Where Most Needed

Bank is Biggest Beneficiary of Army Charity

Army Emergency Relief, recently subject of an AP investigative report, pays a bank over a million dollars a year to churn investment funds, while army officers continue to shake down the troops for more donations. 

Fearful Symmetry in San Francisco

Christmas Day tiger escape is a grim reminder of the risks of nonprofit mismanagement and the flaccid oversight that comes with self-regulation.  No one is keeping an eye on the tiger, or its keeper. 

Indicted Orange County Sheriff's Charity Fiasco

His foundation's inability to keep up with annual filing requirements turned out to be symptomatic of larger troubles. 

Independent Sector Releases Watered Down Principles for Nonprofits

The IS-sponsored Panel on the Nonprofit Sector announces principles that aren't that different from ones that other nonprofit groups adopted decades ago.  And they still don't address over-indulgent executive compensation—much less fundraising phone calls and junk mail. 

Sidebar: Cambridge College and the Risks of Governance

A successful school for working adults provides an example of why legal compliance doesn't eliminate risks in charity governance.

College Accrediting Bodies Want to Cut the Corporate Claptrap

At least one group of watchdog organizations are looking past the arbitrary divisions between for-profit, nonprofit, faith-based, and governmental  organizations. 

Don Imus Using Charity as Pawn in Contract Dispute

The shock jock helped kids with his charity, now they are helping him collect on his $40 million contract with CBS. 

The Roger Williams University Debacle Signals Failure of the Accreditation Process

Belated action by an accrediting body triggered the oafish outburst by the board chair that attracted media attention, but major governance flaws sat in plain sight for much longer.

Roger Williams Law School in Uproar over Board Chair's Use of the N-word

The board member for forty years, chair of eighteen years (and major donor to the school) has resigned, claiming it was because of his age (80), but others on and off campus are agitating for a complete board shake up and removal of his name from the law school. 

Universities Cash In on Liar's Science

Technology transfer offices get excited about licensing patents that purport to use brain scans for lie detection.