Review: Grassroots Philanthropy: Field Notes of a Maverick Grantmaker

Grassroots Philanthropy:  Field Notes of a Maverick Grantmaker by Bill Somerville* with Fred Setterberg is a book with a clear message to foundations:  accomplish more through grassroots grantmaking.  Somerville, President and Founder of Philanthropic Ventures Foundation and former longtime Executive Director of the Peninsula Community Foundation, suggests that this...

“Blue Avocado” Launched April 15

Jan Masaoka, former long-time Executive Director of CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, started her next big thing by launching Blue Avocado this morning.  The online magazine for people involved with nonprofits is described by Jan in a message she sent to some of us bloggers: Blue Avocado is a new online...

Nonprofit Law Blogs

The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently added a service called Give and Take:  A Roundup of Nonprofit Blogs.  While this blog has yet to have the good fortune of being included in the Chronicle’s Roundup, it has brought to my attention several blogs worth a look.  I list below a...

The Pursuit of Happyness

I went to see The Pursuit of Happyness, starring Will Smith, on New Year’s Day.  The movie is about Chris Gardner, a father raising his son while struggling to overcome tremendous hardships, including periods of homelessness. Rotten Tomatoes rates the movie a 68 and provides the following critical consensus: ...