Biggest nonprofit website mistakes

There is a great little post at “Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology” about the biggest mistakes that nonprofits can make on their websites. Its actually a collection of recommendations from a variety of different people.
My favorite advice comes from Kivi’s Nonprofit Communications Blog, where she suggests that the biggest mistake a nonprofit can [...]

Even if you build it, they might not come: GlobalGiving goes green

Continuing the conversation that’s been evolving for the last few days, the New York Times today reported that GlobalGiving was launching a new “Green” portal, populated by 25 projects from the main GlobalGiving site that have clear environmental impact and have been vetted for factors such as “how well it helps reduce harmful emissions, plus [...]

Platforms for giving are different than reasons for giving

Aaron Hurst of the Taproot Foundation wrote a post on their Pro Bono Junkie blog a few weeks ago provactively asking if Causes.com is actually Cost.com.
He had just seen a presentation by Sean Parker, who’s tech startup bedpost includes Napster, Facebook, and now Causes on Facebook. Parker told Hurst and the other audience members that [...]

Who will take on donor education?

Sean Stannard-Stockton at Tactical Philanthropy has had a couple interesting posts in the last few weeks about the “low hanging fruit” in improving philanthropy. The argument is basically while there are big challenges and debates to be had (such as the questions of metrics, which we tend to come around to here on DGW quite [...]

New Orleans as a hub for social entrepreneurship innovation?

Real interesting post over on Alldaybuffet today about how New Orleans is becoming something of a “startup lab” for social innovation. The combination of the massive sense of responsibility along with the unique opportunities to rebuild are bringing social entrepreneurs out of the woodwork.
In an interview with Marktd, the founder of advertising agency Trumpet (tagline: [...]

Do good geezers

Nick Kristoff’s op-ed yesterday was all about the “encore career,” a growing phenomenon in which retiring baby boomers devote themselves to some philanthropic cause.
The interesting thing about the phenomenon is the increased recognition of these activities as actual vocations, as important to the participants as their former professional careers. Indeed, he notes that for many, [...]

Devastated socialites lose their philanthropic playground

It’s hard for me to make it through an article in the NYTimes today without choking on cynicism. “In Hamptons, Slump Means Less Glitz per Gala,” narrates the simply heart-breaking story of the devastating impact the economic downturn has had on the social life of the Wall Street philanthropic elite, so used to carefree summers [...]

CIO altruism and the problem of accountability

John Soat of InformationWeek wrote about how altruism will be an important element of “Tomorrow’s CIO.” The basic thrust of the column is that corporate Chief Information Officers have an important role to play in helping charitable organizations leverage technology more effectively.
He notes that a problem for many nonprofits is that: “Contributors don’t want charities [...]

Are IGAs reverse entrepreneurship?

One of the activities that’s become an important part of development programming are “income generating activities” or IGAs. They obviously range in type of activity and effectiveness, but basically they’re any activity – agricultural, small goods retail, crafts – designed to provide a source of income for the poor.
In my (limited) experience the IGA programs [...]

Question of the week: is donating 1% of pre-tax revenue an appropriate baseline determinant of whether a company is socially responsible?

An article in BusinessWeek online this week posits that, despite PR to the contrary, corporate philanthropy is down from 25% ago, with companies donating just 0.7% of their pre-tax revenue to charitable organizations.
They suggest that:
Badly needed is a meaningful voluntary commitment by the business community to “ante up” a minimum budget for corporate philanthropy. A [...]