Where Most Needed

Discounting Social Capital

Robert Putnam's latest research begins to show the limits of the social capital concept, to put it kindly. 

UK's Version of the Charity Clothes Collection Scam

Gangs, often from Lithuania, use phony fliers or just boost clothes put out for collection, with impunity. 

Try to Catch Tvind

Used clothes boxes from California to the UK labeled Planet Aid or Gaia-Movement fund the secretive Tvind organization, whose leader has again vanished after acquittal on tax fraud charges in Denmark. 

Charities Seeking Fame: Have Your Lawyers Threaten Bloggers

Transparency International, a charity that advocates against government corruption, found itself at the top of the blogging charts on Thursday morning.  According to Deutsche Welle (not to mention a bazillion blogs), the agency had come down hard on a blogger who had posted about a friend's recent termination from that organization (during a new hire probation period).  Their lawyer demanded that posting be withdrawn, making threats of legal and financial consquences. 

The blogger duly deleted the original post and posted the lawyer's letter instead.  Soon the whole story of the termination and the heavy handed attempt at censorship was all over the blogosphere. 

I took a look at the organization's financial statements, which show that €4.6 million of the organizations €5.8 million income is from governments, and roughtly 10% of the government share is from USAID.  Looking at the Form 990 of the US chapter, Transparency International USA (EIN 54-1688204), we see first that the most recent posted return is from 2003.  In that return, the chapter reports a staff of 3 (line 90), with managing director Nancy Zucker Boswell earning $167,000.

This type of story is not unique.  Last year, the ACLU took it on the chin over document shredding.  The incongruity of organizations with a mission of transparency engaging in less-than-transparent behavior is always newsworthy.  But let's not call it ironic, ok?

In the continuation story, I have the text and a Google translation of the lawyer's letter, as reported in the blog.