Big Changes to Tax Incentives for Donors
To be honest, this article is incredibly frustrating. I agree with President Obama as he says, “For too long we have tolerated a tax system that’s a complex, inefficient, and loophole-riddled mess,” in reference to the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealth. I believe these tax cuts should we allowed to expire in two years, but I fear that will be met with opposition, just like these changes in tax deductions will also be met with opposition. The argument against is easy to understand. People want to limit the power and control of the federal government, which I fully understand. The federal government doesn’t seem to be doing much good for the American public these days, so decentralizing it’s power and allowing the private and NP sector take care of philanthropy and civil services would likely be more effective. The fact of the matter is that government control can be limited, but it will never be eliminated. As nice as it would be to find solutions for the growing social and economic issues in the America’s communities, we cannot overlook the problems in the White House. America in is in SO MUCH DEBT!!! These tax cuts are Obama’s attempt to lower that debt, and we need to realize that extra money for the wealthy and potentially misguided philanthropy will need to be ‘sacrificed’ to reduce the national debt.
Donors & Nonprofits Face Defining Moment in Responding to a Crisis
“The new normal,” I love it! That’s an awesome term. The new normal, as in a normal standard of living and normal economic prosperity based on the grossly superfluous levels of both of these currently seen in America. As the article points out, “accelerating economies do not always increase standards of living equally across all income levels,” and as the housing bubble collapse has shown us, accelerating economies also have the potential to collapse and wreak havoc on the standard of living they created in the first place. If there’s one thing American culture and American decision makers are good at, it’s reacting to changes in the system. In this case I hope we get it right and react to the economic collapse by building up the NP sector to fill the void left by the downfall of greedy private sector companies.
Artist Endowed Foundations
Well, I’ll start by saying that I think that the Smithsonian’s critics are making mountains out of molehills in condemning the museum’s decision to remove the video, and this is probably an example of the media creating a story where there isn’t much of one. Nonetheless, I think it’s neat that artist-endowed foundations are increasing. You really can’t go wrong with fine art, and it’s nice to hear that the great artists of the world (or at least donors acting on behalf of the great artists of the world) are reinvesting in the future of their own craft.
How to Do Good & Prove It
Wow, this guy’s good! I like this article a lot, and I think there’s a lot of truth to Starr’s statements. Scalability is a must. In order to have an impact on the world you have to have an idea that can grow on its own and become its own system. Even if you want to make an impact on you local community you need to have an idea that can grow and evolve until it reaches a size that allows it to effect more people. Of course, his point on integrating impact into the DNA is a must as well. I think that’s generally easy to comprehend. Don’t bother creating a program or starting a NP that isn’t going to do anything. My favorite point, however, is the eight-word mission statement. I’d love a world in which I didn’t have to read long, boring, jargon-filled mission statements that don’t necessarily tell me what the company does. They might give an idea about a companies mission, but they’re often convoluted mixtures of the actual mission and the writer’s personal beliefs or rationale for starting a company. Keep it to eight words, agreed.
Chapter 10: Funders
The beginning of this chapter states that grants only for 3% of NP revenue, and I wonder how that number has changed in the past decade. At first I wondered if that NP could actually make any use of that 3%, but then I think the conclusion painted a nice picture by saying that “grantmaking in the US is primarily a story of leveraging” (O’Neill 208). Grants don’t provide a complete base for NP funding, but they can provide a boost that might make or break the future of an NP.
Chapter 11: Mutual Benefit
I was intrigued to know what this chapter would be about based on it’s title, but it was actually really interesting to frame a group of the NP sector as “noncharitable.” Sounds weird, but I guess I never thought about the fact that organizations can exist with the goal of helping other organizations. Nonprofits don’t always have to exist to provide social services or aid. Cool.
Rand Paul Interview on Daily Show
This is sort of off topic, but I thought this was an interesting interview. Rand Paul, Republic Senator (and self-proclaimed member of the Tea Party) came on to the Daily Show to discuss some of his views on federal government. The interview is in three different parts, but I only put this clip in there because they talk about government control and the Bush-era tax cuts that has popped up in our readings for this week. Enjoy!
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-march-7-2011/exclusive---rand-paul-extended-interview-pt--3
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Post 8: International Non-Profits
Mercy Corps
Well, I started out being a little confused about Mercy Corps. The first thing I read about them said that they “help people turn the crises they confront into the opportunities they deserve.” As if that’s not a broad generalization at all. Then I went onto their “WHAT we do” page and noticed they have 33 different work categories! I’m really impressed with their work, but then I looked closer to the actual category names and realized that there’s some definite overlap. For example, there’s a category for both Children & Youth, Food/Nutrition & Hunger, Citizen Involvement & Global Engagement, etc. I’m not saying they don’t accomplish a lot, and I’m sure they have an incredibly positive impact on the world, but I think they need to do some work on packaging their mission a little better. I’m curious to know how they choose their projects considering they have such a broad range of locations.
William Easterly, Why Foreign Aid Fails?
I think this is my favorite article we’ve been assigned throughout the entire quarter. At the same time it’s probably the most depressing clip we’ve come across as well. I’ve been a large critic of governmental aid through the quarter, and I think my blog group has noticed that I have a problem when we thinking throwing money at a problem - be it a problem in the environment, education, health care, etc – and expect it to work. As Easterly stated the money get’s lost along the way. There are leaks in the funding pipeline, and the real tragedy is that we don’t seem to care. “No one cares that this money is not actually reaching the most desperate people in the world for whom it is intended, people who live on less than a dollar a day.”
I also like Easterly’s point about foreign aid failing because of the lack of feedback from the recipients of aid. The poor, i.e., the intended customer of foreign aid, “have no right to complain and no right to turn down the product if they don’t like it. The poor just get foreign aid foisted on them by these ill-informed “experts”, and there’s no feedback from the poor – whether they’re satisfied or not, whether their money even reached them or not.”
Ngozi Okono-Iweala, Aid vs. Trade
One of the first things Ngozi asks in her speech is “How are we [African countries] using what is being given back [aid from foreign countries/entities].? Are we using it well?” What I think they should be asking is ‘are we prepared to use the aid we’re being given?’ She speaks about Spain that received $3 Billion in aid from the EU and Ireland that received $1 Billion in aid from the EU to build roads, cities and information super highways, and they she asks why no money or aid being given to build those same infrastructure improvements in African countries. My initial answer is that African countries might not be ready to build that kind of infrastructure. That infrastructure requires an educated population and politically sound government to create and maintain it, and the EU or the World Bank needs to make sure that the countries that are receiving aid are prepared to receive that aid. Not being prepared for the aid is the other half of the problem with throwing money at an issue.
Ngozi expressed later in the speech that she wants to make sure this aid goes toward a good cause. As she puts it she wants to “help them, help us.” She wants to leverage all this good will?” And in order to leverage good will, you need “infrastructure and discipline.”
Millennium Goals
It’s a nice outline of goals. I’m not really sure if asking whether or not they are ‘culturally appropriate’ is a good question because we’re trying to solve problems of human development across the entire global and as far as I know we don’t have a global culture. My one question is rather about the formation of these goals and the intended actions to implement them.
I’m still thinking about Ngozi Okono-Iweala’s speech and how she asked if international aid organizations are coordinating with the recipients of that aid to ensure that they are being helped as much as possible. In that sense I would like to know how the U.N. created these goals. Was there any process of asking those in need of aid what they would like to see? Or are these based on econometric calculations? Just a thought.
The Modern Story
The Modern Story is a non-profit that some of my sister’s friends started. Their mission is to bridge the technological divide by introducing digital skills and storytelling practices to you and educators around the world. They’re still a young organization so to my knowledge they’ve worked primarily in India thus far, and they have been collaborating with Google to develop their programs. Check out the video from this link for more info:
http://themodernstory.wordpress.com/about/
Non-Profit Nation: Chapter 9
Interesting stuff. I didn’t know that the international non-profit sector was one of the newer sectors in nonprofit work. It makes sense though consider that the world has only becoming more globalized each and every day. I guess nations haven’t always been wealthy enough or concerned enough about other countries to offer foreign aid. One of the things I’m surprised I didn’t mention while reading these articles is that I’m not sure why America and American organizations are so concerned with developing other countries. There are a lot of problems in our own country and they’re not necessarily easier problems to fix, but they are at least a lot closer to us and possibly more relevant to our personal lives.
Well, I started out being a little confused about Mercy Corps. The first thing I read about them said that they “help people turn the crises they confront into the opportunities they deserve.” As if that’s not a broad generalization at all. Then I went onto their “WHAT we do” page and noticed they have 33 different work categories! I’m really impressed with their work, but then I looked closer to the actual category names and realized that there’s some definite overlap. For example, there’s a category for both Children & Youth, Food/Nutrition & Hunger, Citizen Involvement & Global Engagement, etc. I’m not saying they don’t accomplish a lot, and I’m sure they have an incredibly positive impact on the world, but I think they need to do some work on packaging their mission a little better. I’m curious to know how they choose their projects considering they have such a broad range of locations.
William Easterly, Why Foreign Aid Fails?
I think this is my favorite article we’ve been assigned throughout the entire quarter. At the same time it’s probably the most depressing clip we’ve come across as well. I’ve been a large critic of governmental aid through the quarter, and I think my blog group has noticed that I have a problem when we thinking throwing money at a problem - be it a problem in the environment, education, health care, etc – and expect it to work. As Easterly stated the money get’s lost along the way. There are leaks in the funding pipeline, and the real tragedy is that we don’t seem to care. “No one cares that this money is not actually reaching the most desperate people in the world for whom it is intended, people who live on less than a dollar a day.”
I also like Easterly’s point about foreign aid failing because of the lack of feedback from the recipients of aid. The poor, i.e., the intended customer of foreign aid, “have no right to complain and no right to turn down the product if they don’t like it. The poor just get foreign aid foisted on them by these ill-informed “experts”, and there’s no feedback from the poor – whether they’re satisfied or not, whether their money even reached them or not.”
Ngozi Okono-Iweala, Aid vs. Trade
One of the first things Ngozi asks in her speech is “How are we [African countries] using what is being given back [aid from foreign countries/entities].? Are we using it well?” What I think they should be asking is ‘are we prepared to use the aid we’re being given?’ She speaks about Spain that received $3 Billion in aid from the EU and Ireland that received $1 Billion in aid from the EU to build roads, cities and information super highways, and they she asks why no money or aid being given to build those same infrastructure improvements in African countries. My initial answer is that African countries might not be ready to build that kind of infrastructure. That infrastructure requires an educated population and politically sound government to create and maintain it, and the EU or the World Bank needs to make sure that the countries that are receiving aid are prepared to receive that aid. Not being prepared for the aid is the other half of the problem with throwing money at an issue.
Ngozi expressed later in the speech that she wants to make sure this aid goes toward a good cause. As she puts it she wants to “help them, help us.” She wants to leverage all this good will?” And in order to leverage good will, you need “infrastructure and discipline.”
Millennium Goals
It’s a nice outline of goals. I’m not really sure if asking whether or not they are ‘culturally appropriate’ is a good question because we’re trying to solve problems of human development across the entire global and as far as I know we don’t have a global culture. My one question is rather about the formation of these goals and the intended actions to implement them.
I’m still thinking about Ngozi Okono-Iweala’s speech and how she asked if international aid organizations are coordinating with the recipients of that aid to ensure that they are being helped as much as possible. In that sense I would like to know how the U.N. created these goals. Was there any process of asking those in need of aid what they would like to see? Or are these based on econometric calculations? Just a thought.
The Modern Story
The Modern Story is a non-profit that some of my sister’s friends started. Their mission is to bridge the technological divide by introducing digital skills and storytelling practices to you and educators around the world. They’re still a young organization so to my knowledge they’ve worked primarily in India thus far, and they have been collaborating with Google to develop their programs. Check out the video from this link for more info:
http://themodernstory.wordpress.com/about/
Non-Profit Nation: Chapter 9
Interesting stuff. I didn’t know that the international non-profit sector was one of the newer sectors in nonprofit work. It makes sense though consider that the world has only becoming more globalized each and every day. I guess nations haven’t always been wealthy enough or concerned enough about other countries to offer foreign aid. One of the things I’m surprised I didn’t mention while reading these articles is that I’m not sure why America and American organizations are so concerned with developing other countries. There are a lot of problems in our own country and they’re not necessarily easier problems to fix, but they are at least a lot closer to us and possibly more relevant to our personal lives.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Post 7: Advocacy & Arts
Well, I’m looking at the reading load for this week, two textbook chapters and five articles, I will only be able to discuss each reading briefly. I’ll try to keep it to 150 words per article, but I apologize if that doesn’t happen.
Chapter 7: Advocacy
I’ve sort of been waiting to discuss this topic for a while because as Brian O’Connell, founding president of Independent Sector, states, advocacy is “the quintessential function of the voluntary sector” (O’Neill 135). The comparison to David and Goliath is quite apt. I’ve been trying to focus on funding sources for different non-profit subsectors, so I found Table 7.4 on page 139 interesting. Advocacy relies heavily on private donations rather grants or service fees, which is practically the opposite of health care non-profits. Advocacy is unlike other non-profit sectors, such as health care, education, international assistance, or social service, in that it has “few ties to business and government and often targets both” (O’Neill 149). I guess you could say that advocacy groups stem from democracy, particularly the inefficiencies of democracy, as our nation becomes more populated and more difficult to govern.
The Non-Profit Sectors Proud Tradition of Serving America
“Americans of all ages, all conditions, and all dispositions constantly for associations … religious, moral, serious, futile, very general, and very particular, immensely large and very minute.” – Alexis de Toqueville (1840)
I guess I never quite realized the scope of advocacy in America, but it really has played a large part in our history. The National Grange. The National American Woman’s Suffrage Association. League of Women Voters. Townsend Clubs. NCAACP. Americans love democracy, we love being part of something bigger than ourselves, and we love having our voices be heard…sometimes we probably love it too much. Nonetheless I’m glad that I live in a country that embraces freedom and choice. I don’t know if our system of nonprofit advocacy is the most efficient system, but at least we have a system to work with.
Senate Bill 40 & Endorsement from Nonprofit Association of Oregon
Introduced on January 10, 2001 by Oregon’s Attorney General, Oregon Senate Bill 40 targets nonprofits that routinely use most of the funds they collect for fundraising, rather than for programs benefiting the community. After initial deliberations the Nonprofit Association of Oregon has decided to endorse the bill, which I’m happy to see. It’s doubt that it was an easy decision supporting a bill that might accuse nonprofits of poor practice, but it’s for the greater good and that’s what nonprofits are all about anyways. Plus, as it state on their website, the Nonprofit Association of Oregon has not seen this as a widespread problem in Oregon, so the enactment of this bill shouldn’t cause too much drama. It does make me wonder if there are any such governmental regulations on the private sector. Obviously not all private business operate with mission of providing a service to the community, but something has to be done about excessive money spent on advertising. Maybe there should be a bill that says private corporations must match every dollar spent on advertising with donations to nonprofit or charity organizations.
Sierra Club Newsletter
On the topic of advocacy, I regularly receive emails and newsletters from the Sierra Club about news in the environmental policy and advocacy world, and I wanted to share one such email with you all. The website below is one example of how the Sierra Club reaches out to its huge membership base to protect the American environment. I hope this serves as a good example of how a large environmental advocacy group can help shape the future of America.
http://action.sierraclub.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=197521.0&dlv_id=169642
Chapter 8: Arts & Culture
The most interesting part of this chapter for me was reading that, “art is generally indentified with nonprofits and entertainment with for-profits” (O’Neill 152). That generalization probably isn’t true in all facets of the sector, but it makes complete sense. I’ve never known of any museums trying to increase their profit margins. The only expensive entry fees at a museum are usually only for special exhibits that have transportation costs that need to be accounted for. All other operational costs for museums are very static from month to month, which makes life easy for who ever is running the place. The entertainment business, see I can’t even say “entertainment” without added “business” at the end, on the other hand is way more interested in making money. Sure, Hollywood hot shots enter the business to express their creativity, but the people funding their work couldn’t care less what the content of the movie is as long as they don’t go bankrupt after its all over.
Art Groups Pumped $166.2 Billion into US in 2005, Study Says
I wasn’t aware that anyone was arguing that, “spending on arts and culture comes at the expense of economic development.” That sounds like a very American, capitalistic argument that has very little actual merit. Since when have art and economic development even been discussed in the same context as one another. Can’t we just let artists be artists and let anyone who wants to experience some culture do so without wondering how much profit could be made if a building were being used as a factory rather than a museum. Frankly, this article frustrates me.
Poetry Gives Teens Voice
This article sort of returns to our discussion of educational nonprofits, but it’s also a great example of why art and culture shouldn’t be compromised by desires for economic development. I would argue actually argue that economic development is one of the least important things that our nation needs right now, yet we feel that creating jobs will solve all of our problems. What about developing starter students or developing a greater appreciation for community? What about developing a love for the arts? I’ve always wanted to attend a poetry slam; from what I hear they’re incredible. It’s awesome that teachers are encouraging their students to express themselves via poetry. I loved the quote from one of the student’s mentors, Tia Mitchell, who said that she advises the students to “feel every emotion from anxiety to excitement” when performing on stage. That’s awesome!!
Chapter 7: Advocacy
I’ve sort of been waiting to discuss this topic for a while because as Brian O’Connell, founding president of Independent Sector, states, advocacy is “the quintessential function of the voluntary sector” (O’Neill 135). The comparison to David and Goliath is quite apt. I’ve been trying to focus on funding sources for different non-profit subsectors, so I found Table 7.4 on page 139 interesting. Advocacy relies heavily on private donations rather grants or service fees, which is practically the opposite of health care non-profits. Advocacy is unlike other non-profit sectors, such as health care, education, international assistance, or social service, in that it has “few ties to business and government and often targets both” (O’Neill 149). I guess you could say that advocacy groups stem from democracy, particularly the inefficiencies of democracy, as our nation becomes more populated and more difficult to govern.
The Non-Profit Sectors Proud Tradition of Serving America
“Americans of all ages, all conditions, and all dispositions constantly for associations … religious, moral, serious, futile, very general, and very particular, immensely large and very minute.” – Alexis de Toqueville (1840)
I guess I never quite realized the scope of advocacy in America, but it really has played a large part in our history. The National Grange. The National American Woman’s Suffrage Association. League of Women Voters. Townsend Clubs. NCAACP. Americans love democracy, we love being part of something bigger than ourselves, and we love having our voices be heard…sometimes we probably love it too much. Nonetheless I’m glad that I live in a country that embraces freedom and choice. I don’t know if our system of nonprofit advocacy is the most efficient system, but at least we have a system to work with.
Senate Bill 40 & Endorsement from Nonprofit Association of Oregon
Introduced on January 10, 2001 by Oregon’s Attorney General, Oregon Senate Bill 40 targets nonprofits that routinely use most of the funds they collect for fundraising, rather than for programs benefiting the community. After initial deliberations the Nonprofit Association of Oregon has decided to endorse the bill, which I’m happy to see. It’s doubt that it was an easy decision supporting a bill that might accuse nonprofits of poor practice, but it’s for the greater good and that’s what nonprofits are all about anyways. Plus, as it state on their website, the Nonprofit Association of Oregon has not seen this as a widespread problem in Oregon, so the enactment of this bill shouldn’t cause too much drama. It does make me wonder if there are any such governmental regulations on the private sector. Obviously not all private business operate with mission of providing a service to the community, but something has to be done about excessive money spent on advertising. Maybe there should be a bill that says private corporations must match every dollar spent on advertising with donations to nonprofit or charity organizations.
Sierra Club Newsletter
On the topic of advocacy, I regularly receive emails and newsletters from the Sierra Club about news in the environmental policy and advocacy world, and I wanted to share one such email with you all. The website below is one example of how the Sierra Club reaches out to its huge membership base to protect the American environment. I hope this serves as a good example of how a large environmental advocacy group can help shape the future of America.
http://action.sierraclub.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=197521.0&dlv_id=169642
Chapter 8: Arts & Culture
The most interesting part of this chapter for me was reading that, “art is generally indentified with nonprofits and entertainment with for-profits” (O’Neill 152). That generalization probably isn’t true in all facets of the sector, but it makes complete sense. I’ve never known of any museums trying to increase their profit margins. The only expensive entry fees at a museum are usually only for special exhibits that have transportation costs that need to be accounted for. All other operational costs for museums are very static from month to month, which makes life easy for who ever is running the place. The entertainment business, see I can’t even say “entertainment” without added “business” at the end, on the other hand is way more interested in making money. Sure, Hollywood hot shots enter the business to express their creativity, but the people funding their work couldn’t care less what the content of the movie is as long as they don’t go bankrupt after its all over.
Art Groups Pumped $166.2 Billion into US in 2005, Study Says
I wasn’t aware that anyone was arguing that, “spending on arts and culture comes at the expense of economic development.” That sounds like a very American, capitalistic argument that has very little actual merit. Since when have art and economic development even been discussed in the same context as one another. Can’t we just let artists be artists and let anyone who wants to experience some culture do so without wondering how much profit could be made if a building were being used as a factory rather than a museum. Frankly, this article frustrates me.
Poetry Gives Teens Voice
This article sort of returns to our discussion of educational nonprofits, but it’s also a great example of why art and culture shouldn’t be compromised by desires for economic development. I would argue actually argue that economic development is one of the least important things that our nation needs right now, yet we feel that creating jobs will solve all of our problems. What about developing starter students or developing a greater appreciation for community? What about developing a love for the arts? I’ve always wanted to attend a poetry slam; from what I hear they’re incredible. It’s awesome that teachers are encouraging their students to express themselves via poetry. I loved the quote from one of the student’s mentors, Tia Mitchell, who said that she advises the students to “feel every emotion from anxiety to excitement” when performing on stage. That’s awesome!!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Post 6: Education
Note: For the purpose of simplicity, I abbreviate “for profit” as FP and “non profit” as NP in this blog.
Subprime Opportunity: The Unfulfilled Promise of For-Profit Colleges and Universities
My first reaction to reading was....”wait, what the %$#& is a FP college?” I made it about halfway through the first page and decided I needed to Google some examples of FP colleges. The results gave me all the information I needed to know... DeVry University, University of Phoenix, ITT Technical Institute, Le Cordon Bleu College of the Cullinary Arts, etc. Sound familiar, well that’s because these are the universities you see commercials for on daytime television. I’ve always wondered how those schools had the money advertise, and I always had a sneaking suspicion that those were just scams that offer prospects of education, careers, and personal prosperity without the actual follow through on providing solid education.
My favorite quotation in this article was, “The developing showdown between for-profit colleges and the government is another example of how the aspirations of the underserved and the unfulfilled promise of the American dream combine with lax regulation to make the rich, richer and the poor, poorer” (1).
We need to think of education as an investment into the future of America. Any money we take away from education, i.e., via ineffective and poorly managed FP schools, leads to a future decrease in prosperity.
Fed Up at Phoenix University
First of all, I’d like to point out the excellent use of words in the second paragraph when speaking of “duplicitous” college recruiters. I’m going to use that in the future.
More importantly, however, this article seems to confirm my suspicion of FP colleges, such as the University of Phoenix. What I didn’t realize was that government continues to provide Pell Grants to students who attend these colleges. It seems to me that this is just as much a problem with our federal governments as it is the FP education sector. As the author puts it, “Perhaps the Democrats should reconsider whether it's really in the public's best interest to continue to provide huge subsidies, in the form of federal grants and loans, to help low- and moderate-income students go to colleges that are much more interested in rewarding investors on Wall Street than educating students.”
It pains me to think that the government has lost the ability to control education, or at least it’s lost the ability to weed out any and all ineffective educational institutions; FP, NP, or public.
Will the For Profit Education Bubble Burst in 2011?
I think this article has echoed the ideas of the previous two articles, so I won’t say much about it. It’s disgusting to think that there needs to be investigations into the legitimacy of educational institutions, and after reading these articles it’s becoming fairly clear to me that generating a profit has NO PLACE in any conversations occurring within the educational sector.
I just looked at the next article on the benefits of for profit schools. This oughta be good.
For-Profit Schools
Well, it seems as if there are merits to the theory of FP schools, but the ideology doesn’t seem to match up with reality. The possible advantages of FP schools include increase efficiency, encouraging innovation, response to clientele, and increased competition all seems reasonable. I agree with the innovation and efficiency idea. As for the ‘response to clientele’ thought, well, I’ve been on the wrong end on of poor customer service calls a few too many times to agree with that. And the only way that competition leads to better universities is if every university is a FP university, and that seems darn close to impossible. On top of all of this, let’s consider the fact that possible disadvantages of FP schools – lack of knowledge, misguided focus, eliminated services, large added costs – are all pretty BIG disadvantages.
I found the point at the end of the article about educational management organizations (EMOs) fairly interesting. The article stated that the most influential EMOs, such as Edison Schools, Mosaica Advantage, and Chancellor-Beacon, have “struggled to show profits.” Let me paraphrase, the most effective FP education organizations are better at being educational organizations than profit generating businesses. Ironic.
Chapter 6: Education and Research
I’ll be honest about something…. I don’t really have anything to say about the textbook. I’m a little confused as to why research was grouped with education, but that’s about it. I’m excited to read my team’s blogs to learn more perspectives on this.
Aim High
I’ve decided to include a post from the educational NP organization that I’ve worked for the last two summers. I thought it’d be interesting considering there was so much info about FP schools in this weeks readings. Plus, it’s a blog, so technically speaking I’m blogging about blogging. Enjoy:
http://aimhighblog.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/essential-lessons-from-aim-high-alums/
Subprime Opportunity: The Unfulfilled Promise of For-Profit Colleges and Universities
My first reaction to reading was....”wait, what the %$#& is a FP college?” I made it about halfway through the first page and decided I needed to Google some examples of FP colleges. The results gave me all the information I needed to know... DeVry University, University of Phoenix, ITT Technical Institute, Le Cordon Bleu College of the Cullinary Arts, etc. Sound familiar, well that’s because these are the universities you see commercials for on daytime television. I’ve always wondered how those schools had the money advertise, and I always had a sneaking suspicion that those were just scams that offer prospects of education, careers, and personal prosperity without the actual follow through on providing solid education.
My favorite quotation in this article was, “The developing showdown between for-profit colleges and the government is another example of how the aspirations of the underserved and the unfulfilled promise of the American dream combine with lax regulation to make the rich, richer and the poor, poorer” (1).
We need to think of education as an investment into the future of America. Any money we take away from education, i.e., via ineffective and poorly managed FP schools, leads to a future decrease in prosperity.
Fed Up at Phoenix University
First of all, I’d like to point out the excellent use of words in the second paragraph when speaking of “duplicitous” college recruiters. I’m going to use that in the future.
More importantly, however, this article seems to confirm my suspicion of FP colleges, such as the University of Phoenix. What I didn’t realize was that government continues to provide Pell Grants to students who attend these colleges. It seems to me that this is just as much a problem with our federal governments as it is the FP education sector. As the author puts it, “Perhaps the Democrats should reconsider whether it's really in the public's best interest to continue to provide huge subsidies, in the form of federal grants and loans, to help low- and moderate-income students go to colleges that are much more interested in rewarding investors on Wall Street than educating students.”
It pains me to think that the government has lost the ability to control education, or at least it’s lost the ability to weed out any and all ineffective educational institutions; FP, NP, or public.
Will the For Profit Education Bubble Burst in 2011?
I think this article has echoed the ideas of the previous two articles, so I won’t say much about it. It’s disgusting to think that there needs to be investigations into the legitimacy of educational institutions, and after reading these articles it’s becoming fairly clear to me that generating a profit has NO PLACE in any conversations occurring within the educational sector.
I just looked at the next article on the benefits of for profit schools. This oughta be good.
For-Profit Schools
Well, it seems as if there are merits to the theory of FP schools, but the ideology doesn’t seem to match up with reality. The possible advantages of FP schools include increase efficiency, encouraging innovation, response to clientele, and increased competition all seems reasonable. I agree with the innovation and efficiency idea. As for the ‘response to clientele’ thought, well, I’ve been on the wrong end on of poor customer service calls a few too many times to agree with that. And the only way that competition leads to better universities is if every university is a FP university, and that seems darn close to impossible. On top of all of this, let’s consider the fact that possible disadvantages of FP schools – lack of knowledge, misguided focus, eliminated services, large added costs – are all pretty BIG disadvantages.
I found the point at the end of the article about educational management organizations (EMOs) fairly interesting. The article stated that the most influential EMOs, such as Edison Schools, Mosaica Advantage, and Chancellor-Beacon, have “struggled to show profits.” Let me paraphrase, the most effective FP education organizations are better at being educational organizations than profit generating businesses. Ironic.
Chapter 6: Education and Research
I’ll be honest about something…. I don’t really have anything to say about the textbook. I’m a little confused as to why research was grouped with education, but that’s about it. I’m excited to read my team’s blogs to learn more perspectives on this.
Aim High
I’ve decided to include a post from the educational NP organization that I’ve worked for the last two summers. I thought it’d be interesting considering there was so much info about FP schools in this weeks readings. Plus, it’s a blog, so technically speaking I’m blogging about blogging. Enjoy:
http://aimhighblog.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/essential-lessons-from-aim-high-alums/
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Post 5: Environmental Non-Profits
Before I even begin responding to the readings I’ll point out that I’m super excited about this weeks’ classes. My college path started on the Environmental Studies track. One of the main reasons I came to Oregon was the ENVS department to be completely honest, and then I slowly realized that I wanted to learn a skill set to apply my environmental background, which led me to the PPPM department. I’ve always been a large proponent of wilderness, although contrary to popular belief I don’t consider myself the most ‘wildery’ of persons. Regardless I’m stoked to finally be learning about the non-profit sector in terms of a professional field that I’m have a genuine desire to join. I only hope that my following ideas reflect this passion.
Mackenzie Watershed Council (Annual Report & Website)
Watershed Councils are genius! They represent a perfect mixture (at least in theory) of people with a passion for protecting the natural environment and skills in how to protect the environment. Plus there’s the added benefit of people that know how engage the public and incorporate their opinions and relationship with the local environment into the management practices. The only other aspect of watershed councils I’ll touch on is the difficulty in collaborating with private sector businesses, government, and other public sector organizations. I feel like so much discourse can occur at watershed council meetings, and if that discourse inhibits a council’s ability to function, then the environment and the public will be the losers of that debate. I’ll try not to bring in too much hippie-dippie theory into my post, but a very common theme of environmental studies courses is that humans most often view our relationship with nature in a utilitarian sense, which I believe leads to very short sighted methods for managing the lands that we rely on for our existence.
Paul Hawken’s Commencement Address
“YOU ARE BRILLIANT, AND THE EARTH IS HIRING.” My response is...here’s a copy of my resume and I’d be happy to provide a cover letter. In all seriousness, though, I wish someone would say this to me every day. Moreover I wish each one of my professors would say this to my classmates every once in a while.
I’ve always enjoyed Paul Hawken’s writings, and I keep meaning to read Ecology of Commerce. Hawken writes and speaks in a manner that I wish to learn from. His thoughts reflect a deep passion for the environment, yet he attempts to put his thoughts into a context that the greater society understands. He wants to create a better world for us to live in and he understands that will require activating a feeling of environmental stewardship in a wide variety of people. Protecting the environment is an impossible task for policy makers, economists, and non-profit leaders alone. It’s an impossible task for anyone alone. Instead it will require a fundamental change in human attitudes towards nature, because all of our actions are directly representations of our ideas.
A Guide to Environmental Non-Profits
I guess the first thing I should say is thank you for providing this detailed list of organizations that I should apply for jobs with after I graduate. Awesome! I’ve already applied with the Environmental Defense Fund, but have yet to hear anything back from them. I’m in the process of filling out an application with the Sierra Club because they’re based in San Francisco, which is near my hometown, and I’ll look into some others on the list. Although I’m curious as to why the authors chose so many marine and marine wildlife conservation organizations. Unfortunately, I’m not too interested in marine organizations, nor do I want to be in the global environmental field. I’m more interested in the local, terrestrial side of the environmental equation.
One organization that I noticed was left out of the list is The Nature Conservancy, which I’ve always thought up very highly. I remember hearing recently that the Nature Conservancy owns more land than any other single organization in the world, which is a pretty astounding statistic. The organization started in 1951 when a group of neighbors wanted to save 60 acres of forest. Now they help protect over 119 million acres of land across all 50 states in America and a total of 30 countries worldwide. I guess you have a lot to live up to when your web URL is www.nature.org. I stumbled across this video that highlights the Conservancy’s conservation efforts in the past year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sooLoui1F-A
One final word about this article, I’m really glad they made a point of highlight the anti-environmental groups that give off a false veneer of environmentalism. There are more of these groups than most people realize, or want to realize, and there are numerous organizations that believe they are helping the environment, when in fact they are doing it a tremendous disservice.
Saving the Environment for a Profit
This in an interesting topic and one to which I haven’t given much personal thought. It’s become more clear through this class that non profits have the passion and private companies have the power. The question raised at the end of the article –“Will advocacy be the comparative advantage of the nonprofit, and action the comparative advantage of the market?” – is definitely thought provoking, but my one argument is that this question is assumes that nonprofits and private businesses have the capacity or desire to collaborate on behalf of the environment.
P.S. to our GTFs –
I don’t think this will matter much, but I feel like this is the perfect amount of material to read and still be able to generate a meaningful blog/response within the given word limit. I’ve noticed that my group members and I have a tendency to write in depth about the first articles and then we feel pressured to adhere to the limit that we then discount the last article or two. Obviously, we can just completely disregard the word limit, but at the same time I we can all agree that there’s a limit to how much meaningful information we can process by reading these responses just like there is a limit to how much meaningful information we can produce as writers.
Mackenzie Watershed Council (Annual Report & Website)
Watershed Councils are genius! They represent a perfect mixture (at least in theory) of people with a passion for protecting the natural environment and skills in how to protect the environment. Plus there’s the added benefit of people that know how engage the public and incorporate their opinions and relationship with the local environment into the management practices. The only other aspect of watershed councils I’ll touch on is the difficulty in collaborating with private sector businesses, government, and other public sector organizations. I feel like so much discourse can occur at watershed council meetings, and if that discourse inhibits a council’s ability to function, then the environment and the public will be the losers of that debate. I’ll try not to bring in too much hippie-dippie theory into my post, but a very common theme of environmental studies courses is that humans most often view our relationship with nature in a utilitarian sense, which I believe leads to very short sighted methods for managing the lands that we rely on for our existence.
Paul Hawken’s Commencement Address
“YOU ARE BRILLIANT, AND THE EARTH IS HIRING.” My response is...here’s a copy of my resume and I’d be happy to provide a cover letter. In all seriousness, though, I wish someone would say this to me every day. Moreover I wish each one of my professors would say this to my classmates every once in a while.
I’ve always enjoyed Paul Hawken’s writings, and I keep meaning to read Ecology of Commerce. Hawken writes and speaks in a manner that I wish to learn from. His thoughts reflect a deep passion for the environment, yet he attempts to put his thoughts into a context that the greater society understands. He wants to create a better world for us to live in and he understands that will require activating a feeling of environmental stewardship in a wide variety of people. Protecting the environment is an impossible task for policy makers, economists, and non-profit leaders alone. It’s an impossible task for anyone alone. Instead it will require a fundamental change in human attitudes towards nature, because all of our actions are directly representations of our ideas.
A Guide to Environmental Non-Profits
I guess the first thing I should say is thank you for providing this detailed list of organizations that I should apply for jobs with after I graduate. Awesome! I’ve already applied with the Environmental Defense Fund, but have yet to hear anything back from them. I’m in the process of filling out an application with the Sierra Club because they’re based in San Francisco, which is near my hometown, and I’ll look into some others on the list. Although I’m curious as to why the authors chose so many marine and marine wildlife conservation organizations. Unfortunately, I’m not too interested in marine organizations, nor do I want to be in the global environmental field. I’m more interested in the local, terrestrial side of the environmental equation.
One organization that I noticed was left out of the list is The Nature Conservancy, which I’ve always thought up very highly. I remember hearing recently that the Nature Conservancy owns more land than any other single organization in the world, which is a pretty astounding statistic. The organization started in 1951 when a group of neighbors wanted to save 60 acres of forest. Now they help protect over 119 million acres of land across all 50 states in America and a total of 30 countries worldwide. I guess you have a lot to live up to when your web URL is www.nature.org. I stumbled across this video that highlights the Conservancy’s conservation efforts in the past year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sooLoui1F-A
One final word about this article, I’m really glad they made a point of highlight the anti-environmental groups that give off a false veneer of environmentalism. There are more of these groups than most people realize, or want to realize, and there are numerous organizations that believe they are helping the environment, when in fact they are doing it a tremendous disservice.
Saving the Environment for a Profit
This in an interesting topic and one to which I haven’t given much personal thought. It’s become more clear through this class that non profits have the passion and private companies have the power. The question raised at the end of the article –“Will advocacy be the comparative advantage of the nonprofit, and action the comparative advantage of the market?” – is definitely thought provoking, but my one argument is that this question is assumes that nonprofits and private businesses have the capacity or desire to collaborate on behalf of the environment.
P.S. to our GTFs –
I don’t think this will matter much, but I feel like this is the perfect amount of material to read and still be able to generate a meaningful blog/response within the given word limit. I’ve noticed that my group members and I have a tendency to write in depth about the first articles and then we feel pressured to adhere to the limit that we then discount the last article or two. Obviously, we can just completely disregard the word limit, but at the same time I we can all agree that there’s a limit to how much meaningful information we can process by reading these responses just like there is a limit to how much meaningful information we can produce as writers.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Post 4: Health Care
First, I'll bring up the NY Times article linked below that discusses how the “Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010” snubbed nonprofits in future health reform. The Act provides tax credits for small businesses, but because nonprofit health care providers do not pay income taxes, the result would give for-profit business as advantage. After reading a quick summary of the health care reform act it doesn’t seem like any amendments were made that counteracted this glitch in the system, so it’s an interesting topic to consider.
Link: Nonprofit Groups Upset at Exclusion from Health Bills
Chapter 5: Health Care
Funny, I found the NY Times are title article above before I read any of the articles for this week and the concluding sentence of the chapter reads, "...the shape of American health care, and the role of nonprofits in that effort, is far from settled" (O'Neill 106). This book was written a almost a decade before health care reform became a hot topic in American politics. I can't say I learned too much from this chapter, though. Health care is a very touchy subject. Do American's have the right to proper health care or are the best doctors and best practices reserved for the wealthy elite? Is it the government's responsibility to provide health care for all 310 million Americans? I can't say that I have an answer to these questions and it might be because I've never had to worry about health care because I've always been able to claim myself as a dependent on my parents' plan. I'm sure I'll pick a side in the next few years as I graduate, find a job (knock of wood), and become a contributing member of society. Until then I'll just remain neutral.
Non-Profit Packers
I consider myself a pretty big sports fan, and I had no idea the Packers were a publicly owned non-profit. Fan owned since 1923, the NFL’s “Green Bay Rule,” GM Ted Thompson being the luckiest guy in football….all news to me. My first thought is, I have no idea how this relates to health care. That skepticism aside, I think this model is quintessential Green Bay. If there’s one thing I know about football, it’s that Green Bay is steeped in NFL tradition. Vince Lombardi, the Lambeau Leap, and the fact that you practically have to be born into a family with season tickets if you ever want a chance to watch the Packers play at home. It makes sense that Packers are publicly owned and I’d love to see this idea spread through the NFL.
Non- Profits Valuable for Health Care
The most interesting quote from this article is, “The nonprofit sector is where we go for solving our most troubling social problems. It is where we go to protect our values and culture. The nonprofit sector is society’s safety net.” I’d like to address each of those sentences individually.
Why is it that our most ‘troubling social problems’ have to be solved by nonprofits? Does that mean that social problems are best solved by grassroots organizations? Is it that for-profit organizations just don’t care to solve difficult social problems? It seems odd that nonprofits that are arguably understaffed and underfunded compared to private businesses (not in all cases, but in many) are left to solve the most important social issues in America. Does that mean that profit is more important than society in modern America? That might be slightly exaggerated, but as I’ve expressed in previous posts I believe that community is losing value in American society, and that’s a HUMUNGOUS PROBLEM.
Speaking of values… why do we leave the protection of value and culture to nonprofits? That sounds about as simple as solving America’s social problems!!
And if the nonprofit sector is society’s safety net, then I sure hope we - as in we the people and communities of America, not just the government – are doing everything we can to support these nonprofits. I guess it just boils down to my thoughts on America’s social system. We have a whole lot of problems in America – homelessness, obesity, underfunded education, addiction to cigarettes, drugs, and oil – and we somehow think that someone else is going to pull us out of this hole we’ve dug ourselves into.
Last Monday I was able to hear Van Jones, founder of several non-governmental organizations such as Color for Change and Green for All, speak on the UO Campus. His father, who lived a sort of rags-to-riches life, had a motto by which he lived. “There’s nothing anyone could give an individual that will bring them out of poverty. That person needs to climb out of poverty themselves. They need to be able to climb that ladder out of poverty.” Then Jones added his own wisdom and modern context by saying that “society has the duty to build that ladder.”
Merger in Michigan
The point about the difference in health care services provided by non-profits and for-profit hospital was particularly interesting. At the end of the article the author noted that "for-profit hospitals are more likely to offer lucrative services, such as cardiac and diagnostic services, while their non-profit counterparts often provide more less-profitable services such as trauma centers, burn centers and alcohol- and drug-treatment programs.” When Nurse Lori Brown was asked if she thinks Detroit Medical Center will change after being purchased by Vanguard, she replied, “We'll continue to be the hospital that takes care of everyone. We don't turn anyone away."
I’ll give Nurse Brown the benefit of the doubt on this one, but I can’t believe that this merger will happen without any change to the DMC’s regular activities. With more money they’ll practically be considered irresponsible if they don’t ramp up their services. There are certainly advantages to for-profit corporations, most notably the availability of MONEY, but the future of the DMC is not in the hands of its CEO, whereas before the merger it was more in the hands of the community it served.
Disease Mongering
First of all I want to note that the story about David Neeleman, the guy who scored low on the English section of the ACT exam and later discovered he had ADD, is exactly how I found out that I’m dyslexic. It was the same low score on the English section of the ACT that raised a red flag for my parents and me. Funny. The only other comment is that this article brings up another problem in American society, addiction. In this case the article points out our addiction to “lifestyle” drugs, which is basically any prescription drug we take to remain “normal.” Whatever that means.
Final Thoughts
As you can see I'm in a questioning mood today. Feel free to answer any questions you find intriguing in your comments, and by all means answer my questions with questions of you own. It would be hypocritical of me to disallow that.
Thanks for reading!
Link: Nonprofit Groups Upset at Exclusion from Health Bills
Chapter 5: Health Care
Funny, I found the NY Times are title article above before I read any of the articles for this week and the concluding sentence of the chapter reads, "...the shape of American health care, and the role of nonprofits in that effort, is far from settled" (O'Neill 106). This book was written a almost a decade before health care reform became a hot topic in American politics. I can't say I learned too much from this chapter, though. Health care is a very touchy subject. Do American's have the right to proper health care or are the best doctors and best practices reserved for the wealthy elite? Is it the government's responsibility to provide health care for all 310 million Americans? I can't say that I have an answer to these questions and it might be because I've never had to worry about health care because I've always been able to claim myself as a dependent on my parents' plan. I'm sure I'll pick a side in the next few years as I graduate, find a job (knock of wood), and become a contributing member of society. Until then I'll just remain neutral.
Non-Profit Packers
I consider myself a pretty big sports fan, and I had no idea the Packers were a publicly owned non-profit. Fan owned since 1923, the NFL’s “Green Bay Rule,” GM Ted Thompson being the luckiest guy in football….all news to me. My first thought is, I have no idea how this relates to health care. That skepticism aside, I think this model is quintessential Green Bay. If there’s one thing I know about football, it’s that Green Bay is steeped in NFL tradition. Vince Lombardi, the Lambeau Leap, and the fact that you practically have to be born into a family with season tickets if you ever want a chance to watch the Packers play at home. It makes sense that Packers are publicly owned and I’d love to see this idea spread through the NFL.
Non- Profits Valuable for Health Care
The most interesting quote from this article is, “The nonprofit sector is where we go for solving our most troubling social problems. It is where we go to protect our values and culture. The nonprofit sector is society’s safety net.” I’d like to address each of those sentences individually.
Why is it that our most ‘troubling social problems’ have to be solved by nonprofits? Does that mean that social problems are best solved by grassroots organizations? Is it that for-profit organizations just don’t care to solve difficult social problems? It seems odd that nonprofits that are arguably understaffed and underfunded compared to private businesses (not in all cases, but in many) are left to solve the most important social issues in America. Does that mean that profit is more important than society in modern America? That might be slightly exaggerated, but as I’ve expressed in previous posts I believe that community is losing value in American society, and that’s a HUMUNGOUS PROBLEM.
Speaking of values… why do we leave the protection of value and culture to nonprofits? That sounds about as simple as solving America’s social problems!!
And if the nonprofit sector is society’s safety net, then I sure hope we - as in we the people and communities of America, not just the government – are doing everything we can to support these nonprofits. I guess it just boils down to my thoughts on America’s social system. We have a whole lot of problems in America – homelessness, obesity, underfunded education, addiction to cigarettes, drugs, and oil – and we somehow think that someone else is going to pull us out of this hole we’ve dug ourselves into.
Last Monday I was able to hear Van Jones, founder of several non-governmental organizations such as Color for Change and Green for All, speak on the UO Campus. His father, who lived a sort of rags-to-riches life, had a motto by which he lived. “There’s nothing anyone could give an individual that will bring them out of poverty. That person needs to climb out of poverty themselves. They need to be able to climb that ladder out of poverty.” Then Jones added his own wisdom and modern context by saying that “society has the duty to build that ladder.”
Merger in Michigan
The point about the difference in health care services provided by non-profits and for-profit hospital was particularly interesting. At the end of the article the author noted that "for-profit hospitals are more likely to offer lucrative services, such as cardiac and diagnostic services, while their non-profit counterparts often provide more less-profitable services such as trauma centers, burn centers and alcohol- and drug-treatment programs.” When Nurse Lori Brown was asked if she thinks Detroit Medical Center will change after being purchased by Vanguard, she replied, “We'll continue to be the hospital that takes care of everyone. We don't turn anyone away."
I’ll give Nurse Brown the benefit of the doubt on this one, but I can’t believe that this merger will happen without any change to the DMC’s regular activities. With more money they’ll practically be considered irresponsible if they don’t ramp up their services. There are certainly advantages to for-profit corporations, most notably the availability of MONEY, but the future of the DMC is not in the hands of its CEO, whereas before the merger it was more in the hands of the community it served.
Disease Mongering
First of all I want to note that the story about David Neeleman, the guy who scored low on the English section of the ACT exam and later discovered he had ADD, is exactly how I found out that I’m dyslexic. It was the same low score on the English section of the ACT that raised a red flag for my parents and me. Funny. The only other comment is that this article brings up another problem in American society, addiction. In this case the article points out our addiction to “lifestyle” drugs, which is basically any prescription drug we take to remain “normal.” Whatever that means.
Final Thoughts
As you can see I'm in a questioning mood today. Feel free to answer any questions you find intriguing in your comments, and by all means answer my questions with questions of you own. It would be hypocritical of me to disallow that.
Thanks for reading!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Post 3: Social Service
Okay, well before I get into any of the readings, I should explain some logistically changes in the blog, house keeping notes if you will. After asking a few questions about the blog in our library computer lab class session on Tuesday, I found that it’s probably best to organize these posts on an article-by-article basis. Our GTFs will hopefully find it easier to make sure if I’ve read all the articles and textbook chapters, and my fellow “Not for Profit, Just for Kicks” team members will hopefully find it easier to follow my posts. Also, this will probably help me organize my own thoughts more efficiently, although I’m slightly worried that my posts will be slightly more fragmented. Oh well, I’ll take the costs along with the benefits. Without further adieu, let’s get to the fun stuff.
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Non-Profit Nation – Chapter 4: Social Service
Social service, a.k.a human services, or social assistance, is insanely important in America and thus the non profit social assistance organizations – nearly 50,000 registered plus however many hundred thousand non-registered organizations – are critically important to the success of our nation as functioning system of communities.
The real question we need to be asking, however, is why is ‘social service’ so important in the first place, and why does the government have to bear the brunt of the task of providing social service to America? The obvious answer is that it’s the government’s job to serve and protect the people. Well, of course it is, but it’s also the responsibility of people to serve and protect themselves.
Think about the following quotation from the textbook. “For the most of four centuries of American history, what are now called social services were provided by family and extended family, churches, charitable associations, and government, usually local government” (O’Neill 81). Around the 1960s the model for social services transitioned to a system where the government pays for it and the non-profits provide it. How did that come to be? Why exactly did it change?
Personally, I see this as a problem of the American sense of community and family slowly disintegrating away. I don’t want to speak on behalf of all Americans, but overall I think our culture does not value family relationships as much as we once did, and this lack of family connection is costly to our standard of living.
St. Vincent de Paul
Terry McDonald, non-profit entrepreneur. Interesting article. I found some of the comments at the end interesting as well, particularly the one that asked, “Is this a business or a non-profit at this point?” St. Vincent de Paul’s is blurring the lines between the private sector and the charitable sector. It sounds likes Terry McDonald is taking the business savvy skills normally found in the private sector and applying them to get ahead in the non-profit sector. He’s just a great businessman working for a moral social service organization, and I don’t see any harm in that. After all, non-profits are businesses trying to stay afloat in the economic market by providing a service to the community. Good work, Terry.
Louisiana Housing Assistance
Here’s a good example of what I was trying to articulate earlier at the end of my response to the text reading. The US Department of Health and Human Services announced that Louisiana will receive an additional $10.5 million to help low-income residents pay their utility bills through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
It’s awesome that the government is using America’s tax money to reinvest into communities that some extra help. Lord knows the Louisiana coastal communities need as much help as they can get after Hurricane Katrina, and now the BP Oil Spill. But I have to wonder whether or not these federal government initiatives are sustainable.
The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, like other social service initiatives, was enacted to provide temporary help. The program offers “a helping hand to get back on your feet.” Is throwing money at a problem really a helping hand though? Or is it a temporary crutch to lean on? What happens when the crutch is taken away? Are people able to land on their feet or do they just fall right back down to where they started? Again, I’m not trying to bash these programs because they provided much needed relief to people in need, but we just need to ask if this is the right type of aid or not.
Affordable Housing Toolkit
Again, this article brings up the same questions of sustainability for me. Section 8 vouchers are a great idea with marginal implementation. Too many people need them, which has made the process for qualifying for vouchers a two year long at a minimum. Furthermore, only 7,000 people nationwide receive vouchers, which is nothing!
The ability of federal government to fix problems on a local level is very, very limited, and it’s essentially based on throwing money at a problem. There has to be a better way to solve this problem, and it will likely involve reworking the human services system on a deeper level, much deeper than the financial aspect of it.
Auburn Family Residence Problems
I feel like a broken record, but I just keep thinking that these issues with social services cannot be fixed solely by government. When I hear things like the following quote from the article, I can’t help but think that these people are just looking for someone to blame.
“Craig Hughes, an organizer at Fort Greene SNAP, said some of the blame for Auburn’s condition falls on OTDA (Office of Temporary and Disability Assitance), which he said could have done more to push DHS (Deparment of Homelessness Services) to correct the shelter’s deficiencies...Still, he added, ‘The ultimate blame lies on DHS. DHS prioritizes certain things in its budget and doesn’t prioritize others.’”
You can point fingers as long as you want, but it doesn’t change the fact that something is wrong and needs to be fixed. Stop looking for someone else to fix it, and figure out a way to do it yourself with whatever tools you have.
MAAC Project
The MAAC Project is a great example of the cons of government involvement in non-profit work. Antonio Pizano, CEO of MAAC Project, said that the most challenging part of his company’s work is “giving help to everyone that needs it. There simply is not enough to go around. As big and complex as MAAC is, a major challenge is to keep up with the bureaucratic demands imposed by our funding sources.” The government may have money, but they just don’t move as quickly and nimbly as non-profits or private organizations.
----------------------------------------
Well, I guess this new method of organization proves that I read each article, but now I know I don’t need to write as much for each section. I apologize for the length of this post. I’ll try to be more succinct in the future.
----------------------------------------
Non-Profit Nation – Chapter 4: Social Service
Social service, a.k.a human services, or social assistance, is insanely important in America and thus the non profit social assistance organizations – nearly 50,000 registered plus however many hundred thousand non-registered organizations – are critically important to the success of our nation as functioning system of communities.
The real question we need to be asking, however, is why is ‘social service’ so important in the first place, and why does the government have to bear the brunt of the task of providing social service to America? The obvious answer is that it’s the government’s job to serve and protect the people. Well, of course it is, but it’s also the responsibility of people to serve and protect themselves.
Think about the following quotation from the textbook. “For the most of four centuries of American history, what are now called social services were provided by family and extended family, churches, charitable associations, and government, usually local government” (O’Neill 81). Around the 1960s the model for social services transitioned to a system where the government pays for it and the non-profits provide it. How did that come to be? Why exactly did it change?
Personally, I see this as a problem of the American sense of community and family slowly disintegrating away. I don’t want to speak on behalf of all Americans, but overall I think our culture does not value family relationships as much as we once did, and this lack of family connection is costly to our standard of living.
St. Vincent de Paul
Terry McDonald, non-profit entrepreneur. Interesting article. I found some of the comments at the end interesting as well, particularly the one that asked, “Is this a business or a non-profit at this point?” St. Vincent de Paul’s is blurring the lines between the private sector and the charitable sector. It sounds likes Terry McDonald is taking the business savvy skills normally found in the private sector and applying them to get ahead in the non-profit sector. He’s just a great businessman working for a moral social service organization, and I don’t see any harm in that. After all, non-profits are businesses trying to stay afloat in the economic market by providing a service to the community. Good work, Terry.
Louisiana Housing Assistance
Here’s a good example of what I was trying to articulate earlier at the end of my response to the text reading. The US Department of Health and Human Services announced that Louisiana will receive an additional $10.5 million to help low-income residents pay their utility bills through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
It’s awesome that the government is using America’s tax money to reinvest into communities that some extra help. Lord knows the Louisiana coastal communities need as much help as they can get after Hurricane Katrina, and now the BP Oil Spill. But I have to wonder whether or not these federal government initiatives are sustainable.
The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, like other social service initiatives, was enacted to provide temporary help. The program offers “a helping hand to get back on your feet.” Is throwing money at a problem really a helping hand though? Or is it a temporary crutch to lean on? What happens when the crutch is taken away? Are people able to land on their feet or do they just fall right back down to where they started? Again, I’m not trying to bash these programs because they provided much needed relief to people in need, but we just need to ask if this is the right type of aid or not.
Affordable Housing Toolkit
Again, this article brings up the same questions of sustainability for me. Section 8 vouchers are a great idea with marginal implementation. Too many people need them, which has made the process for qualifying for vouchers a two year long at a minimum. Furthermore, only 7,000 people nationwide receive vouchers, which is nothing!
The ability of federal government to fix problems on a local level is very, very limited, and it’s essentially based on throwing money at a problem. There has to be a better way to solve this problem, and it will likely involve reworking the human services system on a deeper level, much deeper than the financial aspect of it.
Auburn Family Residence Problems
I feel like a broken record, but I just keep thinking that these issues with social services cannot be fixed solely by government. When I hear things like the following quote from the article, I can’t help but think that these people are just looking for someone to blame.
“Craig Hughes, an organizer at Fort Greene SNAP, said some of the blame for Auburn’s condition falls on OTDA (Office of Temporary and Disability Assitance), which he said could have done more to push DHS (Deparment of Homelessness Services) to correct the shelter’s deficiencies...Still, he added, ‘The ultimate blame lies on DHS. DHS prioritizes certain things in its budget and doesn’t prioritize others.’”
You can point fingers as long as you want, but it doesn’t change the fact that something is wrong and needs to be fixed. Stop looking for someone else to fix it, and figure out a way to do it yourself with whatever tools you have.
MAAC Project
The MAAC Project is a great example of the cons of government involvement in non-profit work. Antonio Pizano, CEO of MAAC Project, said that the most challenging part of his company’s work is “giving help to everyone that needs it. There simply is not enough to go around. As big and complex as MAAC is, a major challenge is to keep up with the bureaucratic demands imposed by our funding sources.” The government may have money, but they just don’t move as quickly and nimbly as non-profits or private organizations.
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Well, I guess this new method of organization proves that I read each article, but now I know I don’t need to write as much for each section. I apologize for the length of this post. I’ll try to be more succinct in the future.
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