Today's Philanthropic News

[brought to you by PICISI] New Family Foundations Are Less Focused on Regional Giving, Study Finds Almost 70 percent of family funds were created within the past 25 years, and founders of the newer funds plan to keep giving, says study.

Gates Foundation Backs Giving Tuesday Storytelling Competition Participants will write short essays describing their support for nonprofits in ways that were memorable and meaningful; featured groups will win grants up to $5,000.

Nonprofits Come Up Short With Donors on Social Media, Study Says Dunham and Company and Marketing Support Network found that charities are using social-media platforms like billboards rather than two-way communication tools.

Gifts Roundup: Homebuilders, Pizza Makers, and PepsiCo Executive Give Millions The Ilitch family, who founded Little Caesars, donated $40 million to Wayne State University. Developers Dominic and Frances Moceri gave $10 million to Beaumont Health System.

Biggest Foundations Turn Attention to Achieving Big Change Major U.S. philanthropies are increasingly thinking big when it comes to significant social and environmental challenges, focusing their giving on tackling root causes and achieving lasting, structural change, The New York Times writes.

Opinion: Is Can-Do Silicon Valley Doing Philanthropy Right? A New York Times analysis looks at the growth of tech-sector giving and the attitudes and tools Silicon Valley moguls are bringing to philanthropy.

More Art Donors Giving Works to Hospitals and Nursing Homes A growing number of art collectors are eschewing museums in weighing gifts and bequests, choosing instead to donate works to non-art-focused institutions such as hospitals, libraries, retirement centers, and nursing homes, The Wall Street Journal writes.

Breast-Cancer Activists Call for More Science, Less Pink With the end of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, The New York Timeslooks at the backlash among some women's health groups against October's plethora of pink-hued cause-marketing efforts and the growing call for campaigns that focus on medical research.

Mich. Charity Gaming Take Plummets as Regulators Crack Down Nonprofits in Michigan have lost millions of dollars in revenue in recent years as the state has tightened restrictions on "poker rooms" and other casino-style fundraising events authorities say had become rife with fraud, reports the Detroit Free Press.

Audit: U.K. Gave Now-Shuttered Youth Charity $70 Million A British government audit found that Kids Company, a high-profile nonprofit that collapsed in August, continued to receive multimillion-dollar taxpayer-funded grants despite warning signs about its management and spending, BBC News reports.

America’s Largest Charities Raised 5% More Last Year; Donor-Advised Funds Won Big United Way remains No. 1 among U.S. nonprofits that raise the most from private sources, but Fidelity Charitable is just a sliver behind.

Philanthropy's Uneven Climb: Success Stories, Red Flags, and a Trove of Data Philanthropy's past, present, and future are presented together in this year's Philanthropy 400, the 25th edition of our ranking of charities based on the private support they raise.

American Express Puts Nonprofit Leadership Programs Online Leaderosity, run by the Presidio Institute, will provide a variety of courses created by professional development service providers and, eventually, academic institutions.

Role of Donor-Advised Funds Prompts Heated Debate Scholars, lawyers, and nonprofit leaders are divided on whether the federal government should do more to regulate how the fast-growing funds operate.

Good Storytelling: an Overview of the Basics for Fundraising and Advocacy A collection of articles to help you define your storytelling strategy, gather great stories, hone them to be effective, and drive your audience to take action.