By: BEVERLY BUTULA//June 15, 2009//
The Foundation Center, a national nonprofit service organization, offers the Catalog on Nonprofit Literature. This searchable database contains over 28,000 bibliographic citations (most with abstracts) to articles dealing with philanthropy.
If the researcher selects the “simple search,” a general keyword search (which supports Boolean operators) is available. The “standard search” option includes searches by author, title, subject, dates, and keywords. A great feature is the ability to narrow results by only full text items.
On the right hand side of the main search screen, the website offers helpful guidance via links. Topics include scope of the database, how to search, a list of periodicals within the database, and a guided tour.
I ran a sample search for “trustee compensation” and obtained 16 relevant hits. A few were full text articles and the others offered clear citations to assist in tracking down a copy.