VEGAS INC Magazine - Latest Las Vegas business news, features and commentaries about gaming, tourism, real estate and more
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/157074
A U G U S T 2 6 , 2 0 1 3 / Y O U R b u s i n e s s - t o - b u s i n e s s w e e k ly SPECIAL FOCUS WHY GIVING IS GOOD BUSINESS This month, VEGAS INC highlights philanthropy in the business community. examining the government's role in home Mortgages By Karoun Demirjian staff writer SAM MORRIS (2009) SWEAT EQUITY: Scott Chester pounds nails with other volunteers building a house for Habitat for Humanity, which provides free housing for poor families. SMART GIVING How to ensure that your charity dollars are being spent wisely By Eli Segall staff writer W hen Las Vegans open their wallets to give charity, often the first thing they wongoing directly to a charity's cause, not to pay for bloated salaries or excessive overhead. ¶ Donors can rest assured. Many of the valley's largest and best-known INC, nine spend at least 83 percent of their budgets on programming. Seven groups spend less than 7 percent on administration, and most spend less than 10 percent on fundraising. ¶ Overall, none spends more than 7 percent on top officials' compensation. ¶ Still, the groups have plenty of room for improvement when it comes to money: Seven of the 10 charities finished last year in the red. see CHARITY, page 14 26 AUGUST 2013 20130826_VI01_F.indd 1 see HOUSING, page 16 der is: How will my money be spent? ¶ They likely want their hard-earned cash charities keep their money focused on their missions. ¶ Among the 10 groups analyzed by VEGAS | WASHINGTON — A long-simmering plan to phase out home lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac got a boost from President Barack Obama earlier this month, increasing the chances that Congress will tackle housing market reform this fall. But this is one occasion when Nevadans might actually want Congress to drag its heels a bit. "We're probably still three to five years out from a market that has matured into positive growth, where people will once again have confidence in their home value," said Marcus Conklin, associate director of the Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies at UNLV. "The trick here is to assist the market in recovery. ... You have to make sure the timing isn't off." The federal government is considering reducing the outsized role it has been playing in insuring mortgage securities since taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2008, and passing credit and mortgage risk back to the private sector. In the Senate, those plans have taken the form of a bipartisan bill to replace | INSIDE TODAY HYPERLOOP DREAMS | P. 6 Entrepreneur Elon Musk proposes a new high-speed transportation tube system RETAIL BOOM | P. 7 After years of struggling, downtown's Neonopolis finds success with new stores DATA AND RECORDS | P. 19 Bankruptcies, bid opportunities, brokered transactions and permits THE LIST | P. 22 Casino operators, by casino size 1 8/22/13 2:46:24 PM