Yes, I write a lot about donor-advised funds. That’s because their surge in popularity is the biggest story in philanthropy – and, to my mind, a growing threat to an…
[Note: This post was published in similar form in the Chronicle of Philanthropy December 15, 2014.] The other day a nonprofit organization I admire sent out a Facebook posting that…
[Note: This post was published as an op-ed in the Chronicle of Philanthropy on October 28, 2014.] Each fall the Chronicle of Philanthropy publishes its “Philanthropy 400,” a list of…
[Note: This was cross-posted October 1, 2014 by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.] Arthur Schopenhauer said, “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is…
We all have our favorite day of the year. It might be a birthday or a particular holiday. For me, it’s Opening Day of the baseball season. For my wife…
If you want to get a whiff of the seamier edge of corporate philanthropy, check out the new charitable marketing scheme by 5-Hour Energy®. The company has undertaken an advertising…
If you think it’s simple to measure a nonprofit’s effectiveness, think again. I’ve written before about the failings of Charity Navigator and other rating systems, which resort to vastly oversimplified…
Do you want to build a great board of directors for your nonprofit? Sure! But it’s harder than it looks. Even if you recruit terrific people, which of course is…
. Julius Rosenwald isn’t much remembered today, but eighty years ago he was considered one of the “big three” of American philanthropy, along with John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie.…
I was recently asked at a public forum why I don’t like endowments. I answered: “It’s not so much that I don’t like endowments. It’s that nonprofits and their donors…