Editor’s Note: The partnership between iMentor and Marsh & McLennan (MMC) has been fruitful for both the nonprofit and the corporate partner. MMC has been able to get employees more engaged and scout talent working with iMentor, while iMentor has continued to expand its programs and mission. TBOGF is working with College Now of Greater Cleveland to facilitate similar corporate partnerships for its fast growing mentoring program, powered by iMentor Interactive.
Editor’s Note: Our foundation studiously avoids advocacy but if we ever change that policy, here’s the first windmill I will tilt. Forbes 50 wealthiest people for example had net worth of $800 million in 2007 just before the bust and this year have an average net worth of $5.5 billion. And as this article tells us, the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer is not only wrong, it’s bad for the economy.
"Whenever you see a successful business, someone made a courageous decision." Peter Drucker
Editor’s Note: This book came to me from my work with International Partners in Mission as they are featured in Chapter 3 as “doing right.” But I must tell you, it is (I’m still not done) the toughest read I’ve had in a long time. The writing is good, McDonald’s an award winning newsman but what he makes me think about it very, very difficult. I’m a marketing guy, so I’ve long seen the need for all religions to reach out more effectively to their believers. But McDonald makes me wonder as he outlines just how extreme most religions have become in
Editor’s Note: The Rastafarian thing always threw me off (religion in which Hailee Salasee was considered the Almighty) but I’ve enjoyed a number of Marley’s pieces, particularly this and Redemption Song. The song also relates to our chicken finger concept, whose honor is carrying on the theme of “one love.” Finally, a dear friend who is struggling right now is a big Marley fan, and so I dedicate this song to him.
After forty years of work, I have developed one primary talent: Marketing.
Editor’s Note: Hope Gibbs does a nice job highlighting this, one of the first peer-to-peer philanthropy site. Donorschoose.org is a cool concept, nicely boot-strapped and then scaled.
Editor’s Note: This article’s surprise for me is that most of the world’s poorest people don’t live in the poorest countries. Does this mean sending aid to autocrats that never reaches their poor might be a bad idea? Right, I’m being sarcastic. I love this article from the Economist, provided by my son, Tim, that reminds us that helping countries reach stability and good governance is more important than simply writing a check.
"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."
Editor’s Note: Our foundation helped International Partners in Mission (IPM) create its “international immersion experience” program as a way to generate unrestricted revenue in order to sustain and expand its mission impact – a great example of a nonprofit being market-driven and “finding a need and filling it.” Our Managing Director, Bill Leamon, is taking a group of students from Notre Dame College to Nicaragua (the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere) with IPM next spring, and he recommended this book to me. I found the explanation of dependent economies (where most of the effort goes into goods for export rather than goods for local consumption) very enlightening, along with gaining a better understanding of how much our foreign policy towards Nicaragua (an American, William Walker, was even its President from 1856-57) has shaped the country’s governance, as well as contributed to its dismal impoverishment.
