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Philanthropy News Digest invites opinion and commentary on topics of importance to the philanthropic sector. For more information on this feature, contact Mitch Nauffts, PND's publisher/editorial director, at mfn@foundationcenter.org.
Commentary & Opinion: Social Media Can Open Door to Philanthropy's Future
by
Larry
Blumenthal,
director of social media strategy,
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
In retrospect, I'm not sure I would try this exercise again. A few months back, I began a workshop for staff from a variety of foundations by asking them to shout out all of their whiny, cry-baby excuses for not getting involved in social media. The excuses flew at me fast and furious, like so many tranquilizer darts. I don?t have time. It's too much work. We don't have the resources. Can't figure out the return on investment. Senior staff don't see the value. We're afraid of losing control. What if people criticize us? My shoes are too tight.
Posted on November 4, 2009
Commentary & Opinion: Performance Measurement: Put a Stake in the Ground
by
Andrew
Wolk,
CEO and founder,
Root Cause
If you are a nonprofit leader operating in today's hardscrabble environment, you're undoubtedly spending an exceptional (and unacceptable) amount of time looking for support and fiercely competing for shrinking philanthropic dollars. No matter how good your program is, you may be one of many who are only a few months shy of having to fold your tent.
Posted on September 30, 2009
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Commentary & Opinion From Other Sources
Op-Ed: Imagine Minnesota Life Without Sexual Violence (Albert Lea Tribune 11/23/09)
Twenty years ago I knew nothing about sexual violence. After my son Jacob was kidnapped, I learned quickly that the motive behind child kidnapping is most often sexual violence or exploitation. Who would do that? Who would sexually harm a child?
The answer is complicated, but I now know that the environment matters....
Op-Ed: Lean Years Require a Shift in How You Give to Charity (Los Angeles Times 11/22/09)
Are you detecting a tone of desperation in the charitable appeals you're receiving this holiday season?
It wouldn't be surprising, said John Kobara, chief operating officer of the California Community Foundation, a Los Angeles nonprofit that helps large donors direct some $350 million in charitable donations. The recession significantly cut charitable giving last year, and all indications are that this year will be worse....
Op-Ed: Ramp Ip Entrepreneurship Education, Training (San Francisco Chronicle 11/22/09)
California's unemployment rate is now officially 12.5 percent, but the real unemployment rate, including discouraged and part-time workers who want full-time jobs, is more than 20 percent. Members of the California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity report that in African American and Latino populations, the rate is closer to 30 percent. Where are the jobs, and how do we train and educate for them?
We believe that self-employment and micro-business is the labor trend of the future....
Opinion: Is Goldman’s Charitable Gesture Enough? (New York Times 11/19/09)
When Goldman Sachs said this week that it was starting a $500 million charitable project to help 10,000 small businesses — a sum that represents 3 percent of the $16 billion the firm has set aside so far for employee compensation this year — the announcement was widely seen as a public relations move.
The firm’s chairman, Lloyd Blankfein, who had earlier stoked popular anger when he said Goldman was doing "God's work" in its business, also apologized for participating in "things that were clearly wrong." A recent audit found that the government bailout of A.I.G., the insurance company, resulted in billions of dollars of benefit to Goldman Sachs....
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