Weekend Link Roundup (March 31-April 1, 2018)

Our weekly roundup of noteworthy items from and about the social sector. For more links to great content, follow us on Twitter at @pndblog....

Arts and Culture

"Attaching a donor’s name to a building, courtyard, hallway, gallery or even a restroom in return for a significant contribution has been a growing practice since the 20th century, primarily influenced by the philanthropy culture of the [United States]." And today the practice is pervasive. But what does it mean to put a wealthy donor's name on a museum's door? Linda Sugin, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of law at Fordham Law School, explores the question.

In The Politic, Jack McCordick looks at how recent changes in the admission policies of New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art may be changing it's role as "a place of refuge, a sanctuary in a city that also pledges to be one.”

Congratulations to Thelma Golden, director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem; Agnes Gund, president emerita of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA); and sculptor Richard Serra, winners of this year's J. Paul Getty Medal.

Giving

Forbes Nonprofit Council member and Give.org president/CEO Art Taylor explains the benefits of spreading your giving efforts over the full calendar year.

We promise you'll enjoy this conversation between Marc Gunther and fundraising consultant (and DAF critic) Alan Cantor about whether giving is an affair of the head or the heart.

Inequality

Inequality won't solve itself. "Societies tend to become more unequal over time, unless there is concerted pushback," writes Sarah van Gelder in Yes! magazine. "Those who accumulate wealth — whether because of good fortune, hard work, talent, or ruthlessness — also accumulate power. And over time, the powerful find ways to shift the economic and political rules in their favor, affording them still more wealth and power...."

How much does luck have to do with the "logic and morality of inequality"? More than you think, argues Kaushik Basu, former chief economist at the World Bank, in an opinion piece on the Project Syndicate site.