Where Most Needed

Cattaca: Genetics for Cats

A small foundation supports some fascinating research into the origins of cat varieties.  But their IRS reporting is quite a bit less enlightening. 

Roger Clemens Foundation Could Use Some Juice

The pitcher's charity foundation stages a golf event and sells memorabilia, and a significant amount of grants go to places that aren't mentioned in the organization's web site.

Doors Closing for Small Scale Advocacy Organizations

Changing priorities at two foundations affect funding for hundreds of small scale advocacy groups across the US.  It looks as though free lance advocacy is losing out to the broader strategic objectives of political campaigning.

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. 

Dawning of the Dark Side of Philanthropy

A few voices are (re)awakening to the realization that philanthropy is about public relations, not charity.  But they aren't yet ready to abandon the myth of an independent third sector or civil society. 

Ford Foundation Still Driving a Fairmont

The new president of the Ford Foundation commits to continuity, while the organization remains best known for projects it sponsored a over a generation ago. 

Foundations Swimming through Apologies (Sorry)

Major foundations are stumbling over themselves to report lessons learned on disappointing initiatives, but there is a suprising sameness in What Doesn't Work. 

James Irvine Foundation Turns Whoops into White Paper

When a huge foundation initiative failed to show much progress, they brought in outside help to turn it around, completely revamped the project, and wrote it all up for the world to see. 

Levi Strauss Heirs Pursue a New Vision of Philanthropy

And yet, despite initiatives in community development, gay & lesbian rights, and immigration policy, large civic gestures still define the principal foundation of the Haas family. 

Faculty at Ave Maria Law School Fights Founder's Flighty Vision

Conservative law professors are taking an activist approach to block the move of their school from Michigan to Thomas Monaghan's new town development, Ave Maria, Florida.