February 2009 Archives

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This Week

Uncharitable's at #1 in the "Nonprofit Organizations and Charities" category today on Amazon, probably as a result of an article on giving in the current issue of the UTNE Reader in which the book is described. 

Over the last ten days I spoke at a Milken Institute Forum (view video here), at the Clinton School of Public Service (view video here) located on the campus of the Clinton Library in Little Rock, and at the Canadian FundRaiser conference in Toronto (a simple trip that turned into a Planes, Trains and Automobiles adventure when I discovered the night before my flight that my passport had expired.)

I continue to be dismayed by the attachment that some people have to the potentially contaminating effects of higher compensation in the sector. One blogger writes about how he finds other benefits beyond money, and thus questions whether we need to pay people more in the nonprofit sector. My response to this is that it is inaccurate for us to believe that there are not also non-monetary benefits in for-profit sector jobs. The people at Apple sure look passionate and seem like they're having a lot of fun to me. Do we really believe that people in the for-profit sector find no satisfaction in their work beyond the pay? Furthermore, when you add in the lack of resources that the nonprofit sector offers to talented people, and how that de-leverages all of their talent, and then take away compensation on top of that, all while you give the for-profit sector folks high compensation, job satisfaction, and the resources with which to explore their full talents, you have a totally discriminatory and counter-productive paradigm. 
I was at Harvard two weeks ago to do a presentation at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations. There's a lively discussion that I'm a part of on the Hauser blog, specifically centered on compensation - definitely check it out. Also, if you're in L.A., come to the Milken Institute Forum I'll be presenting at this Wednesday at 4:30. It's free, but you have to register. And, if you feel like flying to Little Rock, I'll be speaking at the Clinton School of Public Service this Friday.