Charity, Incorporated
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It seems that every time I set out to write about topics other than donor-advised funds, fresh news explodes on the scene that requires my attention, and yours. This week…
Read More A Tale of Two Letters, and Two Sectors
[Note: A version of this post was published in the opinion pages of The Chronicle of Philanthropy on November 2, 2017.] Here’s an idea: Let’s agree to stop referring to “the nonprofit…
Read More Strange Math
[A version of this piece appeared in the Chronicle of Philanthropy on July 13, 2017.] Here’s the world’s simplest math problem. My wife Pat and I often meet a pair of friends…
Read More Wall Street 9, Charity 0
The news last week was stunning, but at the same time utterly unsurprising: When The Chronicle of Philanthropy compiled its annual Philanthropy 400 list of the nonprofit organizations that had…
Read More Partial Score
The late comedian George Carlin had a shtick back in the 1970s where he played a television sports anchor. With mock seriousness, he’d stare at the camera and say, “Here’s…
Read More No Transparency, No Clue
I live in New Hampshire, where presidential candidates more or less take up residence for the year before our primary. They’re all around us now. Trust me. Come December I…
Read More A Closer Look at One Donor-Advised Fund’s Questionable Pay-out Numbers
[Note: This post was co-published on July 20, 2015 in Inside Philanthropy.] It’s one thing for organizations to spin information in a way that puts them in the best possible…
Read More Not So Simple
[A version of this post was published in the Chronicle of Philanthropy on August 12, 2015.] I often hear donor-advised funds marketed as “giving, simplified.” I appreciate the gist of this. Donor-advised…
Read More Wall Street’s Charitable Gold Rush
[Note: This article was co-posted February 25, 2015, in Inside Philanthropy.] The unbridled growth of donor-advised funds (DAFs) is the biggest story in philanthropy. Some startling facts: Contributions to DAFs…
Read More The Year in Review
Yes, I write a lot about donor-advised funds. That’s because their surge in popularity is the biggest story in philanthropy – and, to my mind, a growing threat to an…
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