• Writing on the Intrepid Philanthropist blog, Rick Cohen, national correspondent with the Nonprofit Quarterly, expects nonprofit hospitals to benefit from the passage last week of sweeping changes to the health-care system. Among other things, fewer patients will be unable to pay.
  

• Too often, social-service organizations and other groups design their Web sites without their beneficiaries in mind, writes Jeff Raderstrong, who works at a community health clinic, on his blog Change Charity. Making improvements can be as simple as having the organization's address and hours of operation on the site's home page, he says.

• Stephen Goldsmith, former mayor of Indianapolis, writes on the Case Foundation's blog about the failure of traditional government and nonprofit approaches to problem solving and a new breed of social entrepreneurs who are trying to innovate.

• If charity-evaluation groups want to do exceptional assessments, they should delve into the top leadership at nonprofit groups, succession plans, and how they describe the organization's future, writes Lucy Bernholz, an adviser to foundations, on her blog Philanthropy 2173.

• Beth Kanter, who writes a popular blog about social media, asks: "Should we just blow up nonprofit 'vote for me' social-good contests?" Ms. Kanter describes how she stumbled upon a charity that was encouraging people to use automated bots to help it win Pepsi's Refresh Project contest, something she says was not in violation of the contest rules but raises questions about the usefulness of such competitions.

• Writing on the Huffington Post, Jane Wales, vice president of philanthropy and society at the Aspen Institute, describes how the recession and longer life expectancies are postponing the...

Allison Fine, a social-media expert and Chronicle contributor, questions whether Pepsi's contest, Pepsi Refresh Project, is in the interest of producing corporate revenue or philanthropic outcomes.

Pepsi announced its Pepsi Refresh Program earlier this year, which will award more than $20-million in grants to people who come up with the best ideas on how to improve their neighborhoods, towns, or cities.

The company recently completed its first round of grants, awarding 32 winners with $1.3-million total.

On her A. Fine Blog, Ms. Fine asks whether Pepsi is interested in the kinds of returns that an expensive ad campaign would create, or on philanthropic outcomes, such as improved reading skills and environmentally friendly classrooms.

"One thing I do know is that if it is philanthropic outcomes, then this model needs to be extended beyond the contest to a platform for reporting and...

• On his blog, Seth Godin, a marketing expert, writes about the struggle to determine whether one's giving is "enough" -- and what that struggle means for nonprofit fund raisers and marketers.

• How do people's online and offline interactions differ? Kristin Ivie, of the Case Foundation, discusses her views on the grant maker's Social Citizens blog.

• Writing on the Harvard Business Review Web site, Timothy Ogden, publisher of the online publication Philanthropy Action, discusses how the availability of real-time information via text message will change philanthropy. People in need, not aid groups, will tell donors what assistance they require; missteps in the provision of aid will be reported directly to donors; and the need for aid organizations to serve as intermediaries will be reduced, he says.

• "When writing fund-raising copy, write to a fifth- or sixth-grade reading level," Jeff Brooks, creative director of TrueSense marketing, suggests on his blog Future Fundraising Now. Mr. Brooks offers additional tips from the Word Wealth blog on how to write effective fund-raising pitches.

• "Nonprofits have missions that are not about putting their profits into the hands of the owners but back into mission," Mike Burns...

• To make real progress toward solving social problems, charities need to get "meaner, uglier, messier," writes Nell Edgington, founder of the consulting firm Social Velocity, on Change.org.

• "Many fund-raising consultants tend to overstate things in order to land a client," Jeff Brooks, creative director of TrueSense Marketing, writes on Future Fundraising Now. Mr. Brooks offers tips on how to determine if a fund-raising consultant is being completely honest with you.

• Writing on the Tactical Philanthropy blog, Eric Kessler, founder of Arabella Philanthropic Investment Advisors, says that "philanthropy revelry" was at its best this week in New Orleans for the Association of Small Foundations conference titled Katrina @ 5. For more on the event, see updates from Chronicle reporter Nicole Wallace.

• Colleen Dilenschneider, a young nonprofit worker, shares her ...

• Regina Mahone, of the Foundation Center, writes about a recent Young Nonprofit Professionals Network meeting on how to survive on the low salaries of the nonprofit world. Topics included setting up a rainy-day fund, saving for retirement, and finding creative ways to supplement monthly income.

• Mike Burns, of Nonprofit Board Crisis, commends first-grade teacher, Mary Zeiff, for encouraging her students to become philanthropists through a T-shirt design competition. Students are asked to come up with inspirational messages that are featured on the t-shirts. The winners receive 3 percent of the revenue and another 3 percent is donated to a charity chosen by the winners. The remainder of the profits goes to a program called Free Arts for Abused Children. "These young philanthropists will be tomorrow's major donors," says Mr. Burns.

• A new free e-book from Network for...

• On the Fast Company Web site, Nancy Lublin, chief executive of Do Something, a nonprofit group that engages young people in social good, discusses why the conventional wisdom on overhead costs -- that if they're low, a charity is doing a great job -- is wrong.
• If you only had two hours to decide whether you were going to give to a charity, how would you spend it? Iona Joy, of New Philanthropy Capital, a British charity-evaluation group, discusses. Also, Elie Hassenfeld, a co-founder of the nonprofit-evaluation group GiveWell, gives suggestions to donors trying to decide whether to give to a charity that hasn't been reviewed by his site.
• Nonprofit groups have become tax targets by cities and states focused on meeting economic challenges. Mike Burns, a nonprofit consultant, points to a recent article in Governing magazine that discusses where cities find legitimate...

Mike Burns, a nonprofit consultant, believes the Salvation Army's decision to invest heavily in real estate makes good fiscal sense.

The organization owns about $4-billion in real estate nationwide -- comprising one-third of its total assets. Its non-commercial properties provide housing to Salvation Army officers, who are paid modest annual salaries of around $12,000.

"Nonprofits need donations but they also need creativity," writes Mr. Burns, on his Nonprofit Board Crisis blog. "They must be competitive and get the most out of these donations. And, like the Salvation Army, they must constantly emphasize their outcomes -- that's what it's all about."

Mr. Burns says that donors want to believe that the quarter, dollar, or $5 they drop in the kettle makes it possible for the Salvation Army to do the work it does, but in reality the challenges the organization is responding to are far more...

• John Casey, associate professor at the Baruch College School of Public Affairs, talks on the Future Leaders in Philanthropy blog about what to know before starting an international charity. His advice, in short: Don't do it.

• Debbie Schlussel, a lawyer and conservative blogger, says a charity started by Sean Hannity, the Fox News talk-show host, misuses its money and gives little to its intended mission of supporting the education of children of U.S. troops. The charity, Freedom Alliance, denies the accusations on its Web site.

• Holden Karnofsky, a co-founder of the nonprofit-evaluation group GiveWell, discusses some of the downsides of "cost-effectiveness estimates" of nonprofit programs, meaning efforts to measure "how much good is accomplished per dollar donated."

• "There is a troubling trend among social enterprises to romanticize the poor as...