Stress Test
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Fewer and fewer Americans are making charitable contributions, and we need to ask ourselves why. Certainly, economics plays a major role. “Gilded Giving 2018,”a report from the Institute for Policy…
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Let Us Tell You Your Best Ideas
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…
Read More 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…
Read More 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…
Read More 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:…
Read More 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…
Read More 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…
Read More 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…
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