Philanthropy Journal joins Institute for Nonprofits

The move, supported by multi-year gifts from the A.J. Fletcher Foundation in Raleigh and the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust in Chapel Hill, aims to expand the services the Journal and the Institute provide to the nonprofit sector.

The Journal, an online publication that will be self-sufficient and will not be supported with state money, now will be able "to tap into scholarship on the nonprofit sector, reach new audiences and provide more news and resources for readers," says Mary Tschirhart, the Institute's director.

"This furthers the Institute's mission of developing current and future nonprofit leaders," she says.

Adding the Journal as a new program, she says, also will let the Institute reach more nonprofits needing the expertise and services available at N.C. State.

The Journal will continue to publish, on its website and in its email newsletters, "the news and resource articles our readers count on," and will continue to sponsor its monthly webinars and its North Carolina series of lunch ‘n' learn workshops, says Todd Cohen, the Journal's editor and publisher.

"The only change," he says, "will be our ability to make our products and services even better."

Dedicated to research, education and engagement involving the nonprofit sector, and to collaboration with nonprofit partners to address community needs, the Institute was formed in 2003 with a $1 million grant from the Fletcher Foundation.

As part of one of the top land-grant universities in the U.S., the Institute works to connect with the nonprofit community and put the resources of the university to work to enhance nonprofits' capacity and leadership.

Those resources include the expertise and commitment of faculty, students, staff and community partners.

The Institute also serves as a center of expertise, generates knowledge and hosts a collaborative and diverse community of scholars, all aiming to better serve nonprofits.

The Fletcher Foundation for the past 10 years has provided a home and significant operating support for the Journal, which was launched in 1993 by The News and Observer Foundation as a monthly print publication.

The Journal, which Cohen created and will continue to edit, grew out of a weekly column on philanthropy he began writing in 1991 as business editor of The News & Observer, the daily newspaper in Raleigh.

"Nonprofits are a critical, yet underappreciated, social and economic force, and they are struggling in the economic recession to more effectively meet the growing and increasingly urgent needs of our communities," says Cohen. "And the news business as we have known it for generations is collapsing, and in the process paying less and less attention to the nonprofit sector."

The combination of the Institute and Journal, he says, "will create an innovative new resource for nonprofits, help students and faculty better understand and serve the nonprofit sector, and build on the nonprofit model for new journalism pioneered by the A.J. Fletcher Foundation and The News and Observer Foundation."