Before she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996, Penny Pilgram George had been busy running her own psychology ALSO SEE:A Family Focus on HealthSmall Family Fund Has Big Plans to Improve How Doctors Treat Pain practice, supporting her husband’s lucrative corporate career, and raising her two…
By Elizabeth Greene
Contributor
Make Charity Loans Illegal in All States
To the Editor: Congratulations on the bravery of your editorial staff in the special report, “Borrowing the Future,” (February 5). Now that I have retired, I find myself working as a volunteer writing grants for a nonprofit in New York, and it is disgusting to think that charitable organizations…
Charities Must Develop New Approaches
To the Editor: How many times have you sat in a planning meeting where at least one board or staff member will invoke the “let’s not reinvent the wheel” mantra? The life span of this metaphor for business as usual should come to an end. The monumental factors hampering the not-for-profit community…
What Congress Can Do to Fight Charity and Foundation Abuses
Recent news-media coverage of foundation excesses and scandals -- including high trustee fees, conflicts of interest, sweetheart financial deals, and inappropriate expenditures -- have raised serious concerns in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. What many lawmakers need to…
By PABLO EISENBERG
Contributor
It’s Always an Election Year for the Nation’s Charities
To the Editor: As the nation gears up for a presidential contest this November, it’s a good time to remember that we as nonprofits face the continuous scrutiny of voters as well. On our ballots, no candidate gets a pass. Whether individual donors or corporate funders, your voters examine your…
How Museums Risk Losing Public Trust
Museums today are much larger physically as well as in size of staff and budgets than they were just a few decades ago -- and therefore more complex and harder to manage. Size in itself is not a problem, of course, but larger buildings do need to be maintained, and larger budgets fueled by money.…
By Philippe de Montebello
Contributor
Counting the Pros and Cons of Letting Charity Staff Members Interview Their Potential Future Bosses
JOB MARKET By Marilyn Dickey Steve Johnson has definite ideas about what kind of boss works best in his department. So last fall, when he was asked to be among several staff members to interview the top three candidates to become his supervisor, he knew exactly what to do. As director of new media…
By Marilyn Dickey
Senior Editor, Copy
Bumpy Road for Colorado CharitiesRecognizing Roles of Donors, Volunteers
To the Editor: With disappointment, I have read the controversy and disagreement surrounding the recent changes in the activities of the Daniels Fund (“Rocky Times at Colorado Foundation,” February 5). Having missed the opportunity to work with Bill Daniels, I am looking forward to the promise of…
Loans to Nonprofit Officials Undermine Trust in Charities
To the Editor: The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s exposé on the extent and size of interest-free loans to nonprofit executives is yet another devastating example of how the nonprofit sector is behaving in ways that are inconsistent with the public trust (“Borrowing the Future: Nonprofit Groups Have…
Foundations Should Listen to Charities
When I became head of the New York Foundation in 1978, the board urged me to figure out how to spend $1-million a year on a special project. Largely out of ignorance and uncertainty, I set out to get advice. I asked all the board members how they would spend a million dollars. I asked staff members…
By Madeline Lee
Contributor