The Year Ends. The Pendulum Swings.
It’s been a great year at how-matters.org! I am invoking a “shut down” for the holidays as of today and will return on January 15th. Why the big break? Because there are ideas to be flushed out, plans...
View Article“Create” nothing: A new social good mantra
Aid workers and development practitioners, how many times have you seen a paragraph like this in a proposal? “Community Mobilization: To ensure communities are… community management committees (CMCs)...
View ArticleGetting money to the ground, directly
This week CIVICUS’ Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah gave “Five reasons donors give for not funding local NGOs directly” on the Guardian Global Development Professionals Network. In response, I offered “Five...
View ArticleDoes aid need a 12-step program?
With all the hype around the World Humanitarian Summit this week, it seemed like a good time to reprise this post from 2012. *** “Let go and let God.” It’s a mantra of Alcoholics Anonymous. I’m...
View ArticleWhy I wrote about “smart risks” in philanthropy and why I would frame it...
This coming Saturday on April 15, my first book, co-edited with Tanya Cothran, comes out. It is based on many of the things I’ve written about on how-matters.org over the years – funding for grassroots...
View ArticleIt’s about time
I’ve been thinking a lot about time lately. Last week, for example, marked three months since my mom died. I ask lots of questions about time because between my mother’s first and second stroke, time...
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