News Briefing: Obamas' Favorite Charities in 2010

• Experts say that authorities have not donated enough resources to policing nonprofit groups.  [Reuters]

 

• The Obamas paid $245,075 to 36 charities in 2010.  [USA Today]

News Briefing: Google grants $2.5 million to Nelson Mandela Foundation and Desmond Tutu Peace Center

• Google gives $2.5 million to the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Desmond Tutu Peace Center to preserve and get online historical documents relating to South America's movement from apartheid to democracy.  [Los Angeles Times]

 

• Blue Cross Blue Shield voted to suspend their five-figure annual directors' payments.  [Boston Globe]

 

• An NPR executive is captured on hidden camera disparaging tea party members.  [Washington Post]

News Briefing: 2 Charities Set to End a Merger, Papers Say

• Smile Train and Operation Smile prepare to end their merger plans.  [New York Times]

 

• Blue Cross CEO receives $8.6M in exit deal.  [Boston Globe]

News Briefing: Robert Macauley, Founder of Humanitarian Aid Group, Dies at 87

• Robert Macauley, Founder of AmeriCares, dies at 87.  [New York Times]

 

• Executive Vice President of Booz Allen Hamilton discusses philanthropy with the Washington Post.  [Washington Post]

News Briefing: Boston to Ask More from Nonprofits

• UMass Memorial has suspended its recruitment of bone marrow donors in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island amid a multi-state investigation.  [Boston Globe]

 

• After years of study, a Boston task force has finalized a formula to calculate how much tax-exempt nonprofits should pay for police, fire, and other basic city services.  [Boston Globe]

News Briefing: Social Networks Meant for Social Good, but at a Price

• To many in the nonprofit world, the value of social networking sites for charity remains to be seen.  [New York Times]

• New York-based charity: water has built the largest Twitter following among U.S. nonprofits, according to a recent study.  [Bloomberg]

• A nonprofit subsidiary of UMass Memorial Medical Center used flirtatious models to enlist potential bone marrow donors.  [New York Times]

News Briefing: A Facebook Founder Begins a Social Network Focused on Charities

• Robert Ross, head of the California Endowment, is trying to use his organization's financial and political capital to drive change in 14 of California's poorest neighborhoods.  [Los Angeles Times]

 

• One of Facebook's founders unveils Jumo, which aims to connect people with nonprofits and charitable organizations.  [New York Times]

 

• According to a study by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative (NRC), 37 percent of charities reported a decline in giving in the first nine months of 2010.  [Seattle Times]

News Briefing: Bill Clinton Lobbies for Earthquake Aid to Haiti

• Bill Clinton lobbies for earthquake aid to Haiti.  [Associated Press]

• The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria does not reach its goal of $20 billion.  [New York Times]

• Massachusetts Attorney General recommends approval of the proposed sale of Caritas Christi Health Care to a New York private equity firm.  [Boston Globe]

News Briefing: Flood Victims' Protests Hamper Pakistan Aid Efforts

• Eight million people in Pakistan remain dependent on handouts for their survival, a month after monsoons triggered catastophic flooding throughout the country.  [Associated Foreign Press]

• Six men who were sexually abused thirty years ago by a leader of their Boy Scouts troop have settled lawsuits against the national organization.  [Associated Press]

• Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley says the board of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center should do some "soul-searching" about chief executive Paul Levy's ability to lead the hospital.  [Boston Globe]

News Briefing: New Test Seen as Big Advance in Diagnosing TB

• Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson dips into her personal funds to repay the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation about $31,000 for scholarships she awarded to four relatives and two chidlren of an aide.  [Dallas Morning News]

• Scientists are reporting a major advance in diagnosing tuberculosis:  A new test can reveal in less than two hours whether someone has the disease.  [Associated Press]

• Some aid groups believe that giving money to those recovering from disasters or war is often cheaper, more effective, and efficient than doling out food or other assistance.  [Associated Press]