Watchdog’s Approach Does Not Help Donors
To the Editor: The Chronicle reported in its June 9 edition (Watchdog Watch) that the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance stated that the American Bible Society meets all of the alliance’s standards except for the standard calling for a charitable organization to avoid accumulating funds…
Grant Makers Must Stop Looking for an ‘Exit Strategy’
Before they decide to start supporting a project, grant makers often want to know how they are going to stop giving money to it. “What is my exit strategy?” they ask -- a question that invariably proves difficult to answer, in part because the concept just doesn’t fit philanthropy. The term “exit…
By Mark R. Kramer
Contributor
How Lawmakers Can Best Help Nonprofit Groups
To the Editor: Recent news reports covering the debate on enhanced government regulation of the nonprofit sector reflect a shift in tenor from one that indicated the effort was seeking to be corrective and reformative to one that assumes it is now designed to be punitive and destructive. The…
The Real Challenge for Volunteerism
The number of Americans who volunteer has increased each year since 2002. This multiple-year climb in civic engagement is extremely unusual -- traditionally, spikes of this kind fade after just a few months. Not since the attack on Pearl Harbor has the United States seen the kind of sustained…
By DAVID EISNER
Contributor
LETTERS TO THE EDITORTo the Editor: We share the views of our colleagues -- Landon Lane, Tim Walter, and Daniel Schley -- who responded to Emmett Carson’s opinion article in the May 26 issue (“An Easy Way to Curb Foundation Abuses”). Most interesting to us, however, is the disclaimer with Mr.…
Foundations Are Trying to Perform Better
LETTERS TO THE EDITORTo the Editor: Francie Ostrower is absolutely right to urge foundations to assess their own performance in ways that go beyond simply asking grantees to demonstrate their achievements (“Foundations, Heal Thyselves,” June 9). But her broad generalizations, based on data…
Training Leaders of Cultural Groups
LETTERS TO THE EDITORTo the Editor: A more thorough examination on Nicole Lewis’s part of the issue of training for arts managers (“A Leading Performance,” May 26) would have revealed an entire system of universities across North America, Australia, and Europe that have comprehensive programs…
Communications Requires Investments
LETTERS TO THE EDITORTo the Editor: Suzanne Perry’s “Marketing the Message” (June 23) hit home for me. Over the past decade the American Foundation for the Blind has learned that solid, strategic communications is the key to raising the visibility of the organization, increasing public awareness…
Keep the Regulators Away from Charities
LETTERS TO THE EDITORTo the Editor: Pablo Eisenberg makes a good point about perks for trustees (“Strong Measures Are Needed to Prevent Nonprofit Abuses,” June 9). But he goes too far in his demand for tighter control on “the duty to report to the public on their spending practices and…
The Ties Between Congress and Charity
LETTERS TO THE EDITORTo the Editor: In his opinion article “How Washington’s Political Scandals Could Harm Nonprofit Groups,” Leslie Lenkowsky tries mightily to camouflage Tom DeLay and his purported philanthropic activities in a forest populated by the Aspen Institute, Franklin Delano Roosevelt,…