Where Most Needed

Fearful Symmetry in San Francisco

Christmas Day tiger escape is a grim reminder of the risks of nonprofit mismanagement and the flaccid oversight that comes with self-regulation.  No one is keeping an eye on the tiger, or its keeper. 

Unusually Large Charity Fraud—in Alaska!

Alaskans are unusually generous—or there's something else going on—for an embezzler to make off with $75,000 from local chapters of two name-brand charities. 

A Peek into United Way's Hidden Restructuring Program

Large and small mergers are steadily cutting the number of United Way organizations in the US, but community fears of losing out in funding allocations are the chief obstacle to administrative streamlining.

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.

College Accrediting Bodies Want to Cut the Corporate Claptrap

At least one group of watchdog organizations are looking past the arbitrary divisions between for-profit, nonprofit, faith-based, and governmental  organizations. 

Rediscovering Parkinson's Lost Law

The celebrity-humorist-theoretician of bureaucracy offered some insight into the relationship between scale and sustainability in organizations. 

National Night Out Founder Thinks He's Worth a Quarter Million

About a third of the organization's budget goes to pay the president's salary, approved by a five-person board that includes his brother.   And we track down the source of its funding. 

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?)

Salvation Army Manager Fakes Voids & Pockets Cash

Since 1999, according to the police report, she was able to walk away with an average of $500 a month, because cross checking procedures were not observed.

GAO Tax Report Buys Into Charity Industry Myth

Thousands of nonprofit organizations owe nearly a billion in payroll taxes?  Truth is, a few multi-million-dollar scofflaws will account for most of the problem.