Challenging a Pundit’s Views on Volunteerism Efforts, and More: Thursday’s Roundup
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
October 22, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
- The national role of volunteerism can be debated, but Fox News’ host Glenn Beck has a “distorted view” of service when he says the entertainment industry and the Obama administration’s efforts to promote volunteerism border on Marxism, writes John C. Ronquillo, a doctoral student at the University of Georgia who studies nonprofit management, on his personal blog.
- Matthew Bishop and Michael Green, authors of the Philanthrocapitalism blog and a book on philanthropy by the same name, discuss a paper by a former British aid official suggesting that foreign aid should be more decentralized and that there ought to be more information about what works and what doesn’t. Donors, like the William and Flora Hewlett and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations, are already working to provide this sort of information, write the bloggers.
- What can philanthropy do to improve the 2010 census? Ellen S. Alberding, president of the Joyce Foundation, discusses some examples on Duke University’s Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Civil Society blog.
- While it’s wonderful that William Kamkwamba, a Malawian who built a windmill to power his village, has received a lot of news-media attention, nonprofit groups should do more to promote other “social entrepreneurs” in Africa and elsewhere, writes Kristin Ivie on the Social Citizens blog, which is supported by the Case Foundation.
- What can American fund raisers learn from their cohorts in Korea? The answer is quite a bit, according to Katya Andresen, author of the nonprofit marketing blog Getting to the Point.
- In response to the typhoons that hit the Philippines, donors should consider supporting relief projects that include the voice of local people, look at long-term needs, and avoid product or other in-kind donations, says Give2Asia, a San Francisco charity that helps philanthropists work in Asia, on its blog.
