Is it time to rethink the scope of transparency and disclosure in the nonprofit and philanthropic realms? Doing so is certainly a trade-off, but it’s one that we think is worth undertaking.

With many new veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, why aren’t foundations and the nonprofits that they fund more engaged in assistance to veterans and military families?

The hype surrounding the “Kony 2012” video was supposed to build to a crescendo of action on April 20th, but not much happened. What went wrong runs deeper than any single explanation.

Some foundations and nonprofits have occasionally looked at national donor-advised funds with suspicion, but such skepticism is no longer warranted, as the funds are playing an important role in modern philanthropy.

From the CIA and the CDC to the FDA and NASA, many federal government agencies have their own foundations to attract private philanthropic dollars to support their work. As a new foundation for FEMA is proposed, will tight budgets make this an increasingly popular strategy?

 Nonprofits in the U.S. should be very, very concerned about attempts to clamp down on the political advocacy and foreign funding of Canadian nonprofits lest it happen in the U.S., too.

There is a vast social asymmetry between most private foundations and public charities, but not all foundations are alike. In fact, some aren’t all that different than the nonprofits that they fund.

Reports from the Council on Foundation offer a partial glimpse at the demographic composition and financial compensation of foundation staff and boards. Who is holding the purse strings?

It’s said that the Great Recession is now over—so nonprofits can exhale sighs of relief with sights set on smoother sailing ahead, right? A close look at state budgets suggests otherwise.

Foundations and philanthropists supporting the Occupy Wall Street movement won’t be able to treat it like any other grantee. In fact, direct grants may not even be the best means of support.

Andrew Schulz, vice president for legal and government relations at the Council on Foundations, lays out what is—and isn’t—on the public policy agenda as the Council prepares for “Foundations on the Hill” day.

The recent $25 billion mortgage settlement won’t alleviate the strain on most homeowners and neighborhoods. Nonprofits need to gear up their organizing and advocacy now more than ever.

President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union speech has received plaudits for taking on the nation’s class and wealth inequities and criticism for fomenting “class warfare.” We might also have liked to see the president foment the important role of the nonprofit sector.

The recent Countrywide discriminatory lending settlement may provide a degree of relief to some victims, but nonprofit housing counseling can often stop the foreclosure train before it leaves the station. Why, then, has Congress been so intent on zeroing out funding for housing counseling?

Congress and the Federal Election Commission have floundered in their meager attempts to rein in ever-increasing amounts of money flooding into campaign politics in the wake of Citizens United. Money in politics is worse than ever, and nonprofits—501(c)(4) social welfare organizations and 501(c)(6) trade associations—are used as vehicles for undisclosed political expenditures by corporations and other special interests. It's time for the nonprofit sector to do something about this, and it might start with aligning nonprofits with corporate shareholders to rein in the corrupting influence of corporate money in the electoral process. 

Over the holidays, Anonymous, or something akin to Anonymous, struck again. With a history of challenging the Church of Scientology, attacking those who erected financial blockades against Wikileaks, protesting against the San Francisco BART system's cellphone policies, and supporting the Arab Spring protests, these anonymous Internet "hacktivists" are pursuing an eclectic agenda of political and social change. But the Christmas Eve action on the Stratfor security group that many are attributing to Anonymous had many quirks and particularly interesting nonprofit implications.

With great trepidation, the Cohen Report ventures forth with on-the-ledge predictions for 2012 concerning mostly the behaviors of and context for foundation grantmakers. We remind readers to take these ideas appropriately, remembering Albert Einstein's observation, "When the number of factors coming into play in a phenomenological complex is too large scientific method in most cases fails. One need only think of the weather, in which case the prediction even for a few days ahead is impossible."

Nonprofit advocacy on Capitol Hill ought to focus on more than the charitable deduction and other charitable giving incentives. How about taking a look at pending legislation proposed by members of Congress who actually "get" the nonprofit sector and proposed legislation that plays to what nonprofits do best-legislators such as Menendez, Sires, Kaptur, Serrano, Velazquez, Mikulski, and Sanders? Their bills, likely to languish and die in Congressional committees, would help make a nonprofit-friendly federal government.

A crucially important federal program to subsidize affordable housing production—the HOME Investment Partnerships program—is taking lots of hits in the press and in Congress due to lousy monitoring and reporting by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and by local and state governments that receive and administer HOME block grants. It is important to all nonprofits, not just as a component of the nation's tattered commitment to social welfare spending but also because HOME is predicated on the professionalism, capacity, and community credibility of nonprofit housing developers. If HOME succumbs to the attacks of critics, the nonprofit sector loses big. It's time for nonprofits to stand up for the HOME program and speak up for the accomplishments of nonprofits with HOME funds benefitting low-income families in need of affordable housing. 

There is a feral cat in my yard. I feed her every morning now, but it is weird how this happens.