Accountability

Wounded Warrior Project Responds: CBS Investigation 'Patently False'
January 29, 2016 at 11:36 am

Wounded Warrior Project has responded to a CBS News investigation that called the charity's spending "out of control." In a letter addressed to CBS executive director Al Ortiz and posted to Wounded Warrior Project's website, Wounded Warrior Project called the news network's reporting "patently false" and demanded that CBS retract "false statements" and apologize to the public and "tens of thousands of wounded veterans."...

Help Your Community by Joining a Service Club
January 29, 2016 at 10:38 am

There are many benefits to becoming a service-club volunteer, including giving back to the community, making new friends who have a variety of interests, listening weekly to speakers who are community thought leaders, engaging in social activities and business-networking. You get out what you put into it. For nonprofit pros, there is also another very important benefit...

Wounded Warrior Project Investigation: What CBS News Got Wrong
January 28, 2016 at 10:57 am

On Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, CBS News aired a two-part investigation into the spending habits of Wounded Warrior Project. Citing tax documents and interviews with more than 40 former employees, the investigation found that the nonprofit spent $26 million on conferences, conventions and meetings in 2014, and described the charity's spending as "out of control." It's a bad look for Wounded Warrior Project, but there are a handful of issues with the report...

Goodwill Billboard Tells Locals to Stop Putting Clothes in Donation Boxes
January 28, 2016 at 9:46 am

Goodwill Industries of San Joaquin Valley is taking a stand against competitors with a billboard that reads, "Say yes to Goodwill and say no to the box." The billboard is posted at the intersection of Thornton Road and Hammer Lane in Stockton, Calif., and will rotate to a new location every two months through June.…

Beer Donation Brews Trouble for Charity Fundraiser
January 27, 2016 at 10:18 am

What began as a fun way for Atlas Brew Works and DC Brau Brewing Company, two Washington, D.C.-based breweries, to engage the community and raise funds for an important cause, left them with a bad taste in their mouths and a five-month headache. So, what happened? Why did this attempt to do good go so wrong? The reasons are manyfold...

Report Slams Gates Foundation for Self-Serving Agenda, Corporate Ties
January 26, 2016 at 10:34 am

Just days after Microsoft announced it would donate $1 billion in cloud-computing resources to 70,000 nonprofits worldwide, founder Bill Gates is in the crosshairs for his philanthropy. In a 54-page report released last week, a social advocacy group slammed the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for using its enormous giving-power to influence global health policies in the foundation's own interests, and for prioritizing corporations over the poor...

Why Funding Overhead Is Not the Real Issue: The Case to Cover Full Costs
January 26, 2016 at 9:46 am

Big strides recently have been made in the acknowledgment that overhead ratios are poor indicators of an organization’s impact or financial efficiency. Although the movement toward outcomes-based measurement offers a promising alternative to understanding impact, very little has been done to truly shift the sector’s understanding of what it takes—or even means—for nonprofits to be…

The Cult of Donor-Centricity: Are You a Member?
January 26, 2016 at 9:39 am

You’ve probably known someone in your life with the special gift of making you feel like you matter. Like you’re his or her “favorite.” That’s what donor-centered fundraising is all about. Your donors know that you couldn’t do it without them, that their support matters. Because you speak to them in that way that reminds them, each and every time, that they count...

What Kind of Donor Gets a 'Thank You'?
January 22, 2016 at 10:21 am

Pop quiz: Who should receive a "thank you"? A recurring donor who gives $15 a month A major donor who gives a $10,000 gift A first-time donor who gives a $50 gift A regular donor who gives a gift to a special campaign like #GivingTuesday A new donor acquired through a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign All…

5 Ways to 'Own' a Movement
January 22, 2016 at 9:59 am

Advances in technology and the emergence of social media tools make it more possible than ever for social movements and causes to quickly spread far and wide (to go "viral" in the parlance of the moment). But how do you take a cause and transform it from an idea into something with universal appeal? In…