Vanity Charity

3 Comments
Back in the 1930s, a series of movies starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland popularized the notion that you could solve big problems… by putting on a show. The orphanage…
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Schmoozing 101

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I often speak with clients about the virtues of hosting open houses, annual celebrations, and other events that bring people into closer contact with their organizations. And I’ve come to…
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Power

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There are few places in public life where there is a greater imbalance of power than between a private foundation and a nonprofit grantee. I’m not saying that a foundation…
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Some Nerve

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It turns out that my last post, “Deluge,” really hit a nerve. I received triple my usual number of blog hits, four times the usual number of on-line comments, and…
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Deluge

23 Comments
The bad news about commercial donor-advised funds is getting worse. As my loyal readers know, I’ve been giving attention here and in national journals to the negative impact that the…
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Not My Type

5 Comments
Management would be pretty simple, if there were no people involved. You can never underestimate how challenging it is to lead a team, whether in a business or a nonprofit.…
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Healthy Tension

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There are some things that people love to complain about. Dealing with difficult relatives around the holidays. Drivers weaving in and out of traffic. The slow line at Motor Vehicles.…
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Simple Deduction

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Given that I am neither a policy analyst nor an economist, I am surprised by the number of people who ask me (as though I possess some special knowledge) about…
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Free Pass

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Do nonprofits give their donors a little too much credit? I’m not asking if nonprofits give their donors too much recognition. It’s fine to carve donors’ names into bricks, put…
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