Showing Results Matters, but Charities Should Let Evaluation Evolve
Charities must pay greater attention to results as competition for donations grows more fierce, but it’s important to let measurements mature as a nonprofit grows.
By Matt Forti and MATTHEW FORTI
Occupy Wall Street’s Beef With Big Business Should Concern Big Philanthropy
Foundations should think about ways to use the clout of their endowments and access to boardrooms to push for changes on Wall Street and in Washington.
By Vincent Stehle
Contributor
Grant Makers Need to Help States Apply Health-Care Law
States are making big decisions that will determine how the measure works, and philanthropy can influence those deliberations, write two foundation officials.
By MARCIA EGBERT
Contributor
Fury Over Charitable-Deduction Proposal Reveals Nonprofits’ Self-Interest
Charities need to push for a more equitable tax system and economic aid that creates jobs, not write-offs for rich donors.
By PABLO EISENBERG
Contributor
In-Depth Planning Can Help a Nonprofit Group Settle on a Distinctive Name
Nonprofits need to talk to a lot of people and think through a lot of logistics before picking a new name.
By HEATHER JOSLYN
Contributor
Policy Making at the Fore as Big Funds Seek to Improve Schools
The growing and increasingly controversial role of the country’s biggest charitable foundations in shaping U.S. education policy is examined in the cover story of the October edition of Governing magazine.
More Grant Makers Want to Evaluate Their Work but Struggle With How
More grant makers are trying to assess their performance, but they have yet to figure out the best ways to do so, writes the leader of the Center for Effective Philanthropy.
By PHIL BUCHANAN
Contributor
Worldwatch Institute has Grasp on Mission
In his opinion piece “Environmental Groups Need to Stop Carrying the Weight of the World” (September 18), Russell Max Simon raised questions all nonprofit organizations must ask: Should our reach exceed our grasp? Do we work for transformative change or for more feasible incremental steps in the…
Nonprofit Innovators Battle Obstacles to Creative Solutions
Even in an uncertain economy, some nonprofits are pursuing innovative practices, such as Project Exploration, which offers science programs to inner-city students in Chicago.
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
How Documentaries Have Become Stronger Advocacy Tools
New projects pack the emotional punch of film with the power of investigative journalism and social media to influence public policy, writes a Chronicle columnist.
By Vincent Stehle
Contributor