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, [...]

Question of the week: how can nonprofits maximize their use of consultants and skilled volunteers?

In the Spring issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, James. W Shepard, Jr. of the Taproot Foundation wrote a great piece called “MBAs Gone Wild: Nonprofits must rein in pro bono MBAs.” He writes:
like the proverbial bull in a china shop, MBAs like me can, without appropriate understanding of nonprofits, actually wreak havoc when [...]

Vietnam is the most attractive “emerging market retail destination”

The “trade vs. aid” conversation is one we’ve started and will come back to, but there’s a lot of interesting stuff in A.T. Kearny’s annual ranking of the most attractive emerging market destinations for retail expansion. Basically, the consulting firm looks at about 25 variables spread across categories including: political and economic risk, market saturation [...]

Question of the week: Do colleges and society need to do more to incentivize public service and nonprofit work after college?

A New York Times article published on June 23 asked “Big Paycheck or Service? Students Are Put to Test.”
The article describes how many students take jobs in the financial services or management consulting industries immediately after graduation, citing reasons like salary level, security, competitiveness and notably – availability of information and clear application procedures.
Different [...]