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Catalogue Blog

In The News …

Good morning, Washington, and welcome to Wednesday! We have a number of news items that caught my eye in the past couple of days:

Top Fund Raisers in ‘Philanthropy 400′ Saw Steep Drop in Donations: according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy and Chronicle of Higher Education, “private giving to the nation’s biggest charities, including more than 100 colleges, dropped 11 percent last year.” More than 25% of those 400 are colleges or universities. However, four of the top 10 did experience an increase, including the AmeriCares Foundation (No. 3), which “achieved an 18.1-percent rise in giving, mostly in food, medicine, and other donated goods.”

Let’s Change the Way Nonprofits Find Money to Grow: do check out yesterday’s post on the Chronicle of Philanthropy Money and Mission blog. David Greco questions that steadily-more-pervasive notion that “the nonprofit model is broken and that we need to create new approaches based on business strategies” and instead considers the capital resources to which businesses have access — and which are often far less accessible to non-profits: “So if the issue for nonprofits is really the access to and the flow of capital, why don’t we just change the rules of how capital works for non-profits?”

DC schools dinner program aims to fight childhood hunger: the Post reported yesterday morning that public schools in the District have begun offering early dinner to nearly 10,000 students (that’s about 25% of the total DCPS enrollment), many of whom are now receiving all of their meals through the school system. According to public school officials, the programs goals are three-fold: “hedging against childhood hunger, reducing alarming rates of obesity and drawing more students to after-school programs.”

Gray Town Hall Tour: presumptive DC mayor-elect Vince Gray will make his fourth stop on a citywide town hall tour tonight at Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School in Ward 1. Meetings have already taken place in Wards 3, 5, and 7 and are planned for 2, 8, 4, and 6 for this week and next. His final stop will be at the Atlas Performing Arts Center on H Street NE on October 27. Check out the map for a full list of locations and dates.

Facebook charity app wins investors: the SF Gate Business Report revealed this past Monday that the for-profit company Causes has raised $9 million dollars in new donations through its Facebook app and will introduce giftcards into Safeway and Vons grocery stores this month. The article quotes recent Causes investor (and Salesforce.com CEO) Marc Benioff as saying, “If they were born in the ’60s, they would be protesting the war. Instead, they’re trying to change the world through the Internet.”

Finally, an important reminder … In Performance at the White House: tune into WETA Channel 26 tonight at 9:00 PM for A Broadway Celebration in the East Room and catch sixteen Joy of Motion dancers as they perform in the finale!

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