The Cohen Report

The Cohen Report | July 15, 2010

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Last week in the Cohen Report I wrote about Obama's hidden hand of privatization. This week, in the last of a three-part series, I explore the implications of privatization on the nonprofit sector.

The Cohen Report | July 8, 2010

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Last week in the Cohen Report I wrote about the stalled effort of the Obama Administration to privatize public housing and the relative lack of reaction from housing advocates and others. This week, in the second of a three-part series, I explore Obama's hidden hand of privatization.

The Cohen Report | July 1, 2010

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 03:00:00 +0000

The HUD initiative to privatize public housing has recently been withdrawn by the Obama Administration. What? You missed it? You'd be forgiven if you did—there was very little said about the topic in the blogosphere or elsewhere. How could a major Obama Administration effort to privatize public housing have sneaked in without spurring much reaction from housing advocates and others?

Nonprofits, Transparency and Sunshine

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Last week was “Sunshine Week”, an effort led by the American Society of News Editors “to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information.” Sunshine Week started in Florida in 2002 when the press and the public mobilized to defeat state legislators’ attempts to create hundreds of exemptions from the state’s public records laws. But what about the intersection of government and nonprofits? When is a nonprofit organization like a public agency for the purposes of transparency?

Looking for Grants on International Corporate Philanthropy Day

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000

After corporate foundation CEOs rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, February 22, the indexes barely moved. No matter, ringing the bell is a show of negligible interest to nonprofits whose concern is not the photo-op, but the prospects for philanthropic grantmaking from corporations. So why the shows?

Crazed Commentary on Corvington Par for the Course

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000

The paranoia among conservatives about the ubiquitous tentacles of ACORN has reached the Corporation for National and Community Service. Matthew Vadum of the Capital Research Center, a Washington-based conservative think-tank on nonprofit and philanthropic issues, wrote a piece describing Patrick Corvington, the new CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, as a "friend of ACORN." To Vadum, Corvington is one more unrepentant, extremist left-winger appointed to a senior post by President Obama.

Stiglitz on the Economy: Messages for Nonprofits

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000

The Nonprofit Quarterly has frequently cited Nobel Laureate and former World Bank chief economist Joseph Stiglitz as the brightest of the practitioners of the dismal science. Insights from Stiglitz's new book about the current economic crisis, Freefall, will shake up many of us. In an interview with the UK's The Independent , Stiglitz is unsparing in his critique of banks, markets, and governments.

Saving Children: Helping or Exploiting in Haiti?

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By now, everyone has heard of the church group that was stopped and arrested by Haitian authorities and charged with abducting Haitian children. To the Haitians this was kidnapping. To the missionaries this was a humanitarian effort.

The Rooney Rule: NFL's Race Problem

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

It is embarrassing for the nonprofit sector to remain silent about the NFL’s sham policy known as the “Rooney Rule” that requires teams to interview at least one person of color before they can then proceed to hire the white man they intended to hire all along. This is an issue for nonprofits—because behind the entertainment of the games, the National Football League is a big time, very wealthy, high powered tax exempt organization.

Stimulating Responses to the Foreclosure Crisis

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

HUD's announcement on January 14^th of the second round of Neighborhood Stabilization Program grants for the acquisition and rehabilitation of foreclosed residential properties is strong evidence of the importance of nonprofits in the nation's economic recovery. In some cases, regional or national nonprofits got large sums for multi-city or multi-state work, sometimes in addition to their local affiliates getting funding through state or city grants.