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How Nonprofit Careerism Derailed the "Revolution"

I have built my career around the common values of the nonprofit sector, even though I'm frequently criticized for speaking about those common values, which I regard as fundamentally progressive. Now, in a very thought provoking article, Michael Donnelly suggests that a progressive social change agenda has been undermined by the rise of the nonprofit sector in the last 50 years. In particular, he cites one of my ongoing concerns: the compartmentalization of issues and the isolation of different causes from each other, as a result of the patterns of funding and professionalization of the sector. Posted: 1/3/05; 11:26:25 AM #

Aid Groups Await Island Access

NGOs seeking to provide aid to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have been told that a decision about their access to the islands will be made in five days (registration required). While it's clear that the Indian government is mobilizing their own substantial resources, evidently the military importance of these islands is making them reluctant to allow foreign access, regardless of the human cost of that decision. Posted: 1/3/05; 10:31:58 AM #

MoveOn.org: No Longer a Start-up or an Upstart | Personal Democracy Forum
	Chris Nolan has written an excellent two part analysis of Moveon.org, entitled No Longer a Start-up or an Upstart (link to part 1). It's a thoughtful and honest piece that very much brings the organization down to earth. Posted: 1/3/05; 10:10:24 AM #

Relatives of US Servicemen Killed in Iraq to Hold Vigil on Jordan Border
	Three nonprofit organizations representing the parents of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq have raised $600,000 for the families of slain Iraqis. The founder of one of the groups says, "I don't know of any other case in history in which the parents of fallen soldiers collected medicine ... for the families of the 'other side'". Posted: 1/3/05; 10:04:12 AM #

U.S. Gave $1B in Faith-Based Funds in 2003

The U.S. government gave a billion dollars to so-called "faith based" nonprofit organizations in 2003. My reactions are mixed: I don't understand why good work that is done with a formal connection to religion is somehow more based in faith or spiritual values than, say, my own work. I also deplore the government funding of evangelism, which is clearly happening. Finally, I'm amused by the incompetence -- illustrated in one example in this story -- that leads the government to make faith based grants to organizations that use the word "ministries", but are not actually connected to any religion. Posted: 1/3/05; 9:56:31 AM #