Most of us who work in the nonprofit sector know about Idealist.org.  It’s the place where we go to post and find jobs in the sector.  It’s where we exchange ideas and materials and where we learn about new organizations offering innovative services.  What many of us don’t know, however, is that Idealist is provided free to us by a nonprofit organization called Action Without Borders.  Right now Idealist is in financial trouble due to the slow economy.  It’s traditional source of revenue—the small fees it charges other nonprofits to post jobs—can no longer support the wide range of services that Idealist offers.  We love Idealist and that’s why we are reproducing an appeal letter from Idealist ED Ami Dar here on our blog. 

read more >

Michael Edwards, a distinguished senior fellow at Demos and former Ford Foundation exec, has a brilliant opinion piece in the January 14 issue of Chronicle of Philanthropy on why philanthropy needs to change in order to make real progress in solving difficult social problems.  He also has a new book called Small Change: Why Business Won’t Save the World, soon to be reviewed here on the Make Waves website.  Meanwhile, you can read my review on Amazon.com of Michael’s earlier book, Just Another Emperor: The Myths and Realities of Philanthrocapitalism. (The photo of Michael Edwards is courtesy of Third Sector magazine.)

Here’s an excerpt from the Chronicle piece:

read more >