Summertime, and the livin’ is easy… as long as you’ve got air conditioning or live in a state bordering Canada. The Friday Five is like a cool drink. Or five cool drinks, each one better than the next. If you, like us, are suffering through this heat wave, these links will operate like an ice cube on the back of your neck and they’ll illuminate the current state of nonprofits. We’d like to see Starbucks try that.
1) For its cover story in the current issue, The Nation gathered some of the sharpest minds around to debate and discuss philanthropy and its future. Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, Leah Hunt Hendrix (Solidaire) and Daniel Lurie (CEO and founder of Tipping Point Community) are just some of the well-known names discussing what’s on the horizon for giving:
https://www.thenation.com/article/the-future-of-philanthropists/
2) The Nation symposium contains a link to Andrew Carnegie’s original 1899 essay, “The Gospel of Wealth,” which greatly popularized philanthropic giving, and to this intelligent update by Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation. Carnegie’s essay is admirable for its honesty; Carnegie is wrestling with the fallout from a system that made him massively successful but left a whole lot of people behind. Thankfully, some of our billionaires continue his tradition of giving. Certain others who have dominated recent headlines... well, we won’t go there. Carnegie’s original can be found here:
https://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/rbannis1/AIH19th/Carnegie.html
3) In Darren Walker’s update of Carnegie's treatise, one of the major issues Walker zeroes in on is the sheer daunting need of funds: Carnegie gave away $350 million, but the money needed to seriously address people’s needs for food and housing, education, infrastructure and health care climb to the trillions. Walker’s essay is well worth your time: https://www.fordfoundation.org/ideas/equals-change-blog/posts/toward-a-new-gospel-of-wealth/
4) We always enjoy coming across some straight-up practical advice. The FindLaw blog can walk you through some easy tips to work smarter, not harder. (Ed—Really? “Smarter, not harder?” You sound like Gary Cole from Office Space.) That reminds us: Don’t forget to fill out your TPS reports. But read this first:
http://blogs.findlaw.com/strategist/2016/07/3-easy-tricks-to-work-faster-in-your-law-practice.html?DCMP=CCX-TWLP
5) This one was spotted by intrepid lawyer/blogger Gene Takagi: We’ve been hoping to link to The New Yorker for some time, and along comes James Surowiecki to point out that the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge—the stunt that some felt got too popular for its own good—appears to have in fact had lasting benefits to ALS research. What specific benefits? You have to read the article to find out:http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/als-and-the-ice-bucket-challenge
This has been your Friday Five. We remain stalwart in the face of oppressive heat. If you’re driven to fight the heat by starting a nonprofit, we can help: contact us at info@b-alaw.com. Stay cool (in both senses). We’ll see you next week.