What's new in Philanthropy

Articles of interest in philanthropy and nonprofits published in the last 10 days:

1. eBay buyers, sellers give record $63 million to charity in 2011; Huffington Post, February 14, 2012
Brief Introduction: The auction site enabled its users to give a record $63 million, or $120 a minute to charitable causes last year, according to a statement released Monday. The company's PayPal division also processed $3 billion in transactions for more than 200,000 nonprofits.

2. President looks to extend Promise -Neighborhoods Program; Chronicle of Philanthropy, February 13, 2012
Brief Introduction: President Obama said today he wants to increase spending on Promise Neighborhoods projects—which offer an array of “cradle to college” services to young people and families in troubled communities. The president’s plan calls for $100-million for Promise Neighborhoods next year, up from about $60-million in 2012.

3. IRS makes finding charity status easier; Chronicle of Philanthropy, February 7, 2012
Brief Introduction: The Internal Revenue Service has developed an online database of 400,000 nonprofits that have lost their tax-exempt status for failing to file tax returns. Previously, the IRS released information about groups that had lost their tax-exempt status only by state, which made it difficult to find groups by other criteria. The new Exempt Organizations Select Check is updated monthly and is on the same Web page as the agency’s main database of all nonprofits that can accept tax-deductible donations.