In the wake of the recent Giving Pledges, we’ve been discussing what advice we’d give a major philanthropist (aside from our usual plea to conduct evaluations and share them publicly). For the most part, our recommendations and criteria are aimed at individual donors, not major philanthropists. We stress the value of given to proven, cost-effective,…
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Invest in Kids
As part of our research into United States causes, we’ve been looking at Invest in Kids, an organization focused on implementing evidence-based programs in Colorado, and we recently had the chance to speak with Lisa Merlino, Invest in Kids’ Executive Director (edited transcript of our conversation (DOC)). While our research is still in progress, we…
The Money for Good study
The Money for Good study’s headline finding is that “few donors do research before they give, and those that do look to the nonprofit itself to provide simple information about efficiency and effectiveness.” That conclusion syncs up with our own experience talking to donors, but we aren’t discouraged by the results. That’s because where the…
Slow spending
The Chronicle of Philanthropy and NPR note that charities don’t seem to have spent large percentages of the funds raised for Haiti to date. Here we (a) lay out the numbers, using the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s helpful public survey data; (b) discuss what it means for donors that most of the money raised seems to…
Alliance for Effective Social Investing survey
We are members of the Alliance for Effective Social Investing, and the Alliance is currently determining whether/how to accept new members. We are passing along the following message on the Alliance’s behalf. If you’re potentially interested in membership, please read the message below. The Alliance for Effective Social Investment is collecting feedback from current members…
Unitus and room for more funding
It seems like no one is sure why Unitus is closing its doors. That said – what can we learn from this situation if, as stated, Unitus is closing down because it has accomplished its mission and no longer needs to exist? “We have always thought of Unitus as a project, and that when we…