What’s Your Reputation Worth?

Call me crazy. Or desperate. Or both. But in reading John Harris’ recent “Altitude” commentary in Politico about the possibility that President Trump might actually have a very limited kind of “genius,” I found a lesson that nonprofits might want to learn.  

Here’s  what Harris had to say:  “Trump’s genius, as illuminated by the [NY] Times, isn’t simply for self-promotion, but for harnessing self-promotion to a coherent and comprehensive strategy for personal gain. Profit gets paid out in multiple ways: money, of course, but also Read more

Plausible Pandemic Ponderings

I can remember precisely the two times in my life when I have turned to my doctor and asked, “If I were your wife or you mother or your daughter, what would you tell me to do?”  Given this ongoing worldwide health crisis, we could all use some special insight.

Fortunately, The New York Times did this for all of us, asking  511 epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists what they would do regarding the coronavirus and real life situations based on what they know and Read more

Life in 140 Characters

When I was growing up, we had a vacation home on the Potomac River, right outside of Shepherdstown, West Virginia. We used the house primarily for weekends throughout the course of the year, with a bit more time during school holidays.  One of the first things we did as we drove into town on the way to our house was to stop and buy the current edition of the Jefferson County local newspaper (The Chronicle and The Shepherdstown Chronicle.

My siblings and I loved reading those papers.  Read more

Best Practices for Nonprofit Excellence

I love the New York Times.  I’m not one of those snobs who thinks that if you aren’t reading the NYT you aren’t reading a paper, though.  It just does good journalism—and more. 

The Times recently announced that the application for its fourth annual Nonprofit Excellence Awards[1] (to be awarded in June 2010) is now available.  (By the “fourth annual” I figure this isn’t a fly-by-night deal, but something that is really here to stay.  So, it is safe to sing its praises.)  But this Read more

Big Profits….No Taxes. The American Way?

According to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, two-thirds of U.S. corporations paid no federal taxes between 1998 and 2005. And a whopping 68% of foreign companies doing business in the United States also paid no federal taxes during that same period. All while doing “trillions of dollars in sales.”

I must say, I am inclined to agree with Senator Byron Dorgan (D.,N.Dakota), who observed in response to the report, “It’s shameful that so many corporations make big Read more