Let Us Tell You Your Best Ideas
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You can’t order someone to come up with a particular creative idea. That’s not how it works. No editor ever said to Herman Melville, “Hey, Herm! How about you write…
The Vision Thing
The past few months have seen a dozen or so would-be presidents appear in my community of Concord, New Hampshire. If you haven’t experienced the New Hampshire Primary, I can…
So, Tell Me About Yourself!
A few months ago, by a fluke, I found myself sitting at the head table of a fundraising dinner next to the keynote speaker, National Public Radio’s legendary journalist Susan…
Phony and Corrupt
There is so much that is good about the charitable world. But simply calling something “charitable” does not make it worthy. Which brings me to two troubling and destabilizing trends:…
Hubris
Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, is the richest person in the world. He obviously has remarkable expertise in starting and running a technology and retail giant. But when it…
Micromanager, Heal Thyself
“The problem is, I’m a terrible micromanager.” Said nobody. Ever. People constantly complain about micromanagement. But micromanagers never fess up. In their own eyes, they’re detail-oriented. They’re concerned with quality…
Three Nonprofit Fundraising Ideas That Sound Good, But Aren’t
H.L Mencken famously said, “There is always a well-known solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong.” One problem facing nearly every nonprofit organization is a shortage of…
A Bubble Bursts
A scandal at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) has roiled the world of philanthropy. It’s a blockbuster story with dramatic elements worthy of an HBO mini-series: An imperious and…
Charitable Giving: From the Heart or the Mind? Discuss.
Marc Gunther and I had never met until about 10 days ago, when we found ourselves at the same meeting in Boston. But we’ve been long-distance pals for a while.…
What’s Behind the Curtain? We Still Don’t Know.
[Note: This article was co-published in The Chronicle of Philanthropy on March 12, 2018.] The most dramatic phenomenon in American charity in the last decade is the rise of donor-advised funds.…