The Who-bodies Blocking Donor-Advised Fund Reform
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Our grandson Jack is a few weeks shy of turning three, but he’s extremely verbal and bright – or at least this doting grandfather thinks so. During our July family…
Read More Smoke and Mirrors
[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…
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