news/RESOURCES
SECTOR NEWS/RESOURCES
MAY 2003
New study shows that major donors are being neglected by UK charities
Managing Major Donors, a study published in May 2003 by the Institute of Philanthorpy and international finance experts, the Ansbacher group, has found that both the structure and culture of charities "inhibit the development of major donor fundraising".
http://society.guardian.co.uk/fundraising/story/0,8150,957018,00.html
(article)
Visit website (study in PDF format)
Report reveals that majority of UK charities do not practice socially responsible investing (SRI)
Do UK Charities Invest Responsibly?, published by the Charities Aid Foundation, Just Pensions and the Ethical Investment Research Service, finds that 60 percent of the charities surveyed had no written SRI or ethical investment policy, but that the wealthier charities and foundations were more likely to practice SRI.
http://www.socialfunds.com/news/article.cgi?sfArticleId=1122 (article)
http://www.justpensions.org/ukch2003-justpens.pdf (survey in PDF format)
Proposed German law on telephone marketing opposed by German Direct Marketing Association (DDV)
The DDV judges the draft version for reforming the Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb (Amendment of Law against Unfair Competition) presented by the Bundesministerium der Justiz (Federal German Ministry of Justice) on January 27th 2003 as only partly satisfactory - especially unacceptable are the regulations concerning telephone marketing.
http://www.ddv.de/englisch/5951_5309.html (article in English)
http://www.liberalisierung.ddv.de/ (more detailed article in German)
US donors must protect themselves from rogue telemarketers
The Supreme Court ruled on May 5 that charitable solicitors can face fraud suits only if they try to fool donors about how much of what they give actually goes to charity. The high costs of fundraising do not in themselves constitute fraud (in the case Telemarketing Associates kept 85 percent of what was raised).
http://www.philanthropyjournal.org/more.asp?ID=2764
http://www.nptimes.com/May03/breaknews.html
US Council on Foundations' bid to counter new Congress bill
Perceptions that foundation executives, trustees and family members are overcompensated and that other forms of excess and mismanagement are rife in foundations and other charities have led to government moves to eliminate administrative expenses from qualifying distributions for all private foundations. Also included in the proposed bill is a flat one percent excise tax on private foundation investment earnings.
http://www.cof.org/Content/General/Display.cfm?contentID=517
US Direct Marketing Association concern over proposed new US Postal Service (USPS) rule
NPOs and industry professionals have until 5 June to comment on a new ruling that is being proposed by the USPS. The new rule would exempt some fundraising mail from USPS guidelines, but there is confusion over whether this would help or hurt nonprofits.
http://www.nptimes.com/enews/May03/news/news-0503_3.html
European Fundraising Association launches new website
Find out more about the activities of the EFA by visiting its website.
http://www.efa-net.org/
GuideStar UK to launch online service in 2004
A UK Treasury matching grant equivalent to $4.75 million will help establish the GuideStar UK online database of financial and programme information on 180,000 charities in England and Wales. The chairman of GuideStar UK, which is seeking a British CEO, is Brian Smouha, retired head of the financial services practice for Deloitte & Touce in the UK.
