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Google gives $2.5 million to the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Desmond Tutu Peace Center to preserve and get online historical documents relating to South America's movement from apartheid to democracy.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: 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: PayPal Co-Founder Peter Thiel's Unorthodox Take on Philanthropy

• Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, discusses Silicon Valley philanthropy.  [Wall Street Journal]

 

• A Texas couple and head of an Oregon charity secretly sent millions of dollars to an Iranian bank.  [Associated Press]

News Briefing: 16 Tycoons Agree to Give Away Fortunes

• The U.S. Agency for International Development suspends the Academy for Educational Development from receiving new government contracts because of an ongoing investigation.  [Washington Post]

• Another 17 wealthy individuals pledge to give away most of their money.  [Wall Street Journal]

• The Food Bank Council of Michigan receives $800,000 from the Walmart Foundation.  [Chicago Tribune]

• The donations ban on the iPhone charity apps is irritating nonprofits.  [New York Times]

News Briefing: Global Fund Suspends Malaria, TB Grants in Mali

• The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria suspends grants in Mali.  [Associated Press]

 

• Bill and Melinda Gates top a Barron's list of the world's 25 best philanthropists.  [Bloomberg]

 

• Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel convenes an unusual philanthropic summit - one where wealthy tech figures will be introduced to nonprofits exploring futuristic ideas.  [San Jose Mercury News]

 

• Taking longer than some thought it would, Alicia Keys' "digital death" campaign for Keep a Child Alive raises $1 million.  [ABC News]

News Briefing: Nonprofits Fear Losing Tax Benefit

• Suicide prevention groups are increasingly focusing their attentions online.  [Associated Press]

 

• Indian billionaires begin to heed the philanthropy call.  [Wall Street Journal]

 

• Nonprofits fear losing tax deduction benefits.  [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: To Help Donors Choose, Web Site Alters How It Sizes Up Charities

• As the number of millionaires rises in the Asia-Pacific region, so too does the demand for philanthropy-related advisory services.  [New York Times]

 

• Charity Navigator embarks on an overhaul to offer a wider array of information to donors who are deciding which organizations they might help.  [New York Times]

 

• Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, and Justin Timberlake join other celebrities in a charity campaign called Digital Life Sacrifice.  [Associated Press]

 

• High-tech campaigns sweep the nonprofit world.  [Denver Post]

 

• U.S. nonprofit organizations are seeing a slight increase in donations.  [Associated Press]

News Briefing: Paul Newman's Legacy Lives On

• Newman's Own announces that it has passed the $300 million mark in charitable donations since its founding in 1982.  [USA Today]

 

• Delaware Valley College receives a $30 million donation.  [Associated Press]

 

• Internet company Causes focuses on connecting users to charities online.  [Los Angeles Times]

News Briefing: Nonprofits Rush to Solicit Donations via Text, but the System Is Flawed

The OpenCourseWare Consortium, a worldwide organization of about 250 academic institutions around the world, makes lecture notes and course assignments available to anyone with an Internet connection.  [New York Times]

Many nonprofits cannot afford the kind of promotional campaign needed to publicize mobile giving efforts.  [New York Times]

A growing number of successful Indian entrepreneurs enter the charitable giving realm.  [Washington Post]

Nine scientists receive $1 million each from the Gates Foundation to research novel solutions to global health problems.  [Associated Press]