Where Most Needed

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. 

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.

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. 

Jerry Lewis & Don Imus: The Downside of Charity-Celebrity Co-Dependency

Hitching a charity's reputation to a single individual is a high-risk strategy that pays off—until it doesn't.

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. 

Conservative Rabbis to Certify Labor Conditions at Kosher Slaugherhouses

After an exposé of the kosher "Jungle" of processing plants with substandard working conditions, two Conservative jewish associations work jointly to draft rules and enforceable standards for inspection. 

Antioch College President Says Toxic Politics Drove Collapse in Enrollment

The most recent recovery plan failed when the students stopped arriving, but it was only the final act in a strategic plan set in motion decades ago, which has also had the effect of reducing and now eliminating tenured faculty positions from the staff. 

American Association of University Professors Fades to Gray

Torn by divergent missions of academic freedom and collective bargaining, the organization struggles for recognition among younger faculty. 

Michigan Nonprofit Association Folds into Volunteering Organization

The state embraces a model where nonprofit support is a joint responsibility of corporations, donors, and government—but working human service nonprofits have their own, separate organization.

NY Times Finds God (Inc.) on the Business Page

The second installment of a four-part series surveys the ways that churches running enterprises far removed from worship are exempt from laws protecting employees.