How Much Does Haiti Really Need, Plus More: Tuesday’s Roundup
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
February 2, 2010 | Read Time: 1 minute
- Just because charities are asking for money to help in Haiti doesn’t mean they need more or they can spend it effectively, says Holden Karnofsky, co-founder of the nonprofit-evaluation group GiveWell.
- As Bill and Melinda Gates spend millions of dollars on research about what makes teachers effective, James D. Starkey, a retired teacher in Colorado, says the answer is simplier than they think. In an Education Week opinion article, he writes, “Great teaching is not quantifiable. As dorky as this sounds, great teaching happens by magic.”
- Public radio stations are gearing up for their spring fund-raising drives, and they “must be smarter at asking smart people to part with their money,” writes Jack Allen on his blog about classical-music radio. He recommends they emphasize the importance of building long-term supporters and explaining how donations help maintain the quality of broadcasts.
- To make grant makers more public about their operations and programs, the Foundation Center has started a new Web venture, called Glass Pockets, which lists a variety of information about the nation’s almost 97,000 philanthropies. “Foundations increasingly need to tell the story of what they do, why they do it, and what difference it makes,” writes Brad Smith, the center’s president, on its blog. Read The Chronicle’s article about the Foundation Center’s new efforts.
- As President Obama seeks to spur job growth, he should look at building employment in the nonprofit world, says Fran Barrett, founder of the Community Resource Exchange. Her views appear on the Huffington Post.
