George Soros has made billions – yes Billions- of charitable donations over the years, and he has most recently given over $100 million to Human Rights Watch (HRW) in an effort to encourage its autonomous status. His wealth comes mostly from his work as a co-founder of the Quantum [Hedge] Fund through the 1980s, but […]
Archives for September 2010
Failure In Philanthropy Should Also Mean Learning
No one enjoys failure as an end. Indeed, few enjoy it as a means either. Nevertheless, a failed project or an unsuccessful step in that project can lead to some great insights and some important team building. In the philanthropic and mission-based world, a failure might seem like a daunting lost opportunity or resource that […]
Census Information on Baltimore and Maryland Suggest Mosaic, Not Melting Pot
This past spring most Americans took a few moments to complete and return their census forms. The exercise, mandated by the Constitution to ensure proportional representation in the House of Representatives (and the Electoral College), takes place every ten years and has been a part of the socio-political landscape since 1790. Nevertheless, the last three […]
Sober Reading For Those Who Want To Be Energy Efficient: Plan And Invest
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America recently published a statistical report concerning people’s perceptions of their choices to be more energy efficient. The report was written by Shahzeen Z. Attaria, Michael L. DeKayb, Cliff I. Davidson, and Wändi Bruine de Bruinc, who brought their own skills as […]
Crowdsourcing Platforms Designed For The Mission-Based Community (Part II)
We continue our introduction into some of the ‘crowdsourcing’ websites and applications that have been developed to links not-for-profits and mission-based organizations with their ever-connected constituents and benefactors. The list presented here yesterday and today is hardly exhaustive, but we believe we have touched upon some of the significant types of websites for various sectors […]
#Fundraising: Crowdsourcing Platforms Designed For The Mission-Based Community (Part I)
“Crowdsourcing” is the buzzword of the moment (though coined in the ancient world of technology back in 2006) and pertains to making an open appeal or project to a community and having those connected to that community take on the appeal or project and running it amongst themselves. It assumes the existence of a community […]
Nonprofits Continue To Buck Jobless Trends (But Don’t Pop The Champagne)
Welcome back from what we at MKCREATIVE hope was only a three-day weekend from your work. The political talk around the long weekend was the hold on the jobless number at 9.6%, despite production and sales numbers that continue to suggest an expanding economy. The reason the numbers for July-August are being treated as especially […]
Spike Lee Follows Up With “If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don’t Rise”
We finish this week’s focus on the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with much help from Spike Lee’s documentary “If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don’t Rise,” which recently showed on HBO and is periodically being repeated. The followup finds many of the same people who told of their immediate post-Katrina experiences so see […]