Old school vs. new school

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011

Today’s guest post is from John Rougeux. John is working with a socially-oriented startup based in Lexington, KY and NYC that is seeking to improve the way people interact with charity. (They’re in “stealth mode” at the moment). He’s interested…

Media’s Impact on Aid

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

As everyone in the aid world knows, media coverage, charity advertising, and advocacy impact the types of aid projects that get funded and implemented. ALNAP recently opened a forum on media and disasters. I’d like to expand this…

Don’t Choose a Charity Based on Administration Costs

Friday, June 11th, 2010

Yesterday there was a flurry of twitter posts regarding the fact that charity: water advertises on their website:

100% of public donations directly fund water projects

The final outcome appears to be that charity: water uses other sources…

The importance of charity evaluations

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

I am out of the country right now on a contract with a nonprofit to evaluate their operations and provide practical feedback. Thus it seemed appropriate to repost this article on the importance of charities evaluating their work.

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Donor Education

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

I received an email from a philosopher recently with a link to his article An Appeal to Aid Specialists in which he makes a strong appeal to aid specialist to help non aid experts understand aid and make…

Why do Aid Bloggers get Snarky

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

I will admit to having an occasional snarky post and a few uber-snarky tweets that I usually end up regretting and deleting later (unfortunately now they’re immortalized in the Library of Congress). Yet in real life I’m not a particularly…

What aid workers think of the 1 Million Shirts campaign

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

Within the past few days there has been a torrent of blog posts and tweets about yet another organization shipping donated goods overseas. Donated goods are, in general, bad aid. I’ve written numerous posts on the problems with…

CDC Cautions Volunteers to Haiti

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

While researching which immunizations I might need before I head to Haiti for an upcoming consultancy, I was surprised to find the Center for Disease Control cautioning people against going to Haiti to volunteer. Here is what they…

Feedback on The Charity Rater

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

I want to thank everyone that took the time to provide feedback on The Charity Rater, your comments and insight are much appreciated. I’m still accepting feedback on the rating system throughout this week. I hope to make…

Good needs assessments are critical for good programs

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Needs assessments help determine if there is a need, what the need is, and if any other organizations are already working to meet that need. Without first conducting a needs assessment, funds could be wasted on the wrong type of…