#Fundraising: However Counted, Charitable Giving Rose Slightly in 2010
Happy Independence Day!
First, MKCREATIVE wishes you a happy Independence Day. We hope you are enjoying a day of grilling and a night of fireworks – all with family and friends. We also ask you to remember the hundreds of thousands of servicemen and women who have suffered injuries, lost dear friends, and endured multiple deployments in our multi-front ‘war on terror.’ They will not be enjoying the grilling and fireworks, but (whatever you think politically about these wars) they are helping ensure that you and I can.
But on this most American of holidays, we note an uptick in one of Americans’ greatest characteristics: philanthropic generosity. The Giving USA Foundation recently reported both a reappraisal of how the organization tallies up charitable giving and a slight improvement in giving in 2010. This uptick is all the more noteworthy, given the ongoing malaise that grips our economy.
Popularity: 3% | Category Community, Development, Fundraising, Grants and Funding, Measurement, News and Current Affairs, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Storytelling, Thought for the Day | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Tech: Does The Smartphone Move Us To A Post-PC, Post-Camera, Post-mp3 player… World?
But does anybody watch music videos any more?
Few things in life are more futile, and such great fun, as predicting the future. From Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History to Harold Camping’s Time Has An End (the web design exhibited here ended, thankfully, about 1997), we invariably misunderstand what will be the next big thing. And when we get it wrong we tend to argue that we were misunderstood. Or the true meaning will be revealed/discovered later.
But throwing caution to the wind can be one of the perks of blog writing, so we thought we’d follow PCWorld‘s Jeff Bertolucci into the abyss, as he argues all the (10) technologies that the smartphone has killed off over the last 5-6 years. I’ll go first: my pocket/academic calendar, still received each September as a quaint reminder of a simpler age, goes straight to the recycling bin. My phone’s multi-sync, multi-repeat, alarm-tweaking calendar keeps track of my mess of a schedule.
You can play along at home, of course: what technologies have you given up over the last few years thanks to your phone-cum-computer? What technologies do you use now that you suspect your phone will be doing before the Cubs with the Series? Before you click for ‘more,’ take a moment to consider…
Popularity: 5% | Category Advice, iPhone Apps, Media Review, Opinion, Software Review, Technology, Thought for the Day, Tools | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
Happy Martin Luther King Day
Martin Luther King Day was signed into law by Ronald Reagan in 1983 and first observed in 1986. Either in the spirit of nonviolent protest encouraged by Dr. King or in the spirit of political partisanship (depending on your point of view), many political and religious leader challenged the establishment of the federal holiday. Even Reagan was against it before he was for it.
Any great leader, precisely because she or he is great, has a mixed legacy, precisely because great leadership requires tough, unpopular, stands on important questions. I would like to think few would nowadays openly challenge Dr. King’s efforts to desegregate public transportation in Birmingham Alabama in 1955, for example. But many still challenge his stand against corporate capitalism.
Popularity: 1% | Category Community, Development, Fundraising, Grants, Grants and Funding, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Resource, Thought for the Day, Web and Print | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
Harsh Op-Ed On ‘Charitable Scrooges’
Debates about social media as catalyst, about political responses to economic crises, about open internets, about the care of our health… can help us sharpen our own positions and/or encourage us to take on ideas that we had avoided. This particular blog outlet tends to focus on the nexus of nonprofits, politics, and communications technologies, and we strive to show some of ‘the other side’ of a given issue. Yet when Pablo Eisenberg’s recent op-ed from the Chronicle of Philanthropy arrived through our tweet stream, we were admittedly hard pressed to stay on his side – though his passion is to be admired. You should read his ideas in their entirety first. Go ahead, we’ll be here when you get back. (more…)
Popularity: 1% | Category Advocacy, Banking & Finance, Community, Fundraising, Grants and Funding, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Opinion, Politics, Thought for the Day | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD