Politics

Israel Denies a Work Visa to Human Rights Watch Researcher
February 27, 2017 at 9:46 am

The Israeli government has denied a work visa for an investigator for Human Rights Watch, a prominent advocacy organization, accusing the group of engaging in “Palestinian propaganda.” Human Rights Watch, which has worked in Israel for three decades, denied the accusation, calling the visa rejection “part of a pattern” of actions by the right-wing government…

Association of Fundraising Professionals Weighs in on Johnson Amendment Repeal
February 23, 2017 at 11:11 am

Earlier this month, President Donald J. Trump publicly announced that he intends on repealing the Johnson Amendment. Last week, we published an article about our thoughts on the Johnson Amendment and how its repeal could affect nonprofit organizations. Slowly nonprofits are voicing opinions about what this could mean for the nonprofit sector...

Humble Bundle Raises Over $6.5M For Charity
February 22, 2017 at 9:08 am

Humble Bundle’s recent charitable effort, the Humble Freedom Bundle, was a major success. The company announced yesterday that it sold more than 200,000 units of the package, which included several acclaimed games and books, with a final tally of $6.43 million going straight to organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union. All proceeds of the…

Trump Wants to Repeal the Johnson Amendment: What Nonprofits Need to Know
February 16, 2017 at 11:16 am

If Trump is successful in repealing the Johnson Amendment, the nonprofit sector will face a heavy burden. The beauty is the Johnson Amendment has been protecting nonprofits from politicians for over 60 years by keeping these organizations nonpartisan, but with its removal, the floodgates would open, and political candidates will begin knocking on the doors of nonprofits seeking endorsements for their...

Muslim Nonprofit Groups Are Continuing to Reject Federal Funds
February 15, 2017 at 9:21 am

Four Muslim nonprofit groups have rejected more than $2 million in federal funding to fight violent extremism, citing President Trump’s rhetoric against Muslim Americans and Islam and the new administration’s policies as their reasons. The groups had been among the 31 recipients in the first round of Countering Violent Extremism grants awarded by the Department of…

Rise of the 'Rage Donation'
February 10, 2017 at 10:15 am

Someone I know told me recently that he's picked up a new habit since the election of Donald Trump: Every time he gets angry watching the news or reading his Facebook feed, he makes a donation to a nonprofit whose cause he believes in. He likes to choose donation recipients that help "offset" whatever's pissing…

Obama Donated Over $1M to Charity as President
February 7, 2017 at 8:48 am

Barack Obama gave away more than $1 million while he was president of the U.S., more than half of which went to charities supporting children, according to a Forbes analysis of his tax returns from 2009 to 2015. The biggest recipient was the Fisher House Foundation, which supports families of veterans and received $392,000 from…

How to Lead in Uncertain Times
January 25, 2017 at 9:21 am

The word I hear lately more than any other is "uncertainty." Here in the U.S., every four years on Jan. 20 there is a change of power. It comes with the awesome privilege of being part of this great democratic experiment called the United States of America. In my lifetime as a voter, there have…

Getting Ingroup: A Dispatch From the Women's March
January 25, 2017 at 9:08 am

I was at the Women’s March in D.C., and as I went through the experience, I couldn’t help but think about the psychological principles we apply each day in the course of our work. We figure out how to use natural human biases to create conditions in which people are likely to say “yes” to our ask for fundraising, volunteerism or donations. The biggest bias at work at the Women’s March was ingroup bias. Here's what that means...