Joan Roberts Consulting

ADVOCACY

“Adding Punch to Influence Public Opinion.” By Michael Cieply. New York Times. July 25, 2010. THE Harmony Institute wants to change your mind — at the movies. In the last few weeks, a little-noticed nonprofit with big ideas about the persuasive power of movies and television shows quietly began an initiative aimed at getting filmmakers and others to use the insights and techniques of behavioral psychology in delivering social and political messages through their work. Harmony, based in New York, was organized by John S. Johnson III, a co-founder of the Buzzfeed.com viral media site and a descendant of a Johnson & Johnson founder, Robert Wood Johnson, and by Adam Wolfensohn, an investment banker who was a producer of the climate change documentary “Everything’s Cool.” It was a favorite at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007. In an interview, Mr. Johnson said the institute was born from his own perception that environmental and social messages in films and television shows were often ineffective. By contrast, he said, a popular adventure like “The Day After Tomorrow,” which wrapped its global warming message in a rip-roaring story, appeared to alter attitudes among young and undereducated audiences who would never see a preachy documentary.

“Citizens Unite Against ‘Citizens United’.” By Ari Berman. The Nation. July 29, 2010. A disturbing pattern has emerged repeatedly during Barack Obama’s turbulent tenure in Washington: no matter what piece of progressive-minded legislation gets introduced, powerful corporate interests find a way either to kill the bill or thwart the provisions our gilded class finds most onerous. Sometimes they succeed completely (the Employee Free Choice Act); other times they score partial victories (healthcare reform). But those with the most money rarely lose outright. And then came the Supreme Court’s January 21 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which greenlights unlimited corporate spending in federal elections and grants corporations the same free-speech rights as individuals, severely impairing our already dilapidated democracy. The Court’s ruling prompted immediate despair among progressive activists. “This decision will warp our democracy forever if we let it do so,” says New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. No longer could the festering issue of corporate involvement in electoral and legislative politics be ignored or simply remain the province of “good government” activists. Starting in May, MoveOn organized more than 150 community forums across the country and consulted with experts in the public policy, netroots and legal communities to craft a progressive response to Citizens United. In late June MoveOn members overwhelmingly approved a three-part “Fight Washington Corruption” pledge calling for (1) overturning the Court’s decision through an amendment to the Constitution; (2) passing the Fair Elections Now Act in Congress, which incentivizes candidates to collect small donations by offering competitive public matching funds; and (3) enacting tough new laws cracking down on the revolving door between government officials and lobbyists. A diverse coalition of advocacy groups, including the SEIU, Democracy for America (DFA), People for the American Way and The Nation signed on as co-sponsors. MoveOn called it “our most ambitious campaign ever.”

“Billionaire bankrolls Obama rebels; A billionaire New York tycoon has emerged as a key backer of the Tea Party, the grassroots movement harassing Barack Obama.” By Tony Allen-Mills. Times of London. August 1, 2010. David Koch’s wealth is estimated at £11 billion. He is best known to New Yorkers as the 6ft 5in ballet-loving billionaire who bought the sumptuous Fifth Avenue flat owned by the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Yet David Koch, routinely described as the second richest man in New York after Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is quickly becoming known for a very different form of extravagance since his emergence as one of the principal financial backers of the conservative Tea Party movement that is shaking up American politics ahead of this autumn’s mid-term elections. Koch’s political foundation, called Americans for Prosperity (AFP), has played a prominent role organising national rallies against President Barack Obama’s tax policies. Koch has publicly opposed the Democratic president’s healthcare reforms, climate change proposals and attempts to regulate financial markets. Koch’s involvement has provoked mocking claims from Democratic critics that a movement purporting to represent ordinary Americans may be turning into a billionaire’s plaything.

ARTS & CULTURE

“Portland’s major performing arts groups cut budgets to stay in the black.” By David Stabler. Oregonian. July 25, 2010. The Department of Lowered Expectations announced today that four of Portland’s five major performing arts groups ended the 2010 fiscal year in the black by shrinking their budgets. Cuts in salaries and a range of other expenses kept the Oregon Symphony, Portland Opera, Portland Center Stage and Oregon Ballet Theatre out of trouble in the wake of the recession. The fifth group, White Bird Dance, increased its budget slightly and ended with a deficit of $6,000. What the numbers mean is that, like families with fewer dollars to spend, arts groups are finding ways to live within their means.

“Botanical Gardens Are Turning Away From Flowers.” By Judith H. Dobrzynski. New York Times. July 26, 2010. For the last quarter century, the Cleveland Botanical Garden went all out for its biennial Flower Show, the largest outdoor garden show in North America. With themed gardens harking back to the Roman empire, or an 18th-century English estate, the event would draw 25,000 to 30,000 visitors. But in 2009, the Flower Show was postponed and then abandoned when the botanical garden could not find sponsors. This year, the garden has different plans. Instead, it is inaugurating the “RIPE! Food & Garden Festival,” which celebrates the trend of locally grown food — and is supported in part by the Cleveland Clinic and Heinen’s, a supermarket chain. “The Flower Show may come back someday, but it’s not where people are these days,” says Natalie Ronayne, the garden’s executive director. “Food is an easier sell.” So it is across the country. Botanical gardens are experiencing an identity crisis, with chrysanthemum contests, horticultural lectures and garden-club ladies, once their main constituency, going the way of manual lawn mowers. Among the long-term factors diminishing their traditional appeal are fewer women at home and less interest in flower-gardening among younger fickle, multitasking generations. Forced to rethink and rebrand, gardens are appealing to visitors’ interests in nature, sustainability, cooking, health, family and the arts. Some are emphasizing their social role, erecting model green buildings, promoting wellness and staying open at night so people can mingle over cocktails.

“The Joyce Ponders New Sites.” By Robin Pogrebin. New York Times. July 27, 2010. The Joyce Theater, the pre-eminent presenter of dance in downtown Manhattan, is facing an uncertain future. With the expiration of its lease in Chelsea approaching and a promised move to ground zero still remote, the group has been forced to consider alternative sites where it might have to move after 35 years on Eighth Avenue. “The timing is so difficult because we can’t really tell when we’ll be there,” Linda Shelton, the theater’s executive director, said of the World Trade Center site. “As it gets closer to 2016, the timing downtown becomes more important to us.” The Joyce’s 35-year lease in Chelsea expires in 2016, and theater officials say the landlord is seeking to charge them nearly market rent for the space, which they now lease for $1 a year and a commitment to maintain the building. The Joyce Theater Foundation, which presents dance, had planned to continue operating at its 500-seat Chelsea space even after expanding into a new 1,000-seat theater at ground zero. (It also has a 74-seat space in SoHo). But now Joyce officials are compelled to make contingency plans because there has been little progress downtown, where the most optimistic forecast would have construction begin in 2014.

“Another Big Gift for Yale Theater.” By Patricia Cohen. New York Times. July 29, 2010. Yale Repertory Theater is on a fund-raising hot streak. After announcing last week that it had received a $950,000 donation from the Robina Foundation, the theater said on Tuesday that it had received $1 million from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation aimed at supporting new commissions and productions through the Yale Center for New Theater. Steven Padla, a theater spokesman, noted that “Yale commissions fewer artists, but pays them more and also provides the developmental support and resources that the artists themselves believe will be most beneficial to their individual creative processes.” One project already commissioned, a new musical by Adam Bock and Todd Almond based on the Shirley Jackson novel “We Have Always Lived in the Castle,” is to begin rehearsals soon and have its premiere in September. The Yale Center for New Theater was established in 2008 with a grant from the Robina Foundation.

“Cherry Lane Says Stage to Darken Over Deficit.” By Felicia R. Lee. New York Times. July 29, 2010. The Cherry Lane Theater will not produce plays on its main stage for a year beginning in September, and possibly longer, to buy time to cope with a deficit of roughly $167,000 through the 2010 fiscal year. The nonprofit Cherry Lane, a Greenwich Village institution since 1924, attributed the shortfall to a 40 percent drop in income from government and foundation support, ticket sales and rental fees. The theater has a 179-seat main stage and a 60-seat studio. It has been managed by the Cherry Lane Alternative, a resident theater company that mounts one or two main stage productions annually, filling the theaters for about 12 weeks a year. For the rest of the time the Cherry Lane rents the spaces to other nonprofits, including StageFARM and the New York International Fringe Festival, as well as commercial companies. While the main stage will not showcase any homegrown projects for at least a year, it and the studio will be available for rent. Despite the theater’s fabled past — it was started by a group of artists who were colleagues of Edna St. Vincent Millay and has showcased work by Edward Albee, Sam Shepard and Samuel Beckett — it has struggled in recent years to keep a firm financial footing. In one three-year period there were five development directors, Ms. Fiordellisi said.

“National Opera Considers Merger.” By Erica Orden. Wall Street Journal. July 30, 2010. The Washington National Opera, facing financial challenges and questions about its future, is exploring a merger with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The arrangement under consideration would mimic the Kennedy Center’s relationship with the National Symphony Orchestra, the person said. The center would assume the opera’s assets and liabilities, and the opera would cede to the center approval on artistic and budgetary matters. Amid the economic downturn, opera companies around the country have taken drastic steps to offset tepid donations and losses to their endowments. Between late 2008 and early 2009, New York City Opera raided its endowment for a total of $23.5 million. Also in New York, the Metropolitan Opera used its famed Marc Chagall murals as partial collateral on a loan and asked some of its biggest donors to lift restrictions on their endowment gifts. The National Opera has managed three consecutive balanced budgets, but it has a debt of $11 million. Its total assets in 2009 fell 16%, more than $7 million from the previous year. To cut costs, the company has laid off several staff members, including its executive director, who was hired in 2008 to help remedy its fiscal woes, and reduced its season to five productions from an average of seven. The Kennedy Center also forgave $1 million of debt in rent owed by the opera for its 2008-09 season.

CIVIL SOCIETY

“Neighborly Lending In The Digital Age.” By Alex Cohen. Morning Edition/National Public Radio. July 27, 2010. In these difficult economic times, many Americans are wary of buying items they’ll use just once or twice and then store in the garage. But for those times you really need a hedge clipper, bread maker or camping stove, there’s a social networking site called NeighborGoods.net. The site is an inventory of items users are willing to lend. The site started locally in Los Angeles, but now has users nationwide sharing $1 million worth of goods. Though users can charge deposit or rental fees, most people are happy to lend for free, just to take pleasure in helping a neighbor out. When you borrow something, NeighborGoods will send an e-mail congratulating you on saving, for example, $200 on that electric lawnmower. They’ll also ask you to contribute 5 percent of that amount back to the site to help keep it running.

CORPORATE PHILANTHROPY & RESPONSIBILITY

“Citigroup to Fund Housing Projects.” By Craig Karmin. Wall Street Journal. July 28, 2010. Citigroup is bankrolling a $100 million fund to invest in low- and moderate-income housing in New York City, a move drawing cautious support from housing advocates critical of other private investments in affordable housing. The fund will focus on properties in the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Upper Manhattan, said Ron Moelis, chief executive officer of L+M Development Partners, a New York firm that specializes in affordable housing and will manage the fund developed by Citigroup. He plans to invest primarily in buildings created for low-income tenants, including rent-stabilized buildings that are being foreclosed or in danger of foreclosure. “There are probably hundreds of properties in New York that meet our criteria,” Mr. Moelis said. “We’ll look to make 15 to 20 investments over the next few years.” The Citizens Housing and Planning Council, a nonprofit housing and planning research association, says about 100,000 rent-stabilized units in New York City are in heavily indebted buildings. The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development says that about 4,000 of those units are in buildings in poor physical condition. “It’s a distressed-asset fund first,” the executive director at the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development said. “Let’s see if it’s able to help the city’s goal in preserving affordable housing.”

DISABILITIES

“Looking Back On 20 Years Of Disability Rights.” Morning Edition/National Public Radio. July 26, 2010. On July 26, 1990, the ADA became law. It didn’t guarantee the disabled jobs, but it addressed the differences between essential and nonessential job tasks. It identified a “reasonable accommodation” from an “undue hardship” — a critical distinction for employers and public places alike. It recognized the injustices millions of us were confronting, it provided not just legal recourse, but validation and hope. Now, the ADA’s impact is everywhere: wheelchair lifts on city buses, signs in Braille, sign-language interpreters. Many young disabled people are growing up with a marvelous sense of belonging, entitlement and pride that earlier generations never had.
Related stories:
“Americans with Disabilities Act turns 20.” USA Today. July 26, 2010.
“Americans with Disabilities Did the Impossible.” The Nation. July 27, 2010.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-veteran-entrepreneurs-20100726,0,1497118.story
“Disabled veterans can follow their dream of entrepreneurship; Six universities nationwide, including UCLA, offer all-expenses-paid boot camps for former soldiers hoping to adapt their military skills into running businesses.” By Alexandra Zavis. Los Angles Times. July 26, 2010. With jobs hard to find, starting a business can be an attractive option for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with debilitating injuries. Hundreds apply every year for the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities, which is offered at six universities nationwide. The all-expenses-paid program, funded by contributions from the business community, was founded by J. Michael Haynie, who served 14 years in the Air Force before joining the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University as an assistant professor of entrepreneurship. “If we know anything from history, for veterans with disabilities the path to traditional employment is a challenge,” Haynie said. Program participants say becoming entrepreneurs allows them to craft careers suited to their skills and limitations. Besides dealing with physical issues, many disabled veterans require care that can be difficult to fit into a traditional workweek. Haynie said the military cultivates many attributes of successful entrepreneurs, including the ability to assess risk, overcome obstacles, build teams and manage significant resources.

EDUCATION

CHARTER SCHOOLS

“Board seeks to shutter failing charter schools.” By Jill Tucker. San Francisco Chronicle. July 30, 2010. Failing charter schools across California could be shut down by the state Board of Education under a major policy shift aimed at ensuring that the alternative public schools fulfill their role as models of academic innovation. Dozens of the state’s 850 or so charter schools, which have significant freedom outside the state Education Code, fall among the lowest-performing schools on standardized tests. The Board of Education is expected to finalize the new rules in September after a period of public comment this month. The regulations would require the board to vote on the fate of struggling charters each spring, deciding which underachieving schools should be closed at the end of the academic year and which ones should be forced to jump through hoops to improve.

FOR-PROFIT SCHOOLS

“Who Profits? Who Learns?” New York Times. Editorial. July 28, 2010. Enrollment at for-profit colleges and trade schools has tripled in the last decade to about 1.8 million, or nearly 10 percent of the nation’s higher education students. These schools, partly because they serve poorer students who need more support, receive almost a quarter of the federal aid. This year, federal financing for financial aid is expected to total $145 billion. Some for-profits provide an important service for students who don’t qualify academically for traditional colleges. Too many have been cited for enrolling students who have no chance of graduating and tossing them out once that flow of aid is exhausted. The Obama administration is right to tighten the operating rules for these for-profit schools and right to press states to vigilantly monitor them. The need for these changes was underscored last month when Kathleen Tighe, the inspector general for the Department of Education, told Congress that 70 percent of her department’s higher education fraud investigations were focused on for-profit schools.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

“Education Contest Yields 18 Finalists.” By Stephanie Banchero. Wall Street Journal. July 28, 2010. The Obama administration on Tuesday named 18 states and the District of Columbia as finalists in the race for federal money to help overhaul troubled schools. Thirty-five states and the district applied for part of the $3.4 billion available under the Race to the Top competition. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the finalists during a speech Tuesday at the National Press Club, where he called the competition part of a “quiet revolution” sweeping America to transform public education. The program “has unleashed an avalanche of pent-up education-reform activity,” Mr. Duncan said. “It is absolutely stunning to see how much change has happened at the state and local level.” Race to the Top, the centerpiece of Mr. Duncan’s efforts to push innovation, aims to reward states that promote charter schools—public schools run by non-government entities—tie teacher evaluation to student performance and adopt rigorous learning standards. Since it was rolled out last year, the competition has won support from education reformers and enjoyed bipartisan support. But in the last few weeks it has come under intense scrutiny.
Related stories:
“State Edges Closer to Race-to-the-Top Funding.” Wall Street Journal. July 28, 2010.
“‘Race To The Top’ Successfully Incentivizes Reform, Secretary Of Education Claims.” All Things Considered/National Public Radio. July 28, 2010.

FUNDRAISING

“Cantor CEO Tries on Shoe Sector.” By Elizabeth Fasolino. Wall Street Journal. August 1, 2010. At the Bridgehampton estate of Howard Lutnick and his wife, Allison, Thursday, it seemed that the Cantor Fitzgerald CEO had gone into the shoe business. He had allowed the house, which features pony-skin carpeting and overlooks a lawn the size of several football fields, to be transformed for the evening into a Jimmy Choo showroom for a sale to benefit the families of the 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees who died on 9/11. (The evening also launched Jimmy Choo’s 24:7 boots.) An invitation announced that 10 percent of sales would go to the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund, but Mr. Lutnick had since renegotiated the terms. “Jimmy Choo has now agreed to donate 20 percent,” he said. “And Allison and I will match that.”

HEALTH CARE

“El Camino Hospital freezes executive salaries, faces $7.91 million loss.” By Diana Samuels. San Jose Mercury-News. July 26, 2010. With their hospital facing a $7.91 million loss so far this year, executives at Mountain View’s El Camino Hospital aren’t getting raises. The compensation committee of the hospital’s board of directors voted last week to forego raises for all of the executives for fiscal year 2010-11, officials said. Last year, they received raises averaging 4.7 percent. “When we have year-to-date operating losses, we as a leadership team felt it was appropriate to just stay the course in regards to the salaries and not request any increases,” said Chris Ernst, senior director of corporate communications. As of May, the hospital was running a $7.91 million deficit, according to hospital financial reports. Employee wages were $6.7 million over budget and the hospital had $8.7 million in “bad debt” — services the hospital provided but did not get paid for. The hospital’s board is expected to discuss official end-of-the-year financial results at a meeting next month.

“New coalition fears for Caritas’s Catholic identity.” By Bonnie Kavoussi. Boston Globe. July 28, 2010. A newly formed group opposed to the proposed sale of Caritas Christi Health Care to a New York private equity firm wants the hospital chain to keep operating independently or merge with another Catholic health care provider. At a press conference yesterday, members of the Coalition to Save Catholic Health Care said the six-hospital nonprofit Caritas could eventually lose its Catholic identity if bought by Cerberus Capital Management. “People want to go to Catholic hospitals, to Christian hospitals,’’ said John O’Gorman, a member of the coalition. “You’re cutting down patients’ choice.’’ The coalition includes four Catholic or antiabortion organizations: ProLife Massachusetts, based in Medfield; Concerned Roman Catholics of America Inc., based in Anaheim, Calif.; Life Issues Institute Inc. of Cincinnati; and the Pro-Life Action League in Chicago, according to R.T. Neary, chairman and founder of the new group. Under terms of the deal, which still needs approval from the state Department of Public Health, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, Cerberus would not sell the hospitals for at least three years. But if Cerberus deems it is materially burdensome to maintain a Catholic identity, it can terminate the religious affiliation by making a $25 million payment to a charity of the Archdiocese of Boston’s choosing. If that happens, critics of the deal said yesterday, procedures such as abortions could one day be performed at the hospitals.

HUMAN SERVICES

“‘Villages’ let elderly grow old at home.” By Haya El Nasser. USA Today. July 26, 2010. is fueling a grass-roots “village” movement in neighborhoods across the country to help people age in their own homes. More than 50 villages in a neighbor-helping-neighbor system have sprouted in the past decade from California and Colorado to Nebraska and Massachusetts. They are run largely by volunteers and funded by grants and membership fees to provide services from transportation and grocery delivery to home repairs and dog walking. Most villages have opened in the past couple of years, an indication that the momentum is growing in the face of a demographic tsunami: The number of Americans 65 and older is expected to more than double to 89 million by 2050, according to the Census Bureau. The oldest of 79 million Baby Boomers turn 65 next year, a turning point that will begin to put pressure on social services, retirement homes and assisted-living facilities. The “village” concept is taking off in small and big cities and suburbs across the country as the percentage of elderly rises while the share of the working-age population that supports them
declines.

INTERNATIONAL

GENERAL

“Q&A-”NGOs Are Here to Stay“; Aprille Muscara interviews Sam Worthington, president and CEO of InterAction. Interpress Service (IPS). July 27, 2010. – InterAction is the largest alliance of U.S.-based NGOs, with over 190 members. Its head, Sam Worthington, spoke recently with IPS about the role of NGOs in Haiti, the U.S. and throughout the world.

AUSTRALIA

“Push for private schools to reveal all income.” By Heath Gilmore. Sydney Morning Herald. July 29, 2010. THE wealthiest private schools in Australia should disclose income generated from trusts and donations as well as what assets and capital they have on an updated My School website, a leading union has demanded. Angelo Gavrielatos, the Australian Education Union president, said he wanted the website to publish all current and potential income available to both public and private schools, including private donations and property and financial investments. He said the total resources at a school’s disposal should be known to the wider public, despite a push against publishing this information by the private education sector. The Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority is investigating the addition of the financial data to the updated My School website and a range of other proposals, including the measurement of a school’s ability to add value to a child’s learning. The independent auditing company Deloitte is working with state jurisdictions to make the financial data available, examining government funding, school fees, charges and other sources of revenue. ”This is a key issue, that the public knows the total resources available to a school, including income, capital and assets,” said Mr Gavrielatos, a member of the My School website working party, established by the then education minister, and now Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.

CATHOLIC ABUSE SCANDAL

“Bishops urged to challenge Vatican over response to sex abuse; Victim support campaigner says Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales must ‘name truth of past failures’.” By Riazat Butt. Guardian (UK). July 27, 2010. Catholic bishops in England and Wales must challenge the Vatican over its handling of clerical sex abuse if they are to be a “real force for change and justice”, according to a leading human rights campaigner. Colm O’Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International Ireland and founder of the victim support group One in Four, said it was up to the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales to “name the truth of past failures and wilful negligence” in the Vatican’s response to survivors of abuse and paedophile priests. He made the comments as the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission, set up by the church in England and Wales 2008, published its annual report. It said the Vatican and the British government had “singled out” the NCSC for its approach to child protection but that there was no room for complacency. It also said there would be more attention on those who had been affected by abuse. “Recent events concerning inquiry reports in Ireland and allegations in Europe have caused distress to many. This has further emphasised the need to improve the way we respond to survivors.”
Related story:
“Pittsburgh Diocese is sued after abuse accuser’s suicide.” Boston Globe/ Associated Press. July 30, 2010.

CHILE

“Chile Rejects Church Call to Pardon Officials.” By Alexei Barrioneuvo. New York Times. July 25, 2010. Sebastián Piñera, Chile’s president, abruptly rejected calls on Sunday from the Roman Catholic Church to pardon dozens of imprisoned military officials convicted of human rights violations during the era known as Chile’s dirty war. Mr. Piñera, Chile’s first right-wing leader since the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet ended two decades ago, had promised during his campaign last year to crack down on crime and have a “zero tolerance” policy toward criminal offenders. On Sunday he put an end to months of mounting pressure from the Catholic Church and some in the country’s right-wing establishment to make a grand healing gesture to the country by issuing sweeping pardons. “While we value the debate generated by these proposals, we cannot ignore that they continue to produce a climate of tension and division in Chilean society that many times reopens the old wounds and bitterness of the past,” Mr. Piñera said in a televised address from the presidential palace in Santiago. Standing up to Chile’s Catholic Church was seen as a bold move, considering the church’s well-acknowledged role in challenging the military dictatorship of General Pinochet and in harboring many human rights victims and people sought by the military. But the church’s reputation has been tarnished recently by revelations of sexual abuse by priests in Chile.

HAITI

“HAITI: Patchwork of Aid Groups Coming into Focus.” By Aprille Muscara. Interpress Service (IPS). July 26, 2010. – Half a year ago, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from around the globe flocked to Haiti to help pick up the pieces after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake shattered the fragile Caribbean nation. Many have since left, but hundreds remain, as does the logistical challenge of their coordination. At the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Summit at the beginning of this month, outgoing CARICOM Chair and Prime Minister of Dominica Roosevelt Skerritt criticised the NGOs in Haiti for lacking a “level of order” and “basically doing what they want”. Ed Joseph, director of the NGO Coordination Support Office (CSO) at the U.N. Logistics Base in Port-Au-Prince, dismisses these kinds of assertions. “The claim that there exists a lack of coordination is a very mundane criticism, a sort of tiresome cliché that doesn’t hold up to investigation,” Joseph told IPS. While it is agreed that coordination is important – in order, for example, to prevent the duplication of services and to help ensure no one falls through the cracks – as Skerritt’s comments reveal, the question of whether coordination exists remains disputed, despite what Joseph calls “practical and demonstrable results”. The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) report launched Jul. 15 on the response to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti noted this “perception of a coordination deficit” at the outset of relief efforts, but stated that since then, “huge” advances had been made to strengthen coordination between aid groups.

UK

“Private university approved by Government.” By Mary Bowers. Times of London. July 26 2010. The first institution in 34 years to be given “private university” status has been approved by the Government, as the Universities Minister called for more private universities to open. The law and accountancy college BPP, whose head office is in West London, has been given “university college” status. David Willetts has said he wants more private institutions to ease pressure on the growing number of students fighting for a place in higher education establishments.

“More expensive schools are less ‘charitable’ with bursaries, finds study.” By Nicola Woolcock. Times of London. July 26 2010. Independent schools that charge lower fees are more generous with bursaries than their well-off rivals, research suggests today. A report published by the Sutton Trust, a charity that tries to address educational inequality, found that, while schools charging higher fees offered more in the way of remissions, they gave a smaller proportion of these in the form of bursaries, which are used to attract or subsidise low-income families. Faith schools also gave a smaller proportion of their spending on bursaries. The study coincides with pressure from the Charity Commission that has forced many fee-charging schools to spend more money on bursaries for children from poor backgrounds, rather than on scholarships for bright pupils. The commission wants schools to prove their public benefit, to justify their continued receipt of charitable tax breaks worth about £100 million a year. The study, by the Institute for Education Policy Research at Staffordshire University, analysed the websites and accounts of 348 schools. It found that the more prestigious schools, some of which charge about £30,000-a-year per pupil, tended to devote a lower proportion of their income to subsidising fees. Using The Times league table, researchers found that a school ranked between 1 and 70 spent an average 4.3 per cent of its income on financial aid, compared with 7.2 per cent for one listed between 211 and 280.
Related story:
“Richest schools give least of their income to bursaries; Top private schools devote less than 5% of their fees income to helping poor children get a place there.” Guardian (UK). July 26, 2010.

“Gap between the health of rich and poor widest since records began; The economic downturn has had an adverse effect on people’s health.” By David Rose. Times of London. July 23 2010. The gap between the health of the rich and the poor is greater now than at any time since records began, a study shows today. Government initiatives over the past few decades have done little or nothing to close the gap between the life expectancy of poor people compared with those who are wealthy. A review of deaths between 1921 and 2007 shows that inequality between the rich and poor areas of the country is increasing, especially in relation to deaths before the age of 65. Writing in the British Medical Journal today, researchers from the University of Sheffield and Bristol say: “The last time in the long economic record that inequalities were almost as high was in the lead-up to the economic crash of 1929 and the economic depression of the 1930s.” People in the most deprived areas are much more likely to die younger than those in the richest, and things are no better than during the economic depression of the 1930s, the study found. They warned that things could become even worse, with the economic downturn of the past couple of years impacting on the health of Britain’s poorest.

“One by one, the quangos are abolished. But at what cost?” By Nigel Morris. Independent (UK). July 27, 2010. David Cameron vowed in opposition to rein in Britain’s quango state in an attack on a bloated public sector. His threatened cull of taxpayer-funded organisations yesterday became reality for thousands of workers as the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, announced that half of the “arms-length bodies” run by his department were to be abolished. The move to scrap such quangos as the Health Protection Agency provoked anger among nurses and doctors’ organisations, which warned that public wellbeing would suffer as a result. Across Whitehall, Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, was facing a backlash from the arts community as he brought the curtain down on the UK Film Council. To date, the Government has axed at least 80 quangos and warned many others that they faced mergers or deep cuts. In many cases their work will be transferred to Whitehall departments. Many more are to suffer the same fate as ministers desperately hunt for savings of at least 25 per cent in their departmental budgets. One senior government source said last night: “There will be further announcements. We believe that plenty of low-hanging fruit remains.”
Related story:
“Cull of quangos to save £180m in health sector; Health Protection Agency among high profile casualities in shakeup aiming to cut bureaucracy.” Guardian (UK). July 26, 2010.

“Charity backed by ministers broke rules on political links.” By David Brown. Times of London. July 27 2010. Four senior Cabinet members are advisers of a campaign criticised last night for breaching charity rules that ban political activity. The Atlantic Bridge has been ordered to “cease its activities” in promoting the “special relationship” between Britain and the United States because of its close links to the Conservative Party. The group was founded in 1997 by Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary. A list of fellow members of its advisory council includes George Osborne, the Chancellor; William Hague, the Foreign Secretary; and Michael Gove, the Education Secretary. The ministers Chris Grayling and Lord Astor of Hever and the Tory MPs John Whittingdale and Eleanor Laing are also listed alongside five Republican congressmen. Baroness Thatcher, the charity’s patron, endowed it with a medal and an annual lecture in her name. An 11-month investigation by the Charities Commission has found that The Atlantic Bridge Education & Research Scheme was “promoting a political policy which is closely associated with the Conservative Party”. The commission said that the charity had placed considerable emphasis on the “special relationship”, as exemplified during the period when Baroness Thatcher and President Reagan were in office. It said that promoting the viewpoints of the two former leaders would not generally be accepted by members of the public as being uncontroversial so could “not be accepted as advancing education under charity law.”

“A saintly Benedict needs to make the Church look beyond its walls; Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain in September has the potential to cause problems for the security services and the Catholic Church with some kind of arrest stunt or other confrontation.” By Ruth Gledhill. Times of London. July 28 2010. While the clamour for justice for victims of paedophile priests and for equality for women grows in the outside world, there remains within the walls of the Vatican a State in considerable denial. When the Berlusconi-owned conservative magazine Panorama ran an exposé last week of the alleged nightclub frolics of priests of the Rome diocese, the response from the Vatican was that this was nothing more than a sensationalist summer story intended to wake up Italians as they snoozed under their beach umbrellas. The response was an indication of how out of touch the Holy See still is with the problems of perception the Roman Catholic Church and this Pope face in the wider world. And it presents a potential crisis for Britain and the Church as preparations continue for Benedict XVI’s four-day visit in September.

“‘Rich, thick kids’ achieve much more than poor clever ones, says Gove; Education secretary tells MPs he had to act fast on academies because of huge gap in attainment.” By Jessica Shepherd. Guardian (UK). July 28, 2010. Inequality in Britain is so entrenched that “rich, thick kids” achieve more than their “poor, clever” peers even before they start school, the education secretary said today. Michael Gove told MPs on the cross-party Commons education committee that a “yawning gap” had formed between the attainment of poor children and their richer peers. Gove has come under criticism for using parliamentary procedures usually reserved for national emergencies to rush through his academies bill. The bill, which became law today, will pave the way for hundreds more schools to opt out of local authority control and become academies. Gove told MPs he had needed to act fast because the attainment gap was “a problem we can’t work on quickly enough”. “We are falling behind … other countries are moving faster ahead,” he said. “Rich, thick kids do better than poor, clever children before they go to school. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of our society, the situation is getting worse.” The academies legislation will allow parents, teachers and charities to set up their own Swedish-style “free schools”.
Related story:
“Blow for academies policy as only 153 schools apply.” Independent (UK). July 30, 2010.
“Michael Gove’s academy plan under fire as scale of demand emerges; Only 153 schools apply to become academies – despite education secretary’s claims that more than 1,000 had done so.” Guardian (UK). July 29, 2010.
“Michael Gove accused of exaggerating interest in free schools; Education secretary under fire after it emerges there have been just 62 applications for free schools, less than a tenth of the number he said had shown interest.” The Observer/Guardian (UK). August 1, 2010.

“Does the Big Society exist? Yes (but only in Windsor); Tanya Gold searching for David Cameron in London.” By Tanya Gold. Times of London. July 31 2010. The Prime Minister wants us all to pitch in and make a difference, but how? With difficulty. What are you doing this weekend? Are you joining the Big Society? Or, despite the Big Babble, do you even know what it is? Is it a Big Con designed to plug Big Cuts, or a Big Wheeze, to free us from the tyranny of Big Government? I watch the Big Speech that launched it, seeking enlightenment. “The Big Society,” the Prime Minister said, “is about a huge culture change where people in their everyday lives . … don’t always turn to officials, local authorities or central government for answers to the problems they face.” More detail, mostly anecdotal, has leaked out about how we can empower ourselves. Citizens, including Toby Young, the author of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, might establish libraries, schools and bus routes. A random man has painted some benches and asked for nothing in return. It seems that Britain might become a paradise of communal living, full of women planting flowers on roundabouts. If we can live on nothing, the Big Society seems to suggest, we can live on love. We can fill the potholes with love. So how do we join it?

“Squeezed universities restrict gap years due to growing demand; Top universities will no longer hold places for 12 months, as competition for spots leaves 200,000 without a place to study.” By Jack Grimston. Times of London. August 1, 2010. Some universities will hold a place only for those with a definitive gap year action plan (sto)Some universities will hold a place only for those with a definitive gap year action plan (STO) Leading universities are vetoing gap years or capping the numbers of students they allow to take a year off to avoid worsening a squeeze on places in 2011. At some institutions, including Bath and St Andrews, school-leavers applying for some subjects are being told they cannot expect to have a place held open for them for 12 months. Exeter has imposed a 10% cap on candidates permitted to defer entry because they do not want to fill too many places in advance. For many teenagers intending to go to university, travelling around the world, working to save for their studies or volunteering for a year has become a rite of passage. Many universities have now decided, however, that it is unfair on other applicants if places are kept open at a time of unprecedented competition for entry, with a further surge expected in 2011.

LAW & PUBLIC POLICY

“In Islamic Center Fight, Lessons in Prepositions and Fear-Mongering.” By Clyde Haberman. New York Times. July 26, 2010. Rick A. Lazio, a former Republican congressman trying to become New York’s next governor, wants the state’s attorney general to investigate the finances of a planned Islamic community center on Park Place, two blocks from the World Trade Center site. Mr. Lazio needed a voter-rousing issue that conceivably might put Mr. Cuomo on the spot. He found it in the controversial Islamic center. Purely from a political vantage, it was not a bad choice. Fear, even if subtly hinted, almost never strikes out — not in American politics, anyway. For now, there is no reason to assume that the imam behind the project, Feisal Abdul Rauf, has enough finances worth investigating. Mr. Cuomo has shown no interest. Still, it probably wouldn’t be the worst idea ever if the imam were to open his books so everyone could see how the money will be raised for a building with a $100 million price tag.

“Agency Agrees to Pay City Over $120 Million by 2014.” By Javier C. Hernandez. New York Times. July 26, 2010. Bowing to pressure from auditors, the organization that oversees economic development in New York City has agreed to hand over more than $20 million in rental payments each year to the city. The group, the Economic Development Corporation, had previously resisted giving up the money, which it earns by leasing space in Times Square. But after Comptroller John C. Liu released a stinging audit of the corporation’s financial methods in April, officials re-examined the practice. In explaining the reversal, the corporation said it was responding to Mr. Liu’s report — one of the first major salvos of his tenure as comptroller — as well as the dire economic circumstances facing the city. Under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, the Economic Development Corporation has emerged as one of the city’s most powerful agencies. It is a nonprofit group that contracts with the city to manage a variety of projects in places like Coney Island and Willets Point, Queens. It earns most of its money by selling and renting property for the city. Its president is appointed by the mayor.
According to budget documents, the corporation will contribute $20.3 million in rental payments from the Times Square project to the city this fiscal year, $27.7 million in 2012, $32.5 million in 2013, and $39.9 million in 2014.

“Lawmakers Seeking Cuts Look at Nonprofit Salaries.” By Stephanie Strom. New York Times. July 26, 2010. State and federal officials are starting to take their knives to the pay of leaders of nonprofit groups they do business with to help share the pain of tighter budgets. A provision in New Jersey’s recently passed budget, for example, includes a limit on what nonprofit groups can pay their chief executives if they are providing social services under state contracts. The cap, based on a formula that also applies to for-profits providing such services on behalf of the state, is part of a broader effort by Gov. Chris Christie to rein in salaries on state workers. In New Hampshire, Attorney General Michael A. Delaney is investigating compensation among nonprofit hospital executives. And Vermont legislators are trying various ways of curbing salaries paid by nonprofit groups that have contracts with the state. On Capitol Hill, four senators this spring refused to approve a $425 million package of federal grants for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America after staff members looked at the organization’s tax forms as part of a routine vetting process and were surprised to learn that the organization paid its chief executive almost $1 million in 2008 — $510,774 in salary and bonus and $477,817 in retirement and other benefits. Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, has told Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner that he is concerned that the Internal Revenue Service is not tough enough in policing pay in the nonprofit sector and that regulations governing compensation are too weak. Mr. Grassley, who has used his seat on the Finance Committee to scrutinize a wide variety of nonprofit practices, noted that pay had been a “major issue” in his reviews over the last several years of universities, charitable hospitals and the Smithsonian Institution.

LEADERSHIP

“Former Mercury News editor named CEO of National Audubon Society.” By Paul Rogers. San Jose Mercury-News. July 29, 2010. David Yarnold, the former executive editor and editorial pages editor of the San Jose Mercury News, on Thursday was named president and CEO of the National Audubon Society. Founded in 1905 and based in New York City, the National Audubon Society is one of America’s most prominent conservation groups, with an annual budget of $86 million last year and more than 500 chapters. “David brings proven leadership in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors to Audubon at a time when efforts to protect birds, habitats and the resources that sustain us are needed more than ever,” said Holt Thrasher, chairman of Audubon’s board of directors. Yarnold leaves his job as executive director of the Environmental Defense Fund, also based in New York City.

MEDIA & PUBLISHING

“Wikileaks takes new approach in latest release of documents.” By Ellen Nakashima and Joby Warrick. Washington Post. July 26, 2010. Wikileaks’ decision to transfer tens of thousands of raw classified field reports on the Afghan war to the New York Times and two European news organizations reflects the growing strength and sophistication of the small nonprofit Web site, founded three years ago to fight what it considers excessive secrecy. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange called the release of nearly 92,000 individual reports portraying a sputtering Afghan war effort “the nearest analogue to the Pentagon Papers.” He was referring to the secret military documents that helped shift public opinion about the Vietnam War after they became public in 1971. “It provides a whole map, if you like, through time, of what has happened during this war,” said Assange, a native of Australia, in a television interview broadcast Sunday on Britain’s public-service Channel 4. “We believe that the way to justice is transparency, and we are clear that the end goal is to expose injustices in the world and try to rectify them,” Assange said.
Related stories:
“In Disclosing Secret Documents, WikiLeaks Seeks ‘Transparency’.” New York Times. July 25, 2010.
“White House says WikiLeaks is endangering lives.” Independent (UK). July 26, 2010.
“Afghanistan: The war logs: The Guardian, the New York Times and Der Spiegel have published a huge cache of secret military files from the whistleblowing website Wikileaks, detailing the war in Afghanistan. Follow reaction to the Afghanistan war logs here.” Guardian (UK), July 26, 2010.
“WikiLeaks emerges as superpower in antisecrecy fight; Website defends decision to release classified reports.” Washington Post. July 27, 2010.
“Defending the Leaks: Q&A With WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange.” Time. July 27, 2010.
“WikiLeaks Founder Defends Afghan War-Data Release (Update1).” Bloomberg.com. July 28, 2010.

“A Novel Approach: Free Books For Donations.” By Anthony Brooks. Morning Edition/National Public Radio. July 27, 2010. The Kindle, the iPad and e-books are all part of a revolution that’s shaking up the publishing business. The big question is how to ensure the book industry can remain profitable? There’s at least one publisher, however, that doesn’t care about profits. For the past two years, the Concord Free Press, has been publishing books and giving them away for free. Writer Stona Fitch, the founder of the press, shows a reporter around the headquarters in Concord, Mass., just west of Boston. The tour takes less than a minute: It consists of two tables in an office. Books from the Concord Free Press are available free at several dozen independent bookstores across the country or online. But customers are asked for something in return. “We just ask people, one, make a voluntary donation to a charity or person in need; two, chart your donation on our website,” Fitch says. “And three, pass the book along to someone else so that this project keeps going.” In the last two years, Fitch says readers have donated more than $142,000 to charity.

MUTUAL BENEFIT ORGANIZATIONS

“Redwoods Hideaway for the Elite Goes On, but Protest Days Fade.” By Dan Barry. New York Times. July 27, 2010. A Lexus-Mercedes caravan of privilege disturbs the sylvan stillness along a Northern California back road, motoring under an honor guard of redwoods that have no choice in the matter. In defiance of nature’s odds, every driver is a man. This can only mean that it is time again for the annual Bohemian Grove encampment, where, for more than a century, thousands of men have shed wives and cares to hike, listen to lectures, drink, discuss current events, celebrate the arts, drink, share frat-boy traditions, enjoy boon companionship no woman could understand, and drink. A teary-eyed toast, then, to this wooded womb, followed by soulful consideration of one’s connection to greatness while urinating beside a skyscraping redwood. Who knows what titan of industry, what head of government — what Bohemian! — has relieved himself in this very spot?

PHILANTHROPY

“Donor of the Day: Children’s Author Makes $1 Million Memorial Gift.” Wall Street Journal. July 26, 2010. For some donors, it’s partly guilt that compels them to give. Maurice Sendak, the 82-year-old author of children’s classic “Where the Wild Things Are” says there’s a certain amount of guilt that goes with living what he calls a privileged life. Says Mr. Sendak: “Me, I’m just an easygoing charity-giver… if it’s money and you have it, it’s easy to give but Eugene, he put his life and career on the line for people who matter.” Mr. Sendak is referring to his life partner, Eugene D. Glynn, who died in 2007 after working for 30 years as a psychiatrist at Jewish Board of Family & Children’s Services, an $180 million mental health and social services agency in New York. In Dr. Glynn’s honor, Mr. Sendak is giving $1 million to the organization where he worked for general operating support and to name one of the agency’s 15 state-licensed clinics for Dr. Glynn.

“Donor of the Day: Hip-Hop Mogul Opens Doors For New Artists.” By Shelly Banjo. Wall Street Journal. July 27, 2010. Russell Simmons wants to help new artists make their mark. The hip-hop mogul’s Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation is launching a program this summer to help discover and cultivate the next wave of aspiring artists in urban photography and multimedia art. Mr. Simmons founded Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation in 1995 with brothers Joseph Simmons, one of the founding members of hip-hop group Run-D.M.C., and Danny Simmons, an abstract expressionist painter. Originally working out of Russell Simmons’s original offices at Def Jam Productions, the brothers wanted to start an organization to cultivate arts and imagination based on their own success, which was “made possible by the opportunity to practice and appreciate art.”

“Donor of the Day: Banker Helps Groom Students for Finance Careers.” By Shelly Banjo. Wall Street Journal. July 28, 2010. Helping public companies negotiate mergers and acquisitions is a practice typically reserved for Wall Street. This week, however, hundreds of high school students have come to Columbia University to battle in the final rounds of a national finance competition run by nonprofit Youth About Business, where high school students act as senior executives of public companies as they negotiate hypothetical mergers, acquisitions or public offerings. Helping to make this possible in New York is James DeNaut, Deutsche Bank’s former head of global banking for the Americas, who this fall will become co-head of global natural resources for Nomura Holdings Inc. Mr. DeNaut has personally given $35,000 toward the program on top of the hundreds of thousands of dollars his former employer has given to cosponsor many of the events. As the charity’s board chairman, Mr. DeNaut says the key to preparing the next generation of students for business and finance careers is to give them industry exposure at a young age. He says the program zeroes in on children from underserved and low-income communities who don’t typically receive this kind of training at their schools. At the end of the camps, students prepare a final presentation in front of a panel of judges and winners receive shares of stock in public companies.

“Donor of the Day: Couple Channel Olmsted to Create Land Bank.” By Shelly Banjo. Wall Street Journal. July 30, 2010. Michael and Jenny Messner are tapping 19th-century landscape architect Fredrick Law Olmsted for answers on how to solve America’s lingering real-estate crisis. On Aug. 4, the co-founder of hedge fund Seminole Capital and his wife will host policymakers and national park leaders at the premiere of “The Olmsted Legacy,” a documentary he funded with a $400,000 donation from his family’s Speedwell Foundation, a charity named after a family farm house in Pennsylvania. The film depicts the life of the architect largely responsible for the creation and design of Manhattan’s Central Park and Brooklyn’s Prospect Park and how urban parks first invigorated the nation’s cities in the 18th and 19th centuries. “The goal of the Olmsted film is that we should emulate Olmsted’s vision for our cities to help solve this country’s massive real-estate mess,” says Mr. Messner, who after focusing his family’s philanthropy on education got hooked on parks after the real estate-fueled financial crisis of 2008. “I’ve been investing for 25 years and realized that our country was substantially overinvested in real estate and that we desperately needed to find a way to disinvest.”

“Donor of the day: Butler Sends His Charitable Efforts Back to School.” By Shelly Banjo. Wall Street Journal. July 31, 2010. Sam Butler feels a deep debt of gratitude toward Indiana’s Culver Academies. The former managing partner at New York law firm Cravath Swaine & Moore said it was his education at this college preparatory boarding school in Culver, Ind., that propelled him from “goofing off” in his hometown of Logansport, Ind., which has a population of 20,000, to leading one of New York City’s oldest law firms. “My mother used to say, ‘We lost Sam when he went to Culver at age 16,’” Mr. Butler said. “Culver is the reason why I’m sitting in an office in New York right now.” To help repay the school, Mr. Butler has given $2 million to Culver Academies toward the completion of a $376 million fund-raising campaign that the school will be announcing next week. More than 42,000 gifts raised enough money to increase the school’s endowment by $180 million, create nine academic chairs, six new merit scholarship programs and 105 financial-aid scholarships, including the needs-based scholarship by Mr. Butler that gives preference to children from his hometown.

“Donor of the Day: Basketball Legend Shoots, Walks for Cancer Cure.” By Shelly Banjo. Wall Street Journal. August 1, 2010. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is shooting for a cure for cancer. On Oct. 14, National Basketball Association’s all-time leading scorer will be walking the Brooklyn Bridge to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, or LLS, leading “Team Kareem” during the society’s annual Light the Night Walk. Last year, 200,000 people participated in the nationwide fund-raising walk and raised $40 million for the charity, which provides funding for cancer research, advocacy and patient care programs across the country. With help from people like Mr. Abdul-Jabbar, the White Plains, N.Y.-based charity says it aims to raise the same or more this year. In 2008, Mr. Abdul-Jabbar was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia, or CML, a type of blood cancer that starts inside a person’s bone marrow and affects about 22,000 people in the U.S., according to LLS. Once a fatal disease, it can be kept under control with medications. Mr. Abdul-Jabbar draws a direct line from supporting LLS to finding cures for his and other cancers: The organization was one of the earliest funders of research by molecular biologist Brian Druker, who helped develop one of the first therapies approved by the Federal Drug Administration to target the genetic defects of CML while leaving healthy cells unharmed. The drug, called Gleevec, allows patients to remain symptom-free for many years without a bone marrow transplant.

RECREATION & LEISURE

“FIFA Hits Snags In Fulfilling World Cup Vow In Africa.” Morning Edition/National Public Radio. July 27, 2010. The World Cup, which was widely seen as a big success, was a financial blockbuster for FIFA, the organization that governs world soccer. FIFA took in more than $3 billion, and it’s pledged part of that money to develop soccer in Africa under a plan called 20 Centres for 2010. As part of its pledge to create a positive legacy for the World Cup, FIFA has committed 20 Football for Hope Centres around Africa. Each must include a soccer field, an educational space, and a health care facility. FIFA has heavily advertised its 20 Centres for 2010 campaign, but they haven’t advertised the fact that just four facilities have actually been built, and only four more are under construction. And while the 20 centers project has received a lot of attention, FIFA hasnt allocated as much money to the project as many might believe. The total cost of the centers will be around $10 million, which is roughly one-third of 1 percent of their revenues from the 2010 World Cup. And FIFA isn’t running these facilities, they’re just building them.

“On the fast track: A nonprofit works with several communities to quickly and cheaply transform old rail beds into recreational paths, while similar projects elsewhere are taking years to complete.” By Katheleen Conti. Boston Globe. August 1, 2010. For the past two years, Joyce Godsey, who formed and heads the Methuen Rail Trail Alliance, has been spearheading the effort to convert a 2.5-mile stretch of Methuen’s abandoned railroad tracks into a rail trail. It’s possible, she said, that Methuen could have a completed rail trail by next year — at little to no cost. While most rail-to-trail projects can linger in the costly planning and design process for a decade, Godsey has placed Methuen’s on the fast track by accepting an offer she could not refuse — having the railroad tracks and ties removed, disposed of, and replaced with a crushed-stone surface for free by Iron Horse Preservation Society, a Reno, Nev., nonprofit. Since arriving in Massachusetts a few months ago to work with a group leading a rail trail project in Danvers, Joe Hattrup, Iron Horse Preservation director, said he has found the state’s process for converting rails to trails unnecessarily complicated. Creating rail trails in Massachusetts, he said, does not have to be so difficult. This is Hattrup’s first business trip to the “east side of the Mississippi,’’ but he’s been removing old railroad tracks for the past 18 years. Five years ago, he formed Iron Horse Preservation, an organization focused not just on removing old railroad material, but on leaving behind a completed crushed-stone surface rail trail, at no cost to anyone. The 18-employee organization makes its money from the sale of the railroad material, and makes sure that none of it ends up in a landfill, Hattrup said.

RELIGION

“Brookline’s mystery church; Few signs of life at temple dedicated to communicating with the spirit world.” By Alex Beam. Boston Globe. July 27, 2010. The grass has overgrown the front yard. Two out of control hemlock bushes obscure the sign: First Spiritual Temple. A Domino’s Pizza menu hangs Scotch-taped to the front door. The neighbors haven’t seen activity at the Monmouth Street temple in Brookline for over a year. Why do we care? Because the FST, which once occupied the grandiose Exeter Street Theatre building in the Back Bay, claims to be the world’s oldest Christian church dedicated to the venerated 19th century pursuit of communicating with the spirit world. A prosperous Boston grocer, Marcellus Ayer founded the FST in 1883, after “several of his family members and others in Spirit physically materialized to him and, via direct voice, instructed him that now was the time for him to give back to God and Spirit what God had so generously given to him,’’ according to the church’s dormant website. In 1975, the church sold the Exeter Street building and moved to Brookline. The pastor and congregation are not in evidence. The church’s telephone and e-mail account don’t function. Last week, Brookline chief assessor Gary McCabe was poking around the Monmouth Street property, looking for evidence that the church continued to deserve its tax-exempt status.

SCANDAL

“Nonprofit health insurers holding large surpluses, consumer group reports.” By N.C. Aizenman. Washington Post. July 26, 2010. Nonprofit health insurers may be setting aside unnecessarily large surpluses even as some of them continue to raise premiums, according to an analysis by a consumer rights group. The report released Thursday by the Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, found that seven of 10 Blue Cross Blue Shield affiliates examined had amassed surpluses that are more than three times the level regulators deemed necessary for them to remain solvent. At the close of 2009, for instance, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona had a surplus of $717 million, more than seven times the regulatory minimum. That same year, the company raised premiums for its individual market customers between 8.8 and 18.4 percent. Similarly, Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oregon had about 3.6 times the regulatory minimum surplus, yet it raised rates on some individual policies an average of 25.3 percent in April 2009 and 16 percent in April of this year, the study found. An insurance plan’s surplus is essentially the revenue it raises from premiums and investments minus expenses such as the cost of paying medical claims. Companies must maintain enough surplus to protect them from unexpected expenses and losses. But how much surplus is too much is a matter of some debate.

“Nuns tap their future to right the past; Victims of alleged fraud use nest egg to fund Worcester school renovation.” By Lisa Wangsness. Boston Globe. July 30, 2010. A small group of Worcester nuns has decided to empty its retirement savings accounts to pay contractors for a $3 million school renovation project, after the nuns were allegedly tricked by a professional fund-raiser into believing an anonymous donor would foot the bill. Venerini Academy, the primary school run by the nuns, had about 325 students from diverse backgrounds in prekindergarten through eighth grade this year. In addition to academics, the school emphasizes charitable service and moral and religious development. the sisters had gradually built up their retirement fund over many years from money put aside from their paychecks (“we’re not big spenders’’) and from donations. Some of it also came from funds the Catholic Church collects each year to assist retired nuns.

“The Academic-Industrial Complex.” By Graham Bowley. New York Times. July 31, 2010. This country boasts a cozy and lucrative club: presidents and other senior university officials who cross from academia into the business world to serve on corporate boards. While academics can often bring fresh perspectives, managerial experience and the imprimatur of a respected institution to a board, they are also serving in an era when corporations wrestling with fallout from the financial crisis (think Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs) or very public mishaps (think BP, Johnson & Johnson and Toyota) have raised the stakes for board members expected to guide corporations. Some analysts worry that academics are possibly imperiling or compromising the independence of their universities when they venture onto boards. Others question whether scholars have the time — and financial sophistication — needed to police the country’s biggest corporations while simultaneously juggling the demands of running a large university. According to a 2008 survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education, presidents from 19 of the top 40 research universities with the largest operating budgets sat on at least one company board. The trend is more widespread among public universities, but the private ones are catching up: the American Council on Education says that from 2001 to 2006, the proportion of presidents from all doctorate-granting institutions sitting on corporate boards rose to 52.1 percent from 47.8 percent at public institutions, and to 50.9 percent from 40.6 percent at private ones.

YOUTH-SERVING ORGANIZATIONS

“Boy Scouts march to celebrate 100 years of service.” By Phillip Lucas. Washington Post. July 26, 2010. Cyclists, tourists and the occasional jogger stood out in the sea of Boy Scout troops wearing tan shirts, green shorts and thick green-and-red socks — some rolled hastily down to their ankles. Spectators lined the sizzling sidewalks along Constitution Avenue in clusters wherever they could find shade. The troops and accompanying bands were all smiles and appeared to be unaffected by the heat as they marched to celebrate the group’s 100th anniversary. The Grand Centennial parade marked the first time since 1937 that Boy Scout troops had marched through the District. The last time, President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited them to convene on the Mall for their first jamboree after a polio outbreak led to its cancellation in 1935.
Related story:
“Scouts’ centennial marked with parade.“ Boston Globe/Associated Press. July 26, 2010.
“Boy Scouts Seek a Way to Rebuild Ranks.” New York Times. July 30, 2010.
“Boy Scouts out in force for Jamboree.” USA Today. July 30, 2010.
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“100 Years of Merit Badges; The Boy Scouts celebrate 100 years.” Wall Street Journal. August 1, 2010.

ARTS & CULTURE

“‘Theater Geek’ School’s Real Life Drama.” Weekend Edition/National Public Radio. July 18, 2010. For 35 years, in bucolic Loch Sheldrake, N.Y., Stagedoor Manor has been the place for pre-teen, tweens and teenaged performers to practice their craft. Host Liane Hansen talks with author Mickey Rapkin about the book, Theater Geek: The Real Life Drama of a Summer at Stagedoor Manor, the Famous Performing Arts Camp.

“Richest cultural groups ID’d; Who’s up, who’s down in first-ever ranking of NYC’s institutions.” By Miriam Kreinin Souccar. Crain’s New York. July 18, 2010. It comes as no surprise that the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the largest cultural institution in the city. But who would have thought that the city’s three library systems—the New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library and the Queens Borough Public Library—would all rank in the top 10 when measured by budget size, beating major landmarks like Carnegie Hall. The list—which ranks the top 100 cultural groups and is sponsored by Crain’s New York Business and compiled by the Alliance for the Arts—is believed to be the first such snapshot of the city’s nonprofit cultural institutions. Together, the nonprofits have an annual economic impact of $5.8 billion, according to the alliance. The organizations are ranked by the size of their operating expenses culled from the most recently available regulatory filings. The ranking leads with the Metropolitan Museum, with annual expenses of more than $309 million. The budgets of the others are much smaller. Only nine of the 100 have budgets of $100 million or more.

“Changing focus to fit the times; Children’s Museum retools its exhibits for modern families.” By Joseph P. Kahn. Boston Globe. July 19, 2010. The challenges facing children’s museums these days are not so easily solved. The biggest? How to attract and engage young children and their families when leisure-time options are plentiful and competition includes the likes of Nickelodeon and Nintendo, the cineplex and Xbox. This summer Boston’s Children’s Museum, the country’s second-oldest, finds itself at a crucial point in its history, with fresh leadership on the way and a milestone anniversary on the far horizon. Three years ago, a $47 million renovation added 22,000 square feet of exhibit space to its South Boston Waterfront building, transforming the entire look and feel of the place, if not its core mission. From a building-wide “green’’ initiative to more hands-on, interactive exhibits — the three-story climbing structure anchored in its lobby being a prime example — the museum has added elements that appeal to a more youthful, attention-challenged audience than it catered to even five years ago.

“Soros Group Boosts Arts.” By Erica Orden, Wall Street Journal. July 21, 2010. Billionaire hedge-fund manager George Soros’s Open Society Institute plans to announce Wednesday it’s awarding $11 million to New York City performing-arts groups, representing a significant expansion of his philanthropic endeavors and a much-needed boost for nonprofits hammered by the recession. Designed as a one-time initiative, the program will dispense gifts ranging from $65,000 to $250,000 to small- and midsize arts organizations throughout the five boroughs. Although Open Society Foundations, which include the institute, have given more than $211 million to arts initiatives around the world over the past three decades, Mr. Soros has traditionally directed the majority of his more than $7 billion of support at human rights, public health and justice programs.
Related story:
“Soros Group Giving $11 Million to Arts Organizations.” New York Times. July 20, 2010.