Weekly Reader – January 23, 2017
What we’re reading and recommending this week. We add to this post throughout the week and look for your suggestions in the comments.
Monday, January 23
Barack And Michelle Obama Set Their Focus On The Obama Foundation (Vibe) After a little break and family time, the Obamas will be rejoining society as private citizens. Barack and Michelle announced their next endeavor, the Obama Foundation, which will help uplift Chicago, a “living working center for citizenship” on the south side of the city.
Tuesday, January 24
Grantseekers, how irritating are you to funders? Use this checklist to find out (Vu Le, Nonprofit with Balls) Hi everyone. Last week, I unveiled the FLAIL Index, a tool that allows foundations to see whether or not their grantmaking process will unleash the demon-god Cthulhu upon this world. I’m now calling it the FLAIL Scale (#FLAILscale), since things that rhyme are always more worth our time.
Wednesday, January 25
Focus on Overhead Counterproductive for Effectiveness, Study Finds (Jonathan Meer, Philanthropy News Digest) Overhead cost ratios are a poor metric for assessing the effectiveness of charities, and donors’ focus on such costs often constrains organizational effectiveness, a study published in IZA World of Labor finds.
Thursday, January 26
Nonprofit Watchdog Files Lawsuit Challenging President on Emoluments (Erin Rubin, On Monday, January 23rd, following the presidential inauguration, the nonprofit group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump with the Southern District Court of New York, alleging that President Trump is in violation of the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Friday, January 27
Non-profits In A Trump Era: Strengthening Institutional Resiliency (Anika Rahman, The Huffington Post) Very soon forward-thinking non-profits will be extremely busy dealing with political opposition on several fronts. Although we know that we are headed into one of the most difficult political climates we have ever faced, we don’t yet fully know where, when, and how assaults to our values and mission will occur. So how should progressive non-profits prepare to navigate such an unpredictable and difficult era?
Like our Weekly Reader? Sign up to get this week’s articles, plus blog highlights and a special, chosen-just-for-subscribers article in your Inbox every Friday. It’s called In the Loop; you should be there!