Where Most Needed

School Tase Challenge to Student Government & Campus Police

The University of Florida taser incident should lead to a broader review of protocols for speakers forum, both for the student group that sponsors them and for the campus police, which prides itself on its adherence to professional standards.  But all universities—public and private—should be on notice.

Indictment Says Nonprofit Was Founded with Millions in Fraud Loot [Updated]

Alan Fabian is charged with using some of the $32 million gains from a phony computer leasing scheme to start the Centre for Management and Technology, a high-profile Baltimore organization using technology to help nonprofits.  (But the Daily Kos may have it wrong: he's not necessarily the same guy listed as a supporter of a certain GOP presidential candidate.)  And the Mitt Romney campaign confirms that he's resigned as co-chair of his national fundraising committee. 

US S-l-o-w to Complete 2-1-1 Information Network

Social service charities still struggle with a spotty system of  referral networks for social service needs and inconsistent adoption of the 2-1-1 phone number.  But United Way is pushing for a major increase in funding for the system.    

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?)

Thieves Use Online Charity Contributions to Test Stolen Cards

Charity contributions are the least likely to raise flags about card misuse or unusual spending patterns. 

Natural History Museums Face Apocalypse

Declines in funding and a public perception of institutions as boring are leading to a crisis that threatens their extensive, behind-the-scenes scientific research. 

Creation Museum: Let There Be Loot

Having freed themselves from the bonds of both theology and science, the promoters of the museum (which is organized as a charity) seem mostly to be singing from the Walt Disney marketing hymnal.   

Beware the $100 Laptop

What some propose as the solution to the digital divide just may be the twenty-first century version of "let them eat cake" from the young and wealthy digital elite in the US, described in a new report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. 

Using Information Technology for Social Change? Insert Coins Here

A new technology journal relies heavily on old closed technologies, to the dismay of those who want to see real change to open models.  And I make a modest suggestion. 

IRS Sets Doomsday Clock on a Half Million Charities

Thousands of inactive (or just inattentive) charities face official extinction with the introduction of an annual filing requirement for every registered US charity.