I was on Bill Handel's morning show yesterday. He asked great questions, was a quick study, and his grasped of the issues rivaled that of those who've been studying this for a long time. Click here to listen.
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I have a piece on the Huffington Post today. Comment and pass it around! Thanks.
Excerpt from a letter I sent to the Editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy in response to their story this week:"...The article also quotes an Avon representative stating that, "...PTW had priorities other than fundraising for the cause, which was (and remains) the mission of the Avon Foundation." Sadly, the article did not mention that, according to Avon's own financials, Avon's fundraising for breast cancer from the events dropped from approximately $140 million in 2002 when we were producing them to $29 million in 2003 when Avon produced them on their own. Separately, the article's conflation of my $394,500 salary in 2001 (we netted $69 million for charity that year) with the notion of "get[ting] rich," is more evidence of our suffocating double-standards between the for-profit and non-profit sectors. Forbes reported that Avon's CEO, Andrea Jung, earned $11.1 million in total compensation in 2007. Avon's shareholders are neither stupid or gratuitously benevolent. Presumably they pay her that amount because she produces commensurate value. Doesn't the eradication of breast cancer deserve the same talent as the sale of cosmetics - even if we have to pay someone $11.1 million annually? And isn't its eradication what we should be striving after? Surely, women with breast cancer deserve a say in the matter, and it doesn't take a sooth-sayer to predict what their answer would be."
I received an e-mail from a real innovator running a really imaginative, socially entrepreneurial fundraising engine. He just received a copy of "Uncharitable" and wrote:
"I opened it to two random pages, one about Google, and one about win-win being a no-no. All I can say is Yep, and Yep. Sometimes I wonder if it is worth it. Being an investment banker or talk show host is a lot more remunerative. Maybe only Don Quixote and crazy people try to innovate in this field. Sigh. Cheers, and thanks for writing this."
I get it. Boy do I get it. That's why those of us who really do want to see breakthrough innovation in this sector have to stick together. The forces of entropy are powerful, and it's very difficult to stick with this work if you get the slightest bit isolated. On the other hand, with like-minded people supporting one another we become a force of nature. This notion that we ought to be able to do well and do good, and the notion that we can scale the nonprofit sector to brilliant heights, at which it can be fun and exhilarating to work because of the progress we can make and the bog tools we can play with - these are, as Victor Hugo said, "ideas whose time have come." So let's stick together, enthuse one another, defend one another against the critics, and keep our visions alive, thriving, and expanding.
Note: the Bill Handel / KFI AM 640 interview was taped - will air next week. Details to follow.
What a pleasure it is to do an interview with a host who has read your book and is actually interested in the issues. I was on Larry Mantle's AirTalk show this morning talking about the book. You can listen to the interview by clicking here.
