Volunteer Management Practices and Retention of Volunteers

This report is the second in a series of briefs on a 2003 survey of volunteer management capacity among public charities in the United States. It focuses on charities' adoption of nine volunteer management practices: supervision and communication, liability coverage, screening and matching, regular collection of volunteer numbers and hours written policies and job descriptions, recognition activities, measurement of volunteer impacts, training and professional development, and training for paid staff in working with volunteers. We report on the extent of adoption of these practices by charities with different characteristics, and the relationship between volunteer management practices and retention of volunteers

Collateral Damage: How the War on Terror Hurts Charities, Foundations, and the People They Serve

This paper is the result of collaborative research conducted by OMB Watch and Grantmakers Without Borders. We believe charities in the United States and throughout the world play a key role in democratic systems by giving citizens a vehicle for participation, providing tools and information that help people get involved, and delivering assistance to those in need. Since Sept. 11, 2001, we have witnessed counterterrorism programs erode the freedom and ability of charities and their funders to carry out their missions and improve the lives of the world's people. We believe that this is damaging civil society in the United States and negatively impacting the nation's reputation and effectiveness on the global stage. We hope this paper will serve as a resource for charities, foundations, and policymakers as they seek to understand the impacts that counterterrorism measures have on charities and as they look to develop more equitable policies that protect the inherent rights of charities and the people the organizations serve

Saint Vincent’s First Foundation: The Ladies of Charity

Vincent de Paul founded the first women’s Confraternity of Charity in 1617 to serve the sick poor’s spiritual and physical needs. When the parish Charities multiplied, Louise de Marillac supervised them, and the Daughters of Charity were founded to assist them. The first group known as the Ladies of Charity began in 1634. They spread to the United States in 1857. Twentieth century efforts there included distributing food, money, and clothing; operating orphanages and day nurseries; and visiting marginalized people. The Association of the Ladies of Charity of the United States (ALCUS) started in 1960. The International Association of Charities (AIC) assumed its current form in 1971

Donor-Advised Fund Report 2012

This report provides an up-to-date analysis of the donoradvised fund market. It is based on data collected during the second and third quarters of 2012 about donor-advised funds and charitable sponsors in fiscal year 2011. National Philanthropic Trust (NPT) studied 652 charitable organizations that administer donor-advised funds. Data in this report come primarily from public information returns (IRS Form 990), which fund sponsors filed with the IRS. Additional data came from audited financial statements, annual reports, organizational websites and news releases.Estimated charitable contributions in the United States in 2011 totaled $298 billion. Of those contributions, donor-advised fund accounts received$9.64 billion, or 3.2 percent of the total charitable giving for the year. National Charities that sponsor donor-advised funds (National Charities) received an estimated $4.75 billion in contributions in 2011, or 1.6 percent of all charitable giving in the United States. Community Foundations that sponsor donor-advised funds received about$2.39 billion, or 0.8 percent of all charitable giving in the United States in 2011. Single-Issue Charities that sponsor donor-advised funds (Single-Issue Charities) received $2.5 billion, or 0.8 percent of all charitable contributions in the country in 2011. In turn, grants to charitable organizations from donoradvised fund accounts totaled$7.7 billion. This marks the fifth consecutive year in which grants from donor-advised fund accounts have been more than $6 billion, and the first year ever that the total exceeds$7 billion

The Acclimation of Refugees to a Healthy and Prosperous Life in America

Refugees comprise a very niche subset of the U.S. population who often require immense guidance and assistance throughout their transition from life in refugee camps abroad to life in the United States of America. Whether their needs are primarily physical, emotional, financial, educational, or some combination of these, Catholic Charities Migration and Refugee Services in Cleveland, Ohio helps bridge existing gaps and aids newcomers in meeting these needs. The population served by this office includes refugees, asylees, Special Immigrant Visa holders, and immigrants of all ages, socioeconomic statuses, and medical needs in the greater Cleveland area. As the largest of the three northeast Ohio resettlement agencies, Catholic Charities Migration and Refugee Services works with these newcomers to the United States to help integrate families into the local community and assists with a variety of services, such as ESL lessons, legal aid, support for single moms, and health/wellness support/promotion

Local Regulation of Charitable Solicitation

Most discussions of the policy context for nonprofits in the United States focus on federal or state restrictions. Fundraising charities, however, must comply not only with myriad state requirements but an uncertain number of local requirements as well. Based on a survey of the largest cities in the United States, I find that all of these cities have some restrictions on charitable solicitation. Several of the cities also impose extensive registration requirements and other restrictions. These findings highlight the need for nonprofits to be aware of local regulation of their activities

Report On HIV/AIDS Grantmaking By U.S. Philanthropy

This report contains updated information on United States private, institutional grantmaking commitments in 2001 and 2002 focused on HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and internationally. It summarises the most up to date data on HIV-related grant commitments from all sectors of U.S. philanthropy, including private, family and community foundations, public charities, and corporate grantmaking programmes

A Model Partnership: The American Heart Association and Higher Education

The rapid growth of the nonbusiness, nongovernmental, third sector\u27\u27 during the past fifteen years has produced, de facto, a new type of professional manager. The small charities which once employed only a few community organizers and a secretary, now employ one out of every six professionals in the United States (Drucker, 1982)

Light-handed charity regulation: its effect on reporting practice in New Zealand

Internationally, there has been a steady increase in the number of countries instigating charity regulation. While the Charity Commission for England and Wales was established by the Charitable Trusts Acts of 1853, since 2005 the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, Charity Commission for Northern Ireland and the Singaporean Charity Council were established almost contemporaneously with New Zealand’s Charities Commission. In other countries (such as Canada and the United States) tax authorities register and monitor charitable activity leading to a perception that charities need regulation if the donating public's trust and confidence is to increase. Public interest theory suggests that regulation increases organisational transparency through reducing information asymmetry, protects (or encourages) a competitive market, leading to a distribution of resources which is in the public interest (Gaffikin, 2005). While these arguments are commonly used to call for regulation in the private (for profit) sphere, nonetheless they may explain the increase in the number of bodies regulating charities internationally. Notwithstanding a need for regulation, the cost of complying with these regimes is often an issue, especially for small and medium-sized charities and therefore regulator tend to take a light-handed approach to small and medium charities' information provision (for example, Hind, 2011; Morgan, 2010a). Responding to the call by Hyndman and McDonnell (2009) for research into charities regulation, its rationale and operation, this paper ascertains the impact of a light-handed enforcement regime on small and medium charities' reporting. In so doing, it analyses the General Purpose Financial Reporting (GPFR) practices of a selection of 300 small and medium-sized charities registered with the New Zealand Charities Commission against the Charities Act requirements and hence the rationale for this regulator. It uses this analysis to predict how the regulator's activities might impact future reporting practices of charities

The War on Terror and Islamic Charities: Securitisation and the Evolution of Policy and Practice

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects and impacts of the war on terror on Islamic charities, in the context of evolution of securitization in policy and practice following the events of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. In the aftermath of 911, a new international regime was instituted which led to increased securitization and risk management at the global, regional, and national levels. The thesis presents evidence that the effects of the new regulations on Islamic charities can be explained and analyzed using securitization frameworks. The study was conducted using qualitative research methodology involving systematic review of the literature. Utilizing this method allowed collection and analysis of a very broad array of both formal academic works and of media reports and grey literature which reflected the pulse of the international community on issues of terrorism and risk. Theoretical frameworks of societal security theory, Copenhagen school of securitization and the risk management theory were used to analyse and organize the research. Findings from the systematic literature review and case studies demonstrated that Islamic charities were negatively affected by the efforts of the United States, and global multilateral financial regulatory enforcement mechanisms such as Financial Action Task Force (FATF), banks, and national regulatory agencies of charitable works. The international community believed that through the process of heavy regulation, charities could be made less vulnerable to penetration by terror groups. In turn, they would be less like to fall prey to being a mechanism by which charitable funds could be transferred to terror groups. Even though the charities are not as vulnerable as the West believes, the US Treasury has continued to freeze and block assets of charitable foundations in an effort to counter terror. A number of initiatives by governments and civil societies to remove obstacles to humanitarian aid and reduce the negative impacts of laws developed as a result of the war on terror are presented in the study