A pint for Poe.

That’s what organizers of a fundraiser for Baltimore’s Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum are calling Tuesday night’s gathering from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Creative Alliance as part of Baltimore Beer Week.

The Poe House, located at 203 Amity St. on the city’s Westside, has been owned by the city since 1979. It is facing closure because of mounting fiscal woes, made worse by threatened cuts in public subsidies in light of a projected $60 million-plus city budget shortfall next year.

The Pints for Poe event is being held as the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore has embarked on a “Pennies for Poe” crusade to help keep the museum open.

Now comes the Creative Alliance, where patrons will be able to snag a Raven or Poe pint glass (full of suds) for a donation tonight. Actors in full Poe persona will also be on hand to add to the flair of the night. Mark Supik, who has created a unique Edgar A. Poe/Raven beer tap handle, will offer a toast.

The Creative Alliance is located at 3134 Eastern Ave. in Highlandtown.

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Local fans of the ABC show “Secret Millionaire” saw a familiar face Sunday night — John Ferber, who co-founded Advertising.com in the 1990s with his brother, Scott, and today lives in Palm Beach County, Fla.

Ferber spent a week posing as a documentary filmmaker in the notorious Skid Row district of Los Angeles.

The episode ended with Ferber cutting checks totaling $100,000 for three neighborhood organizations. He also purchased $20,000 in goods for the groups.

Baltimore-based Advertising.com was acquired in 2004 for $435 million in cash; Ferber pocketed about $72 million in the deal. He has several Internet ventures percolating from his Florida base, including Microgiving.com, which we blogged about a couple of weeks ago.

He says he was intrigued about going on reality TV after a producer for the show — who read a profile of Ferber in a magazine — forwarded him some YouTube clips of the British version of the program.

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They’re all featured in this blog post, thanks to a variety of interesting business news developments Tuesday.

Nonprofit employment grew 2 percent in 2009, compared to a statewide drop in total employment of 3.2 percent, according to “Nonprofits by the Numbers,” an annual report published by Maryland Nonprofits, a trade group that advocates for nonprofit organizations.

Over the period from 2004-2009, nonprofit employment grew by 9.5 percent while total employment shrank 2.1 percent, according to the report. Nonprofits in Maryland employ 255,408 people or 10.6 percent of the state’s work force, and account for 10 percent of all wages paid statewide, up from 9.5 percent of the work force and 8.6 percent of wages in 2004.

Click here if you’d like to see the report.

Meanwhile, just in time for Easter, Just Born Inc., a Bethlehem, Pa.-based confectionary company that makes the yellow, pink, lavender, blue and white chick- and bunny-shaped marshmallow candy called Peeps, has launched an online store, www.peepsandcompany.com.

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If you’ve been wondering what Advertising.com co-founder John Ferber has been up to down in Florida, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel has Web video featuring one of Ferber’s projects, Microgiving.com.

Ferber describes it as a “crowdfunding platform” that enables anyone to raise money via the Web. The Milagro Center, a Delray Beach, Fla., education center for at-risk youth, is using the platform to raise money for programs.

“In the last few years the concept has really exploded and taken off,” Ferber says of crowdfunding in the video, which you can see by clicking here.

The online marketing wunderkind and his brother, Scott Ferber, sold Advertising.com to AOL in 2004 for $435 million in cash.

Microgiving.com is one of a number of Web ventures Ferber — now a Palm Beach County resident — has launched under the Vandelay Industries corporate umbrella (check your “Seinfeld” trivia for more on the name).

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Maryland Women’s Heritage Center celebrates its grand opening  Saturday and is located in a beautiful ground floor section of the renovated 39 West Lexington luxury apartment homes in downtown.

If you’re wondering how the nonprofit got such a sweet space (2,400 square feet in the historic Baltimore Gas & Electric building), it’s certainly not because it can afford it. The space is being donated by David Hillman, CEO of Southern Management, which owns the property.

The generosity of local businesses didn’t stop there for the heritage center, which is an educational center featuring exhibits and historical information on dozens of Maryland women (including Harriet Tubman and Shoshana S. Cardin) and their achievements. Take a peak inside, and everywhere you look, you’ll see something that has been donated.

Sherwin-Williams Co. donated the paint, CertaPro Painters did the painting, Signs by Tomorrow of Baltimore donated all the signage. All the construction materials and labor (the space took about four months to complete) was donated by Lewis Contractors, Commercial Interiors Inc., CAM Construction Co. and Wilmot Modular Structures Inc.

Lastly, Cho Benn Holbak+ Associates donated the architectural services.

The center, which began as an idea back in the early 1980s as an outgrowth of the Maryland Women’s History Project, is also entirely staffed by volunteers. Its one paid employee, Executive Director Jill Moss Greenberg, had a lot to do with hustling for all the donations that got the center up and running.

The center’s influential executive board of directors — which includes former First Lady Frances Hughes Glendening, former First Lady Kendel S. Ehrlich and First Lady Katie Curran O’Malley — also doesn’t hurt.

The Maryland Women’s Heritage Center hopes to make its permanent location in a space 10 times as big as the one it’s in now so it can house a theater and permanent exhibits on influential Maryland women. But I think that’s probably gonna take some actual dough…

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And we’re talking literally.

Get ready to meet some of the highest-paid waiters you’ll probably ever have.

On Monday, Morton’s The Steakhouse in Baltimore is hosting a celebrity server night featuring Ravens players including quarterback Joe Flacco, center Matt Birk, running back Ray Rice and guard Ben Grubbs.

The event includes silent and live auctions, with proceeds benefiting Birk’s HIKE (Hope. Inspiration. Knowledge. Education.) Foundation, a nonprofit that supports at-risk children with education and life skills.

The Ravens will serve a four-course meal to ticketed guests at the restaurant, and advance reservations are required.

I guess if it’s a four-course meal, there’s not a whole lot of wiggle room for these guys to screw up the order, huh? I’d still be tempted to test them though by asking for things like dressing on the side or asking for one of the side orders to be taken off.

But maybe that’s just me.

Although at $250 per person, we should be able to have a little fun with these guys, right?  I know it’s for a good case and all but that’s a hefty price tag to ask for one night, even if I do get the opportunity to tell Joe Flacco to send my dish back because it’s too salty.

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The more traditional, non-Orioles loving, beer swilling twinkie eating version of Mozart's Papageno character.

So, glancing through my inbox,  I happened upon an interesting press release I must say I’m still not sure what to think of, namely an effort to give Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute” the Charm City treatment.

Opera Vivente, the Baltimore-based chamber opera company, announced it is closing out its 12th season this month with performances of “The Magic Flute.”

The opera already puts its own twist on operas by performing them in English. But, Opera Vivente is taking it a few steps beyond not just singing in the original German. Instead, this 18th-century work will have a decidedly “Bawlamer” twist to it for this run.

Yes, that means characters like Papageno and Papagena will have Baltimore accents and will reference city landmarks and attractions. Papageno, the bird man, will be an avid O’s fan with a penchant for beer and Twinkies.

For some reason, Opera Vivente has decided to make the Papagena character a Hooter’s waitress, although I don’t see the uniquely Baltimore connection on that one.

I understand the opera company commendably prides itself on tapping local talent for its productions and trying to make opera accessible, but maybe this is a little too hyper-local? I mean, what’s next,  the Nutcracker being performed in Ravens jerseys or the Barber of Seville waxing poetic about the crabcakes at Faidley’s?

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Former Oriole pitcher Jamie Moyer hasn’t forgotten about Baltimore — this week his foundation announced its plans to continue the expansion of bereavement camps for children and teens who have lost someone close to them by adding Baltimore to its list of new cities in 2010.

The Moyer Foundation’s “Camp Erin” was created in 2002 and is now the largest bereavement camp in the country with 36 camps in 23 states. With the addition of Baltimore and the other new cities, it is expected to serve nearly 2,500 kids between the ages of 6 and 17 this year. The foundation has a goal of establishing as many as 60 camps around the country, including one Camp Erin in every Major League Baseball city.

Moyer played for the Orioles from 1993-95 and he’s the oldest pitcher in the majors. The father of eight now plays for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Moyer’s foundation works to help children in distress and it also runs “Camp Mariposa,” a camp dedicated to serving children affected by addiction in their families.

In Baltimore Camp Erin is partnering with Roberta’s House, a family grief and loss center, on July 23-25 to introduce the program here.

You gotta think — Baltimore’s homicide rate being what it is, there’s probably a huge need for something like this in our community. But I wonder how well it will be accepted by those who really need it. Partnering with an established place like Roberta’s House is a smart move and hopefully the relationship is mutually beneficial for both organizations.

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Today’s story about Black Friday and the upcoming holiday shopping season talks about how retailers and shoppers are affected by the economy, but there’s another aspect the story doesn’t address — how those on the receiving end of charitable giving are faring this season.

Times are tight, both for individuals and the corporations that make donations. But one couple at Arundel Mills Mall said that factor — more than the economy itself — is driving their spending habits this season.

“I think we’re trying to be a little bit more conscious and we’re a lot more interested in charitable organizations this year,” said Peter Rocco, who was out shopping last week with his wife Maria and their baby daughter.

The couple said the economy had not yet taken a toll on their wallets — Peter works for defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. — but they said they thought the instability was creating a greater need for charity this year, and they wanted to do their part.

The couple said they were looking for products that donated a certain amount of the proceeds to charity or were making donations in the name of a family member for a gift.

“It just makes sense to do something a little more relevant and long-lasting rather than something someone may not even need or want,” said Maria.

Are other shoppers out there keeping an eye out for charities this year? Or are you like the many others who are basing their purchases on sales and coupons?

LIZ FARMER, Business Writer

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Is a firefighter bachelor auction held at a bar an appropriate fundraiser for the Red Cross?

This seems to be the question that’s led to a purge of employees from the Frederick County Red Cross – both resignations and terminations.

The group’s executive director was fired March 19 after objecting to the plans, according to a story in the Frederick News-Post. Two more longtime employees resigned this week.

Here’s the crux of the “inappropriate” argument: The Red Cross organization advises its workers and volunteers to avoid bars and taverns while representing the Red Cross.

However, there is no such language in the organization’s written code of conduct.

In this situation, once the Frederick chapter was told there were no legal concerns over the event, it was up to the board members to make the final decision.

And on Wednesday, the bachelor auction was held at the Greene Turtle Sports Bar and Grille. The event raised more than $4,000.

Do you think a bachelor auction is appropriate for an esteemed NPO? Or should nonprofits steer away from mixing business and pleasure?

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

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