July 1998
Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina
15
Media notebook
The Economist says
entrepreneurs should
embrace charity
America’s nonprofit sector
needs a booster shot from the
ultra-rich in the form of financial
support reinforced by hands-on
entrepreneurial engagement, The
Economist said in a cover story
and editwial on American philan
thropy in its May 30 edition.
So far, the magazine reported,
“American philanthropy has drawn
too little on the money and ideas of
the new generation of
entrepreneurs that is currently
reshaping American business.”
Charity today “is often thrown
away on things like renaming busi
ness schools,” the editorial said.
“Philanthropy needs the bright
ideas of the new corporate leaders
as much as it needs their cash.”
Philanthropy, it said, “is part of
the unspoken contract that under
pins the American dream. If that
contract is broken, a backlash is
likely. Every American, rich and
poor, would lose.”
Wealthy discover how
to retain control
Rich people have found a strat
egy to give their assets to charity
and still retain control of them, The
Wall Street Journal reported May
29. A so-called “supporting organi
zation,” or “SO,” the Journal said,
provides “all the big tax breaks
designed to encourage public phi
lanthropy yet it operates much like
a private foundation.
By parking their land, art or
money in this form of charitable
entity, donors can maintain an
unusual degree of influence for
years: The SO’s board, tj’picaUy
appointed by the donor, oversees
the assets’ use or income into per
petuity.”
Johnson works magic
in inner-city
NBA superstar Magic Johnson
is applying his innovative and col
laborative basketball skills to
reviving inner-city neighborhoods,
Newsweek reported in its June 15
edition.
“He has emerged as the stand-
bearer for Black Capitahsm, an old
and provocative strategy for black
economic development,” the maga
zine said.
“Black Capitahsm advances the
idea of group self-help, emphasiz
ing the role that wealthy iMrican-
Ameicans can play in helping revi
talize black communities - while
personaUy profiting. Johnson has
adapted the notion for today’s busi
ness trends of strategic partner
ships and branding.”
Based in Los Angeles but
branching out to Houston and
other U.S. cities, Johnson’s opera
tions are run out of the Johnson
Development Corp. and include the
Magic Johnson Foundation.
Nonprofit exports
sterilization
Through their nonprofit group,
a Chapel Hill man and his partner
are exporting potentially deadly
chemical sterilization to some of
the world’s poorest women. The
Wall Street Journal reported June
18.
Pellets consisting of a com
pound known as quinacrine and
made in Switzerland are inserted
directly into the uterus, preventing
pregnancy by scarring the fallopi
an tubes. No anesthesia is used
and the procedure is painful and
has short-term side-effects for
many women, the Journal said.
Longer-term consequences are less
certain but more ominous.
“Because questions of safety
and effectiveness haven’t been
resolved, quinacrine sterilizations
aren’t permitted in the U.S.,” the
Journal said.
“They are also opposed by near
ly aO major family-planning organi
zations and by many foreign gov
ernments. In 1993, the World
Health Organization declared that,
pending further lab research,
quinacrine shouldn’t be used to
sterilize women in any country
because of the potential cancer
risk.”
The pellets are distributed by
the nonprofit Center for Research
on Population and Security, run by
Stephen D. Mumford of Chapel Hill
and his partner, contraceptive
resarcher Elton Kessel.
Nonprofits post
welfare success
Some modest nonprofit strate
gies for moving welfare recipients
into the workforce have been more
effective than large-scale public
efforts. The New York Times
reported June 16.
“In many w'ays, these small-
scale programs represent a sharp
counterpoint to New York City’s
mammoth w'orkfare program, in
w'hich more than 32,000 w'elfare
recipients sw^eep streets and
answer phones in city agencies in
return for public assistance.
“Proponents say the private
approaches offer more promise
because they teach people specific
skills and provide many routes out
of welfare - instead of just handing
recipients a broom or ordering
them to file papers, as New York’s
program typically does.”
Powell fights skepticism
on volunteerism
A year after a national summit
on volunteerism, retired Gen. Cohn
Powell is working to overcome
doubts about the ambitious effort
he’s heading to enlist an army of
volunteers to improve the hves of
American youngsters. The New
York Times reported June 14.
“An American hero accustomed
to ticker tape, the retired general
and former chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff has seen his profile
fade somewhat from the national
spotlight as he has undertken a
mission that in some ways is more
compolicated than battlefield logis
tics and whose success is harder to
measure.”
The Times also said Powell
“concedes that his group
[America’s Promise] was also
taken by surprise by the turf con
cerns among other philanthropic
organizations, and he works to dis
pel the notion that America’s
Promise is a new' charitable com
petitor. Rather, he says, it is an
umbrella organization that acts as
a go-betw'een for givers and social
ser\dce groups.”
Fundraising consumes
college presidents
University presidents spend
more time fundraising and put less
emphasis on being spokespeople
for their institutions than did their
predecessors, said an essay in the
June 1 edition of The New
Republic.
“As universities have become
more like other businesses, their
presidencies have attracted admin
istrators and fundraisers more
than scholars and visionaries,”
wrote David Greenberg, a fellow in
American history at Columbia
University.
Bill protects charity
gifts from debtors
It will be easier for churches
and charities to keep donations
from people who have filed for
bankruptcy and for those debtors
to continue making charitable
donations. The New York Times
reported June 4.
The current tax code treats a
person’s donation within a year of
filing for bankruptcy as a fradulent
effort to hide assets. Under the new
law, even if a donation is made
shortly before a person files for
Look for MEDIA NOTEBOOK, page 20
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