San Diego nonprofit earns global kudos for school built from trash

This article was really cool because it shows how it doesn't take much to really change the world.  This group built a school with tires and bottles.  It's a pretty amazing thing that they did and they deserve a lot a praise.  The author of the article, Lily Leung tells the reader all about how exciting it is.  She also deserves credit for finding such a good story about a nonprofit.  A lot of nonprofits are struggling and they talk about how they are cutting services and staff.  Leung found a very ambitious and active nonprofit who is now a world craze, at least they should be. 

It's great to see that people can go and do something this great.  To make it even better, they are cleaning up the world in the process.  Its an amazing story and it should be front page news. 

Nonprofit: We'll Buy NYC Land Considered For Mosque

As a person who grew up just outside New York City, and someone who many would describe as a "New Yorker," whatever that means, I support this wholeheartedly.  I understand the controversy about the mosque and and religious freedom, etc.  But I just cannot comprehend the rational behind building a mosque in that location.  For anyone who is not familiar with the area, its all commercial.  To make matters even more astounding, the people that do live nearby, they are primarily Christian and Jewish.  And one more thing is that there is a large mosque in Brooklyn, where the overwhelming majority of New York City Muslims live.  Now, maybe I'm crazy, but I would not ever consider driving across the RFK bridge, or Lincoln tunnel just to go to a service.  Its just not even a question.  Now if you want to look at history, it will tell you that Muslims used to build mosques on conquered territories.  I don't think that these individuals who are managing this project are implying that.  I think that there has become a prejudice in regard to Muslims that has made them, for better or for worse stand out.  It is undeniable that there were extreme, out of the ordinary, crazy Muslims who attacked us on 9/11.  And they should not at all represent the Islamic community, they are the minority.  But, because of their actions, many good, nonviolent Muslims have suffered dearly.  Now, there is a political correctness which, in my opinion has made this debate much worse than it should be.  There is also a common courtesy that people should have for each other.  In regard to the political correctness, if you say that the mosque shouldn't be built, you are a racist.  Personally, I don't see a reason why it can't be built, but I do not think it should be built because it is extremely insensitive to those who lost a loved one.  It is also not practical, so in that regard, maybe the contractors did a poor job researching New York.
Now to get to the nonprofit.  I really like the idea.  First and foremost, it fits into the area much better because it is a business.  The only problem I see is that how could a nonprofit afford to keep up the property in the very expensive NYC market.  Bringing in someone like Donald Trump is great, and I really do hope that this gets done, but I don't have much hope.  To go back to my point earlier, the mosque will be built because its considered politically correct.

http://www.wbaltv.com/r/24993928/detail.html

United Way turns to charity texting

This article brings up a great point, and certainly shows that in order to stay relevant, a company needs to stay with the trends.  And all trends point towards texting.  While at school, my parents text me more often than they call me.  I text them to let them know what's going on without ever having to be embarrassed that my parents called, again.  But to get back to donations.  It is very easy to read a sign about giving to an organization and then, when your at home, with your checkbook, you forget all about it.  But with texting donations available, you can read a sign and then within 1 minute give $10 to charity. (Its actually $9.50 with overhead costs.)  This article really stuck out to me because it shows that although a lot of people think charity giving is only for the old and the rich, it's not.  If you really think about what you can get for $10, it's amazing.  How many times have you bought something for $10, or more and then never used it.  Maybe that fishing rod in the back corner of the garage, or how about the two weights that you bought because you decided it was time to "get big," etc.  We all know that when you impulse buy exercise equipment, you're not going to use it, but you buy it anyway.  How about cutting back the pro athlete workouts and use some of that money to give to charity.  It's as easy as telling your buddy "hey bud light is on sale."

Anyway, I liked this article because it is great to see that the United Way is moving forward with new campaign ideas.  

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/275123--united-way-turns-to-charity-texting

US nonprofits report improvement in donations

To contradict my last post, this article had to do with an improvement in nonprofit giving.  This article, written by Donna Gordon Blankinship, talks about how although charitable donations are still low, there has been an increase.  According to Blankinship, larger nonprofits can expect to see an increase in giving this holiday season.  As one might expect, the giving will still be lower than a company would like, but it should be up from a year ago.  Blankinship is sure to mention however, that the increase is not consistent with the rapid increase in need of charitable services.  '
In my opinion Blankinship's article should be something that people should be hearing about because when someone hears about a positive in the economy it will help inspire confidence.  Just like when we all heard about how terrible the economy was just a few short years ago, the same thing could be done to help it recover.  We don't see this however because for whatever reason the media likes to have the economy to report and complain about.  If they were to report how the economy was turning around then they would lose one of their big talking points.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9JPQHD00.htm

New York State Cuts Off Funding to Tens of Thousands of Nonprofits

I read an article by Shelly Banjo in the Wall Street Journal talking about how the current budget crunch that is so prominent in New York.  It discussed how nonprofits are being hit extremely hard, but behind the scenes, New York legislators are asking that nonprofit managers find some way to keep their doors open.  Now, when I read this, I thought why would these companies come to New York State for money unless they really need it.  New York is very inefficient so companies try to avoid the state whenever possible.  Now, in tough financial times, this is when charitable contributions seem to disappear so more and more people need the services these nonprofits provide.  With an increase in demand, and a decrease in funding, these companies are going to the state for capital.  And without fail New York state is dead broke.  The state spends way more than it takes in so of course there is always a net loss.  Now, when companies needed help from the state, there was no help in sight because the state, unlike what it asks of residents, cannot balance a budget.
The biggest thing I got from this article was that New York state didn't seem to realize that these nonprofits that they are essentially closing cannot operate on such a small budget, by those in Albany have no regard for the money they spend.  They just spend, and as much as I hate to say this, but it is possibly because it is not their money.

http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=296400031