In a reminder of the power of technology in relation to the current events in Egypt, the Hauser Center blog notes how governments and individuals can both benefit from its enormous power.
An excerpt.
“As hundreds of thousands mill in the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities, it appears that another authoritarian Middle Eastern regime is about to fall to the rage of masses mobilized and coordinated by cellphones and the internet.
“In response, Egypt’s police state shut down the internet and cut off virtually all cellphone service both within the country and between it and the outside world. Satellite communications have also been disrupted by government jamming. (None of this, curiously, seems to have stemmed the flood of images of or broadcasts about the disorders featured on the 24 hour news channels and web sources like Al Jazzera and the BBC).
“Many “progressives” are professing horror and surprise at the internet shut down — yet had little to say when, last summer, the White House requested that Congress grant the president an internet “kill switch” that would allow our government to do exactly the same thing….
“The Roman emperor Nero wished the Roman people had one neck. With IT, alas, his wish has more or less come true — but on a global scale.
“While the media and friends of civil society celebrate the power of the new technology to topple tyrants, we would do well to keep in mind that its power, wielded by would-be tyrants, can also be used to suppress revolutionary social movements.”
Monday, January 31, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Contemplation & Leadership
In this 2010 talk given at West Point, entitled Solitude & Leadership, published in The American Scholar, the author makes the point of the importance of taking time to think—something we’ve noted in an earlier post—especially when joining a large bureaucracy.
An excerpt.
“My title must seem like a contradiction. What can solitude have to do with leadership? Solitude means being alone, and leadership necessitates the presence of others—the people you’re leading. When we think about leadership in American history we are likely to think of Washington, at the head of an army, or Lincoln, at the head of a nation, or King, at the head of a movement—people with multitudes behind them, looking to them for direction. And when we think of solitude, we are apt to think of Thoreau, a man alone in the woods, keeping a journal and communing with nature in silence.
“Leadership is what you are here to learn—the qualities of character and mind that will make you fit to command a platoon, and beyond that, perhaps, a company, a battalion, or, if you leave the military, a corporation, a foundation, a department of government. Solitude is what you have the least of here, especially as plebes. You don’t even have privacy, the opportunity simply to be physically alone, never mind solitude, the ability to be alone with your thoughts. And yet I submit to you that solitude is one of the most important necessities of true leadership. This lecture will be an attempt to explain why.
“We need to begin by talking about what leadership really means. I just spent 10 years teaching at another institution that, like West Point, liked to talk a lot about leadership, Yale University. A school that some of you might have gone to had you not come here, that some of your friends might be going to. And if not Yale, then Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and so forth. These institutions, like West Point, also see their role as the training of leaders, constantly encourage their students, like West Point, to regard themselves as leaders among their peers and future leaders of society. Indeed, when we look around at the American elite, the people in charge of government, business, academia, and all our other major institutions—senators, judges, CEOs, college presidents, and so forth—we find that they come overwhelmingly either from the Ivy League and its peer institutions or from the service academies, especially West Point.
“So I began to wonder, as I taught at Yale, what leadership really consists of. My students, like you, were energetic, accomplished, smart, and often ferociously ambitious, but was that enough to make them leaders? Most of them, as much as I liked and even admired them, certainly didn’t seem to me like leaders. Does being a leader, I wondered, just mean being accomplished, being successful? Does getting straight As make you a leader? I didn’t think so. Great heart surgeons or great novelists or great shortstops may be terrific at what they do, but that doesn’t mean they’re leaders. Leadership and aptitude, leadership and achievement, leadership and even ex¬cellence have to be different things, otherwise the concept of leadership has no meaning. And it seemed to me that that had to be especially true of the kind of excellence I saw in the students around me.
“See, things have changed since I went to college in the ’80s. Everything has gotten much more intense. You have to do much more now to get into a top school like Yale or West Point, and you have to start a lot earlier. We didn’t begin thinking about college until we were juniors, and maybe we each did a couple of extracurriculars. But I know what it’s like for you guys now. It’s an endless series of hoops that you have to jump through, starting from way back, maybe as early as junior high school. Classes, standardized tests, extracurriculars in school, extracurriculars outside of school. Test prep courses, admissions coaches, private tutors. I sat on the Yale College admissions committee a couple of years ago. The first thing the admissions officer would do when presenting a case to the rest of the committee was read what they call the “brag” in admissions lingo, the list of the student’s extracurriculars. Well, it turned out that a student who had six or seven extracurriculars was already in trouble. Because the students who got in—in addition to perfect grades and top scores—usually had 10 or 12.”
An excerpt.
“My title must seem like a contradiction. What can solitude have to do with leadership? Solitude means being alone, and leadership necessitates the presence of others—the people you’re leading. When we think about leadership in American history we are likely to think of Washington, at the head of an army, or Lincoln, at the head of a nation, or King, at the head of a movement—people with multitudes behind them, looking to them for direction. And when we think of solitude, we are apt to think of Thoreau, a man alone in the woods, keeping a journal and communing with nature in silence.
“Leadership is what you are here to learn—the qualities of character and mind that will make you fit to command a platoon, and beyond that, perhaps, a company, a battalion, or, if you leave the military, a corporation, a foundation, a department of government. Solitude is what you have the least of here, especially as plebes. You don’t even have privacy, the opportunity simply to be physically alone, never mind solitude, the ability to be alone with your thoughts. And yet I submit to you that solitude is one of the most important necessities of true leadership. This lecture will be an attempt to explain why.
“We need to begin by talking about what leadership really means. I just spent 10 years teaching at another institution that, like West Point, liked to talk a lot about leadership, Yale University. A school that some of you might have gone to had you not come here, that some of your friends might be going to. And if not Yale, then Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and so forth. These institutions, like West Point, also see their role as the training of leaders, constantly encourage their students, like West Point, to regard themselves as leaders among their peers and future leaders of society. Indeed, when we look around at the American elite, the people in charge of government, business, academia, and all our other major institutions—senators, judges, CEOs, college presidents, and so forth—we find that they come overwhelmingly either from the Ivy League and its peer institutions or from the service academies, especially West Point.
“So I began to wonder, as I taught at Yale, what leadership really consists of. My students, like you, were energetic, accomplished, smart, and often ferociously ambitious, but was that enough to make them leaders? Most of them, as much as I liked and even admired them, certainly didn’t seem to me like leaders. Does being a leader, I wondered, just mean being accomplished, being successful? Does getting straight As make you a leader? I didn’t think so. Great heart surgeons or great novelists or great shortstops may be terrific at what they do, but that doesn’t mean they’re leaders. Leadership and aptitude, leadership and achievement, leadership and even ex¬cellence have to be different things, otherwise the concept of leadership has no meaning. And it seemed to me that that had to be especially true of the kind of excellence I saw in the students around me.
“See, things have changed since I went to college in the ’80s. Everything has gotten much more intense. You have to do much more now to get into a top school like Yale or West Point, and you have to start a lot earlier. We didn’t begin thinking about college until we were juniors, and maybe we each did a couple of extracurriculars. But I know what it’s like for you guys now. It’s an endless series of hoops that you have to jump through, starting from way back, maybe as early as junior high school. Classes, standardized tests, extracurriculars in school, extracurriculars outside of school. Test prep courses, admissions coaches, private tutors. I sat on the Yale College admissions committee a couple of years ago. The first thing the admissions officer would do when presenting a case to the rest of the committee was read what they call the “brag” in admissions lingo, the list of the student’s extracurriculars. Well, it turned out that a student who had six or seven extracurriculars was already in trouble. Because the students who got in—in addition to perfect grades and top scores—usually had 10 or 12.”
Friday, January 28, 2011
Social Websites & Organizational Marketing
It can open the proverbial can of worms, as well as do wonders for your organization’s community presence.
This article from IdealWare examines the issue.
An excerpt.
“Facebook seems to generate a lot of discussion about the way it handles privacy and security, and not without reason—personal data protection is worth some scrutiny, and Facebook has a questionable track record in this area. However, these issues don’t apply in the same way to nonprofits who have an organizational presence on Facebook. Organizational data is, by definition, far less personal than the information an individual might trust to the site, so you’re much less likely to want to keep it private.
“But there are other privacy concerns for nonprofits that use Facebook—even if your own privacy isn’t a big concern, it’s important to think of your constituents’ privacy. What does that mean for you? We talked to a few experts and condensed their advice into this article. We’ll take a look at the issues you most need to be concerned about one at a time.
“What’s the Deal with Facebook and Privacy?
“Facebook began as a way for users to communicate with a select group of people they chose to add to their networks. Six short years later, it’s become a nearly indispensable utility with more than 500 million users and its own Hollywood movie.
“As it grew, its privacy settings evolved—and, in many ways, eroded. The first changes made a lot of user information public by default, forcing users to be savvy enough to notice and change them. More recent changes have made additional user data public—and shared it with partners to target ads—without giving the option to change it.
“While it’s still possible to adjust individual user settings to keep a great deal of personal data private, it’s not always easy to do so, and with regular, ongoing changes, Facebook keeps moving the goalposts.
“However, most of this doesn’t apply to organizations. Organizations that choose to have a public Fan Page usually are very interested in reaching people they don’t yet know. If they want to have a more private conversation, they can set up a private Group, for which the privacy settings are relatively straightforward. And the truth is that Facebook is far more interested in information about individual users—who are prime targets for promotions and ads—than organizations, which are more difficult to target with advertisements.
“Constituent Privacy
“However, constituent privacy is another thing altogether. Before you post anything about the people who interact with your organization, it’s important to consider a few things—like whether or not you have their permission. And whether your post might say more about them than they would want, either intentionally or not.
“For example, are you mentioning things done by someone outside your organization and referencing them by name? Are you displaying photos or videos of people, or tagging photos with their names? It’s a good idea to get permission from them first. At an event, this can be relatively easy—post signs, or a note on the invitation or tickets, letting attendees know you’re taking pictures, and asking them to let you know if they don’t want to be included.
“Many schools and organizations that work with children already ask families to sign waivers giving permission to use photos in print and on the Web. It’s a good idea to add Facebook and other social media into those waivers—and if you’re not already using such waivers, give them some thought. But even if you have permission, consider each picture or video. Is it something a constituent would want family or employers to see? If not, think twice before posting it. That picture of your donor dancing on the table with a drink in her hand might be a great illustration of the good time had by all, but may well not be the image she’s trying to portray at work.
“Sometimes simply mentioning someone’s name can be an invasion of their privacy. HIPAA guidelines, for instance, which apply to health-related organizations who receive funding from Medicare or insurance companies, prohibit disclosure of any information related to diagnosis—even general information that someone is enrolled in a program. In this case, it’s clear that mentioning someone’s name in conjunction with your program is a violation of not just privacy, but of the law.”
This article from IdealWare examines the issue.
An excerpt.
“Facebook seems to generate a lot of discussion about the way it handles privacy and security, and not without reason—personal data protection is worth some scrutiny, and Facebook has a questionable track record in this area. However, these issues don’t apply in the same way to nonprofits who have an organizational presence on Facebook. Organizational data is, by definition, far less personal than the information an individual might trust to the site, so you’re much less likely to want to keep it private.
“But there are other privacy concerns for nonprofits that use Facebook—even if your own privacy isn’t a big concern, it’s important to think of your constituents’ privacy. What does that mean for you? We talked to a few experts and condensed their advice into this article. We’ll take a look at the issues you most need to be concerned about one at a time.
“What’s the Deal with Facebook and Privacy?
“Facebook began as a way for users to communicate with a select group of people they chose to add to their networks. Six short years later, it’s become a nearly indispensable utility with more than 500 million users and its own Hollywood movie.
“As it grew, its privacy settings evolved—and, in many ways, eroded. The first changes made a lot of user information public by default, forcing users to be savvy enough to notice and change them. More recent changes have made additional user data public—and shared it with partners to target ads—without giving the option to change it.
“While it’s still possible to adjust individual user settings to keep a great deal of personal data private, it’s not always easy to do so, and with regular, ongoing changes, Facebook keeps moving the goalposts.
“However, most of this doesn’t apply to organizations. Organizations that choose to have a public Fan Page usually are very interested in reaching people they don’t yet know. If they want to have a more private conversation, they can set up a private Group, for which the privacy settings are relatively straightforward. And the truth is that Facebook is far more interested in information about individual users—who are prime targets for promotions and ads—than organizations, which are more difficult to target with advertisements.
“Constituent Privacy
“However, constituent privacy is another thing altogether. Before you post anything about the people who interact with your organization, it’s important to consider a few things—like whether or not you have their permission. And whether your post might say more about them than they would want, either intentionally or not.
“For example, are you mentioning things done by someone outside your organization and referencing them by name? Are you displaying photos or videos of people, or tagging photos with their names? It’s a good idea to get permission from them first. At an event, this can be relatively easy—post signs, or a note on the invitation or tickets, letting attendees know you’re taking pictures, and asking them to let you know if they don’t want to be included.
“Many schools and organizations that work with children already ask families to sign waivers giving permission to use photos in print and on the Web. It’s a good idea to add Facebook and other social media into those waivers—and if you’re not already using such waivers, give them some thought. But even if you have permission, consider each picture or video. Is it something a constituent would want family or employers to see? If not, think twice before posting it. That picture of your donor dancing on the table with a drink in her hand might be a great illustration of the good time had by all, but may well not be the image she’s trying to portray at work.
“Sometimes simply mentioning someone’s name can be an invasion of their privacy. HIPAA guidelines, for instance, which apply to health-related organizations who receive funding from Medicare or insurance companies, prohibit disclosure of any information related to diagnosis—even general information that someone is enrolled in a program. In this case, it’s clear that mentioning someone’s name in conjunction with your program is a violation of not just privacy, but of the law.”
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Improving College Degrees
The Chronicle of Education reports on a new strategy to ensure that the college degree a student earns actually results in advancement of the knowledge and skill of the student, a common sense goal too rarely reached.
An excerpt.
“National conversations about the quality of higher education, as well as efforts to measure what students learn in their college careers, could be aided by developing a common understanding of what degrees mean in the United States, officials at the Lumina Foundation for Education say.
“To that end, the foundation released today a suggested framework for defining the knowledge and skills students need to acquire before earning an associate degree, a bachelor's degree, and a master's degree. Lumina's framework, which it is calling the Degree Qualifications Profile, spells out reference points for what students should be learning and demonstrating at each degree level in five areas: broad, integrative knowledge; specialized knowledge; intellectual skills; applied learning; and civic learning.
“Lumina officials say the degree profile is intended to help define generally what college graduates should know and be able to do, regardless of their majors or fields of study. The authors of the framework, though, were specific about how students should be able to apply what they learn, providing clear outcomes that can be measured. Under the umbrella of "intellectual skills," for instance, the document says that students should show fluency in communication. At the bachelor's level, that includes being able to "conduct an inquiry" in a language other than English with a non-English-language source.
“Colleges and faculty members in individual disciplines could then add to the general framework, identifying additional outcomes specific to the college's mission and to particular fields of study. Lumina says it now plans to test and refine the framework, experimenting with it in a variety of settings.
Tests of the Concept
“Two regional accreditors of higher education, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools' Higher Learning Commission, and a private-college association, the Council of Independent Colleges, have already agreed to test Lumina's proposed framework. Lumina says it expects to add more partners in coming months and to award grants to support testing of the framework.
“The Western association, which accredits about 160 four-year colleges, plans to build the degree reference points into its handbook for institutions' accreditation reviews, Lumina said. The accreditor will use the degree profile to help outline what colleges should be demonstrating about student learning.”
An excerpt.
“National conversations about the quality of higher education, as well as efforts to measure what students learn in their college careers, could be aided by developing a common understanding of what degrees mean in the United States, officials at the Lumina Foundation for Education say.
“To that end, the foundation released today a suggested framework for defining the knowledge and skills students need to acquire before earning an associate degree, a bachelor's degree, and a master's degree. Lumina's framework, which it is calling the Degree Qualifications Profile, spells out reference points for what students should be learning and demonstrating at each degree level in five areas: broad, integrative knowledge; specialized knowledge; intellectual skills; applied learning; and civic learning.
“Lumina officials say the degree profile is intended to help define generally what college graduates should know and be able to do, regardless of their majors or fields of study. The authors of the framework, though, were specific about how students should be able to apply what they learn, providing clear outcomes that can be measured. Under the umbrella of "intellectual skills," for instance, the document says that students should show fluency in communication. At the bachelor's level, that includes being able to "conduct an inquiry" in a language other than English with a non-English-language source.
“Colleges and faculty members in individual disciplines could then add to the general framework, identifying additional outcomes specific to the college's mission and to particular fields of study. Lumina says it now plans to test and refine the framework, experimenting with it in a variety of settings.
Tests of the Concept
“Two regional accreditors of higher education, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools' Higher Learning Commission, and a private-college association, the Council of Independent Colleges, have already agreed to test Lumina's proposed framework. Lumina says it expects to add more partners in coming months and to award grants to support testing of the framework.
“The Western association, which accredits about 160 four-year colleges, plans to build the degree reference points into its handbook for institutions' accreditation reviews, Lumina said. The accreditor will use the degree profile to help outline what colleges should be demonstrating about student learning.”
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
IRS Form 990-N Threshold Increased
This is very good news, reported by Guidestar.
An excerpt.
“The IRS reminds smaller nonprofits that a higher filing threshold has gone into effect for Form 990-N; invites smaller businesses, including nonprofits, to attend a free webinar on the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit; has published new fees for exempt organizations for 2011; and has released instructions and withholding tables related to the payroll tax cut.
“New Form 990-N Filing Threshold
“The filing threshold for Form 990-N, also known as the ePostcard, has been raised for returns covering the 2010 tax year that are filed in 2011. Most exempt organizations with gross annual receipts of $50,000 or less may now file Form 990-N instead of Form 990-EZ or 990. Private foundations, however, must continue file Form 990-PF, regardless of organization size.
More info here.
An excerpt.
“The IRS reminds smaller nonprofits that a higher filing threshold has gone into effect for Form 990-N; invites smaller businesses, including nonprofits, to attend a free webinar on the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit; has published new fees for exempt organizations for 2011; and has released instructions and withholding tables related to the payroll tax cut.
“New Form 990-N Filing Threshold
“The filing threshold for Form 990-N, also known as the ePostcard, has been raised for returns covering the 2010 tax year that are filed in 2011. Most exempt organizations with gross annual receipts of $50,000 or less may now file Form 990-N instead of Form 990-EZ or 990. Private foundations, however, must continue file Form 990-PF, regardless of organization size.
More info here.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Nonprofit Branding
Good marketing is crucial for local grassroots organizations dependent upon small individual donations for the bulk of their funding, and part of that is branding, which this article from Guidestar tackles.
An excerpt.
“So you're starting a nonprofit organization or have one and want to know how to build or strengthen your brand. Well, what is a brand? Is it advertising, your spokesperson, a logo? We have heard of the Red Cross, Oprah, McDonald's. These are all brands. And while there may be positive or negative perceptions about each of these, you'll notice their missions are easy to define—providing disaster relief when needed, inspiring people to live better lives, and providing a cheap, convenient meal. They are all based on making a clear promise to their audience. Essentially, your brand is the reputation you have for delivering on your promise.
“What does this mean for a nonprofit? A strong brand will help the organization stand out from the masses of solicitations, distinguish its cause from other organizations doing similar work, and inspire others to support them. The best brands elicit positive emotional responses because people understand and identify with each one's mission and know that the organization is consistently true to it. When carefully developed and nurtured, the brand becomes the fabric of an organization's culture.
“Over the long term, organizations with strong brands become well known and tend to raise more money. In today's environment, with more nonprofits than ever competing for funding, an organization can't afford not to have a strong brand.
“This article, along with helpful links, can help you get started in understanding how to create a successful brand for your organization.”
An excerpt.
“So you're starting a nonprofit organization or have one and want to know how to build or strengthen your brand. Well, what is a brand? Is it advertising, your spokesperson, a logo? We have heard of the Red Cross, Oprah, McDonald's. These are all brands. And while there may be positive or negative perceptions about each of these, you'll notice their missions are easy to define—providing disaster relief when needed, inspiring people to live better lives, and providing a cheap, convenient meal. They are all based on making a clear promise to their audience. Essentially, your brand is the reputation you have for delivering on your promise.
“What does this mean for a nonprofit? A strong brand will help the organization stand out from the masses of solicitations, distinguish its cause from other organizations doing similar work, and inspire others to support them. The best brands elicit positive emotional responses because people understand and identify with each one's mission and know that the organization is consistently true to it. When carefully developed and nurtured, the brand becomes the fabric of an organization's culture.
“Over the long term, organizations with strong brands become well known and tend to raise more money. In today's environment, with more nonprofits than ever competing for funding, an organization can't afford not to have a strong brand.
“This article, along with helpful links, can help you get started in understanding how to create a successful brand for your organization.”
Monday, January 24, 2011
Public Art & Nonprofits
Getting rid or moving public art no longer wanted-totally or at a particular site—is a problem, but giving it to a nonprofit may be the best solution, as this article from the Huffington Post notes.
An excerpt.
“Back in 1970, Hyland Biological of Costa Mesa, California commissioned sculptor Claire Falkenstein (1908-97) to create a large-scale artwork that was installed outside the front of the building, paying her $20,000. The 18 foot-tall (five-foot wide and deep) metal and glass piece was titled "DNA Molecule," and it greeted visitors for the better part of four decades. A couple of mergers later, the pharmaceutical company (now called Valeant Pharmaceuticals) sold the work to a private collector in 2007 at an auction in San Francisco for $150,250, which exceeded the auction house's estimate of $60,000-80,000. Not a bad return on investment and a pleasant surprise for auctioneer Bonhams & Butterfields.
“Actually, the auction house was stunned. "It took a lot of convincing to get us to take the Falkenstein in the first place," said auctioneer Bonhams & Butterfields Chief Operating Officer Patrick Meade. "It's a very good piece, but how were we supposed to bring it into our auction room? We're not equipped to do this kind of thing." Instead, the auction house took the novel approach of picturing the sculpture in its catalogue but directing prospective bidders to travel to Costa Mesa to see the work in person. (Special Note: The $150,250 price didn't include the cost of disassembling the sculpture, moving it somewhere else and filling in the hole in front of the building.)
“The sale and the price, Meade noted, have resulted in more calls to Bonhams & Butterfields from (California) owners of big, publicly displayed works of art. Consigning to auction houses may be one answer to the question of what to do with public art that its owner no longer wants. With thousands of works of art in public spaces -- sculptures and murals, mostly -- that have been commissioned and installed over the past four decades, the question is likely to come up more and more.
“And, what's wrong with the art that someone wants to get rid of it? Nothing, necessarily. Valeant Pharmaceuticals relocated 25 miles away to Aliso Viejo, selling the building in Costa Mesa and the art in front of it as separate transactions. In another instance, an environmental landscape, or bush sculpture, called "Topo" that artist Maya Lin had been commissioned to create for the City of Charlotte, North Carolina back in 1991, interfered with the plans of an Atlanta-based real estate developer, Pope & Land Enterprises, which bought the land (and the art on it) from the city in 2006. In 2000, when Comerica Bank moved its branch within Detroit's downtown Renaissance Center to a location that could not accommodate the 160-foot long mural by Glen Michaels, which had been commissioned back in 1975, the artwork had to be taken out. A sculptural installation by Stephen Antonakos, "Neon for Southwestern Bell," which had been commissioned by the company in 1984, was in the way of a current improvement project in Dallas' central business district, leading AT&T to want it gone. Advertising giant J. Walter Thompson, which had amassed an 8,000-10,000 art collection between 1965 and 1986, has spent the last 20 years disposing of it, including the three life-size bronze figures at the entrance to the elevators that the company had commissioned Bruno Lucchesi to create in 1966….
“Often, the most advantageous outcomes for both artists and publicly displayed art owners are donations of the objects to nonprofit institutions. AT&T, for instance, had the 34 foot high and 75 foot long Antonakos piece appraised at $90,000 (three times what the artist was paid as a commission), for which it will take a deduction, and the work is expected to be reinstalled on a side of Dallas's convention center. For its part, Comerica had an appraisal of $350,000 for the Glen Michaels mural. In another example, an untitled outdoor sculpture that George Sugarman (1912-99) was commissioned to create in 1987 for the NCNB Plaza in Tampa, Florida for $250,000, was displaced by the demolition of the plaza. However, the plaza's owner, the North Carolina National Bank, is donating the sculpture for a new mixed-use development in Tampa, having received a $1.1 million appraisal for the work.”
An excerpt.
“Back in 1970, Hyland Biological of Costa Mesa, California commissioned sculptor Claire Falkenstein (1908-97) to create a large-scale artwork that was installed outside the front of the building, paying her $20,000. The 18 foot-tall (five-foot wide and deep) metal and glass piece was titled "DNA Molecule," and it greeted visitors for the better part of four decades. A couple of mergers later, the pharmaceutical company (now called Valeant Pharmaceuticals) sold the work to a private collector in 2007 at an auction in San Francisco for $150,250, which exceeded the auction house's estimate of $60,000-80,000. Not a bad return on investment and a pleasant surprise for auctioneer Bonhams & Butterfields.
“Actually, the auction house was stunned. "It took a lot of convincing to get us to take the Falkenstein in the first place," said auctioneer Bonhams & Butterfields Chief Operating Officer Patrick Meade. "It's a very good piece, but how were we supposed to bring it into our auction room? We're not equipped to do this kind of thing." Instead, the auction house took the novel approach of picturing the sculpture in its catalogue but directing prospective bidders to travel to Costa Mesa to see the work in person. (Special Note: The $150,250 price didn't include the cost of disassembling the sculpture, moving it somewhere else and filling in the hole in front of the building.)
“The sale and the price, Meade noted, have resulted in more calls to Bonhams & Butterfields from (California) owners of big, publicly displayed works of art. Consigning to auction houses may be one answer to the question of what to do with public art that its owner no longer wants. With thousands of works of art in public spaces -- sculptures and murals, mostly -- that have been commissioned and installed over the past four decades, the question is likely to come up more and more.
“And, what's wrong with the art that someone wants to get rid of it? Nothing, necessarily. Valeant Pharmaceuticals relocated 25 miles away to Aliso Viejo, selling the building in Costa Mesa and the art in front of it as separate transactions. In another instance, an environmental landscape, or bush sculpture, called "Topo" that artist Maya Lin had been commissioned to create for the City of Charlotte, North Carolina back in 1991, interfered with the plans of an Atlanta-based real estate developer, Pope & Land Enterprises, which bought the land (and the art on it) from the city in 2006. In 2000, when Comerica Bank moved its branch within Detroit's downtown Renaissance Center to a location that could not accommodate the 160-foot long mural by Glen Michaels, which had been commissioned back in 1975, the artwork had to be taken out. A sculptural installation by Stephen Antonakos, "Neon for Southwestern Bell," which had been commissioned by the company in 1984, was in the way of a current improvement project in Dallas' central business district, leading AT&T to want it gone. Advertising giant J. Walter Thompson, which had amassed an 8,000-10,000 art collection between 1965 and 1986, has spent the last 20 years disposing of it, including the three life-size bronze figures at the entrance to the elevators that the company had commissioned Bruno Lucchesi to create in 1966….
“Often, the most advantageous outcomes for both artists and publicly displayed art owners are donations of the objects to nonprofit institutions. AT&T, for instance, had the 34 foot high and 75 foot long Antonakos piece appraised at $90,000 (three times what the artist was paid as a commission), for which it will take a deduction, and the work is expected to be reinstalled on a side of Dallas's convention center. For its part, Comerica had an appraisal of $350,000 for the Glen Michaels mural. In another example, an untitled outdoor sculpture that George Sugarman (1912-99) was commissioned to create in 1987 for the NCNB Plaza in Tampa, Florida for $250,000, was displaced by the demolition of the plaza. However, the plaza's owner, the North Carolina National Bank, is donating the sculpture for a new mixed-use development in Tampa, having received a $1.1 million appraisal for the work.”
Friday, January 21, 2011
Best Cities for Online Giving
They have been ranked by Convio as this press release reports.
An excerpt.
“AUSTIN, TEXAS (January 19, 2011) —Convio, Inc. (NASDAQ: CNVO) announced today the release of its third annual ranking of Most Generous Online Cities. Alexandria, VA, Cambridge, MA and Arlington, VA, topped the list for the second year in a row as the nation’s most generous large cities based on online giving in 2010. The biggest movers in the top 10 are San Francisco, moving up 5 places to number seven; Minneapolis, falling five places to number 10; and Seattle, moving up two places to number four.
“The report ranks the 273 cities with total population of more than 100,000 based on per capita online giving and total amount donated online through Convio’s online marketing and fundraising suite. The average gift size increased from $62 in 2009 to $65 in 2010 as more than $389 million was donated by people who reside in the 273 major cities. The donors in the most generous cities increased their total online contributions by more than 27 percent over 2009 totals.
“The 2010 rankings are based on the more than $1.3 billion in online donations generated through the Convio online marketing and fundraising suite which powers the online efforts of thousands of the nation’s leading nonprofit organizations. The current rankings come from donations processed between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2010.
“The most generous large cities (greater than 100,000) in 2010 based on per capita giving:
1. Alexandria, VA
2. Cambridge, MA
3. Arlington, VA
4. Seattle, WA
5. Washington, DC
6. Berkeley, CA
7. St. Louis, MO
8. San Francisco, CA
9. Ann Arbor, MI
10. Minneapolis, MN
“The integration of the Internet in traditional fundraising programs continues to play a vital role in the fundraising success of nonprofits,” said Gene Austin, chief executive officer for Convio. “Donors, volunteers, advocates and other constituents of all generations are using the Internet, social, mobile and digital technologies in their daily lives. That is reflected in the dramatic increase in the amount of dollars raised online — from an estimated $1 billion across the entire sector 5 years ago, to Convio’s more than 1,300 clients alone raising more than $1.3 billion online this past year. Using the Internet as part of a comprehensive constituent engagement and fundraising program is helping nonprofits generate more meaningful relationships, raise more money and maximize the lifetime value of each relationship.”
“The Role of Online GivingWhile traditional direct mail remains the primary channel for donations, online giving has become important to donors and the nonprofits that hope to reach them. Two recent reports by Convio showcase the value of online giving, particularly with younger donors and during the holidays. Research shows that donors ages 45 and younger account for nearly $40 billion in donations each year —an amount that is expected to increase as the generation ages and builds their careers and nonprofit affiliations. By and large, these donors are turning to online, social media and other channels to donate dollars. Of the estimated $53 billion that was donated to charities by US adults this past holiday season, $6 billion (or nearly 12 percent) was estimated to have been donated online.”
An excerpt.
“AUSTIN, TEXAS (January 19, 2011) —Convio, Inc. (NASDAQ: CNVO) announced today the release of its third annual ranking of Most Generous Online Cities. Alexandria, VA, Cambridge, MA and Arlington, VA, topped the list for the second year in a row as the nation’s most generous large cities based on online giving in 2010. The biggest movers in the top 10 are San Francisco, moving up 5 places to number seven; Minneapolis, falling five places to number 10; and Seattle, moving up two places to number four.
“The report ranks the 273 cities with total population of more than 100,000 based on per capita online giving and total amount donated online through Convio’s online marketing and fundraising suite. The average gift size increased from $62 in 2009 to $65 in 2010 as more than $389 million was donated by people who reside in the 273 major cities. The donors in the most generous cities increased their total online contributions by more than 27 percent over 2009 totals.
“The 2010 rankings are based on the more than $1.3 billion in online donations generated through the Convio online marketing and fundraising suite which powers the online efforts of thousands of the nation’s leading nonprofit organizations. The current rankings come from donations processed between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2010.
“The most generous large cities (greater than 100,000) in 2010 based on per capita giving:
1. Alexandria, VA
2. Cambridge, MA
3. Arlington, VA
4. Seattle, WA
5. Washington, DC
6. Berkeley, CA
7. St. Louis, MO
8. San Francisco, CA
9. Ann Arbor, MI
10. Minneapolis, MN
“The integration of the Internet in traditional fundraising programs continues to play a vital role in the fundraising success of nonprofits,” said Gene Austin, chief executive officer for Convio. “Donors, volunteers, advocates and other constituents of all generations are using the Internet, social, mobile and digital technologies in their daily lives. That is reflected in the dramatic increase in the amount of dollars raised online — from an estimated $1 billion across the entire sector 5 years ago, to Convio’s more than 1,300 clients alone raising more than $1.3 billion online this past year. Using the Internet as part of a comprehensive constituent engagement and fundraising program is helping nonprofits generate more meaningful relationships, raise more money and maximize the lifetime value of each relationship.”
“The Role of Online GivingWhile traditional direct mail remains the primary channel for donations, online giving has become important to donors and the nonprofits that hope to reach them. Two recent reports by Convio showcase the value of online giving, particularly with younger donors and during the holidays. Research shows that donors ages 45 and younger account for nearly $40 billion in donations each year —an amount that is expected to increase as the generation ages and builds their careers and nonprofit affiliations. By and large, these donors are turning to online, social media and other channels to donate dollars. Of the estimated $53 billion that was donated to charities by US adults this past holiday season, $6 billion (or nearly 12 percent) was estimated to have been donated online.”
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Program Design
How often inadequate program delivery systems ruin what is otherwise a good program, and how crucial that good design elements are brought to play in nonprofit program structure, is the subject of this provocative article from Stanford Social Innovation Review.
An excerpt.
“In an area outside Hyderabad, India, between the suburbs and the countryside, a young woman—we’ll call her Shanti—fetches water daily from the always-open local borehole that is about 300 feet from her home. She uses a 3-gallon plastic container that she can easily carry on her head. Shanti and her husband rely on the free water for their drinking and washing, and though they’ve heard that it’s not as safe as water from the Naandi Foundation-run community treatment plant, they still use it. Shanti’s family has been drinking the local water for generations, and although it periodically makes her and her family sick, she has no plans to stop using it.
"Shanti has many reasons not to use the water from the Naandi treatment center, but they’re not the reasons one might think. The center is within easy walking distance of her home—roughly a third of a mile. It is also well known and affordable (roughly 10 rupees, or 20 cents, for 5 gallons). Being able to pay the small fee has even become a status symbol for some villagers. Habit isn’t a factor, either. Shanti is forgoing the safer water because of a series of flaws in the overall design of the system.
“Although Shanti can walk to the facility, she can’t carry the 5-gallon jerrican that the facility requires her to use. When filled with water, the plastic rectangular container is simply too heavy. The container isn’t designed to be held on the hip or the head, where she likes to carry heavy objects. Shanti’s husband can’t help carry it, either. He works in the city and doesn’t return home until after the water treatment center is closed. The treatment center also requires them to buy a monthly punch card for 5 gallons a day, far more than they need. “Why would I buy more than I need and waste money?” asks Shanti, adding she’d be more likely to purchase the Naandi water if the center allowed her to buy less.
“The community treatment center was designed to produce clean and potable water, and it succeeded very well at doing just that. In fact, it works well for many people living in the community, particularly families with husbands or older sons who own bikes and can visit the treatment plant during working hours. The designers of the center, however, missed the opportunity to design an even better system because they failed to consider the culture and needs of all of the people living in the community.
“This missed opportunity, although an obvious omission in hindsight, is all too common. Time and again, initiatives falter because they are not based on the client’s or customer’s needs and have never been prototyped to solicit feedback. Even when people do go into the field, they may enter with preconceived notions of what the needs and solutions are. This flawed approach remains the norm in both the business and social sectors.
“As Shanti’s situation shows, social challenges require systemic solutions that are grounded in the client’s or customer’s needs. This is where many approaches founder, but it is where design thinking—a new approach to creating solutions—excels.
“Traditionally, designers focused their attention on improving the look and functionality of products. Classic examples of this type of design work are Apple Computer’s iPod and Herman Miller’s Aeron chair. In recent years designers have broadened their approach, creating entire systems to deliver products and services.”
An excerpt.
“In an area outside Hyderabad, India, between the suburbs and the countryside, a young woman—we’ll call her Shanti—fetches water daily from the always-open local borehole that is about 300 feet from her home. She uses a 3-gallon plastic container that she can easily carry on her head. Shanti and her husband rely on the free water for their drinking and washing, and though they’ve heard that it’s not as safe as water from the Naandi Foundation-run community treatment plant, they still use it. Shanti’s family has been drinking the local water for generations, and although it periodically makes her and her family sick, she has no plans to stop using it.
"Shanti has many reasons not to use the water from the Naandi treatment center, but they’re not the reasons one might think. The center is within easy walking distance of her home—roughly a third of a mile. It is also well known and affordable (roughly 10 rupees, or 20 cents, for 5 gallons). Being able to pay the small fee has even become a status symbol for some villagers. Habit isn’t a factor, either. Shanti is forgoing the safer water because of a series of flaws in the overall design of the system.
“Although Shanti can walk to the facility, she can’t carry the 5-gallon jerrican that the facility requires her to use. When filled with water, the plastic rectangular container is simply too heavy. The container isn’t designed to be held on the hip or the head, where she likes to carry heavy objects. Shanti’s husband can’t help carry it, either. He works in the city and doesn’t return home until after the water treatment center is closed. The treatment center also requires them to buy a monthly punch card for 5 gallons a day, far more than they need. “Why would I buy more than I need and waste money?” asks Shanti, adding she’d be more likely to purchase the Naandi water if the center allowed her to buy less.
“The community treatment center was designed to produce clean and potable water, and it succeeded very well at doing just that. In fact, it works well for many people living in the community, particularly families with husbands or older sons who own bikes and can visit the treatment plant during working hours. The designers of the center, however, missed the opportunity to design an even better system because they failed to consider the culture and needs of all of the people living in the community.
“This missed opportunity, although an obvious omission in hindsight, is all too common. Time and again, initiatives falter because they are not based on the client’s or customer’s needs and have never been prototyped to solicit feedback. Even when people do go into the field, they may enter with preconceived notions of what the needs and solutions are. This flawed approach remains the norm in both the business and social sectors.
“As Shanti’s situation shows, social challenges require systemic solutions that are grounded in the client’s or customer’s needs. This is where many approaches founder, but it is where design thinking—a new approach to creating solutions—excels.
“Traditionally, designers focused their attention on improving the look and functionality of products. Classic examples of this type of design work are Apple Computer’s iPod and Herman Miller’s Aeron chair. In recent years designers have broadened their approach, creating entire systems to deliver products and services.”
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Nonprofit Media-Based Ministries
Congress, as reported by the Senate Committee on Finance, is beginning to look more closely at the activities of these groups and what develops could also impact other nonprofit churches and nonprofits in general.
An excerpt.
“WASHINGTON -- Sen. Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Committee on Finance, today released a staff review of the activities and practices of six media-based ministries and reports concerning other churches and religious organizations referred to the committee. He pursued this review as part of an ongoing effort to strengthen the tax-exempt sector. The review contains a summary of findings and identifies key issues for discussion by stakeholders.
“The tax-exempt sector is so big that from time to time, certain practices draw public concern,” Grassley said. “My goal is to help improve accountability and good governance so tax-exempt groups maintain public confidence in their operations.”
“Grassley said tax-exempt policy involving churches and religious organizations is an area Congress hasn’t looked at in decades. Then-Senator Mark Hatfield’s 1977 request to evangelical groups to be more transparent caused the formation of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). Joining this organization has become like a Good Housekeeping seal of approval for those in the evangelical community.
“According to the ECFA, Hatfield issued his request in response to legislation introduced by Rep. Charlie Wilson that would have required certain disclosures by organizations soliciting funds. Similarly, Grassley expects that the issues raised as part of the staff review will generate discussion about increasing accountability among all types of churches and religious organizations, not just evangelical groups. “The staff review sets the stage for a comprehensive discussion among churches and religious organizations. I look forward to helping facilitate this dialogue and fostering an environment for self-reform within the community,” Grassley said.
“Grassley wrote to six media-based ministries in November 2007, based on requests for review from members of the public who wrote to him because of his previous tax-exempt oversight work. In addition, these ministries had received media coverage and attention from watchdog groups. One of the six ministries, Joyce Meyer Ministries, responded fully to Grassley’s inquiry and joined the ECFA in March 2009
. Benny Hinn of World Healing Center Church also provided complete answers to all questions. Both ministries wrote to Grassley to explain they have undertaken significant internal governance reforms. “I appreciate these efforts,” Grassley said. “Self-correction can be more effective than government action. It’s something that’s worked with other entities I’ve looked at, such as the Nature Conservancy and the Smithsonian Institution and some top colleges that were amassing large endowments without increasing student aid.”
An excerpt.
“WASHINGTON -- Sen. Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Committee on Finance, today released a staff review of the activities and practices of six media-based ministries and reports concerning other churches and religious organizations referred to the committee. He pursued this review as part of an ongoing effort to strengthen the tax-exempt sector. The review contains a summary of findings and identifies key issues for discussion by stakeholders.
“The tax-exempt sector is so big that from time to time, certain practices draw public concern,” Grassley said. “My goal is to help improve accountability and good governance so tax-exempt groups maintain public confidence in their operations.”
“Grassley said tax-exempt policy involving churches and religious organizations is an area Congress hasn’t looked at in decades. Then-Senator Mark Hatfield’s 1977 request to evangelical groups to be more transparent caused the formation of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). Joining this organization has become like a Good Housekeeping seal of approval for those in the evangelical community.
“According to the ECFA, Hatfield issued his request in response to legislation introduced by Rep. Charlie Wilson that would have required certain disclosures by organizations soliciting funds. Similarly, Grassley expects that the issues raised as part of the staff review will generate discussion about increasing accountability among all types of churches and religious organizations, not just evangelical groups. “The staff review sets the stage for a comprehensive discussion among churches and religious organizations. I look forward to helping facilitate this dialogue and fostering an environment for self-reform within the community,” Grassley said.
“Grassley wrote to six media-based ministries in November 2007, based on requests for review from members of the public who wrote to him because of his previous tax-exempt oversight work. In addition, these ministries had received media coverage and attention from watchdog groups. One of the six ministries, Joyce Meyer Ministries, responded fully to Grassley’s inquiry and joined the ECFA in March 2009
. Benny Hinn of World Healing Center Church also provided complete answers to all questions. Both ministries wrote to Grassley to explain they have undertaken significant internal governance reforms. “I appreciate these efforts,” Grassley said. “Self-correction can be more effective than government action. It’s something that’s worked with other entities I’ve looked at, such as the Nature Conservancy and the Smithsonian Institution and some top colleges that were amassing large endowments without increasing student aid.”
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Nonprofit Arthouses
They are making an impact and proving their sustainability, as this article from Variety reports.
An excerpt.
"The major exhibition chains have ShoWest in Las Vegas. The independent venues have Art House Convergence in Midway, Utah.
"Though the confab, now in its fourth year, continues to grow steadily and attract such bold-faced names as Michael Moore, few would mistake the two events. After all, with 75% of this year's 180 attendees representing not-for-profits, there's less talk about popcorn sales and more about the ins and outs of 501(c)(3) tax loopholes.
"While the majority of unaffiliated arthouse cinemas have gone the nonprofit route, many of the remaining mom-and-pop shops are mulling the switch, marking a watershed moment in the world of indie exhibition.
"I noticed there's a lot of similarities between arthouse theatres and not-for-profit performing arts organizations," says conference director Russ Collins, who came from a performing arts management background before taking on the executive director post at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. "I thought it's kind of silly that the primary model for an arthouse cinema is a commercial model. There's a model for a community arts organization that is already quite successful."
"In fact, Collins notes that at the turn of the 20th century, all performing arts organizations were for-profits including symphonies, operas and theater groups. Gradually throughout the 20th century, most morphed into not-for-profits.
"They weren't sustainable on a commercial model," explains Collins. "Think about the movie industry and the music industry in an analogous way. It makes sense that if music has a range from very commercial to very subsidized, film should too. There are all kinds of movies, and there should be all kinds of outlets."
"A decade ago, Nashville's Belcourt Theater was struggling mightily before it shuttered altogether. A group of community activists united to save the theater's iconic building, which was erected in 1925. The cinema, located near Vanderbilt University, was reinvented as a community-based mission-driven nonprofit. Managing director Stephanie Silverman says the Belcourt enjoyed its strongest financial year ever in 2010. And being a not-for-profit also gives the theater wide latitude with programming choices.
"It allows us to bring in a film that doesn't have to be and shouldn't have to be commercially viable," adds Silverman, noting that 75% of Belcourt's budget comes from earned revenue and 25% from contributions. "We love it when (an arthouse title becomes a box-office hit). But we don't want to have to make decisions based on commercial viability."
An excerpt.
"The major exhibition chains have ShoWest in Las Vegas. The independent venues have Art House Convergence in Midway, Utah.
"Though the confab, now in its fourth year, continues to grow steadily and attract such bold-faced names as Michael Moore, few would mistake the two events. After all, with 75% of this year's 180 attendees representing not-for-profits, there's less talk about popcorn sales and more about the ins and outs of 501(c)(3) tax loopholes.
"While the majority of unaffiliated arthouse cinemas have gone the nonprofit route, many of the remaining mom-and-pop shops are mulling the switch, marking a watershed moment in the world of indie exhibition.
"I noticed there's a lot of similarities between arthouse theatres and not-for-profit performing arts organizations," says conference director Russ Collins, who came from a performing arts management background before taking on the executive director post at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. "I thought it's kind of silly that the primary model for an arthouse cinema is a commercial model. There's a model for a community arts organization that is already quite successful."
"In fact, Collins notes that at the turn of the 20th century, all performing arts organizations were for-profits including symphonies, operas and theater groups. Gradually throughout the 20th century, most morphed into not-for-profits.
"They weren't sustainable on a commercial model," explains Collins. "Think about the movie industry and the music industry in an analogous way. It makes sense that if music has a range from very commercial to very subsidized, film should too. There are all kinds of movies, and there should be all kinds of outlets."
"A decade ago, Nashville's Belcourt Theater was struggling mightily before it shuttered altogether. A group of community activists united to save the theater's iconic building, which was erected in 1925. The cinema, located near Vanderbilt University, was reinvented as a community-based mission-driven nonprofit. Managing director Stephanie Silverman says the Belcourt enjoyed its strongest financial year ever in 2010. And being a not-for-profit also gives the theater wide latitude with programming choices.
"It allows us to bring in a film that doesn't have to be and shouldn't have to be commercially viable," adds Silverman, noting that 75% of Belcourt's budget comes from earned revenue and 25% from contributions. "We love it when (an arthouse title becomes a box-office hit). But we don't want to have to make decisions based on commercial viability."
Monday, January 17, 2011
Catholic Church Defaced
In this article from California Catholic Daily, the eternal discrimination against the Catholic Church—the oldest nonprofit organization in the world—continues.
An excerpt.
“The vandals who spray-painted “Kill the Cathlics” on a wall of a Catholic church in Anaheim a week ago apparently traveled about 20 miles to a parish in Irvine to scrawl an identical message on a walkway at St. Thomas More parish.
“An identical phrase (with misspelling) was spray-painted on a wall at Saint Boniface Catholic Church in Anaheim,” the Orange County Register reported in a three-paragraph story on Jan. 13. “Both incidents were discovered (last) Tuesday morning.”
“Saint Thomas More Catholic Church is located at 51 Marketplace in Irvine.
“The graphic graffiti saddened parishioners, and church officials are working with police to find whoever is responsible for the crime, diocese spokesman Ryan Lilyengren said,” according to the Register.
“No additional details were provided.
“California Catholic Daily reported on Jan. 12 that Graffiti reading “Kill THE CATHLICS” had been spray-painted on a wall of St. Boniface Catholic Church in Anaheim, but at the time it was not known that an identical misspelled message had been painted on a wall at St. Thomas More in Irvine, a 20-mile drive from Anaheim.”
An excerpt.
“The vandals who spray-painted “Kill the Cathlics” on a wall of a Catholic church in Anaheim a week ago apparently traveled about 20 miles to a parish in Irvine to scrawl an identical message on a walkway at St. Thomas More parish.
“An identical phrase (with misspelling) was spray-painted on a wall at Saint Boniface Catholic Church in Anaheim,” the Orange County Register reported in a three-paragraph story on Jan. 13. “Both incidents were discovered (last) Tuesday morning.”
“Saint Thomas More Catholic Church is located at 51 Marketplace in Irvine.
“The graphic graffiti saddened parishioners, and church officials are working with police to find whoever is responsible for the crime, diocese spokesman Ryan Lilyengren said,” according to the Register.
“No additional details were provided.
“California Catholic Daily reported on Jan. 12 that Graffiti reading “Kill THE CATHLICS” had been spray-painted on a wall of St. Boniface Catholic Church in Anaheim, but at the time it was not known that an identical misspelled message had been painted on a wall at St. Thomas More in Irvine, a 20-mile drive from Anaheim.”
Friday, January 14, 2011
What’s in a Name
Plenty, if this article from BisNow about the names nonprofits choose, is any indication.
An excerpt.
“Carol Cone is known as the "mother of cause marketing" for her work on campaigns such as the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women, Avon's Breast Cancer Crusade, and ConAgra Food's Feeding Children Better. We spoke to her yesterday about a book she co-authored with three other non-profit veterans, Breakthrough Nonprofit Branding.
“Branding is a dirty word to many organizations, says Carol, explaining that they think it's all about marketing and not mission. But an authentic brand appeals to the "head, heart, and hand." To achieve that, organizations need to determine what they do better than anyone else, create an emotional bond, and engage people into their cause. One of the first and most critical steps is determining the organization's focused, compelling identity. "Focus is your friend. It helps you pick what you're going to do and what you're not going to do."
“She points to a small organization in Austin, TX previously called Admission Control, which provides college access and support services to underserved young people. Its name was such an impediment that it would get calls for the space program. The non-profit did some focus groups to determine what it really stood for and realized it not only wanted to help young people get into college, but move forward in their lives. That led to a new name for the organization: College Forward. But the introspection also led the non-profit to an expansion in services for mentoring and support throughout college. College Forward has since grown from a budget of $200K to $1.8 million over four years. "More people came forward because they were clear about what they did. It became their rallying cry," Carol says.
“For more on branding, we headed to Association Media & Publishing's event yesterday. Bates Creative Group president Debra Bates-Schrott spoke about the role of a name. She says it should represent what the organization is about and what the membership is looking for. But for many organizations, their initials represent something in the past or their terminology is no longer appropriate to the world today. Others rely solely on their tagline because their name means absolutely nothing. The American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA) recently decided to drop the word "association" from its name altogether and rebrand itself as LeadingAge to reflect its innovating and forward-thinking approach. Debra says organizations should also consider how the names of their events, publications, and websites relate to the organization's name. Land Trust Alliance, for example, changed the name of it's magazine from Exchange to Saving Land. "It gets to the core of what the organization is about," Debra says.”
An excerpt.
“Carol Cone is known as the "mother of cause marketing" for her work on campaigns such as the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women, Avon's Breast Cancer Crusade, and ConAgra Food's Feeding Children Better. We spoke to her yesterday about a book she co-authored with three other non-profit veterans, Breakthrough Nonprofit Branding.
“Branding is a dirty word to many organizations, says Carol, explaining that they think it's all about marketing and not mission. But an authentic brand appeals to the "head, heart, and hand." To achieve that, organizations need to determine what they do better than anyone else, create an emotional bond, and engage people into their cause. One of the first and most critical steps is determining the organization's focused, compelling identity. "Focus is your friend. It helps you pick what you're going to do and what you're not going to do."
“She points to a small organization in Austin, TX previously called Admission Control, which provides college access and support services to underserved young people. Its name was such an impediment that it would get calls for the space program. The non-profit did some focus groups to determine what it really stood for and realized it not only wanted to help young people get into college, but move forward in their lives. That led to a new name for the organization: College Forward. But the introspection also led the non-profit to an expansion in services for mentoring and support throughout college. College Forward has since grown from a budget of $200K to $1.8 million over four years. "More people came forward because they were clear about what they did. It became their rallying cry," Carol says.
“For more on branding, we headed to Association Media & Publishing's event yesterday. Bates Creative Group president Debra Bates-Schrott spoke about the role of a name. She says it should represent what the organization is about and what the membership is looking for. But for many organizations, their initials represent something in the past or their terminology is no longer appropriate to the world today. Others rely solely on their tagline because their name means absolutely nothing. The American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA) recently decided to drop the word "association" from its name altogether and rebrand itself as LeadingAge to reflect its innovating and forward-thinking approach. Debra says organizations should also consider how the names of their events, publications, and websites relate to the organization's name. Land Trust Alliance, for example, changed the name of it's magazine from Exchange to Saving Land. "It gets to the core of what the organization is about," Debra says.”
Thursday, January 13, 2011
On Dialogue
It is harder to become engaged in than one may think, as there is very often more of an attempt at debate, as this article from Nonprofit Quarterly notes.
An excerpt.
“The act of collaboration must start with dialogue. You cannot build relationships without having an understanding of your potential partners, and you cannot achieve that understanding without a special form of communication that goes beyond ordinary conversation. Long-time observer of the American public Daniel Yankelovich shares with us his analysis of what dialogue is and how to do it.
“Most people have two purposes for doing dialogue: to strengthen personal relationships and to solve problems. Both of these are crucial to collaboration. But what is dialogue, and what can it do for us that other ways of talking cannot?
“Webster defines the purpose of dialogue as "seeking mutual understanding and harmony." I put less emphasis on harmony than the dictionary does, because the outcome of dialogue is not always harmony. In fact, as a consequence of dialogue you may come to understand why you disagree so vehemently with someone else; there will be better understanding but not necessarily more harmony.
“In philosopher Martin Buber's classic work I and Thou, Buber suggests that in authentic dialogue something far deeper than ordinary conversation goes on. In Buber's philosophy, life itself is a form of meeting and dialogue is the "ridge" on which we meet. In dialogue, we penetrate behind the polite superficialities and defenses in which we habitually armor ourselves. We listen and respond to one another with an authenticity that forges a bond between us. The act of reaching beyond the self to relate to others in dialogue is a profound human yearning. If it were less commonplace, we would realize what a miracle it is.
“Doing dialogue takes special skills that most Americans do not yet possess. Effortless dialogue among people who think alike still does exist--but the cohesiveness of people who have grown into a shared worldview through a long-enduring relationship is increasingly rare.
“All practitioners of dialogue emphasize that debate is the opposite of dialogue. The purpose of debate is to win an argument, to vanquish an opponent. Dialogue has very different purposes--it's about exploring common ground. Dialogue is also different from discussion. Like discussion, dialogue can take place among a larger group than two people. But three distinctive features of dialogue differentiate it from discussion or other forms of talk. They are:”
“1. Equality and the absence of coercive influences. Mixing people of unequal status and authority does not necessarily preclude dialogue, but it makes it more difficult to achieve. Dialogue becomes possible only after mutual trust has been built and the higher-ranking people have, for the occasion, removed their badges of authority and are participating as true equals.
“2. Listening with empathy. The gift of empathy--the ability to think someone else's thoughts and feel someone else's feelings--is indispensable to dialogue. This is why discussion is more common than dialogue: people find it easy to express their opinions and to bat ideas back and forth with others, but most of the time they don't have either the motivation or the patience to respond empathically to opinions with which they may disagree or that they find uncongenial.
“3. Bringing assumptions into the open. Unexamined assumptions are a classic route to misunderstandings and errors of judgment. Dialogue requires that participants be uninhibited in bringing their own and other participants' assumptions into the open, where, within the safe confines of the dialogue, others can respond to them without challenging them or reacting to them judgmentally.”
An excerpt.
“The act of collaboration must start with dialogue. You cannot build relationships without having an understanding of your potential partners, and you cannot achieve that understanding without a special form of communication that goes beyond ordinary conversation. Long-time observer of the American public Daniel Yankelovich shares with us his analysis of what dialogue is and how to do it.
“Most people have two purposes for doing dialogue: to strengthen personal relationships and to solve problems. Both of these are crucial to collaboration. But what is dialogue, and what can it do for us that other ways of talking cannot?
“Webster defines the purpose of dialogue as "seeking mutual understanding and harmony." I put less emphasis on harmony than the dictionary does, because the outcome of dialogue is not always harmony. In fact, as a consequence of dialogue you may come to understand why you disagree so vehemently with someone else; there will be better understanding but not necessarily more harmony.
“In philosopher Martin Buber's classic work I and Thou, Buber suggests that in authentic dialogue something far deeper than ordinary conversation goes on. In Buber's philosophy, life itself is a form of meeting and dialogue is the "ridge" on which we meet. In dialogue, we penetrate behind the polite superficialities and defenses in which we habitually armor ourselves. We listen and respond to one another with an authenticity that forges a bond between us. The act of reaching beyond the self to relate to others in dialogue is a profound human yearning. If it were less commonplace, we would realize what a miracle it is.
“Doing dialogue takes special skills that most Americans do not yet possess. Effortless dialogue among people who think alike still does exist--but the cohesiveness of people who have grown into a shared worldview through a long-enduring relationship is increasingly rare.
“All practitioners of dialogue emphasize that debate is the opposite of dialogue. The purpose of debate is to win an argument, to vanquish an opponent. Dialogue has very different purposes--it's about exploring common ground. Dialogue is also different from discussion. Like discussion, dialogue can take place among a larger group than two people. But three distinctive features of dialogue differentiate it from discussion or other forms of talk. They are:”
“1. Equality and the absence of coercive influences. Mixing people of unequal status and authority does not necessarily preclude dialogue, but it makes it more difficult to achieve. Dialogue becomes possible only after mutual trust has been built and the higher-ranking people have, for the occasion, removed their badges of authority and are participating as true equals.
“2. Listening with empathy. The gift of empathy--the ability to think someone else's thoughts and feel someone else's feelings--is indispensable to dialogue. This is why discussion is more common than dialogue: people find it easy to express their opinions and to bat ideas back and forth with others, but most of the time they don't have either the motivation or the patience to respond empathically to opinions with which they may disagree or that they find uncongenial.
“3. Bringing assumptions into the open. Unexamined assumptions are a classic route to misunderstandings and errors of judgment. Dialogue requires that participants be uninhibited in bringing their own and other participants' assumptions into the open, where, within the safe confines of the dialogue, others can respond to them without challenging them or reacting to them judgmentally.”
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
State Budget & Nonprofits
As reported by the Contra Costa Times, the new budget proposed by Governor Brown may result in less money to nonprofits.
An excerpt.
“Local nonprofit groups stretched thin by the recession could be hard-pressed to meet increased demand if nearly $4 billion in proposed cuts to programs for the poor become part of the final state budget.
“The need for food, housing assistance and other services has grown 30 to 40 percent in Contra Costa County since the economic downturn began in 2008, said Larry Sly, executive director of the Concord-based Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano.
“Food banks, food pantries and housing services have been struggling to keep up with demand, Sly said.
“An influx of clients cut off or with reduced checks from state programs might drastically reduce agencies' ability to offer aid, he said.
“Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed budget released Monday calls for a nearly 25 percent reduction to CalWORKs, which provides income and child care subsidies to low-income families with children.
“The proposal would also eliminate child care grants for 11- and 12-year-olds, for a savings of $750 million.
“Those affected by the cuts likely would seek free food and other services from nonprofit groups, Sly said.”
An excerpt.
“Local nonprofit groups stretched thin by the recession could be hard-pressed to meet increased demand if nearly $4 billion in proposed cuts to programs for the poor become part of the final state budget.
“The need for food, housing assistance and other services has grown 30 to 40 percent in Contra Costa County since the economic downturn began in 2008, said Larry Sly, executive director of the Concord-based Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano.
“Food banks, food pantries and housing services have been struggling to keep up with demand, Sly said.
“An influx of clients cut off or with reduced checks from state programs might drastically reduce agencies' ability to offer aid, he said.
“Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed budget released Monday calls for a nearly 25 percent reduction to CalWORKs, which provides income and child care subsidies to low-income families with children.
“The proposal would also eliminate child care grants for 11- and 12-year-olds, for a savings of $750 million.
“Those affected by the cuts likely would seek free food and other services from nonprofit groups, Sly said.”
Monday, January 10, 2011
Nonprofits & Change
A long underlying difficulty has been the ability of grassroots nonprofits—especially in the human service sector—to affect substantial change in the conditions that often contribute to the reason for their existence.
One example: the reality that prisons—a necessary aspect of an effective criminal justice system—actually creates worse criminals, digging deeper holes to climb out of for human service nonprofits working to rehabilitate criminals.
This article from the Stanford Social Innovation Review examines a collective action approach.
An excerpt.
“The scale and complexity of the U.S. public education system has thwarted attempted reforms for decades. Major funders, such as the Annenberg Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Pew Charitable Trusts have abandoned many of their efforts in frustration after acknowledging their lack of progress. Once the global leader—after World War II the United States had the highest high school graduation rate in the world—the country now ranks 18th among the top 24 industrialized nations, with more than 1 million secondary school students dropping out every year. The heroic efforts of countless teachers, administrators, and nonprofits, together with billions of dollars in charitable contributions, may have led to important improvements in individual schools and classrooms, yet system-wide progress has seemed virtually unobtainable.
“Against these daunting odds, a remarkable exception seems to be emerging in Cincinnati. Strive, a nonprofit subsidiary of KnowledgeWorks, has brought together local leaders to tackle the student achievement crisis and improve education throughout greater Cincinnati and northern Kentucky. In the four years since the group was launched, Strive partners have improved student success in dozens of key areas across three large public school districts. Despite the recession and budget cuts, 34 of the 53 success indicators that Strive tracks have shown positive trends, including high school graduation rates, fourth-grade reading and math scores, and the number of preschool children prepared for kindergarten.
“Why has Strive made progress when so many other efforts have failed? It is because a core group of community leaders decided to abandon their individual agendas in favor of a collective approach to improving student achievement. More than 300 leaders of local organizations agreed to participate, including the heads of influential private and corporate foundations, city government officials, school district representatives, the presidents of eight universities and community colleges, and the executive directors of hundreds of education-related nonprofit and advocacy groups.
“These leaders realized that fixing one point on the educational continuum—such as better after-school programs—wouldn’t make much difference unless all parts of the continuum improved at the same time. No single organization, however innovative or powerful, could accomplish this alone. Instead, their ambitious mission became to coordinate improvements at every stage of a young person’s life, from “cradle to career.”
“Strive didn’t try to create a new educational program or attempt to convince donors to spend more money. Instead, through a carefully structured process, Strive focused the entire educational community on a single set of goals, measured in the same way. Participating organizations are grouped into 15 different Student Success Networks (SSNs) by type of activity, such as early childhood education or tutoring. Each SSN has been meeting with coaches and facilitators for two hours every two weeks for the past three years, developing shared performance indicators, discussing their progress, and most important, learning from each other and aligning their efforts to support each other.
“Strive, both the organization and the process it helps facilitate, is an example of collective impact, the commitment of a group of important actors from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem. Collaboration is nothing new. The social sector is filled with examples of partnerships, networks, and other types of joint efforts. But collective impact initiatives are distinctly different. Unlike most collaborations, collective impact initiatives involve a centralized infrastructure, a dedicated staff, and a structured process that leads to a common agenda, shared measurement, continuous communication, and mutually reinforcing activities among all participants.
“Although rare, other successful examples of collective impact are addressing social issues that, like education, require many different players to change their behavior in order to solve a complex problem. In 1993, Marjorie Mayfield Jackson helped found the Elizabeth River Project with a mission of cleaning up the Elizabeth River in southeastern Virginia, which for decades had been a dumping ground for industrial waste. They engaged more than 100 stakeholders, including the city governments of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Virginia Beach, Va., the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Navy, and dozens of local businesses, schools, community groups, environmental organizations, and universities, in developing an 18-point plan to restore the watershed. Fifteen years later, more than 1,000 acres of watershed land have been conserved or restored, pollution has been reduced by more than 215 million pounds, concentrations of the most severe carcinogen have been cut sixfold, and water quality has significantly improved. Much remains to be done before the river is fully restored, but already 27 species of fish and oysters are thriving in the restored wetlands, and bald eagles have returned to nest on the shores.
“Or consider Shape up Somerville, a citywide effort to reduce and prevent childhood obesity in elementary school children in Somerville, Mass. Led by Christina Economos, an associate professor at Tufts University’s Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, and United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, the program engaged government officials, educators, businesses, nonprofits, and citizens in collectively defining wellness and weight gain prevention practices. Schools agreed to offer healthier foods, teach nutrition, and promote physical activity. Local restaurants received a certification if they served low-fat, high nutritional food. The city organized a farmers’ market and provided healthy lifestyle incentives such as reduced-price gym memberships for city employees. Even sidewalks were modified and crosswalks repainted to encourage more children to walk to school. The result was a statistically significant decrease in body mass index among the community’s young children between 2002 and 2005.”
One example: the reality that prisons—a necessary aspect of an effective criminal justice system—actually creates worse criminals, digging deeper holes to climb out of for human service nonprofits working to rehabilitate criminals.
This article from the Stanford Social Innovation Review examines a collective action approach.
An excerpt.
“The scale and complexity of the U.S. public education system has thwarted attempted reforms for decades. Major funders, such as the Annenberg Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Pew Charitable Trusts have abandoned many of their efforts in frustration after acknowledging their lack of progress. Once the global leader—after World War II the United States had the highest high school graduation rate in the world—the country now ranks 18th among the top 24 industrialized nations, with more than 1 million secondary school students dropping out every year. The heroic efforts of countless teachers, administrators, and nonprofits, together with billions of dollars in charitable contributions, may have led to important improvements in individual schools and classrooms, yet system-wide progress has seemed virtually unobtainable.
“Against these daunting odds, a remarkable exception seems to be emerging in Cincinnati. Strive, a nonprofit subsidiary of KnowledgeWorks, has brought together local leaders to tackle the student achievement crisis and improve education throughout greater Cincinnati and northern Kentucky. In the four years since the group was launched, Strive partners have improved student success in dozens of key areas across three large public school districts. Despite the recession and budget cuts, 34 of the 53 success indicators that Strive tracks have shown positive trends, including high school graduation rates, fourth-grade reading and math scores, and the number of preschool children prepared for kindergarten.
“Why has Strive made progress when so many other efforts have failed? It is because a core group of community leaders decided to abandon their individual agendas in favor of a collective approach to improving student achievement. More than 300 leaders of local organizations agreed to participate, including the heads of influential private and corporate foundations, city government officials, school district representatives, the presidents of eight universities and community colleges, and the executive directors of hundreds of education-related nonprofit and advocacy groups.
“These leaders realized that fixing one point on the educational continuum—such as better after-school programs—wouldn’t make much difference unless all parts of the continuum improved at the same time. No single organization, however innovative or powerful, could accomplish this alone. Instead, their ambitious mission became to coordinate improvements at every stage of a young person’s life, from “cradle to career.”
“Strive didn’t try to create a new educational program or attempt to convince donors to spend more money. Instead, through a carefully structured process, Strive focused the entire educational community on a single set of goals, measured in the same way. Participating organizations are grouped into 15 different Student Success Networks (SSNs) by type of activity, such as early childhood education or tutoring. Each SSN has been meeting with coaches and facilitators for two hours every two weeks for the past three years, developing shared performance indicators, discussing their progress, and most important, learning from each other and aligning their efforts to support each other.
“Strive, both the organization and the process it helps facilitate, is an example of collective impact, the commitment of a group of important actors from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem. Collaboration is nothing new. The social sector is filled with examples of partnerships, networks, and other types of joint efforts. But collective impact initiatives are distinctly different. Unlike most collaborations, collective impact initiatives involve a centralized infrastructure, a dedicated staff, and a structured process that leads to a common agenda, shared measurement, continuous communication, and mutually reinforcing activities among all participants.
“Although rare, other successful examples of collective impact are addressing social issues that, like education, require many different players to change their behavior in order to solve a complex problem. In 1993, Marjorie Mayfield Jackson helped found the Elizabeth River Project with a mission of cleaning up the Elizabeth River in southeastern Virginia, which for decades had been a dumping ground for industrial waste. They engaged more than 100 stakeholders, including the city governments of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Virginia Beach, Va., the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Navy, and dozens of local businesses, schools, community groups, environmental organizations, and universities, in developing an 18-point plan to restore the watershed. Fifteen years later, more than 1,000 acres of watershed land have been conserved or restored, pollution has been reduced by more than 215 million pounds, concentrations of the most severe carcinogen have been cut sixfold, and water quality has significantly improved. Much remains to be done before the river is fully restored, but already 27 species of fish and oysters are thriving in the restored wetlands, and bald eagles have returned to nest on the shores.
“Or consider Shape up Somerville, a citywide effort to reduce and prevent childhood obesity in elementary school children in Somerville, Mass. Led by Christina Economos, an associate professor at Tufts University’s Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, and United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, the program engaged government officials, educators, businesses, nonprofits, and citizens in collectively defining wellness and weight gain prevention practices. Schools agreed to offer healthier foods, teach nutrition, and promote physical activity. Local restaurants received a certification if they served low-fat, high nutritional food. The city organized a farmers’ market and provided healthy lifestyle incentives such as reduced-price gym memberships for city employees. Even sidewalks were modified and crosswalks repainted to encourage more children to walk to school. The result was a statistically significant decrease in body mass index among the community’s young children between 2002 and 2005.”
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Faith & Money
Being true to belief is always admirable, and as reported by the Catholic Sentinel, that is what an Oregon nonprofit organization has done.
Bravo!
An excerpt.
“EUGENE — Catholic Community Services of Lane County will no longer accept money from United Way . That's because the secular charity clearing house also funds Planned Parenthood.
“Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Portland made a similar decision more than a decade ago in Portland.
“Planned Parenthood of Southwest Oregon, though it says it does not offer surgical abortions, recently began offering RU-486, a drug that terminates a pregnancy, taking a nascent life.
“Planned Parenthood has eight centers in Southwest Oregon and dispenses RU-486 in Eugene and Ashland.
“Archbishop John Vlazny advised the Catholic Community Services board to tell United Way about the objections to funding the nation's largest abortion provider.
“United Way chose to continue funding Planned Parenthood, so the Catholic Community Services board voted to unlink itself for moral reasons.”
Bravo!
An excerpt.
“EUGENE — Catholic Community Services of Lane County will no longer accept money from United Way . That's because the secular charity clearing house also funds Planned Parenthood.
“Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Portland made a similar decision more than a decade ago in Portland.
“Planned Parenthood of Southwest Oregon, though it says it does not offer surgical abortions, recently began offering RU-486, a drug that terminates a pregnancy, taking a nascent life.
“Planned Parenthood has eight centers in Southwest Oregon and dispenses RU-486 in Eugene and Ashland.
“Archbishop John Vlazny advised the Catholic Community Services board to tell United Way about the objections to funding the nation's largest abortion provider.
“United Way chose to continue funding Planned Parenthood, so the Catholic Community Services board voted to unlink itself for moral reasons.”
Friday, January 7, 2011
Estate Tax Law
Many nonprofits and especially the associations of nonprofits representing them, have called for retaining and even increasing estate taxes as a method of increasing donations.
I feel this position is counter to the founding roots of the nonprofit sector: built on faith, an American philanthropic culture animated by the donor’s freedom of charitable choice, rather than being spurred by the coercive effect of taxation
Forbes Magazine reports on the new estate tax law.
An excerpt.
“For donors, a crucial question has always been how much to give to charity while alive and what to leave as charitable bequests in their wills or trusts. The economic crisis has caused many people to cut back on current charitable giving, perhaps figuring they could always make up for it with bequests. But changes in the federal estate tax system signed into law by President Obama on Dec. 17 may well lead some of those who had postponed charitable giving to cut back on future bequests too.
“The new tax law raises the exemption from federal estate tax to $5 million a person ($10 million per couple) for deaths in 2011 and 2012. As a result, fewer families will even come close to paying the tax. That means that, except for the super wealthy, the tax benefits of giving through an estate plan have been wiped out.
“Previously, charities could point to the estate planning benefits of both lifetime gifts and charitable bequests. There’s an income tax deduction associated with gifts during life--adjusted gross income can be reduced up to 50% for cash gifts to public charities and by up to 30% for donations of appreciated assets, such as stock held longer than 12 months. But charities could also make another argument: If you’re not comfortable making a large gift now, remember your favorite cause or alma mater money in your will and you will be leaving less for Uncle Sam.”
I feel this position is counter to the founding roots of the nonprofit sector: built on faith, an American philanthropic culture animated by the donor’s freedom of charitable choice, rather than being spurred by the coercive effect of taxation
Forbes Magazine reports on the new estate tax law.
An excerpt.
“For donors, a crucial question has always been how much to give to charity while alive and what to leave as charitable bequests in their wills or trusts. The economic crisis has caused many people to cut back on current charitable giving, perhaps figuring they could always make up for it with bequests. But changes in the federal estate tax system signed into law by President Obama on Dec. 17 may well lead some of those who had postponed charitable giving to cut back on future bequests too.
“The new tax law raises the exemption from federal estate tax to $5 million a person ($10 million per couple) for deaths in 2011 and 2012. As a result, fewer families will even come close to paying the tax. That means that, except for the super wealthy, the tax benefits of giving through an estate plan have been wiped out.
“Previously, charities could point to the estate planning benefits of both lifetime gifts and charitable bequests. There’s an income tax deduction associated with gifts during life--adjusted gross income can be reduced up to 50% for cash gifts to public charities and by up to 30% for donations of appreciated assets, such as stock held longer than 12 months. But charities could also make another argument: If you’re not comfortable making a large gift now, remember your favorite cause or alma mater money in your will and you will be leaving less for Uncle Sam.”
Thursday, January 6, 2011
A Good Book, Part II
Following up on yesterday’s post, here is an interview with the author of the book profiled.
An excerpt.
“What was the impetus for writing Practically Radical?
“I want Practically Radical to be a manifesto for change and a manual for making it happen, at a moment in business and social history when change is the name of the game. We're all still struggling to learn lessons from the catastrophic meltdown of the last few years. I started to worry that too many organizations and leaders were learning the wrong lessons--they were becoming conservative and risk-averse, they were learning to resist innovation as opposed to embracing it as the only way out of our funk. I hope readers will use Practically Radical as a resource to think bigger and lead smarter. I have tried to offer a set of ideas and a collection of case studies about how to make big positive change in difficult times.
“How has the business world, and the world at large, changed since you wrote your last book, Mavericks at Work?
“Polly LaBarre and I wrote Mavericks at Work at a moment when the economy in general and the startup world in particular were booming. The spirit of the book was encapsulated by the famous quote that led off Google's IPO prospectus: "Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one." The narrative of that time, and the driving theme of the book, was starting from scratch and taking on the corporate establishment.
“Times are different today. The defining challenge is whether leaders can make deep-seated change in long-established organizations. Sure, startups still matter--Facebook is today what Google was five years ago. But the long-term health of the economy also depends on whether or not the giants companies and institutions of the economy can make the transformation to a new era of technology, markets, and business culture. That's the challenge I focus on in this book.”
An excerpt.
“What was the impetus for writing Practically Radical?
“I want Practically Radical to be a manifesto for change and a manual for making it happen, at a moment in business and social history when change is the name of the game. We're all still struggling to learn lessons from the catastrophic meltdown of the last few years. I started to worry that too many organizations and leaders were learning the wrong lessons--they were becoming conservative and risk-averse, they were learning to resist innovation as opposed to embracing it as the only way out of our funk. I hope readers will use Practically Radical as a resource to think bigger and lead smarter. I have tried to offer a set of ideas and a collection of case studies about how to make big positive change in difficult times.
“How has the business world, and the world at large, changed since you wrote your last book, Mavericks at Work?
“Polly LaBarre and I wrote Mavericks at Work at a moment when the economy in general and the startup world in particular were booming. The spirit of the book was encapsulated by the famous quote that led off Google's IPO prospectus: "Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one." The narrative of that time, and the driving theme of the book, was starting from scratch and taking on the corporate establishment.
“Times are different today. The defining challenge is whether leaders can make deep-seated change in long-established organizations. Sure, startups still matter--Facebook is today what Google was five years ago. But the long-term health of the economy also depends on whether or not the giants companies and institutions of the economy can make the transformation to a new era of technology, markets, and business culture. That's the challenge I focus on in this book.”
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
A Good Book, Part I
In this article from Fast Company, a good book for leadership is noted, and though from the private sector, good leadership advice is universal.
An excerpt.
“As the cofounder of a magazine called Fast Company, I've always been struck by the slow-going rate of change inside most organizations. In the earliest days of the magazine, after we had a business plan but before we published the premiere issue, we convened a conference around the theme, "How Do You Overthrow a Successful Company?" It wasn't a gathering of hotshots eager to take on the corporate establishment. It was a gathering of big-picture thinkers and change agents from illustrious big companies who sensed that there were massive shifts on the horizon, but that there wasn't a commitment among their colleagues to reckon with what was coming.
“It was a great conversation, ahead of its time in many ways (this was 1994), and the outlook was grim. Roger Martin, now dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, warned that "the role of big companies is to turn great people into mediocre organizations." Richard Pascale, the best-selling author and sought-after consultant, compared knowledge about how organizations renew themselves to the quality of medieval medicine. "We are," he said of people leading change programs inside big companies, "like earnest doctors with willing patients engaged in utter bullshit." Mort Meyerson, the much-admired CEO and philanthropist, then at the helm of Perot Systems, compared leading an organization in fast-changing times to "floating in lava in a wooden boat." His plea to the group: "We need a new model to reach the future."
“What a difference 15 years don't make. Are those misgivings any less relevant today than they were back then--or the prospects for genuine transformation any less bleak? My goal in Chapters One and Two has been to present a range of settings in which troubled organizations figured out how to learn from the past, and break from convention, to make deep-seated change. I hope you'll agree that these organizations are unleashing innovations that will shape their future, and the future of their fields, for years to come. But the real value of exploring stories of transformation at these organizations is that they can equip you to write a more compelling story for your organization.
“If what you see shapes how you change, and where you look shapes what you see, then my hope is that seeing what these leaders have achieved will help you achieve your agenda for reform and renewal. Specifically, my hope is that it will allow you to reckon with the five truths of corporate transformation. Because the truth is, the work of making deep-seated change in long-established organizations is the hardest work there is.
“Here, then, in an effort to steel your resolve and distill the book's major themes and core messages, is a Practically Radical Primer--ten questions that define the challenges of change at a time when change is the name of the game. The organizations and leaders with the most persuasive answers are the ones most likely to win. Good luck as you work to change the game.”
An excerpt.
“As the cofounder of a magazine called Fast Company, I've always been struck by the slow-going rate of change inside most organizations. In the earliest days of the magazine, after we had a business plan but before we published the premiere issue, we convened a conference around the theme, "How Do You Overthrow a Successful Company?" It wasn't a gathering of hotshots eager to take on the corporate establishment. It was a gathering of big-picture thinkers and change agents from illustrious big companies who sensed that there were massive shifts on the horizon, but that there wasn't a commitment among their colleagues to reckon with what was coming.
“It was a great conversation, ahead of its time in many ways (this was 1994), and the outlook was grim. Roger Martin, now dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, warned that "the role of big companies is to turn great people into mediocre organizations." Richard Pascale, the best-selling author and sought-after consultant, compared knowledge about how organizations renew themselves to the quality of medieval medicine. "We are," he said of people leading change programs inside big companies, "like earnest doctors with willing patients engaged in utter bullshit." Mort Meyerson, the much-admired CEO and philanthropist, then at the helm of Perot Systems, compared leading an organization in fast-changing times to "floating in lava in a wooden boat." His plea to the group: "We need a new model to reach the future."
“What a difference 15 years don't make. Are those misgivings any less relevant today than they were back then--or the prospects for genuine transformation any less bleak? My goal in Chapters One and Two has been to present a range of settings in which troubled organizations figured out how to learn from the past, and break from convention, to make deep-seated change. I hope you'll agree that these organizations are unleashing innovations that will shape their future, and the future of their fields, for years to come. But the real value of exploring stories of transformation at these organizations is that they can equip you to write a more compelling story for your organization.
“If what you see shapes how you change, and where you look shapes what you see, then my hope is that seeing what these leaders have achieved will help you achieve your agenda for reform and renewal. Specifically, my hope is that it will allow you to reckon with the five truths of corporate transformation. Because the truth is, the work of making deep-seated change in long-established organizations is the hardest work there is.
“Here, then, in an effort to steel your resolve and distill the book's major themes and core messages, is a Practically Radical Primer--ten questions that define the challenges of change at a time when change is the name of the game. The organizations and leaders with the most persuasive answers are the ones most likely to win. Good luck as you work to change the game.”
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Good Reading
Governing notes several good books for leaders of public organizations.
An excerpt.
“I'm often asked for reading suggestions for public officials looking to get up to speed on innovative management. So here is my list of essential readings, just in time for last-minute holiday gift giving.
“I'll start by tooting my own horn. If We Can Put a Man on the Moon, co-authored by yours truly and William D. Eggers, recently made the Washington Post bestseller list. The book provides an enjoyable look at what makes big government initiatives successful. Filled with tools for public officials, the book makes it easier to avoid the hidden traps that loom on the journey to success, and it's a nonpartisan and constructive look at how to make government work better.
“Though not specifically geared for public officials, Switch by Chip and Dan Heath is another highly readable look at what makes organizational change possible. Not only can the book help you bring changes to an entrenched bureaucracy, it just might help you stick to your diet, too.
“For those looking to instill a culture of innovation in public organizations, The Public Innovator's Playbook by Eggers and Shalabh Kumar Singh is a great overview that offers a systematic approach to the challenge. Full of real-world case studies, it explores the conditions that make innovation part of an organization's DNA, rather than just a one-time phenomenon.
“Government innovation is also the topic of Leading Public Sector Innovation by Christian Bason of Denmark's MindLab group. With clear writing and concrete examples, Bason demonstrates how public officials can embrace a new way of thinking -- despite some challenging obstacles. Bason's hands-on experience at MindLab makes the book extremely practical. As problems grow more complex, the innovation culture described in the book becomes increasingly important
“For those involved in social services, The Power of Social Innovation by Stephen Goldsmith looks at how a new breed of entrepreneurs both inside and outside of government are changing the way we think about helping troubled neighborhoods. The book offers powerful examples of transformational change.”
An excerpt.
“I'm often asked for reading suggestions for public officials looking to get up to speed on innovative management. So here is my list of essential readings, just in time for last-minute holiday gift giving.
“I'll start by tooting my own horn. If We Can Put a Man on the Moon, co-authored by yours truly and William D. Eggers, recently made the Washington Post bestseller list. The book provides an enjoyable look at what makes big government initiatives successful. Filled with tools for public officials, the book makes it easier to avoid the hidden traps that loom on the journey to success, and it's a nonpartisan and constructive look at how to make government work better.
“Though not specifically geared for public officials, Switch by Chip and Dan Heath is another highly readable look at what makes organizational change possible. Not only can the book help you bring changes to an entrenched bureaucracy, it just might help you stick to your diet, too.
“For those looking to instill a culture of innovation in public organizations, The Public Innovator's Playbook by Eggers and Shalabh Kumar Singh is a great overview that offers a systematic approach to the challenge. Full of real-world case studies, it explores the conditions that make innovation part of an organization's DNA, rather than just a one-time phenomenon.
“Government innovation is also the topic of Leading Public Sector Innovation by Christian Bason of Denmark's MindLab group. With clear writing and concrete examples, Bason demonstrates how public officials can embrace a new way of thinking -- despite some challenging obstacles. Bason's hands-on experience at MindLab makes the book extremely practical. As problems grow more complex, the innovation culture described in the book becomes increasingly important
“For those involved in social services, The Power of Social Innovation by Stephen Goldsmith looks at how a new breed of entrepreneurs both inside and outside of government are changing the way we think about helping troubled neighborhoods. The book offers powerful examples of transformational change.”
Monday, January 3, 2011
Tax Policy & Nonprofits
An article—Talking About Taxes, (pp.18-23)—in the current issue of the Nonprofit Quarterly tries to make the case that taxes should be raised to support nonprofits dependent on government, which instead makes the case of why government dependent nonprofits, especially those in the human service area, continue to fail.
Government does have a role in the nonprofit sector—encouraging and initial funding in some cases—but it needs to be a limited role rather than a permanent one.
The nonprofit sector works best when it remains true to its faith-based roots, expressed by Count Alexis De Tocqueville, who came to America in the early 1800’s, met with many of the founders and wrote one of the most perceptive books ever written about America. Here is but a small part of what he said about voluntary associations—nonprofits.
“Americans of all ages, all conditions, all minds constantly unite. Not only do they have commercial and industrial associations in which all take part, but they also have a thousand other kinds: religious, moral, grave, futile, very general and very particular, immense and very small; Americans use associations to give fetes, to found seminaries, to build inns, to raise churches, to distribute books, to send missionaries to the antipodes; in this manner they create hospitals, prisons, schools. Finally, if it is a question of bringing to light a truth or developing a sentiment with the support of a great example, they associate. Everywhere that, at the head of a new undertaking, you see the government in France and a great lord in England, count on it that you will perceive an association in the United States.
“I have since traveled through England, from which the Americans took some of their laws and many of their usages, and it appeared to me that there they were very far from making as constant and as skilled a use of association.
“It often happens that the English execute very great things in isolation, whereas there is scarcely an undertaking so small that Americans do not unite for it. It is evident that the former consider association as a powerful means of action; but the latter seem to see in it the sole means they have of acting.
“Thus the most democratic country on earth is found to be, above all, the one where men in our day have most perfected the art of pursuing the object of their common desires in common and have applied this new science to the most objects. Does this result from an accident or could it be that there in fact exists a necessary relation between associations and equality?”
(Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 2000 translation by H. C. Mansfield and D. Winthrop. pp. 489-490)
Government does have a role in the nonprofit sector—encouraging and initial funding in some cases—but it needs to be a limited role rather than a permanent one.
The nonprofit sector works best when it remains true to its faith-based roots, expressed by Count Alexis De Tocqueville, who came to America in the early 1800’s, met with many of the founders and wrote one of the most perceptive books ever written about America. Here is but a small part of what he said about voluntary associations—nonprofits.
“Americans of all ages, all conditions, all minds constantly unite. Not only do they have commercial and industrial associations in which all take part, but they also have a thousand other kinds: religious, moral, grave, futile, very general and very particular, immense and very small; Americans use associations to give fetes, to found seminaries, to build inns, to raise churches, to distribute books, to send missionaries to the antipodes; in this manner they create hospitals, prisons, schools. Finally, if it is a question of bringing to light a truth or developing a sentiment with the support of a great example, they associate. Everywhere that, at the head of a new undertaking, you see the government in France and a great lord in England, count on it that you will perceive an association in the United States.
“I have since traveled through England, from which the Americans took some of their laws and many of their usages, and it appeared to me that there they were very far from making as constant and as skilled a use of association.
“It often happens that the English execute very great things in isolation, whereas there is scarcely an undertaking so small that Americans do not unite for it. It is evident that the former consider association as a powerful means of action; but the latter seem to see in it the sole means they have of acting.
“Thus the most democratic country on earth is found to be, above all, the one where men in our day have most perfected the art of pursuing the object of their common desires in common and have applied this new science to the most objects. Does this result from an accident or could it be that there in fact exists a necessary relation between associations and equality?”
(Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 2000 translation by H. C. Mansfield and D. Winthrop. pp. 489-490)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
