Smoke and Mirrors
13 Comments
[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…
Read More A New Cool-Sounding Measurement That Doesn’t Add Up
[Note: This article was published as an opinion piece in the Chronicle of Philanthropy on September 11, 2019.] Donor-advised funds are the fastest-growing segment of philanthropy, and that’s attracted a lot 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…
Read More What’s Behind the Curtain? We Still Don’t Know.
[Note: This article was co-published in The Chronicle of Philanthropy on March 12, 2018.] The most dramatic phenomenon in American charity in the last decade is the rise of donor-advised funds.…
Read More Charity, Incorporated
It seems that every time I set out to write about topics other than donor-advised funds, fresh news explodes on the scene that requires my attention, and yours. This week…
Read More A Tale of Two Letters, and Two Sectors
[Note: A version of this post was published in the opinion pages of The Chronicle of Philanthropy on November 2, 2017.] Here’s an idea: Let’s agree to stop referring to “the nonprofit…
Read More Strange Math
[A version of this piece appeared in the Chronicle of Philanthropy on July 13, 2017.] Here’s the world’s simplest math problem. My wife Pat and I often meet a pair of friends…
Read More Wall Street 9, Charity 0
The news last week was stunning, but at the same time utterly unsurprising: When The Chronicle of Philanthropy compiled its annual Philanthropy 400 list of the nonprofit organizations that had…
Read More Fidelity Charitable Reveals Its Arrogance, But Not Its Salaries
[Note: This post was published in the December 1, 2015 on-line edition of The Chronicle of Philanthropy.] It’s common knowledge that transparency rules the day for disclosure of the salaries…
Read More No Transparency, No Clue
I live in New Hampshire, where presidential candidates more or less take up residence for the year before our primary. They’re all around us now. Trust me. Come December I…
Read More