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Poem: A Memphis Love Letter
A poem about “caretakers and waymakers,” which emerged from interviews with 13 frontline community workers in Memphis.
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The Art$
I was invited recently by the Municipal Art Society to do a research project called “Who Pays for the Arts.” The goal is to create a tool using data provided […]
Nine Rules of Engagement for Recruiting and Retaining Community Volunteers
In community development's formative years, it would have been unthinkable for a nonprofit housing organization not to have a grassroots membership and not to have a governing board elected in […]
Blurring the Lines Between For-Profit and Nonprofit
In my last blog post I spent a good chunk of time talking about the trend toward “complexification” in the nonprofit sector. There are plenty of small, scrappy, neighborhood based […]
The Complexification of the Nonprofit Sector
Nonprofit sector organizations are getting bigger, operations are getting more tentacled, financial tools are getting wonkier, and budgets keep growing. Don't just take my word for it: check out the […]
How to Hire a Consultant
Did you ever feel like you need a consultant to help you figure out what you need your consultant to do? Believe me, you are not alone. As a recovering […]
NYC’s Philanthropy Bagel Hole
New York City has everything, just like this bagel. Yum! The secret, as they say, is in the water. And water, as they say, is life. But there’s a hole […]
I’m a Recovering Funder
I spent 10 years as a corporate foundation program officer in New York City. I managed our $5 million community development grants portfolio, which directly supported some 75 nonprofits. After […]
The Healthy Nonprofit Ecosystem
In the halcyon days of my youth, way back in 2006, I went to New Orleans. I traveled there at the behest of the corporation that I worked for at […]
Why Leadership Pays
In previous blog posts (Why Evaluation Stinks), I’ve discussed how the fragmented nature of the nonprofit sector makes it very difficult to impose top-down, comprehensive evaluative frameworks. The primary problem […]
Can Nonprofits Use Volunteerism to Achieve a Sustained Increase in Capacity?
Last week, we asked readers if volunteerism could play a factor in growing an organization’s capacity. Respondents offered a mixed assessment to the level at which volunteerism can make an […]
How Do You Choose?
How do community developers whose goals include neighborhood revitalization identify which businesses or other non-residential tenants (library, healthcare center) are likely to create the most positive momentum in a given area? It’s certainly more art than science. We asked a few long-time community developers for their thoughts.
Do One Thing and Do It Well
Changes in policy, economics, and needs force the community development field to move forward to meet today’s challenges.