This seems like a good time to spell out my vision for how the nonprofit sector would ideally work (i.e., where we’re trying to help it get). This is important because a lot of people seem to think that we have a “hyperintellectual” idea of charity, and are hoping that all donors will eventually become…
The GiveWell Blog
Month: June 2007
Where should we donate?
We need your help. We’re about to contact all the charities we’ve identified as being potential Clear Fund grant recipients. We’ve mostly found these organizations through a systematic search through a gigantic stack of Form 990s (let me know if you want more details – they’re fantastically boring), and have found a few others in…
Nonprofits and for-profits: Similar or different? Part MCLXXVII
There has been a whole lot of discussion and confusion over whether nonprofits are like for-profits. To be honest, it seems pretty simple to me: How they’re similar: both are organizations trying to accomplish difficult things as well as they can. How they’re different: Nonprofits take donations; for-profits don’t. When people draw analogies that have…
An open letter to crybabies
I think that funders should be blunt, honest, and public in their feedback to nonprofits, including those who get rejected. The benefits in terms of allowing public dialogue and giving nonprofits the feedback they need to improve are obvious – yet every foundation I’ve called agrees that publicly criticizing rejectees is unacceptable. Why? The answer,…
What corporate social responsibility means to me
I find a huge disconnect between what others mean by “corporate social responsibility,” and how I think of it. Here are some of the things I don’t think are part of corporate social responsibility, pulled from a scan of dotherightthing.com (think CSR meets Digg): I don’t think it’s irresponsible for a corporation to charge as…