- David Henderson, chief executive of a company that provides technology to social-service groups, says the nonprofit world’s current obsession with “micro” — “micro-volunteering,” “micro-philanthropy,” “micro-donations.” and “micro-actions” — is distracting it from tackling big and real challenges. “[O]ur fascination with all things micro stems from a hope that simple, small, and intuitive-sounding actions can solve tremendously complicated problems,” not from an “understanding of the effectiveness of micro approaches,” he says.
- Charity Navigator’s decision to measure the effectiveness of charities instead of solely examining their finances may hurt nonprofit groups in the long run, writes Steven Lawry, senior research fellow at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations. On the center’s blog, he says the move could “reduce their appetite or ambition for working on the really hard problems in deference to easier problems that are more susceptible to quick impact and simple measurement.”
- Writing on the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s blog, Joel Orosz, a professor of philanthropic studies at Grand Valley State University’s Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership, says that foundations — wealthy institutions perceived by many as “ungenerous,” “unapproachable,” and “unprofessional — could feel the wrath of the populist movement epitomized by the Tea Party movement. (See a Chronicle opinion piece on this topic).
