You can’t always tell a book by its cover. And you can’t always tell a nonprofit by its 990.
When I first saw the headlines Thursday in the Washington Post, I assumed it was another counter-terrorism story. The story reported that "federal prosecutors took steps Thursday to seize four U.S. mosques [...]
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I’ve been asked by several readers to describe "theory of change." So I decided to go to one of the experts, Jacob Harold, program officer at the Hewlett Foundation. Jacob is a frequent writer and speaker on the subject and recently conducted a free Webinar for GuideStar. Jacob has also been very helpful [...] On July 22, I joined Brad Smith, president of the Foundation Center, on a teleconference to talk about the future of the nonprofit sector. It was the first time GuideStar and the Foundation Center have collaborated on such an event and only one of a few things our organizations have ever done together. It was [...] I’m not much of a television viewer these days, other than sports and news, and probably would have missed NBC’s The Philanthropist it if it hadn’t been for the kerfuffle caused by the Council on Foundations. In late June, the COF came out with a statement saying in part: "[THE NBC prime-time [...] I’ve been talking to a lot of people about my last blog on the "new normal"—a term that suggests we may be in for a new economic paradigm for our country and the nonprofit sector. The other day I had two interviews with reporters and prepared for a press conference with a nonprofit colleague. In all three meetings, I was asked in one way or another, "Are nonprofit organizations ready for a ‘new economic normal?’" All three conversations presumed we are headed to a new economic reality, for [...] Quick! What are the largest sources of revenue for nonprofit organizations? The public usually thinks the right answer is charitable giving, and this is certainly where most of the attention goes. But according to the Urban Institute’s Nonprofit Almanac 2008, 50 percent comes from fees for services and goods from private sources, and [...] I usually focus on the "benefit" side of philanthropy—what can we do and how we can make sure our efforts have the greatest impact. That’s why I have so much interest in measuring the effectiveness of nonprofits—how can nonprofits get better and serve more people? What do you make of the news from Giving USA about the drop in revenues for the nonprofit sector for 2008? Sean Stannard-Stockton in his blog, Tactical Philanthropy, asks whether we should call the glass half full or half empty: "Charitable Giving Exceeds $300 Billion. Second Highest Level of Giving Ever!" or "Charitable [...] Last week I spent several days in Columbus, Ohio, at the DonorEdge 2.0 conference. You can find out more about the conference here. DonorEdge is a partnership between GuideStar and a growing number of community foundations committed to the proposition that, armed with better data and tools, donors will make better decisions and nonprofits [...] |
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