The reopening this week of Iraq’s National Museum, which was looted of its prized antiquities following the invasion by American forces in 2003, has prompted Dana Variano to argue on the PhilanthroMedia blog for a greater appreciation of culture and the arts in the face of war and recession.

“For ages, people have argued that art comes secondary to other pillars of society,” writes Ms. Variano. But this is a false choice, she says, and art and culture is more important than ever during times of upheaval.

“Art is similar to religion, in that it connects people to a higher, deeper, more universal power than they can find in themselves,” she writes. “And this, I think, is why Iraq’s National Museum has opened, despite the rickety foundation that still exists in the country.”

Such a sign of hope from war-torn Iraq, she says, should inspire Americans to step up to the challenge of...

Post-inauguration talk about a “post-racial” America — and recent news items that have provoked racial tensions — have prompted Rosetta Thurman to explore on her self-titled blog the need for the nonprofit world to be more candid on the subject of race.

Pointing to the New York Post‘s controversial cartoon depicting President Obama as a dead monkey, and Attorney General Eric Holder’s declaration that Americans are “a nation of cowards” when it comes to race, Ms. Thurman says she has found the commentary on these events disappointing.

“The idea that we are moving ‘past race’ in any way because we have a black President has only served to bring to light the reality of just how marginalized people of color are in this country, and even in our very own nonprofit sector,” she writes. “I’ll be interested to see how many nonprofit conferences this year take diversity off the agenda, now...

Charities that use the word “minorities” to describe the people they serve may be hindering their ability to carry out their missions, writes Rosetta Thurman on her blog.

“Part of the role of nonprofits, I believe, is not only to drive social change, but to also reframe the way America looks at social problems,” she writes. “For years, we’ve made a pity party out of the fact that ‘XX% of the people we serve are minorities’ as if this were in itself a reason to support our cause.”

Ms. Thurman says she began thinking about the way nonprofit groups use language years ago, when she wrote grant proposals for a small community-development group. “It baffled me as to why our grant language was littered with terminology about ‘serving minorities’ and helping ‘at-risk youth.’ A minority compared to whom? At-risk of what, exactly?”

Besides, she notes, experts say that non-white Americans...

In a time of recession and great social-service needs, more groups are striking collaborations, notes Diana R. Sieger, president of the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, in Mich., in her blog But some of those collaborations have been under way for decades, and their spirit of cooperation is helping their constituents survive hard economic times.

Ms. Sieger notes that private and community grant makers in her region have banded together to create a pool of funds to shore up hard-hit charities that offer front-line social services. Rather than adopt a cumbersome grant-application process, the pool is flowing directly to the Essential Needs Task Force. That committee, which has existed since 1982 and is supported by te Kent County Department of Human Services and the local United Way, will decide where the money will go.

“So in essence — it is one collaborative effort working with a...

Donors who are new to philanthropy often have well-intentioned but ill-informed ideas about giving. To help them make the most of their generosity, the blog Philanthromedia is this week posting a list of 10 tips from Paul Shoemaker, executive director of Social Ventures Partners, in Seattle.

Mr. Shoemaker takes aim at such common donor situations as a request that a gift be earmarked only for programs but not “overhead.” He challenges donors who hold this view, noting that it often excludes the support of staff members who run charitable programs: “Nonprofit organizations are businesses just like any for-profit entity, but with a social mission. They have to invest not only in the ‘product,’ but also in the systems, infrastructure, and operations to support the end product. “

He also urges donors not to give their money to a charity simply because of its financial neediness, because...

The election of Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrat from Illinois whose father was Kenyan, may change Americans’ image of leadership, writes Rosetta Thurman on her Perspectives from the Pipeline blog.

Calling herself “awestruck” at American voters’ choice, Ms. Thurman, who is black, writes, “Will we begin to see more corporate and nonprofit CEOs and political leaders of color?”

On a personal note, Ms. Thurman, who says she voted for Mr. Obama, writes that his ascendancy has helped to heal her own wounds caused by racism, including a childhood spent in the housing projects of Cleveland.

One way that charities can navigate through rough economic seas is to tap younger workers’ leadership skills more often, writes Rosetta Thurman on her Perspectives from the Pipeline blog.

“What the economic crisis is showing the nonprofit sector is that we can no longer rely on corporate social responsibility, ongoing government funding, or stable donations from even our most loyal donors,” Ms. Thurman writes. In such an unpredictable climate, she adds, “it’s clear that the old top-down hierarchy isn’t the best model for what needs to happen in organizations today.”

What might help charities survive, she says, is turning to Generation Y workers.

“Right now is an opportunity for young nonprofit professionals to bring fresh, innovative ideas for how we do the work of social change,” she writes. By dint of their advanced education (many, she notes, hold master’s degrees and have...

As Congress debates a $700-billion bailout of troubled Wall Street companies, Diana R. Sieger, president of the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, in Mich., recalls with amusement on her blog how, back in the 1990s, making community foundations run more like businesses was all the rage.

The fever, she writes, started in 1992, in the wake of Fidelity Investments’ creation of its first charitable gift fund, a practice other for-profit companies followed in subsequent years.

For the next several years, Ms. Sieger writes, “the field fought hard and generally with one another. Should we take on the attributes of the giant investment firms that try to accommodate client needs by having their fund statements online 24/7 updated daily to show how their accounts are faring? Should we become more transactional? Ultimately should we focus on high net worth people only who want a charitable...

Nonprofit organizations that want to tell the public more about their work— and solidify the trust they have earned from donors, clients, and others — should include more information about their inner workings on their Web sites, writes Ken Goldstein on the Nonprofit Consultant Blog.

“I’m not just talking about your programs and the great deeds that your organization performs,” writes Mr. Goldstein. “I’m talking about your finances, your governance, and your management of the public trust. Because that’s what a nonprofit is: A public trust.”

In exchange for the tax-exempt status charities have been granted by the Internal Revenue Service, he writes, they owe the public a certain amount of information.

“Lack of trust in nonprofits leads to lack of donations, and restrictions on what we can ultimately accomplish,” he writes.

Among Mr. Goldstein’s suggestions for what should ...

Fund raising in a small town offers some advantages over scouting for donations in larger cities, writes Holly Lillis, a fund raiser in Sarasota, Fla., on the Future Leaders in Philanthropy blog.

“It can be a real challenge creating that elevator pitch when your town only has a handful of buildings more than 10 stories high,” writes Ms. Lillis, who nevertheless enumerates several aspects of small-town environments that can bring worthy causes together with generous donors.

For examples, she writes, local news media and lawmakers are more easily accessible than in a big metropolis, helping charities spread the word and garner public support

In addition, Ms. Lillis suggests, “Small towns are known as places where everyone actually says hello to each other. Though this doesn’t mean you should solicit random strangers to donate to your capital campaign, the welcoming nature of...