Posts by Maria Di Mento
September 16, 2009, 12:23 PM ET
Why Nonprofit Boards Fail, Plus More: Wednesday's Roundup
- Micromanaging, not resolving conflicts, and ignorance of nonprofit law are some of the most common governance mistakes at charities, writes Ellis McGehee Carter, a lawyer in Phoenix, on her blog.
- Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity Worldwide, a new book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, offers “perspective, insight, and clear-eyed optimism” for how to fight global poverty by helping women, says Bill Gates Sr., one of the leaders of the Gates foundation, in the Huffington Post.
- The marketing expert Seth Godin’s controversial post on how nonprofit groups use social media is drawing extensive debate among readers of the blogs by the nonprofit expert Beth Kanter and the CauseWired author Tom Watson.
September 15, 2009, 11:40 AM ET
Anticipation of High Court's Electioneering Decision, Plus More: Tuesday's Roundup
- The pending U.S. Supreme Court decision on Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission, which involves limits on electioneering, may lead to new legal challenges to the rules that govern how nonprofit groups participate in elections, says Lloyd H. Mayer, an associate law professor at the Notre Dame Law School, on the Nonprofit Law Prof Blog.
- Aid workers in war-torn countries and elsewhere often must contend with fake humanitarian conferences, building contractors who work secretly with insurgents, and other scams, says Patronus Analytical, a security company that assists international charities, on its blog.
- Beth Kanter, who blogs on social media, has some advice for charity employees on how to approach bloggers and persuade them to write about your organization or idea. Among her suggestions: Introduce yourself to the blogger not with a request but by leaving a ...
September 14, 2009, 12:37 PM ET
Does Harvard Need More Charitable GIfts, Plus More: Monday's Roundup
- With Harvard University financially flush even in hard times, alumni and other donors should steer their contributions to more needy causes, writes Matthew Yglesias, a fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a think tank in Washington, on its blog.
- Think twice before deciding to “rebrand” your charity, writes Mark Phillips, founder of Bluefrog, a British firm that provides fund-raising services to charities.
- Michelle Murrain, a consultant to charities on technology, suggests some relatively simple ways nonprofit groups can move toward evaluating the success of their projects.
- What role can nonprofit leaders and programs play in promoting respect and civility, two values that many people think have been absent from recent discussions about the health-care system? Terri Lee Freeman, president of the Community Foundation for the National Capital...
September 11, 2009, 12:22 PM ET
A Lack of Skilled Arts Managers Hobbles Arts Groups, Plus More: Friday's Roundup
- The biggest problem facing the arts today isn’t a lack of devoted artists, it’s a lack of skilled arts managers who know how to raise money and attract audiences, Michael M. Kaiser, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, writes on Huffington Post
- How responsive have foundations been to the economic crisis? Mitch Nauffts, publisher of Philanthropy News Digest, a publication of the Foundation Center, asks readers to weigh in on that question on the Foundation Center’s PhilanTopic blog.
- The growing trend of companies letting consumers choose where corporate grants are donated is more about marketing corporate good deeds than raising additional money for charity, writes Sharon Schneider on the Philanthropic Family blog. Ms. Schneider is a philanthropic director at Foundation Source.
- New features for charities on YouTube will make it easier...
September 10, 2009, 11:40 AM ET
Using Social Networks to Raise Money, Plus More: Thursday's Roundup
- Gear Up for Giving, a monthlong series of social-media tutorials for nonprofit organizations, kicks off on the Case Foundation’s Web site today at 1 p.m. Eastern time. No registration is required for the sessions, which will discuss how charities can use to social media to raise awareness of their cause, cultivate new supporters, and spur advocacy.
- Donors and nonprofit groups often deceive themselves by describing overseas antipoverty projects as “sustainable” when there is very little chance the local governments could ever take them over, writes Michael Bear Kleinman, an aid worker, on Change.org’s blog.
- Financial advisers to wealthy people can build stronger relations with their clients by including philanthropy in their planning, writes Dune Thorne, who works for a Boston financial-management company, in Forbes magazine.
- While last week’s Social Capital...
September 9, 2009, 11:42 AM ET
New Site Seeks to Connect Charities With Donors, and More: Wednesday's Roundup
- The founders of a charity that provides eye care to both paying and nonpaying customers in the San Francisco area discuss the challenges they face in expanding the model, which is similar to programs in India. The discussion appears on Pioneering Ideas, a blog operated by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
- A new Web site, DoGoodr.org, which seeks to connect charities with donors, may revolutionize fund raising, says Patrick O’Heffernan, a fund raiser in the San Francisco Bay area, on the Social Edge, a blog by the Skoll Foundation.
- Last week’s Social Capital Markets Conference left many people in the nonprofit world aflutter about the need for better metrics to help donors find the best projects. But Paul Hudnut, who teaches entrepreneurship at Colorado State University, says good projects may not be getting enough money simply because of the “relentlessness” of the...
September 8, 2009, 11:24 AM ET
Testing Nonprofit Aptitude and More: Tuesday's Roundup
- To mark the beginning of the school year, Charity Navigator, a charity watchdog group, has a 12-question quiz on its blog to assess what people know about how charities work.
- Michael Bear Kleinman, who has worked for several international-aid groups, writes on Change.org about the high incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder among relief workers. (See The Chronicle‘s articles on this topic).
- Nonprofit groups that drift from their original mission can hurt their efforts and reputation,, writes Arlene M. Spencer, a nonprofit consultant, on her blog. She offers ideas on how to recover.
- Through philanthropy and caring for others “you open a conduit for the kind of happiness that no one can ever steal from you,” writes the spiritual thinker Deepak Chopra in an opinion article in the San Francisco Chronicle.
September 4, 2009, 01:17 PM ET
How to Use Self-Interest to Attract Volunteers, Plus More: Friday's Roundup
- To motivate people to volunteer, charities and others need to speak to their self-interest, argues Chris Jarvis, a charity consultant in Canada, on his blog.
- On the Foundation Center’s PhilanTopic blog, Mitch Nauffts highlights a letter sent recently by 18 Florida grant makers disabusing a local city council vice president of the view that they would pick up the tab for social programs that the government plans to cut.
- As part of its effort to expand technology in public libraries, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation should support the use of Apple and Linux computers, writes Phil Shapiro in a blog posting for PC World. Mr. Shapiro works at a library in Washington and is an adjunct education professor at American University.
- How can a foundation be the sole supporter of a documentary while letting go of editorial control? On the Communications Network blog,...
September 2, 2009, 11:23 AM ET
Should Indirect Beneficiaries of Madoff Money Be Expected to Return Gifts, Plus More: Wednesday's Roundup
- The marketing expert Seth Godin explains why fund raisers should focus less on big issues and more on small, easy-to-fix problems in their appeals.
- Jack Siegel, a lawyer and consultant, says the bankruptcy trustee in the Bernard Madoff fraud case is right to consider asking charities that benefited from Mr. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme to return their profits. The more interesting question, he writes on Charity Governance: Will groups that have received grants from such charities be required to return some portion of their grants?
- Nathaniel Whittemore, director of the Center for Global Engagement at Northwestern University, has several updates from the Social Capital Markets 2009 conference in San Francisco. He analyzes the goals of the White House Office of Social Innovation and examines the top trends shaping the meeting, among them measuring impact and mobile technology. (...
September 1, 2009, 12:41 PM ET
Is Branding Dead? Tuesday's Roundup
- Is branding dead? More or less, says Jeff Brooks, creative director at Merkle, on his Donor Power Blog.
- How can charities make new volunteers feel welcome? Karen Bantuveris, chief executive of VolunteerSpot, which helps charities coordinate volunteer activities, offers five tips. Her advice appears on the blog of InsideGood, a Web site that allows people to rate charities.
- Institutional efforts to invest in socially responsible and philanthropic companies often fail to make major investments in such businesses, relying too much on the “screen and criticize” approach, writes Jeff Swartz, chief executive of the apparel company Timberland, on a Fast Company blog.
- To connect with the neighborhoods and people they want to serve, charity leaders should “unplug” — put away the iPods, walk the streets, and listen to the cadence of the surroundings, writes Robert Egger,...