Archive for September, 2009
Hug-an-orphan vacations
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
The growing popularity of short-term international volunteering (voluntourism) has led to the disturbing trend of hug-an-orphan vacations. While visiting a foreign country people take time to volunteer at an orphanage or else are persuaded to visit orphanages while on vacation.…
Donating shoes and other aid fads
Monday, September 28th, 2009
Just like everything else, aid goes through fads. One of the current fads is donating shoes to people in developing countries. Everywhere I look there’s a shoe program. Bins for donated shoes are placed just inside the door of shoe…
Related articles and posts September 20 – 26, 2009
Saturday, September 26th, 2009
Interesting new articles and blog posts from the previous week. There were a lot of great articles this past week.
Beggars can’t be choosers – but are they really beggars?
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
This is an edited version of an earlier post.
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“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”, “beggars can’t be choosers”, and “they had good intentions” are platitudes I hear when I talk about inappropriate and even harmful…
Mosquito nets, condomns and recycling
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
This is a repost of an edited previous post
From the Kenyan newspaper the Daily Nation:
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Related articles and posts
Saturday, September 19th, 2009
Interesting articles and posts from the previous week
Be cautious when funding orphanages
Friday, September 18th, 2009
It’s natural to want to help children, and funding orphanages seems a great way to assist those that have lost everything. But be careful, not all orphanages are needed nor are they necessarily the best way to help. In fact…
Problems with selling handicraft projects internationally
Thursday, September 17th, 2009
While making and selling handicrafts overseas seems like a great way to bring livelihoods to rural areas, it is fraught with problems. Having seen many handicraft projects developed after the tsunami, and having been asked to advise on a handicraft…
Great resources for aid agencies and governing boards
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
Whether you are you in senior management of an aid agency or invited to sit on a nonprofit board, the following are some great resources to help you ensure that your charity is following good practices.
Size does matter when it comes to an aid agency’s governing board
Monday, September 14th, 2009
After 150 foundations lost money to Bernie Maddoff, with more than 80% of them losing 30 – 100% of their assets, research was conducted by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) to discover what lessons could…
