Charities

Hundreds of Anne Arundel County charities are hoping to get a fundraising boost from a round-the-clock, online donation event. The Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County will host the "Great Give" from 7 p.m. Wednesday through 7 p.m. on Thursday. Donors can go to a designated website -- greatgiveaac.razoo.com -- to donate to their favorite charities. Corporate sponsors are paying for the administrative costs, so 100 percent of donations will go to participating charities.

A 24-hour charity marathon raised more than $600,000 for Anne Arundel County nonprofit groups this week. The "Great Give," organized by the Community Foundation for Anne Arundel County, encouraged donors to give to their favorite charities through a special website between 7 p.m. Wednesday and 7 p.m. Thursday. The event was capped with a party at Rams Head Center Stage at the Maryland Live! casino in Hanover. During the event, bonuses were give to the charities through contests,such as having the most donors overall or the most donors during certain time periods.

Once again, lawmakers have created a self-serving loophole regarding Do Not Call lists ("Government cracks down on robocalls," Feb. 16): Charities and political organizations are exempt. Charities are organizations whose mission is to serve the needs of others, whereas political organizations tend to be self-serving. I personally cannot recall ever receiving a robocall from a charitable organization. Laws to restrict junk mailings also provide exemptions to political organizations.

MINNEAPOLIS - An annual Major League Baseball undertaking to provide exposure and money to cancer-awareness charities became embroiled in a bit of a controversy Friday, with an Oriole being one of the players inadvertently involved. On Sunday, as part of its Mother's Day celebration, participating players will wear and use pink equipment - to bring more awareness to breast cancer issues - as they have since 2006. The items will then be auctioned off with proceeds going to charities including Susan G. Komen For The Cure, which has championed breast cancer research for decades.

From around the region come alarming stories of charities running dry at a crucial time of year. Carroll County's Neighbors in Need program had hoped to help 1,200 families this year. But as of last week the group had to tell volunteers not to bother to come in to pack holiday food boxes -- there wasn't enough food to fill them.As The Sun's Liz Atwood reported earlier this week, charities in Anne Arundel County and Harford County also are reporting similar shortfalls. Meanwhile, the United Way is struggling to recoup from a disappointing year, both nationally and here in Maryland.

Compassion fatigue seems to have hit some Maryland charities hard this year, with the shortfall in charitable giving especially severe in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll and Harford counties.Some of this decline is understandable. While a gradual economic upturn has started in many other regions of the country, the Maryland economy is still hampered by a lingering recession. Anne Arundel County, which was particularly hard hit through layoffs at Westinghouse Electric Co. and other defense contractors, is continuing to have rough going.

Former contestants from "Project Runway" and "The Fashion Show" will showcase their spring collections Saturday during "Drive 2 Thrive," an event that will benefit several local charitable causes at the Atrium of Port Discovery Children's Museum. In its third year, the event has helped various causes such as Baltimore Reads, Inc., Foundation of the Maryland Academy of Pediatricians, Greater Baltimore Urban League Freedom Readers Program, and LIGHT Health and Wellness Comprehensive Services.

WASHINGTON -- Maryland's 5-year-old system of charging fees for charities that seek to raise money in the state withstood a constitutional challenge in the Supreme Court yesterday.The court turned aside an appeal by the Center for Auto Safety, a Washington-based consumer advocacy group founded by Ralph Nader. The center's appeal contended that the fee system favors local charities over those that raise money nationwide.The fee schedule was adopted in 1989, after state officials concluded that the fees they were charging were too low to produce the revenue needed to cover state expenses of monitoring charities.

The Internal Revenue Service just blew a beautiful chance to give donors the most relevant, accessible financial information about charities. Scandals at United Way, the Nature Conservancy, the Red Cross and other nonprofits helped prompt the agency to revamp Form 990, on which charities report activities to the public. But the unveiling of the new form on Thursday shows that the IRS caved in to pressure from nonprofits to keep disclosure from being as full as it should be. A draft form proposed earlier this year included statistics on a "summary" page giving a clearer idea about how much donations pay for executive salaries and other non-charity items.

In July 2008, Angel Carpenter, better known as DJ AngelBaby, fulfilled her lifelong dream of earning an on-air position at 92Q, the city's hip-hop radio station. On one of her first days at the job, Carpenter spotted the source of her inspiration - Khia Edgerton, the beloved and ubiquitous queen of Baltimore Club music known as K-Swift. "There's a window right there, where you could see her on-air," remembered Carpenter, now 28 and a lover of Club music her entire life. "I was so weird and so scared.

Former Maryland standout Moise Fokou was back in College Park today for a charity cooking event. Fokou, now a Tennessee Titans linebacker, was joined by Maryland athletic director Kevin Anderson and local chefs at Comcast Center's Heritage Hall for a cooking demonstration that taught kids how to prepare healthy food. Fokou created the Root 53 Foundation last summer to help underprivileged youth by donating school supplies, holding events that promote education, football camps and more.

Torrey Smith has heard it before. About three months after the wide receiver was drafted, the Ravens released three popular and productive offensive players, and Smith remembers the talk that the team was headed for some struggles. "They had cut [ Derrick] Mason , [ Todd] Heap and Willis McGahee [and] everybody was panicking and saying, 'Oh, you're going to be terrible,'” Smith said Saturday before hosting his charity basketball game at Stafford High School, his alma mater.

For one lucky interior designer, the phrase "charity begins at home" may soon take on new significance, thanks to a contest sponsored by a local home furnishings showroom. Design for a Difference will allow interior designers to compete for the chance to redecorate a space for their local charity. The winner will receive $20,000 in goods and services to benefit their group. The nationwide contest is a partnership of Pikesville-based flooring company, Floors Etc., and Style Network TV host Mark Brunetz of "Clean House" fame.

For many years, the Coast Guard Foundation held charity golf tournaments to raise money to help support enlisted personnel, reservists and their families who suffered a personal or financial loss. Two years ago, the foundation changed course by looking at an event that seemed more in line with its mission and founded the Coast Guard Foundation Cup, an overnight race that served as a feeder distance race for the biennial Bermuda Race from Newport, R.I., to the British territory. The inaugural race attracted 18 boats to Annapolis.

Mike Naused is not the Ravens fan who concocts a costume, slips on a mask or creates an alter ego. But his passion stands out nonetheless. "I may not wear a million pounds of beads or things like that, but I love the Ravens," Naused said. "Charity is what it's all about. " As chairman of the board for Ravens Nest No. 14 in Eldersburg, he helps organize fellow fans in fundraisers for causes to house sick children, fight cancer and help poor neighbors. "The Ravens Nest members get together and celebrate the Ravens, but our main purpose is to raise money for different charities," said the lifelong sports fan. "I used to be a Baltimore Colts fan, but I was more of an Orioles fan growing up," said Naused, a husband, father and account manager for an international paper company.

What's better than IHOP pancakes? Free IHOP pancakes. The restaurant chain's National Pancake Day will be back Feb. 5, when diners will be served complimentary buttermilk pancakes from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Customers also will be encouraged to make a contribution to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society or other local charities. The company hopes to raise $3 million during its largest philanthropic event of the year. IHOP has raised more than $10 million for local charities in the eight years it has run the event.