Weekend Link Roundup (September 11 - 12, 2010)

Our weekly roundup of new and noteworthy posts from and about the nonprofit sector....

Current Affairs

Media coverage of the controversy surrounding the proposed Islamic community center and mosque in Lower Manhattan and the since-canceled Koran burning in Gainesville, Florida, "elevates a number of troubling issues that require urgent attention," writes the Buxton Initiative's J. Douglas Holladay on the Case Foundation blog. "Whether it be cable talk shows from both the left and the right or funders who demand ideological purity, [extreme thinking] is not good for America...."

Philanthropy

On the NonProfit Times blog, Mark Hrywna looks at the pros and cons of the Bill Gates/Warren Buffett-inspired Giving Pledge campaign.

On his Wise Philanthropy blog, Richard Marker shares some praise for and concerns about Crowdrise, an online fundraising portal launched by actor Edward Norton.

On their Philanthrocapitalism blog, Michael Green and The Economist's Matthew Bishop weigh in on the debate, sparked by a recent New Yorker profile of the billionaire Koch brothers, over "the influence of philanthropy in politics."

Visiting Mumbai last week, where he was in "close proximity to extreme poverty," GiveWell's Holden Karnofsky wondered which was the better course of action: giving money to the children who chase after him, walking deep into the city's slums and hading out cash at random, or donating to a local nonprofit. "Would you take any of these options," asks Karnofsky, "or just save the money for [your] annual gift?"

Tactical Philanthropy's Sean Stannard-Stockton explains why his confidence in charity:water, a nonprofit that works to bring safe drinking water to people in developing nations, rose after the organization used social media to report on its failed attempt to drill a well in the village of Moale, in the Central African Republic.

On her Philanthropy 2173 blog, Lucy Bernholz explains why she's adding charitywashing to her 2010 list of philanthropy buzzwords. In a subsequent post, Bernholz asks readers to describe what the ideal philanthropic funding enterprise would look like if it could be created from scratch with the forces reshaping the sector in mind.

Social Media

Guest blogging on the Chronicle of Philanthropy's Social Philanthropy blog, John Haydon, a Boston-based consultant and founder of the Web site Corporatedollar.org, shares some great tips about how nonprofits can use Facebook's new Places feature.

And guest blogging at Beth's Blog, Diabetes Hands Foundation president Manny Hernandez offers some advice to nonprofits thinking about setting up a Wikipedia page.

That's it for now. What did we miss? Drop us a line at rnm@foundationcenter.org. And have a great week!

(Photo credit: Mahbubur Rahman Photography)

-- Regina Mahone