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. 

Rescuing Animals from the Animal Rescuer

Good intentions lead to bad results for some animals in the care of a fund-strapped southern California animal rescue operation. 

Fewer Donors Could Be Better

Newspapers are cutting out marginal circulation due to the rising cost of solicitation and delivery.  Charities should take note.

Be Wary of Lawyers Bearing Best Practices

Some in the legal profession seem to be stuck in an obsolete paradigm of compliance, transparency, and good board governance for nonprofits—while the accounting profession (and Sarbanes-Oxley) advocates a holistic approach with an integrated system of internal controls as its centerpiece. 

Doonesbury Plugs DonorsChoose

Product placement in a comic strip puts the focus on a well-promoted online charity venture.  But a look at the financial statements suggests that there may be bottlenecks ahead as the organization tries to scale up. 

Carnegie Hall Evicts!

About fifty tenants of the Carnegie Hall Studio Towers are facing eviction as the organization decides to convert the apartments to its own use.

Diversity in Funding Sources More Talked About Than Practiced

A study of more than fifty organizations in Baltimore with income from $1 million to $50 million shows that close to 90% rely on just one line on the Form 990 for more than half their income.  Even more notable: the lion's share of private contributions go to organizations that make private contributions their primary source of income.

Indictment Says Nonprofit Was Founded with Millions in Fraud Loot [Updated]

Alan Fabian is charged with using some of the $32 million gains from a phony computer leasing scheme to start the Centre for Management and Technology, a high-profile Baltimore organization using technology to help nonprofits.  (But the Daily Kos may have it wrong: he's not necessarily the same guy listed as a supporter of a certain GOP presidential candidate.)  And the Mitt Romney campaign confirms that he's resigned as co-chair of his national fundraising committee. 

Blogathon Demonstrates Long Tail (Up to a Point)

Shared vision is largely absent from a twenty-four-hour blogging event to raise money for charity, which could be why it wasn't more successful.  And the winner was online editor for a newspaper in Midland, Texas, who blogged from a 30-foot Genie scissors lift in a grocery store parking lot (isn't that cheating?)

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.