Posted on November 9, 2005

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Celebrating Philanthropy - Expert Web Site Recommendations

We asked academic, foundation, and nonprofit experts to share the Web sites they find most useful to their work. To learn about their recommendations and work, read on.

Buffy Beaudoin-Schwartz
Communications Director
Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers
http://www.abagmd.org

The Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers is the Greater Baltimore region's premier resource on philanthropy and is dedicated to informing grantmakers and improving our community. Our members include representatives of more than 130 private foundations and corporations with strategic, ongoing grantmaking programs.

Top sites:

Giving Circle Knowledge Center
http://www.givingforum.org/givingcircles
The Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers has an area on its Web site dedicated to giving circles that offers terrific information, stats, and resources on how to start, maintain, and grow a giving circle.

Council on Foundations
http://www.cof.org
The Community Foundations area of the CoF Web site is chock-full of good information for the field.

Chronicle of Philanthropy
http://philanthropy.com/
Full of terrific and timely articles, statistics, and resources.

Victor d'Allant
Executive Director
Social Edge
http://www.socialedge.org/

Social Edge, an initiative of the Skoll Foundation, is a global online community where social entrepreneurs, nonprofit professionals, and other social sector practitioners gather to network, learn, inspire, and share resources. Social entrepreneurs in the field in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the U.S. looking for practical help to better run their operations join Social Edge to get advice on a wide range of matters — including funding, technology, marketing, and human resources. In turn, they share their successes (and failures) with fellow social entrepreneurs.

Top sites:

OneWorld
http://www.oneworld.net/
OneWorld brings together the latest news and views from over 1,600 organizations working to promote human rights awareness and fight poverty worldwide. News distributed through the site is offered in English, Spanish, French, and several other languages.

Libération
http://liberation.fr/
Libération, one of the leading French dailies, offers very good coverage of international affairs, especially issues relates to the developing world.

Pat Read
Senior Vice President, Public Policy and Government Affairs
Independent Sector
http://www.independentsector.org

Independent Sector, a nonpartisan coalition of roughly five hundred organizations, leads, strengthens, and mobilizes the charitable community in order to fulfill its vision of a just and inclusive society of active citizens, vibrant communities, effective institutions, and a healthy democracy.

Top site:

NCCS
http://nccsdataweb.urban.org/FAQ/index.php?category=31
The National Center for Charitable Statistics site offers a rich collection of data about the independent sector and the organizations that comprise it.

Bennett Weiner
Chief Operating Officer
BBB Wise Giving Alliance
http://www.give.org

The BBB Wise Giving Alliance is a national charity monitoring organization that helps donors make informed giving decisions and works to advance high standards of conduct among organizations that solicit contributions from the public. In addition, the organization produces in-depth evaluative reports on national charities based on comprehensive Standards for Charity Accountability.

Top sites:

National Association of State Charity Officials
http://www.nasconet.org
The Web site of the National Association of State Charity Officials provides convenient hyperlink access to the various state government agencies that regulate charitable appeals.

IRS Publication 78
http://apps.irs.gov/app/pub78
This link provides access to IRS Publication 78, the Cumulative List of Organizations that are eligible to receive contributions that are deductible as charitable gifts.

AlertNet
http://www.alertnet.org
A program of the Reuters Foundation, AlertNet provides news releases from major relief agencies, fact sheets on the monetary response to humanitarian crises around the world, and news articles — all of interest to anyone looking for a broad, well-rounded look at international relief activities.