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.

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.

Editor’s Note: Our foundation only dreams of becoming as effective as Center for Community Self-Help, whose mission is “Creating and protecting ownership and economic opportunity for all.”

The Premier Source for Objective, Qualified and Relevant Microfinance Performance Data and Analysis

Editor’s Note: Our foundation continuously seeks to narrow its focus, keeping a constant diligence to avoid the natural tendency towards “mission creep.” This case study demonstrates the benefit of being single-mindedly devoted to a focused mission by telling the story of Rural Development Institute. The organization has helped 400 million poor farmers around the world take ownership of some 270 million acres of land – all on a modest budget.

Editor’s Note: I recently began researching PRIs, or Program Related Investments, to gain an understanding of how they create leverage and whether it makes sense for our foundation in some cases to provide low-interest loans instead of grants to our nonprofit partners. The attached, provided to me by the helpful people at Ohio Grant makers Forum, gives a good overview of the features and benefits of using PRIs.

Editor’s Note: Our foundation supported development of two functional CDFIs in Cleveland over the last two years. We have also recently been approved to formalize our microenterprise work in our little county of Ashtabula, Ohio, as a CDFI. That’s why I enjoyed this article and hope it could inspire a reader or two to pursue such a worthy cause. My favorite Muhammed Yunis quote is “poor people usually aren’t poor because their stupid – it’s more often because the system doesn’t allow them a chance to retain the product of their labor.”

Editor’s Note: I recently met Professor Wei-Skillern at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business where she was teaching a class in social enterprise with Rick Aubry of New Foundry Ventures (http://newfoundryventures.org/). Her decades of research on successful nonprofit collaborations highlight key success factors required for collective impact initiatives to succeed.