October 28, 2009, The Huffington Post — When we launched HuffPost Impact, our new section devoted to service, causes, and giving back, I wrote about my longstanding (and, now, finally realized) desire to put the spotlight -- 24/7 -- on the work of nonprofit groups in a way that enables people to be inspired and immediately take action to address the urgent needs in our society.
August 26, 2009, The Huffington Post — If you work for a nonprofit, you more than likely would have said to friends: "The salary isn't the greatest, but the benefits are good." In 30 years of working with community based organizations, I would say that providing health coverage is part of a social contract that many nonprofit organizations have made with their staff. Increasingly over the last few years, more and more nonprofits have asked staff to share costs, and while we have no numbers yet, we hear frequently about nonprofits that fear they will have to eliminate health coverage as a benefit. Keep in mind, over 500,000 people work in nonprofits in New York. What happens to these individuals as workers, the largest private sector workforce in the city, and as participants in the health care system is a matter of public policy. It is not just a note in red ink on the margins of the health care legislation.
A recent post by Matthew Palevsky on The Huffington Post Web site last week announced that the media source is seeking stories of New Yorkers engaged in service, heroics and acts of kindness "as a counterpoint to the (justifiably) gloomy tone of much reporting about the economic crisis."
July 6, 2009, The Huffington Post — There is frequent discussion about the validity of federal funding for the arts in this nation; most recently, the inclusion of $50 million for employment in the arts in the stimulus package was the source of heated debate.
May 13, 2009, The Huffington Post — Philanthropy, we are often told, is about far more than money. And while I had heard this many times, I was cynical. As I traveled the country interviewing dozens of great philanthropists I learned many things, first and foremast among them that I was wrong.
Back in December, I wrote that the one thing I wanted to know before donating to a nonprofit was whether it was achieving its goals. Since it's hard to find that information, I was happy to see that Charity Navigator is exploring how to integrate data on outcomes — progress in achieving goals — into its notoriously distorted rating system for nonprofits. This has the potential to increase the total social good produced by the sector: Rating nonprofits based on outcomes will direct more donor dollars to the nonprofits with the greatest positive impact and will encourage all nonprofits to improve their outcomes.
