Where Most Needed

Hockey Fib Ices Headmaster at Gilman School

The Baltimore private school's board shows zero tolerance for resume padding, even for a manager with a five year track record of fundraising success. 

Voluntourists Are Considered Gawkers after Tahoe Fires

Every disaster site has to contend with the effects of convergence of people, of communications, and of material on an infrastructure that is already damaged by the disaster.   

Head of Ex-Gay Group Exodus International Enjoys Tax-Free Lifestyle

The organization takes advantage of a little-known provision in the tax code to exempt over half of its executive director's salary from Federal income taxes.   

Harvard Business School's Modest Social Entrepreneurs

Compared with their enterprising west coast rivals, social entrepreneurs at HBS seem downright genteel.

Urban Institute Governance Study Draws Wrong Conclusions from Biased Data

Study puts undue emphasis on the smallest organizations, whose governance issues bear little resemblance to those of the large organizations that carry out the bulk of charitable work.  As a result, the study demeans a good governance practice that should be promoted. 

Antioch College President Says Toxic Politics Drove Collapse in Enrollment

The most recent recovery plan failed when the students stopped arriving, but it was only the final act in a strategic plan set in motion decades ago, which has also had the effect of reducing and now eliminating tenured faculty positions from the staff. 

Autism Speaks, but Not with One Voice

The Autism Speaks organization has merged several advocacy organizations under its umbrella to become a dominant fundraiser in a crowded field.  But controversial theories about the cause of the condition present a challenge to the founders even from their own daughter. 

Caught! A Tale of Two Churches in Chicago

Sting operations nab a priest and a church secretary in separate incidents, but the one case cost the congregation more and took much longer to uncover than the other. 

Minnesota Diversified Industries, Social Enterprise Pioneer, Hits Hard Times

CEO resigns who had promised expansion but delivered layoffs.  He was the second CEO in a row to have been reined in for an inappropriate management style for an agency employing people with disabilities.

Smithsonian Fundraising Now Relies on Big Money

There was an abrupt transition in the late 1990s to an emphasis on blockbuster capital campaigns, and now extremely large gifts are the single largest source of funds for the museum.  The present board structure is ill-suited both to this kind of fundraising and to the kind of media deals that the organization now must engage in.  I offer a radical solution to bring the Smithsonian into the current century.