The Gates Foundation is giving a seven-figure grant to an online college that Texas Governor Rick Perry hopes will compete with the University of Texas system. Does the Gates Foundation feel a little itchy about this proximity to a declared presidential candidate? Should it?
Problems with Private Management of Open Space: The Case of Boston’s Post Office Square
When private interests offer to manage a park or greenway “for free,” cash-strapped municipalities often rejoice. But turning public land over to these ostensibly generous “Friends” can end up costing local governments much more in the end. And there are civil-liberties issues as well.
Boston Mayor Urges Nonprofits to Hire the Unemployed, and Puts Money Where His Mouth Is
Boston Mayor Tom Menino unveiled a citywide jobs package that will offer nonprofits credits against their PILOTs in exchange for hiring unemployed workers. Will it make a difference?
Nonprofit Earned Income: “Capitalism with a Human Face”?
The management consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton recently sponsored a conference on earned-income strategies to help nonprofits weather trying economic times. Combining for-profit business activities with a nonprofit mission can be a conceptual challenge.
Kaiser Foundation Aims to Steer Clear of Brewing Solyndra Controversy
The George Kaiser Family Foundation is trying to distance itself from a growing political controversy surrounding the collapse of Solyndra LLC, a California solar-panel manufacturer in which it had invested. Problem: Kaiser is a major Obama donor, and Solyndra got a big government-backed loan.
Grantmaker Embeds Green Values in New Building—with Critical Help from City Hall
Seattle’s Bullitt Foundation will soon occupy a new ultra-green building that reflects its interest in urban sustainability. By waiving certain construction regulations, the City of Seattle has enabled the project to break new ground.
Nonprofits Edge Closer to Managing California’s State Parks
As individual nonprofits move closer to taking over California’s state parks, questions emerge about how staff and volunteer job descriptions will change.
Intern for Death Penalty Group Sued for Violating Attorney-Client Privilege
A Harvard law student who worked at a nonprofit legal organization that represents defendants in death-penalty cases in Louisiana plans to divulge what the organization claims is privileged information about a client—so she can publish a book about her experiences.
Innovation: Mayo Clinic Working with Patient-Run Social Media to Do Research on Rare Conditions
The famous Minnesota clinic is testing ways of using social media to find statistically significant samples of people who have rare diseases.
Blurred Boundaries between For-Profit and Nonprofit: What’s Wrong with This Picture?
Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, says that a strong business sector is vitally important to this country. But so is a strong government. And a strong—and actually independent—independent sector. Now, as we learn that many corporations are not paying their fair share of taxes, Buchanan argues that it would be a good time to hear those independent-sector voices.
The Village Voice Joins AP in Identifying More 9/11 Charity Scams
More and more newspaper stories are uncovering problems with charities created to respond in one way or another to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. In addition to learning about the all-too-typical examples of charitable predators making money off of the grief of the 9/11 victims, there are other important issues to be explored in the 9/11 charity experience.
Gates Foundation Gives Harvard $500,000 Planning Grant: Why?
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the world’s richest philanthropy. Harvard University is the world’s richest institution of higher education. Does Harvard need a half-million-dollar grant from Gates to “re-imagine” the future of its Ed School? Does Gates really need to be giving 6-figure grants to help Harvard’s imagination?