Philanthropy by definition is a noble endeavor. Yet people want to know, “what good does philanthropy do?” The answer is hard to get, partly because philanthropy doesn’t really want to know, and evaluation doesn’t really know how to serve up good answers. This article illuminates the dilemma. […]
Highway markers, we’ve discovered, make great reading. Posted by state and regional historical societies all along State, US, and Federal highways, they provide lessons and insight into what happened right there, where you’re standing, in […]
In his TED talk, “The way we think about charity is dead wrong,” Dan Pallotta, activist and fundraiser, makes many interesting and provocative points about the dysfunctional nature of our society’s “philanthropic market.” I cheer […]
There’s a hopeful mantra going around in evaluation circles – endorsed by many – that “you get what you measure.” Personally, I don’t believe it; I’ve been trying to measure social justice for years, and […]
In my last post, I described advocacy as giving voice to a cause — say homelessness prevention, or gun violence prevention, or downtown viability – so that it might progress and succeed. And I said […]
“Advocacy” is from Latin, meaning to give voice to a cause that it might progress and succeed. The practice of advocacy has recently gained legitimacy and momentum as a strategy for promoting social change. Wikipedia […]
Like many, I’m intrigued by this Occupy Wall Street movement. And why not? It purports to voice both the pain and the interests of the 99% of Americans who are harmed by the richest 1%. […]
There has long been perceived a kind of class warfare between foundations who have the money, and nonprofits who beg for the money. This is summed up by one of my favorite quotes, “Ah, philanthropy, […]
In developing our Stakeholders Union, an independent philanthropy testing service, we’ll need to develop a testing process. But first we’ll need to decide what kind of philanthropic service we want to test – our neighborhood […]
In response to a comment on the subject of “pay for performance in the social services” I suggested that rather than have government workers police the cost of outcomes, it would be useful to form […]
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