Posts by Maria Di Mento
March 5, 2010, 02:35 PM ET
Why Financial Executives Should Donate Bonuses; Plus More: Friday's Roundup
- With two British bank CEO's reported to be donating their annual bonuses, for a combined amount of $9.1-million, more financial executives should consider giving to charity, writes Martin Brookes, chief executive of New Philanthropy Capital. His views appear on the Web site of The Guardian newspaper.
- Lawmakers should close the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts, says Shikha Dalmia, a senior analyst at the Reason Foundation. In Reason Magazine, she says the two government programs have outlived their usefulness, and their support could be supplanted by private giving.
- John Brothers, an adjunct professor at New York University's Wagner School for Public Service, writes about "third-sector grit"—courage in the face of hardship in helping nonprofit groups fulfill their mission—on the Stanford Social Innovation Review blog.
- As members ...
March 4, 2010, 01:37 PM ET
The Problems Caused by Americans' Lack of Understanding of Grant Makers, and More: Thursday's Roundup
- Foundations should be concerned by a recent survey that showed even the best-informed Americans still have little understanding of what grant makers do, says Joel Orosz, a professor of philanthropic studies at Grand Valley State University. His views appear on the Center for Effective Philanthropy's blog.
- "Today's charities are worried about tomorrow's philanthropists," who are more likely to support new or small charities, writes Shelly Banjo, a Wall Street Journal columnist. During a recent roundtable discussion with major donors, several of them raised this point, she says.
- While new technology developments could help grass-roots charities in Africa and elsewhere, the groups rarely know about the breakthroughs, says Joshua J. Friedman, a journalist, on PopTech. He says a new Amazon.com-like Web site will help solve this problem by creating a marketplace for socially be...
March 3, 2010, 03:55 PM ET
Questioning the Gates Foundation's Antimalaria Efforts; Plus More: Wednesday's Roundup
- The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's strategy to combat malaria is "baffling," writes Henry I. Miller, a doctor and molecular biologist. In an opinion article on Forbes magazine's Web site, he says the foundation should support the use of the chemical DDT to control mosquitoes that spread the disease. While DDT is toxic in large doses, if used sparingly, it can be an effective malaria-prevention tool, he argues.
- Supporting the education and social development of women and girls has paid off in Liberia, writes Jane Wales, chief executive of the Global Philanthropy Forum. On a Duke University blog, Ms. Wales is chronicling a trip through the West African nation by a group of donors. The visit was organized by the country's Philanthropy Secretariat, a government office that guides charitable giving in the country. Read The Chronicle's article about the office.
- In a blog post...
March 1, 2010, 12:38 PM ET
Why Chile and Other Countries Are Cautious About Foreign Help, Plus More: Monday's Roundup
- As Chile begins accepting outside aid for the massive earthquake that struck last week, Saundra Schimmelpfenning, a former Peace Corps volunteer and aid worker, writes on her blog about why Chile and some other countries are slow to allow in foreign assistance after a major disaster.
- There are much better ways to support a disaster-recovery effort than search and rescue, says David Roberts, executive director of New Dominion Philanthropy Metrics. Writing on the Philanthropy Action blog, Mr. Roberts says that search-and-rescue efforts save relatively few lives for a heavy financial cost.
- Lucy Heads, of the U.K. nonprofit-evaluation group New Philanthropy Capital, examines the trend of charities calculating their "social return on investment." While some people may be skeptical of a charity that says its potential social return is 250 percent, Ms. Heads says high figures like...
February 26, 2010, 12:36 PM ET
Online Charity Contests Could Squelch Innovation; Plus More: Friday's Roundup
- As more companies and other grant makers use online contests to pick which charities to support, Beth Kanter, a social-media expert, wonders if the "vote for me" efforts stifle innovation. Read The Chronicle's article about charity experts' concerns about the contests.
- A spate of new blogs written by theater workers in Britain may help arts groups prevent possible cuts in government support, writes Chris Wilkinson, a theater director who writes an arts blog for The Guardian, a newspaper in London.
- The 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, China, put new life into many nonprofit groups, but the nation needs better charity laws and a way to ensure that fund raising no longer heavily favors organizations connected with the government, writes Shawn Shieh, a political-science scholar who writes a blog about nonprofit groups in that country. Read The Chronicle's article about the development...
February 25, 2010, 12:20 PM ET
A Look at Philanthropy's Role in Corporate Charity, Plus More: Thursday's Roundup
- What is the proper role of philanthropy in supporting business efforts that have a charitable purpose? Marcia Stepanek, the editor-in-chief of Contribute Media, on the JustMeans blog looks at this question, which came up at a recent New York University nonprofit conference.
- More foundations should offer program-related investments, and more charities should seek them out, says Neil Edgington, a nonprofit consultant, on her blog. The investments are low-interest loans that are usually made for construction projects but also can help groups diversify their revenue sources and improve their fund-raising abilities, she writes.
- While applauding a U.S. State Department delegation that went to Russia to discuss how Twitter and other Internet tools can be used to achieve social change, Allison Fine, a social-media expert and a Chronicle contributor, says the department should have in...
February 24, 2010, 11:00 AM ET
Rebuilding Efforts Need to Tap Haitian Civic Leaders, Plus More: Wednesday's Roundup
- The earthquake has turned some Haitian citizens intio civic leaders, who are helping individual neighborhoods recover, writes Coco MaCabe, a writer with Oxfam America. On the aid group's blog, she says these people should be an integral part of the country's rebuilding.
- Giving by text message to the Haiti disaster is a sign that everyday donors are embracing "Philanthropy 2.0," a faster and more technology-driven era of giving, says David O. Washington, a philanthropy consultant. On the Huffington Post he writes that mobile-phone fund raising still has some obstacles and wonders if wealthy donors and foundations are adapting to this way of operating.
- Should Melinda Gates have written an opinion article about education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for The Washington Post, a newspaper where she sits on its parent company's board of directors? Gates Keepers, a...
February 23, 2010, 12:56 PM ET
The Limits of So-Called Best Practices, Plus More: Tuesday's Roundup
- While they provide some benefit, so-called best practices can be damaging to nonprofit organizations in some instances, Jamie Notter, a consultant, writes on his blog.
- With Yele Haiti, the musician Wyclef Jean's embattled charity, getting only a small portion of the money raised by a telethon for Haiti, the gossip site Gawker applauds the move and says all the funds raised by the singer's charity should be turned over to an established aid group.
- As more nonprofit journalism efforts start in California and elsewhere, they offer new outlets for grant makers to tell the public about their work, write Dan Cohen and Brian Rice, communications consultants. On the Communications Network blog, they discuss the new online news outlets.
February 22, 2010, 12:06 PM ET
The Risks of Too Much CEO Power, Plus More: Monday's Roundup
- Charity chief executives who are "too important, too powerful, or too relied-on for too many things" can be risks for the organizations they lead, writes John Copps, head of sector research at New Philanthropy Capital, a nonprofit group in London that evaluates charities.
- In a discussion of the Nobel Laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz, Rick Cohen, national correspondent with the Nonprofit Quarterly, says that charities have a role to play in pointing out to politicians the limitations of free markets. Writes Mr. Cohen: "As a sector that exists because of the dysfunction of the markets, nonprofits should be carrying Stiglitz's message and reminding the White House and Congress that banking on the free markets to do the right thing might be a losing investment."
- Nathaniel Whittemore, founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement, highlights the...
February 10, 2010, 11:51 AM ET
The History of Black Philanthropy, Plus More: Wednesday's Roundup
- The history of black philanthropy in America traces its origins to antislavery activists like Harriet Tubman, says Tracey Webb, who started a blog to promote charitable giving by African-Americans. Ms. Webb is profiled on the Black Voices blog.
- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's $10-billion pledge to support vaccine programs must be spent wisely to make sure that governments and corporations do not back away from their own vaccination commitments, says Ruth Levine, vice president for programs and operations at the Center for Global Development. On the center's blog. Ms. Levine says that she expects the Gates fund has some clever ideas for how to spur additional aid and make sure that people don't think "Daddy Healthbucks" has the job covered.