Big News — But Not Good News

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[Note: This commentary is cross-posted in the November 15, 2012 edition of the  Chronicle of Philanthropy.] Today it’s my duty to point out a disturbing trend for America’s charities. Each…
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Endowments, Pro and Con

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OK. I admit it. Sometimes I go a bit overboard to prove a point. A friend of mine made me realize this the other day. She chided me: “You’re always…
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Perfect Match

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There’s something about a fundraising challenge grant that gets the juices flowing. The nonprofit announces, “If we manage to raise X dollars by such and such a date, then the…
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Closing the Divide

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(Note: This entry is cross-posted in the Stanford Social Innovation Review.) In this election year we’ve heard plenty about the 47%, the 1% and the 99%. The expanding wealth gap…
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A Person in the Picture

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My wife’s grandfather, a lovely and memorable man named Jim Nolan, had a simple rule for taking photographs: “Always put a person in the picture.” A photo of Niagara Falls…
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Missing Pieces

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There’s a memorable scene in the 1981 movie “Reds.” It’s 1917. Warren Beatty, playing radical journalist John Reed, asks Diane Keaton, playing Louise Bryant, to accompany him on a trip…
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Sand Trap

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A riddle: Q. “What are the three scariest words in the English language?” A. “Charity golf tournament.” (more…)
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