Ukraine a Year After the Invasion: How Nonprofits and Donors Are Responding

Plus, Rep. David Cicilline will leave Congress to lead the Rhode Island Foundation. Also, a lawyer discusses Project Veritas’s firing of founder James O’Keefe over fear of losing its nonprofit status ADVERTISEMENT [Philanthropy Today Logo]( Did someone forward you this newsletter? [Sign up free]( to receive your own copy. You can now follow The Chronicle on [Apple News]( [Flipboard]( and [Google News](. INTERNATIONAL AID [One Year After the Ukranian Invasion: How Nonprofits and Donors Are Responding]( [STORY IMAGE]( Charities are helping Ukrainians in the United State cope, volunteers are packaging and shipping supplies to their war-torn country, and donors are navigating ethical issues. Plus: how philanthropy can help build [strong, stable, peaceful societies]( (opinion) ADVERTISEMENT TRANSITIONS [Rep. David Cicilline Will Depart Congress to Lead Rhode Island Foundation]( By M.J. Prest [STORY IMAGE]( Also, a former executive is returning to lead the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, and Rideback Rise, a new nonprofit group to help more people of color succeed in the entertainment industry, has named its first executive director. GOVERNMENT AND REGULATION [Project Veritas Fired James O’Keefe Over Fear of Losing Its Nonprofit Status — 5 Questions Answered]( By Samuel Brunson [STORY IMAGE]( A professor of law discusses the accusation, why it would matter if the organization lost its nonprofit status, and whether he thinks the IRS will investigate the group. ONLINE BRIEFINGS [Using Data Analytics to Attract and Retain Members]( [STORY IMAGE]( Trade associations and other nonprofits that rely on membership revenue employ a variety of strategies to recruit and retain people, such as hosting conferences and selling reports and research, but data from these activities often is stored in different places and can be difficult to reconcile with member records. How can nonprofits use data to maximize membership revenue and build community? Join us Tuesday, February 28, at 2 p.m. Eastern to learn from leaders who are putting their data to practical use with good results. [Register Today.]( SPONSOR CONTENT | CCS [CCS Examines Philanthropic Trends Amid Steady Giving in Eleventh-Edition Report]( Nonprofit News From Elsewhere Online The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual list of the top 50 donors highlights some persistent truths about big philanthropy — it is overwhelmingly white and rather secretive — but offers a few “glimmers of change.” Only one person of color, Nvidia Corporation founder Jen-Hsun Huang, appears on the list, and some obvious names are absent. MacKenzie Scott, who has given away at least $14 billion since 2019, along with Melinda French Gates, do not appear because they declined to provide complete information on their donations. That secrecy, and the lack of broad public disclosure requirements, is decried by advocates and experts who argue that a small group of people with nearly unimaginable wealth are setting social, economic, and scientific agendas for the rest of us, unaccountably. “That tussle between how much accountability the public can demand and how much discretion a donor can claim is one of the definitional tensions of the current moment,” Benjamin Soskis, an expert on philanthropy at the Urban Institute, said. Among the signs of change are the debuts of 26 donors on the list and a trend of earmarking academic and other institutional donations for purposes dear to a donor, such as climate change or social and racial justice. ([Vox]( and [Barron’s]( Background from the Chronicle: [The 2022 Philanthropy 50: Who Gives the Most to Charity]( The Sierra Club’s first leader of color says the environmental movement and the struggle for racial and economic equity are inextricably linked. Ben Jealous, who formerly led the NAACP, took the reins of the 131-year-old environmental nonprofit last month after a period of tumult over its history, management, and culture. He said he wants to focus on communities that bear the brunt of pollution and despoilation, while reaching out to impoverished regions, for instance West Virginia’s coal country, that embrace environmental destruction in exchange for jobs. And he wants to do it while maintaining a large coalition of volunteers and state offices that sometimes gives rise to tensions. Jealous also wants to steer the movement clear of the increasing internecine squabbling over open spaces versus solar farms, by pushing to have the panels affixed to office or industrial structures. ([Los Angeles Times]( More News - Amazon Announces New Philanthropist Program to Replace AmazonSmile ([Cord Cutters News]( - Who’s Behind The Billions Flowing Into Philanthropy? ([Devex]( - Voice of Change: 16 U.S. Black Nonprofit Leaders Receive $50,000 Grants ([Barron’s]( - Obama Foundation President David Simas Is leaving ([Crain’s Chicago Business]( - Critics Say Many Va. Hospitals Offer Little Charity Care ([Radio IQ]( Nonprofit Innovation - One Year Inside a Radical New Approach to America’s Overdose Crisis ([New York Times](. Background from the Chronicle: [Safe Injection Sites for Drug Users Are a Tough Sell to Foundations]( - Opinion: A Philanthropist-Funded Program Showed That Summer School Can Remedy Pandemic Learning Loss ([Wall Street Journal]( — subscription) - A ‘Baby Bond’ Bill to Give Every Child $1,000 at Birth Has Been Reintroduced in Congress. How It Would Work ([CNBC](. Background from the Chronicle: [Creating Wealth With ‘Baby Bonds’]( - Where N.Y.’s Sick Sea Turtles Go for Rehab and Squid Snacks ([New York Times]( - A Puerto Rican Journalist Is Helping Crowdfund Independent Journalism on the Island ([Nieman Lab]( - Girl Scouts of Colorado Unveil the Country’s First DreamLab ([5280]( - Foundation Started by Virginia Tech Shooting Victim Aims to Improve School Safety ([NPR]( - In Lowell, Mass., Fighting Hunger With Food Pantries in Schools ([Boston Globe]( SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHRONICLE Enjoying the newsletter? [Subscribe today]( for unlimited access to nonprofit news and analysis. Editor's Picks ANALYSIS [America’s Top Donors Are Helping to Shape the Future in an Old-Fashioned Way]( By Maria Di Mento and Drew Lindsay [STORY IMAGE]( Many of 2022 largest donors hewed closely to decades-old conventions of philanthropy. Two areas that attracted significant support: scholarships and medical research. Plus: See our entire [special report]( on the Philanthropy 50. DISASTER GIVING [Turkey-Syria Earthquake Hits a Region in Crisis U.S. Donors Have Long Neglected. Will That Change?]( By Drew Lindsay [STORY IMAGE]( The U.S. charitable response to the disaster offers a mixed forecast of giving in the long run. OPINION [Donors Leery of Supporting Grassroots Organizing Need to Rethink How They Approach Such Work]( By Ben Naimark-Rowse [STORY IMAGE]( The perceived messy work of building movements often scares away grant makers, but these efforts are critical to creating equitable societies. Donors need to adopt new practices and strategies to measure and support them. FUNDRAISING [Value of Big Gifts Declines, Report Finds, but ‘Money Is Still There’]( By Emily Haynes [STORY IMAGE]( Despite the year-over-year decrease in the value of gifts of $10 million or more, the number of those gifts actually increased 3 percent from 2021 to 2022. EVENT FUNDRAISING [Top 30 Walkathons and Similar Fundraising Events Raised More Than $1 Billion in 2022]( By Rasheeda Childress [STORY IMAGE]( They took a tumble during the worst of the pandemic, with steep decreases in the amounts raised, but they’re beginning to thrive again. SPONSOR CONTENT | Independent Sector [Overcoming the Hurdles to our Humanity]( Implicit biases are those unconscious beliefs that we all have down deep. They can be defined as our reaction when we see someone different from ourselves. But how does it affect our healthcare system? ADVERTISEMENT RECOMMENDED WEBINAR [Join Our Next Webinar]( — Fluctuations in the economy can be unsettling for fundraising, but now is a good time to focus on donor-advised funds because that money has already been set aside for charitable giving. How can your nonprofit appeal to DAF donors and make it seamless for them to give? During this 75-minute webinar, you'll get an insider's view of how and why wealthy individuals open DAFs at one community foundation and you'll learn directly from a wealth adviser how to connect with those who hold DAFs, what motivates them to make a distribution, and how to capture their interest. Join us March 9 at 2 p.m. Eastern or on demand at your convenience. You’ll also learn why it’s important to stay on top of changes in financial policies and trends in wealth management and how to inspire donors to give. [Register today.]( JOB OPPORTUNITIES [Manager, Development Operations]( Results Educational Fund [Deputy Director of Development for the Climate & Energy Program]( Third Way [Director of Development, The Shepherd School of Music]( Rice University [Chief Development Officer]( Goodwill Southern California [Search other jobs.]( NEWSLETTER FEEDBACK [Please let us know what you thought of today's newsletter in this three-question survey](. 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