Where Most Needed

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.

Boring Bus Ride Nets over $20,000 for Video Game Charity

A marathon online event using a mind-numbing simulation of a bus driving across the desert gets enough buzz to fuel four days of fundraising.  But your results may vary. 

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.

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. 

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.

Big Churches, Small Groups

Mega churches concentrate efforts on developing small group leadership skills to keep their members engaged on a personal level.  Perhaps secular nonprofits need to pay attention. 

Trial Spotlights Lapses in Cleveland Diocese Oversight

The first of two federal trials accuses a former assistant treasurer of the diocese of conspiring with the CFO in an overpriced outsourcing arrangement for accounting and computer services that included kickbacks to the CFO.  But when the CFO was found out, he went to work for the Columbus diocese.  The defense claims that these arrangements were business as usual in Cleveland. 

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. 

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?)

Kitchen Democracy Turns into Online Oligarchy

A tiny nonprofit operates a web site that allows citizens to weigh in on local issues like zoning changes without attending city council meeings.  But there are complaints of ballot stuffing in online polls, which a little analysis shows is a credible claim.