Charles Jensen, an arts administrator in Phoenix, has an idea to help mitigate the pay gap between the nonprofit and corporate worlds.

Writing in response to a Chronicle article on pay at charities, Mr. Jensen says on his blog, Kinemapoetics,: “I feel like if organizations won’t pay their employees a competitive salary, then they are obligated to recognize the deficit between the for-profit and non-profit industry salaries as actual in-kind financial donations that employees can then write off their taxes.”

What do you think of the idea?

Charities overseas are increasingly getting women to take their clothes off for good causes, writes Kelly Kleiman on The Nonprofiteer.

Earlier this year, Glamour magazine featured naked photos of the singer Mel B, who was posing on behalf of the Helen Bamber Foundation, which fights human trafficking, according to The Guardian, in London. The model Kate Moss recently posed naked in a French newspaper to raise awareness about inequality between the sexes. And People of the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ “I’d rather go naked than wear fur” campaign has featured dozens of naked women over the years.

But is this strategy a smart approach to raising money and visibility? Or merely offensive? Ms. Kleiman thinks the latter.

“Of course sex sells everything, but despite her usual if-it-raises-money-do-it attitude the Nonprofiteer really objects to having nonprofits join the line of...

Should donors elect a charity’s board members?

Sean Stannard-Stockton writes on the Tactical Philanthropy blog that giving donors voting rights would increase their involvement — and the size of their gifts.

“I think that donors should not tell nonprofits how to operate on a daily basis (part of the reason why I favor unrestricted giving), but I do think that nonprofits should be accountable to donors,” he says. “I would guess that if donors were given voting rights, that they would be more engaged and likely to give more money over time.”

Jeff Brooks responds on Donor Power Blog: “I think it’s a dynamite idea, even though the choice of board members is not likely to be very exciting to most donors. Really, on what basis would the average donor choose one board member over another?”

“Even so, I’ve never yet seen giving donors power of any kind not work. My guess is very few do...

An opinion column by New York Times’ writer David Brooks has Kelly Kleiman, of The Nonprofiteer, boiling.

Mr. Brooks celebrates the growing class of social entrepreneurs, but he notes that “their problem now is scalability.” “How do the social entrepreneurs replicate successful programs so that they can be big enough to make a national difference?” Mr. Brooks asks.

He describes how America Forward, a consortium of social entrepreneurs, wants the federal government to expand national service and create semipublic investment funds. The government wouldn’t operate these programs, he says, but would “create a network of semipublic Gates Foundations that would pick winners based on stiff competition.”

Mr. Brooks warns, however, that there are dangers to getting government involved. “Government agencies are natural interferers, averse to remorseless competition and quick policy shifts,”...

A dearth of educational programs handicaps young people who might be interested in nonprofit careers, says Elizabeth Miller, senior program associate at the Overbrook Foundation, on the Future Leaders in Philanthropy blog.

While many universities offer graduate degrees in nonprofit management, few undergraduate courses are designed people interested in philanthropic work, she says.

Entry-level jobs at foundations and charities are generally low-paying and hard to break into, she continues.

Ms. Miller writes that young people who are interested in foundation work should join professional associations, such as the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers. Nonprofit groups, meanwhile, should develop better outreach programs, she says.

Read The Chronicle’s story on the generational divide in philanthropy.

What do you think? What barriers prevent young people from...

Four years after many charities started providing aid in Sudan’s Darfur region, can the relief effort really be sustained? And what can be done to help humanitarian workers, who face burnout, harassment by government officials, and violence?

So asks Samuel Worthington, president of Interaction, following a visit to Sudan last month. Mr. Worthington writes on the organization’s Web site that every international nonprofit group he spoke to in El Fasher, a town in Darfur, has been attacked in some way.

“Stories of mock executions or even a real execution at the hand of rebels, evacuations, beatings, and death threats now form very poignant memories among the humanitarian community,” he says. “The fear of yet another carjacking at gunpoint is a real concern. Every agency has lost a vehicle, with drivers either hurt or left to walk back into town.”

“What brings NGO aid workers down...

The movement in the nonprofit world to make charities more like businesses and create new markets for goods and services that benefit society has been nicknamed “philanthrocapitalism.” Michael Edwards, director of civil society and governance at the Ford Foundation, writes in his new book, Just Another Emperor? The Myths and Realities of Philanthrocapitalism, that the trend isn’t living up to its hype.

Mitch Nauffts, writing on PhilanTopic,, wonders if Mr. Edwards has “brought something new to the table, or is his argument the same old nonprofit wine in a new bottle?”

According to Mr. Nauffts, the book argues that:

-The buzz surrounding philanthrocapitalism have far outpaced its ability to offer results.

-The concentration of wealth and power among philanthrocapitalists isn’t good for democracy.

-Business thinking can damage charities.

-And “[p]hilanthrocapitalism is a ...

How have the Internet and other new technologies affected the work of international-development groups?

Two Google officials — Sonal Shah, head of global development initiatives at Google.org and Bob Boorstin, director of policy communications in Google’s Washington office — discuss that topic on the Google blog.

Last month, Google and Google.org brought together more than 80 technology experts with international charities. Speakers discussed the benefits of cloud computing, which provides an alternative to putting all the burden of computing on a charity’s own servers.

An official at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum highlighted how his organization used Google Earth to document atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region. In a session about the use of YouTube, participants described how cheap video cameras could spread awareness about crises around the globe. (Read The Chronicle’s...

Many nonprofit theaters are embarking on the construction of new buildings, writes The New York Times. But Kelly Kleiman warns would-be builders to beware.

Writing on her blog, The Nonprofiteer,, Ms. Kleiman says she has seen many nonprofit theaters succumb to “New Building Disease.” Raising money for new buildings leaves trustees exhausted, just as audiences are expecting more and better productions. Artists and administrators become distracted from their mission of putting on good plays. And the costs of a new building means that charity managers lose the flexibility they once had to cut back if a production or two bombs, says Ms. Kleiman.

She writes: The “question worth asking about any proposed building project is NOT ‘Does a fine arts group deserve a beautiful environment?’ (who could say ‘no’?) but ‘Will that new environment help produce so much more/better art that it’s...

Philanthropy in Latin America is poised to grow, writes Susan Raymond, a senior managing director of Changing Our World, on the onPhilanthropy blog.

Economic stability is fueling the expansion of giving by individuals, she says, particularly among the continent’s richest people. Between 2004 and 2006, the fortunes of Latin America’s wealthiest Individuals grew from $3.7-trillion to $5.1-trillion, an increase of 38 percent.

Corporate philanthropy, too, is also on the rise, says Ms. Raymond. More businesses are developing large-scale philanthropic budgets. Attendance at the Inter-American Development Bank’s annual conference for Latin American business leaders on topics of social engagement has tripled since 2002.

What’s more, prominent Latin American artists and writers such as Shakira and Gabriel Garcia Marquez have helped generate enthusiasm for philanthropy.

What do you...