The controversy over the status of Tibet has embroiled nonprofits around the world—and in the U.S., most curiously, one large nonprofit known as the William J. Clinton Foundation.

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In the subprime mortgage foreclosure fiasco, nonprofit organizations have stood out as relative successes compared to their counterparts in the for-profit financial sector and among federal government agencies.

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When any sector of our society defends conflicts of interest as essential for their operations, creativity, and impact, something pernicious is going on and needs to be rooted out of the body politic.

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One never knows quite how much to make of research that depends on self-reported surveys (i.e. what people say they think, say, or do as opposed to empirically verifiable and measurable statements or actions). And there are numerous other concerns as well. Does the survey represent a good cross section of the sector? Is the sampling or stratified sampling robust enough to be reliable? Are the respondents’ survey answers accurate or hyperbole? Is the sponsoring agency credible, professional, and not tied to jimmying its data to make some ideologically predetermined answer?

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This year is the 40th anniversary of the release of the Kerner Commission report. The Kerner Commission was officially the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, chaired by the governor of Illinois, Otto Kerner.  Nonprofits ought to think about the importance of this occasion for the sector, how far our society has come, how far it really has to go, and what the nonprofit sector’s role might be.

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