte, N.C.,
which took over the estate in 1991 -
that still stalls any payments to
blacks until the last of Mr. [WT]
Anderson’s heirs are dead.”
The original bequest of $600,000
“has grown at a paltry rate of less
than 3 percent a year to only $2 mil
lion, a sum that the [state] attorney
general’s office says is as much as
$2.9 million lower than it should be
under conservative invetsment prac
tices,” the Journal said.
“Furthermore, the executor was pay
ing federal income taxes on the
estate - even though charitable trusts
aren’t required to make such pay
ments.”
NationsBank “doesn’t dispute
mistakes were made - indeed, it
agreed to reimburse the Anderson
account for $277,214 for the federal
income taxes that were mispaid
either by it or predecessors,” the
Journal said Sept. 27. “But the bank
says it has followed the letter of the
law and is making efforts to resolve
the matter amicably with the heirs.”
After the first Journal story,
NationsBank said it would begin
making annual contributions of
$100,000 to an advisory committee
the bank wfil set up to carry out
Anderson’s trust. An Anderson
descendent said the plan was “too
little, too late.”
Hospital mergers
On Oct. 18, in a story by Lan^ey
and another reporter, the Journal
reported on the binge by for-profit
chains to buy nonprofit hospitals.
“The chains promise titter cost
control and the bottom-line focus
being demanded by employers,
insurance companies and health-
maintenance organizations,” the
Journal said. “They maintain, as
well that they offer greater efficiency,
more-standardized care and better
customer service.
“Opponents, however, fear hand
ing over control to far away execu
tive of what is often a prized commu
nity fixture. [State] attorneys gener
al w'orry that cost control will cut into
charity care and preventive
medicine. Others fear that in doing
these deals, officials of nonprofit hos
pitals may be unequal to the task of
negotiating with big corporations’
high-powered lawyers, or tempted by
fat bonuses to sign away their hospi
tals for less than fair value. Some
communities also decry the diversion
of profits to out-of-state coffers.”
Civic joumalism
The Wall Street Journal on Oct.
18 also reported on a major initiative
by the Pew Charitable Trusts in
Philadelphia to influence a growing
number of newspapers in the U.S. by
funding “civic journalism” projects
that aim to reconnect readers with
their communities.
“With $3.8 billion in assets,” the
Journal said, “the Pew foundation
has had quick success spreading the
gospel,” and since 1994 has helped
fund “unusual experiments to make
[more than 30] newspapers, their
communities and their readers part
ners working to improve society.”
The Journal also reported that
“some journalists argue that the Pew
foundation is pushing the press in
the wrong direction - one that turns
newspapers into advocates and dis
courages reporters from exposing
wron^oing and failure. At the same
time, even some of the strongest pro
ponents of civic journalism are reluc
tant to accept money from Pew.”
Bald Head erosion
A controversy over artificial
beach protection at Bald Head Island
has been fanned by Hurricane Fran,
The New York Times reported Sept.
24. Conservationists fear the
September storm will prompt other
beach communities to seek a state
waiver like the one Bald Head
received last year from a state policy
outlawing jetties, sea walls or other
obstructions to the natural wearing
away of sand, the Times said. Bald
Head subsequently built 16 huge
sand-filled tubes along the shoreline.
Conservationists say local ero
sion-prevention efforts likely won’t
succeed and can starve nearby
beaches of sand that otherwise
would shift naturally.
“With the hurricane, probably the
pressure is going to be enormous for
these types of tubes up and down the
coast,” Todd Miller, executive direc
tor of the North Carolina Coastal
Federal Federation told the Times.
Look for MEDIA, page 13
Change
Continued from page 10
communities and dig deeper into
social concerns.
Critics, however, say civic journal
ism simply creates the illusion of
depth and community connectedness
to cloak a widespread retreat on the
part of the news media from the hard
and patient work required to provide
daily coverage of the struggle to
make our communities better places
to live and work.
Readers and viewers should
indeed be able to get what they want
from the news media - including a
daily fix of crime and gossip. But the
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media also should deUver news and
information that will help people sort
out what’s going on in the world and
in their communities - even if the
“need” for that information doesn’t
rank high in a focus group or market
survey.
As news organizations strug^e to
redefine their role in our communi
ties, they have a powerful opportuni
ty to make a difference by giving their
customers news and information that
truly helps them become better par
ticipants in community life.
And people working in and with
the nonprofit sector have an equally
powerful opportunity to help the
media better understand the crucial
role that philanthropy - nonprofits,
foundations, voluntarism, charitable
giving, corporate giving and
fundraising - plays in making our
communities better places to live and
work.
Todd Cohen
Journal launches Webchat
Surfers on the World Wide Web
soon will be able to participate in
online Web chat with newsmakers
from the nonprofit world at
Philanthropy Journal Online.
Philanthropy Journal Online, an
electronic arm of the Philanthropy
Journal of North Carolina, will host
its first online Nonprofit Web Chat on
November 18 when Don Wells,
statewide coordinator for Duke
University’s certificate program in
nonprofit management appears in the
Journal’s Webchat room.
Wells will be present in the Web
room, virtually speaking, from 2 p.m.
to 4 p.m. He will be interviewed by
Sean Bailey, Journal’s director of
new media.
The public is invited to participate
in this “virtual talk show^” which rep
resents an experiment for
Philanthropy Journal Online.
Web chat is a relatively new addi
tion to World Wide Web technology.
To participate, computer users will
need to have a World Wide Web
browser that is capable of handling
“forms.” This type of brow'ser
includes most
Netscape and
Microsoft browsers
and version 3.0 of
the America Online
browser.
Webchatting
does not require a
participant’s con
stant attention. In
fact, one can easily
“tune in” to the
conversation, follow its drift whOe
doing other activities, and then jump
in and ask a question or make a com
ment when moved by a topic.
Web surfers will be able to partic-
Don Wells
ipate in one of three ways. First,
someone wanting to participate may
visit Philanthropy Journal Online’s
site at http://philanthropy-
joumaI.org and follow the links to the
Web chat room. Once there, partici
pants may post a question for Wells to
answer during his appearance.
Second, computer users may
come to the Web site during the inter
view. After arriving at the site, partic
ipants should follow the links and
directions and read the interview as it
has been unfolding. At the appropri
ate time, anyone may jump in and ask
a question or make a comment.
Computer users who can’t make it
to the live event may come to the Web
site later, read the transcript of the
interview and ask any additional
questions by sending email to Wells.
For information, send email to
sbailey@mindspring.com
Kidder
Continued from page 10
its who focus on ethics.
JOURNAL: And you’re saying
you’d like to see more of that explicit
focus?
KIDDER: Yes, absolutely. Let me
tell you why I am so passionate about
these issues. In 1989, when I was a
columnist with TYie Christian
Science Monitor, I was one of the
first reporters to tour the Chernobyl
nuclear power plant [in Russia after
the explosion]. The story I pieced
together from the people I visited can
only be described as a moral melt
down. There were two engineers who
basically performed an experiment.
They h^ to override alarm systems.
There was talk of guns being held to
people’s heads...Chernobyl was and
remains the world’s largest industrial
accident. This kind of event and the
extent of the damage is new stuff. We
could not have done this in the 19th
century. All of a sudden, what we’re
seeing is technology leveraging
ethics. All of a sudden, we’re no
longer talking about ethics as a pleas
ant diversion. It’s a matter of sur
vival. The real risk is that we won’t
survive the 21st century with the
ethics of the 20th century.
So where is the nonprofit sector in
all of this? It pours money into educa
tion, the environment. But where is
the sector in this big agenda item for
the 21st century? Interestin^y corpo
rations are a bit out in front of the
curve on this. They are funding char
acter education and are teaching
ethics. In that sense, there is some
thing going on that, fortunately is
changing.
JOURNAL: The nonprofit sector
has a reputation for being more ethi
cal than the for-profit sector or gov
ernment. Do you buy that?
KIDDER: Yes, I do. Interestingly,
because of the charitable impulse and
the fiduciary responsibility of han
dling someone else’s money, we [non
profits] are held to a higher standard.
People will forgive politicians major
character flaws or businesses. But
they are not so willing to forgive the
nonprofit sector.
JOURNAL: What would you like
to see happen to create more of a
focus on ethics in the sector?
KIDDER: What we most need
ri^t now is a language - a language
of public discourse that allows people
to talk about ethics without sounding
like they are from the 19th century or
some fringe political group or simply
naive. There are ways to address
these issues. ’When you look at the
world through the lens of ethics, you
see things you normafiy wouldn’t see.
And the sooner we develop that lan
guage, the better.
JOURNAL: Do you think people
can agree on a common set of ethical
standards?
KIDDER: You know, the topic that
got us started at the institute was a
book called “Shared Values for a
Troubled World.” We did interviews
in many different countries with
many different kinds of people - black
and white, old and young, rich and
poor. We asked, ‘If you could formu
late a global code of ethics, what
would it be?’ And we ended up talking
about ei^t values we have in com
mon as a world. 'They are: love/car
ing, truth/honesty: freedom (which
was talked about in every cmmtry in
the world but the U.S. Here, we take it
for granted); fairness/equity; commu
nity/unity; tolerance;
responsibility/accountability; and
something I call “respect for life,”
which relates to not killing and pre
serving the environment.
At the institute, we are the educa
tion partner for the Council on
Foundations. And as we do these
seminars for foundations and for cor
porate groups, military academies,
schools - we’ve done seminars for
about 5,000 people at this point in
seven or ei^t different countries -
you find these things so common, that
you are forced to conclude that there
really is a set of shared moral values.
JOURNAL: Can nonprofits recov
er the public trust they’ve lost
through such things as the Aramony
scandal?
KIDDER: I don’t know if the sec
tor has lost public trust. Peopie have
become more astute in their giving.
And they know they can get ripped off
in the nonprofit sector - unfortunate
ly I think it helps to have organiza
tions out there like Independent
Sector, so people know that nonprof
its can police themselves. But we
have to be more proactive. The oppor
tunities for scams are now enhanced
because of technology And we have
to be very aware of efforts to take
away the tax benefits of nonprofits.
JOURNAL: What are the major
forces that shape people’s ethics?
KIDDER: 'lliat’s a huge question.
In the past, it’s been a three-legged
stool. And the legs have been family,
the religious entity and the communi
ty, as typically represented by the
school. I think you can argue that two
of those legs have been kicked out
and the whole thing today gets
thrown back on the community - the
schools. And the schools are saying
they can’t handle the whole burden.
JOURNAL: Is there anything
you’d like to add?
KIDDER: Getting to the idea of
what other countries think of us and
the importance of our third sector,
one of the things that communism
was almost perfect at was destroying
a sense of ethics within individuals.
Law and government becomes your
enemy so you try to find a way
around and through that thicket.
When you take the controlling mech
anism off of that, in many of those
[former Communist] countries, the
ethical atmosphere is at rock bottom.
At the same time, these countries are
deeply interested in becoming part of
the European Union and the West.
’They’re saying, “We know there is
this thing called ethics that matters in
the business community How do we
get it?” I think we have a tremendous
opportunity to, I wouldn’t say export
ethics, but to export ethical concep
tions - the decision-making models,
what we call in our Institute “ethical
fitness.” And that is what the non
profit sector is all about - creating
those structures for a civil society It
really is our third sector.
COVITZ
Continued from page 10
dures, long-range and strategic plan
ning, writing'improving case for sup
port, writing/analyzing mission state
ment, prioritizing responsibilities,
development references, records and
financial reporting, computers, hard
ware and software for the job, board
relationships, administrative rela
tionships, staff relationships, self
development/career planning.
• Volunteers - role of the board in
development, role of development
committee, selection and orientation,
management of volunteers for special
events, fundraising.
• Methodology - annual cam
paigns, direct mail, major gifts, grant
writing, capital campaigns, special
events, planned gifts, memorid and
honor gifts, corporate support, foun
dation support, staff/employee cam
paigns, phon-a-thons/telemarketing.
• Donor recognition - gift clubs,
premiums, recognition.
• Marketing - public relations
vehicles, relationships with the
press, donor publications, newslet
ters, annual reports, organizational
image/advertising.
The mentor evaluates the part
ner’s level of expertise, and the part
ner indicates where help is needed.
The two sets of responses are com
piled and the mentors and their part
ners are matched. Because the 'lYiad
chapter serves a wide geographic
area, matches also are based upon
the proximity of the two participants.
The mentor’s responsibilities
include establishing times, dates, and
locations of meetings; goals and
objectives; maintaining confidentiali
ty of any shared information; and
working with the partner for one year.
The partner’s responsibilities
include attending meetings; estab
lishing goals and objectives; report
ing on progress at each quarterly
meeting; and working with the men
tor for one year.
At the end of the year, both the
mentor and the partner complete an
evaluation form that will be used to
refine and improve the program.
'This new program has many ben
efits. Experienced fundraisers get a
chance to reinforce their skills while
enjoying the satisfaction of helping
newcomers become confident in their
work. 'The partner has the benefit of
learning from a professional who has
“been there and done that.” It also
enables the partner to avoid costly
mistakes that inexperienced practi
tioners often learn first-hand. 'The
mentoring program is another one of
the benefits of NSFRE membership.