Charity Beat   

Newspapers are devoting more attention to covering philanthropies.

A FTER FOUR YEARS of covering Congress, Rebecca Carr believes she's on to something big. But instead of sniffing around Capitol Hill for her scoops, Carr is jumping into the world of nonprofits as the new philanthropy beat reporter for Cox Newspapers.
"In this vibrant economy, foundations are sprouting left and right," says the Washington-based Carr. "There's this whole world that nobody pays attention to."
Carr's new job is just one example of a number of philanthropy beats popping up at media outlets across the country. With the strong economy and the growing number of dotcom millionaires eager to share the wealth, charity has become a big story, and editors and reporters are seeing its potential.
"It's a subject that's evolving so quickly," says Ron Martin, senior editor for Cox Newspapers and creator of the new beat. "We see it as an opportunity to do some fresh reporting on something that rarely gets covered."
Martin, also editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, awarded Carr the post in June. Carr said she would like to look at such topics as how welfare reform has affected charities, the alliance between for-profit and nonprofit groups and the grant application process.
"Most people think of [charity] as just the do-gooders of the world, and there are plenty that are doing wonderful things," Carr says. "But there's so much out there that it warrants taking a hard look. If people are giving money in good faith, but then it's being abused--that's a problem."
James M. Naughton, president of the Poynter Institute, has followed philanthropy coverage and says he is encouraged by what he sees as a growing trend. "There are almost 2 million nonprofit and philanthropic organizations," Naughton says. "They do billions of dollars of investments, but there's just a handful of people covering them."
In June, Poynter held its first-ever seminar on covering the nonprofit sector. Sixteen journalists attended the event, which was co-led by Poynter Faculty Dean Karen Dunlap and freelancer Janet Mandelsteam, a former Philadelphia Inquirer associate managing editor. In October, Mandelsteam plans to attend a similar session held by the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism at the University of Maryland.
Poynter attendee Mark O'Keefe of Newhouse News Service recently switched from covering religion to a revamped "philanthropy and values" beat. O'Keefe says he hopes to move a step beyond previous Newhouse philanthropy coverage by taking a harder look at the industry. Up until January, reporter Connie Casey had the "doing good" beat, concentrating mainly on large givers. "One of the big goals for me is to connect the dots," O'Keefe says. "I'd love to illustrate the trends, go after the abuses and highlight the people giving."
Deborah Howell, Newhouse's Washington bureau chief, launched the philanthropy beat in 1994, having had a reporter following such issues since the 1980s when she was editor of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "There are many sides to this issue," Howell says. "There's a financial side, a traditional watchdog side, a novelty side and a human interest side."
But the trend is not limited to Washington-based journalists. The Seattle Times, the Pensacola News Journal, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the St. Petersburg Times all sent reporters to the Poynter seminar. While most will be following philanthropy on a part-time basis, the Seattle Times' Jolayne Houtz plans to move to a full-time philanthropy beat this month.
Houtz, a 10-year veteran at the paper, says she first became interested in the issue as an education reporter after covering the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which gave about $2.4 billion in 1999 to education and global health initiatives.
"We've covered philanthropy for a number of years, but we've only cycled in and out of doing stories," Houtz says. "I want to know what drives these people who are giving their money."
At the Pensacola News Journal, Cindy George, a city reporter, will be incorporating philanthropies into her beat. George says she hopes to do more in-depth work and report on e-philanthropies, big givers, unusual gifts, capital campaigns and more established types of charity like soup kitchens.
"I cover neighborhoods, and I see a lot of ordinary people doing nonprofit work," she says. "My big hope is that I'll start to discover those people."