Smoke and Mirrors
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[Note: This post was co-published in The Chronicle of Philanthropy on July 22, 2020.] A great magician relies on diversion. The eyes of the audience go where the magician is drawing…
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Missing Information
[This article was co-published in the Chronicle of Philanthropy on June 15, 2020.] Our access to information is instantaneous. While having breakfast at 8:00 we know that thunderstorms will be rolling…
Read More Yes, It’s Political
“What can technologists do to fix the problems facing the nonprofit world?” The question hung in the air for a while. The setting was a recent “hackathon,” an on-line, national…
Read More Not Bad! Not Bad at All!
I’m a people person, and I prefer my people… in person. I’m also not the most technologically adroit guy. So it was a pleasant surprise to find that most of…
Read More Soliciting Gifts, Gracefully, As the World Falls Apart
[Note: A version of this post was published in Harvard Business Review on April 15, 2020.] This is a time of dislocation, fear, and trauma. In the course of about four weeks,…
Read More Time to Put Up and Spend Down
[Note: A version of this post was published in The Chronicle of Philanthropy on April 14, 2020.] The coronavirus pandemic has made us realize – very suddenly – how utterly ill-prepared…
Read More Vested Interests
[Note: This post was co-published in the Chronicle of Philanthropy on March 3, 2020.] Over the past few months, a fierce legislative battle has arisen in California over the mildest of…
Read More Primary Lessons
[Note: This post was co-published in a slightly edited form in the Chronicle of Philanthropy on February 11, 2020.] I’m a New Hampshire voter, which means that, for this week, at least,…
Read More Loopholes, Manipulations, and Abuses
Larry Page, co-founder of Google, is a very rich guy – in fact, he’s the sixth-richest person in the United States, according to those who count such things. Befitting his…
Read More The Great Disconnect
I was speaking with the executive director of a small nonprofit the other day. She mentioned that her board’s major development initiative was to increase the organization’s endowment from $400,000…
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