What does transparency look like?

What do nonprofits really think about foundations? There are several sources of information about this – occasional reports from NCNA, Independent Sector, or GEO, research presented in NVSQ or the Nonprofit Quarterly, some of NCRP‘s work, and the slowly emerging industry standard developing out of the Center for Effective Philanthropy‘s reports – the Grantee Perception [...]

What kind(s) of IMPACT?

A friend of mine was watching TV with her dad and he (79 years old) said, “Check this out – the news now helps you make donations.” They watched a few more minutes and then switched over to the laptop to log on to the IMPACT feature of cnn.com. Here’s how it works – you’re [...]

We interrupt this blog…

..to bring you links to and stories about this blog. In line with the theme of the last post, Transparency is the New Black, see: New York Times story quoting Lucy Bernholz on foundations and public outreach; KCBS Interview with Bernholz on announcement from Case Foundation PBS/NOW post featuring Bernholz’s insights on the business of [...]

Transparency is the new black

There is a lot of talk about transparency in philanthropy. That’s not really new. In most of these discussions transparency has been synonymous with requirements for reporting financial data. What’s interesting now is that transparency is being discussed, and demonstrated, about much more important elements than simple financial data. There are some interesting changes underway [...]

Virtual (real?) platforms for good

Today’s discussion between Jonathan Fanton (President, The MacArthur Foundation) and Philip Rosedale (CEO, LindenLab) was a breakthrough event. But not because of the technology, nor because it took place in SecondLife, was live-streamed on BlogTv and covered by IM, chat, and bloggers while it was going on. Nor because it gave some teenage resident of [...]

Mapping markets for transparency

Transparency and accountability are like the “mom and apple pie” of the citizen sector. Everyone agrees we need them (and that we should value, if not actually love, them). But nobody seems to be able to agree on the recipe for the best pie or what makes a great mom. Last week the IRS announced [...]

GiveWell.net

Talk about transparency. GiveWell.net which just launched, and which I wrote about here, uses community reviewers to assess giving opportunities for donors. They’ve developed and posted their criteria for these reviews. The ratings process includes criteria and scoring on these parameters: Strategies and Activities Fiscal responsibility Relevance Self-evaluation process Evidence of effectiveness Reviewers also post [...]