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News for April 2003
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 29 April 2003 |
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| Funders role in a time of war on Worldlink TV |
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After long silence, the funding community is starting to come together and speak up about their role in responding to the threats of war. There was an excellent panel discussion yesterday on the subject at the COF conference. I understand that it will be broadcast on Worldlink TV.
Posted: 4/29/03; 10:30:19 AM # |
| U.N. Foundation in the wake of war |
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Former U.S. Senator Tim Wirth is now President of the United Nations Foundation. At the COF conference's lunchtime address yesterday he delivered a sober appeal for engagement by the funding community in the current global environment.
Posted: 4/29/03; 10:28:42 AM # |
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27 April 2003 |
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| The Kindness of Strangers |
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Robert Levine has done a comprehensive study of The Kindness of Strangers, in which he researched people's willingness to help someone during a chance encounter. New York and Kuala Lumpur came in at the bottom.
Posted: 4/27/03; 1:58:22 PM # |
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22 April 2003 |
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| The Goldman Prize 2003 |
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Today is a good day to honor the recipients of the Goldman Environment Prize winners (PDF of New York Times announcement). I like the headline: "Those who exploit the environment count on people doing nothing. Thanks for proving them wrong." That sentiment carries to so many causes, doesn't it.
Posted: 4/22/03; 9:33:39 AM # |
| Don't Be Fooled 2003 |
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It's Earth Day. Earthday Resources has published Don't Be Fooled 2003, a report on the top ten companies guilty of greenwashing (falsely using environmental values to promote their products). Sometimes it pains me how some nonprofits cooperate in this.
Posted: 4/22/03; 9:33:25 AM # |
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20 April 2003 |
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| Artistry and Technology: The Golden Triangle of Development |
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Viridian City Media has launched Artistry and Technology, a free email newsletter on the subject of visionary online communication. The first issue has an article on The Golden Triangle of Development, a methodical explanation of how you can actually use the adage: "You can have good, fast, or cheap. Pick any two." The newsletter comes out every couple of weeks and the upcoming topics look great. I recommend you subscribe.
Posted: 4/20/03; 9:37:11 PM # |
| A Barn Raising for Civilization |
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Doc Searles, one of the authors of the Cluetrain Manifesto (which I have previously recommended), is proposing a Barn Raising for Civilization, in response to the sacking of Baghdad's cultural institutions. He quotes noted historian and archeologist John Malcolm Russell as describing what's happened as "the greatest catastrophe ever to befall a cultural institution in the history of the world." Right up there with the burning of the Library of Alexandria, it seems. Searles has good suggestions for how we might respond to this catastrophe, although the ultimate responsibility lies with the looters and with the forces that allowed this to happen.
Posted: 4/20/03; 9:36:28 PM # |
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16 April 2003 |
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| The Roots of Iraqi Civil Society |
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Just as many other people, I have taken an interest in the rebuilding of civil society in Iraq. So it was with a sense of hope that I read Baghdad's Buried Treasure by Eric Davis. He looks at the rich traditions of civil society in the area which, with luck, will survive both the Baath party and the invasion.
Posted: 4/16/03; 10:52:18 AM # |
| Open Source Haggadah Project |
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How delightful! Douglas Rushkoff is a very smart man and a good writer. Now he has launched a new project: The Open Source Haggadah. They are going to follow up with an Open Source Torah and similar projects for other sacred texts. I hope it achieves its goal of nurturing an open spirit of inquiry.
Posted: 4/16/03; 10:52:08 AM # |
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15 April 2003 |
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| World Database of Happiness |
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I know this is simplistic, but in the end, aren't we all just trying to make the world a happier place? It's with that question in mind that I've been perusing the World Database of Happiness, a register of scientific research on the topic of the appreciation of life. There is some delightful and thought provoking stuff in here, and it definitely beats the rhetoric of the current times, my own included.
Posted: 4/15/03; 10:46:05 PM # |
| The Invisible Dogma |
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For any of you who still think your new software is going to solve the knowledge and learning challenges of the organizations you work with, I highly recommend The Invisible Dogma by Mitch Ratcliffe. Yes, technology has huge impacts, but Ratcliffe makes a case for working to reveal the truth of the relationships into which we introduce our initiatives.
Posted: 4/15/03; 10:45:50 PM # |
| New Global Vision |
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New Global Vision is a new digital video archive project. Its goal is to create an open publishing network for videographers working on international movements. Most of the site is in Italian right now, but this is worth paying attention to.
Posted: 4/15/03; 10:45:34 PM # |
| National Priorities Project Database - Tradeoffs |
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The National Priorities Project helps people in the United States understand the tradeoffs involved in launching $80 billion Iraqi invasions and $500 billion tax cuts, among other things. I was particularly intrgued by the tool they have that allows you to play with various budget items and see what else they might fund.
Posted: 4/15/03; 10:45:18 PM # |
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12 April 2003 |
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| National Museum of Iraq destroyed |
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Another nonprofit related story from Iraq: It took only 48 hours for the National Museum of Iraq to be destroyed. Under the Hague Convention, the occupying forces have the responsibility to prevent such things. (Indeed, the London Times reports that in the south of Iraq, British commanders have been encouraging looting.) One Hundred and seventy thousand pieces have been carried off, which once represented the 7000 year history of the civilizations of Mesopotamia. My heart aches to read this.
Posted: 4/12/03; 4:19:36 PM # |
| Baghdad hospitals being looted |
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I don't know if hospitals in Iraq are NGOs or not, but they certainly are a key part of the public interest and civil infrastructure. In the wake of the U.S. "victory", those hospitals are being thoroughly looted, according to the Red Cross. Thomas Friedman reports as well on the looting of schools, right down to the blackboards. A sad reflection of the priorities of the occupying armies, I suspect the oil fields are better protected by troops than the civil institutions are.
Posted: 4/12/03; 4:19:25 PM # |
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10 April 2003 |
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| Nature and role of international NGOs |
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Many of our readers are Americans who are familiar with the particular nature of nonprofits in the United States. If you're interested in familiarizing yourself with the international arena, I recommend these resources from Global Policy on the nature and role of Nongovernmental Organizations. An understanding of these institutions is timely and important. With "victory" being declared by the U.S. in Iraq, I can only hope that as much money will go into building civil society there as will go into the coffers of American companies working on oil fields and harbors.
Posted: 4/10/03; 10:47:47 AM # |
| Webby Awards 2003 Nominations |
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Sometimes I think the Webby Awards are just silly, but I still pay attention to them. The 2003 nominees have been announced. I'm particularly interested in the typically nonprofit categories, such as Activism, Community, Government and Law, Politics, and Spirituality.
Posted: 4/10/03; 10:47:37 AM # |
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9 April 2003 |
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| Pew report: The Internet and the Iraq war |
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Pew recently published a report on The Internet and the Iraq war. It's an interesting survey of American online behavior during this invasion, including where people are getting information and how they are promoting their views. I would love to see deeper analysis, since my impression is that there are huge differences in opinion between those who get their news online and those who watch TV.
Posted: 4/9/03; 10:55:47 AM # |
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8 April 2003 |
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| Open Source vs Open Standards |
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The nonprofit sector has spent millions of dollars on source code for software. Some of the community (myself included) has extolled the value of open source licensing of that code. But open standards are even more important and, relative to the amount of money spent writing code, the sector has spent almost nothing on developing open standards. Jonathan Schwartz takes on the issue of open source versus open standards and explains why this is important.
Posted: 4/8/03; 10:54:24 AM # |
| eBase becomes part of Groundspring |
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Although they have their integration work cut out for them, I am delighted by the fact that eBase is now part of Groundspring. eBase is a freely distributed desktop contact management database. Groundspring is a nonprofit that provides primarily donation management services to progressive organizations.
Posted: 4/8/03; 10:54:04 AM # |
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6 April 2003 |
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| The New McCarthyism |
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The McCarthy era was not a good time for American civil society. That's why I encourage you to follow a new nonprofit project: McCarthyism Watch.
Posted: 4/6/03; 10:06:21 PM # |
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4 April 2003 |
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3 April 2003 |
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2 April 2003 |
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| A Second Superpower |
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If his predictions turn out to be true, this may be an important transformation of the nongovernmental sector. James Moore of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society argues that the global social movements will constitute a second superpower. I find his arguments intriguing.
Posted: 4/2/03; 11:58:02 AM # |
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1 April 2003 |
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| Our Reader's Favorite News Sources |
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Six years ago today, I started Nonprofit Online News as an outgrowth of my own need to keep myself and a few colleagues informed. Today, as we start our seventh year, I'm amazed to realize that we're one of the premier sources of nonprofit news on the internet. To celebrate this anniversary, we're publishing another set of results from our year end survey, honoring all the other news sources loved by our readers.
Posted: 4/1/03; 7:14:49 PM # |
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