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. 

Getting Back at Backstabbers (Yes, Charities Have Them, Too)

I ran across a nonprofit reference in the November 11 Wall Street Journal in an article about protecting yourself from bosses and colleagues trying to undermine your reputation.

Acorn and Wall Street Have the Same Problem

The Wall Street Journal accidentally connects the dots between two current scandals making it plain that compensation issues are at the heart of management problems with US organizations: non-profit and for-profit, small and large. 

Acorn: Where's the Oak?

Pulled down by an embezzlement scandal and a lightning rod for right-wing attacks, the deeper tragedy at Acorn is how Wade Rathke turned community organizing into a personality cult that prevented the emergence of a new generation of leadership. 

American Red Cross: The CEO Model Has Failed

New CEO Mark Everson has resigned after six months on the job for having relations with a chapter executive in Mississippi (giving new meaning to Katrina relief).  But the Red Cross has made its greatest strides under interim leadership over the last decade, calling into question whether the organization really needs a high profile chief—and whether they can find one.

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. 

Philadelphians Dare to Question WHYY Executive Salaries

Staff, a newspaper columnist, and a local magazine take on the CEO of the local public broadcasting outlet for excessive compensation and poor performance. 

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.

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.