A Chronicle online discussion Tuesday focused on what charity leaders can do to navigate their organizations through the current economic turmoil.

One member of the audience — Robert Egger, president of the D.C. Central Kitchen in Washington — asked a much broader question:

“It’s understandable that many will want to focus today’s conversation on the micro level, and how this ongoing meltdown will impact their causes. I understand that, as this is a huge issue for every nonprofit in America. But is there any macro advice you all can offer “us” about how nonprofits might use this current dilemma to get an entirely new dialogue going? Wouldn’t this be an ideal time to reframe the debate, so that the economic role of nonprofits becomes a part of the dialogue?”

What do you think? Is it time to rethink how nonprofit groups fit into the American economy? If so, how?

Click on the...

When you measure your charity’s performance, what do you focus on?

Do you focus on whether your group is within its budget, whether it is serving more people than it has in the past, or if it is receiving enough mentions in the news media?

Robert Thalhimer, senior vice president at the Community Foundation Serving Richmond and Central Virginia, encourages nonprofit leaders to question whether they are actually asking the right questions.

Instead of asking questions that can be answered with a few statistics, Mr. Thalhimer says charity leaders should instead focus on results. He borrows the concept from Marilee Goldberg Adams’ book Change Your Questions, Change Your Life.

“Are we really interested in how many people we served (an output)?” he writes on Philanthromedia “Or, do we care more about whether we changed their lives for the better (an outcome)?”

What questions does you...

The federal government’s takeover of mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae has been viewed largely as a business and government story.

But some observers say the failure of these two institutions also raises major questions for those who care about philanthropy.

The central question, reports the Wall Street Journal, is whether Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae put profit ahead of their stated social mandate of helping low-income homeowners.

“Even those who argue Fannie and Freddie should remain under some form of government control say the companies need to do more to fulfill their affordable-housing goals,” the Journal reports. “Critics say the companies have too often put shareholder profit and executive compensation over broader societal needs.”

That question is particularly important given the recent trend of social-enterprise, charity-business hybrids, writes Sean...

What really irks potential donors about their contact with charities?

Marc A. Pitman, a fund-raising consultant, decided to use the popular social-networking site LinkedIn to pose that question to real-life donors.

At the top of the list for many donors: the freebies that are included in many direct-mail solicitations.

“Don’t send me junk in the mail like address labels, notepads, and pennies,” writes one donor. “I have an understanding of the costs of printing and mailing and including these items with a solicitation letter [and it] makes me wonder exactly how much of my donation will be used for the core mission.”

Other donors griped that charities had given their contact information to other organizations, so donors were overwhelmed with telemarketing calls and direct-mail appeals.

“Every nonprofit should thank their donors with no strings attached, no additional asks or...

Big companies like Volkswagen and McDonald’s are turning to 1970s-era icons in new advertising campaigns under the theory that consumers cling to reassuring images during tough economic times — and charities might want to do the same, says a nonprofit marketing expert.

“It’s important for most nonprofit organizations to emphasize their innovation, not their traditionalism, but look back into your org’s past to see what treasure you may find,” Ms. Schwartz writes on Getting Attention.

To do that, she suggests several tips. Among them:

• Unearthing archival images of celebrities supporting your cause.

• Using images of historic special events featuring participants decked out in the styles of the day.

• Creating a special event with a historic theme.

Has your organization successfully promoted its history to provide comfort to supporters during difficult economic...

Readers throughout the nonprofit world are joining our quest to collect your favorite jargon words.

We asked The Chronicle’s followers on the social-networking site Twitter to point out their least-favorite jargon words.

Here is what some of them had to say:

• Impactful

• Sector

• Resources

• Portal

• Constituent

• Philanthropy value proposition

• Advocacy – and I’m a director of it!

Are these the worst phrases or do you have others to contribute?

Charities spend considerable time pursuing foundation grants and searching for non-traditional gifts through planned and corporate giving.

But Sean Stannard-Stockton, who works for an investment management company in Burlingame, Calif., says charities often ignore the low-hanging fruit — donations from individuals.

If charities can be more effective in reaching out to individuals, he argues they would probably be able to raise substantially more money with very little extra effort.

To illustrate the point, Mr. Stannard-Stockton points to a recent blog post by the marketing expert Seth Godin.

“As marketers, we’re tempted to tweak the already tweaked, to turn the 100 to 101, to optimize for the peak performances,” Mr. Godin writes. “That long tail is very long, though, and if there’s a way you can raise the floor (instead of just focusing on the ceiling) you may be surprised to...

Recent college graduates are being encouraged to follow the money rather than follow careers in the nonprofit world because of the staggering cost of higher education.

But Peter Brinckerhoff, a management consultant for nonprofit groups, believes he has a solution.

Mr. Brinckerhoff, writes on Mission-Based Management, says nonprofit groups would be better able to attract young, talented workers if local governments and community foundations offered incentives that would allow recent graduates to pay off their student loans.

He says local governments could create a system in which recent graduates would see a portion of their loan debts forgiven for every year in which they work for a charity. The federal government now does that for people in certain public-service careers.

He also proposes that local governments offer property-tax incentives to nonprofit workers who buy homes ...

Are foundations incapable of driving substantive social change?

William A. Schambra, senior fellow for the Hudson Institute in Washington, said in a recent speech to a group of Chicago grant makers that American philanthropy has become so awash in bureaucracy that even the most powerful foundations have no hope of pushing forward any form of meaningful change.

“What foundations can do, I suggest, is to be serious, quiet, attentive students of their surroundings, watching carefully for opportunities to enhance slightly the trends that they applaud, and diminish slightly the trends that they deplore,” Mr. Schambra said.

“That modest, humble goal is the best that foundations can aim for today.”

Mr. Schambra’s biting assessment of the state of foundations is causing some foundation leaders to bristle.

Albert Ruesga, vice president at the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, in...

The journalist Bob Woodward says his private foundation “rigorously” follows federal laws that spell out how much money it should pay out in grants.

Mr. Woodward’s philanthropy has been called into question following reports by Harper’s Magazine that he has been accepting payments for speeches — a practice the magazine says damages his credibility as a reporter.

The Woodward Walsh Foundation in Washington, which Mr. Woodward manages along with his wife, Elsa Walsh, receives money he collects for his public appearances.

Mr. Woodward provided a copy of the foundation’s 2008 Form 990 informational tax form to Deborah Howell, who serves as the newspaper’s ombudsman, as part of the paper’s review of his public-speaking appearances to determine whether Mr. Woodward and another reporter, David Broder, had violated the Post’s ethics policy by accepting payments for public speeches.

The...