House lists for $1

Detroit News – One dollar can get you a large soda at McDonald’s, a used VHS movie at 7-Eleven or a house in Detroit. The fact that a home on the city’s east side was listed for $1 recently shows how depressed the real estate market has become in one of America’s poorest big cities. And it still took 19 days to find a buyer.

http://tinyurl.com/homeone

Filed under: Community , recession

Lehman Brothers collapse hurts charity

Forbes.com – Lehman Brothers (nyse: LEH – news – people ) donated $39 million last year to a variety of organizations. The long list includes $25,000 to a Los Angeles after-school program, $10,000 for a tech program for Chicago students, and $100,000 to Columbia University for Alzheimer’s research.

http://tinyurl.com/lehmancharity

Filed under: Community, Ministry , recession

Creating a culture of generosity

Culture-making blog – If I only had $1 dollar for every time I’ve heard/said “creating a culture of generosity” over the last 5 years, I think the $$ I would earn could actually create a culture of generosity!  We often throw this phrase around but do we actually know what it takes to make it happen?  Well Andy Crouch might be able to give us the answer in this insightful blog post from his new web site www.culture-making.com. This is a must read for anyone in the generosity movement.  

http://www.culture-making.com/articles/skillful_culture_making

Filed under: Advisor, Church, Community, Giver, Ministry

Birmingham tops list of charitable U.S. cities

AL.Com – Birmingham ranks as the most generous city in America, according to a study that measured 60 metropolitan areas in terms of percentage of household income given to charity. Birmingham-area residents give 3.6 percent of their household income to charity, just ahead of several other Southern cities, the study said. Memphis was second at 3.4 percent and Columbia, S.C., was third with 3.2 percent.

http://www.al.com/birminghamnews/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/121507296057140.xml&coll=2&thispage=1

Filed under: Community , statistics

Generous Communities – Benchmarking for city generosity

World Magazine – A new study, sponsored by the Albuquerque-based Tijeras Foundation (TF), attempts to establish a benchmark for generosity and to identify factors that make some communities more generous than others—with the hope of transforming less generous communities into more generous ones.  *Paid subscription required for entire article.*

http://www.worldmag.com/articles/14110

Filed under: Community , statistics