Archive for June, 2014

Trickle-down economics is the greatest broken promise of our lifetime

Inequality
The richest 85 people in the world have as much wealth as the poorest 3.5bn. That should be a wake-up call to the deepest sleepers.

By Alex Andreou
theguardian.com, Monday 20 January 2014

The richest 85 people in the world have as much wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion – or half the world’s entire population – put together. This is the stark headline of a report from Oxfam ahead of the World Economic Forum at Davos. Is there a reason why the world’s powerful, gathering at the exclusive resort to sip cognac and eat blinis, should care? Well, yes.
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What Peter Buffett Gets Wrong About Philanthropy

By Howard Husock

In what amounts to a mea culpa New York Times op-ed, Peter Buffett, Warren Buffett’s son and overseer of his own philanthropic foundation, denounces the “charitable industrial complex” as little more than a conscience-salve for the rich. His evidence: that there are more non-profit organizations than ever receiving more funds and employing more people–but human suffering nonetheless continues. “As more lives and communities are destroyed by the system that creates vast amounts of wealth for the few, the more heroic it sounds to ‘give back’”. His vague corrective is not, he assures, an end to capitalism– –but an infusion of “humanism”.
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Books That Every Muslim Intellectual Needs To Read

Compiled by: Dr. Mumtaz Ahmad

  1.  Al-Farabi. The Political Writings: Selected Aphorisms and other Texts. Trans. Charles E Butterworth. New York: Cornell University Press, 2004
  2. Al-Ghazzali, Abu Hamid Muhammad. The Alchemy of Happiness. New York: M. E Sharpe, 1991
  3. Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 2006
  4. Aristotle. Politics. Trans. T A Sinclair. London: Penguin Classics, 1981
  5. Asad, Muhammad. The Road to Mecca. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1954
  6. Read the rest of this entry »

Marketing & Communications in Nonprofit Organizations

Marketing-and-Communications_Page_01Marketing & Communications in Nonprofit Organizations
David Williamson

Essays on Excellence
Lessons from the Georgetown Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate Program

Marketing gets no respect in the nonprofit world. Program people tend to hold the most senior positions in nonprofits and accordingly have the most status. Fundraisers are often viewed as necessary evils, as are operations staff, including those who labor in the communications and marketing departments.

Click here to download the full booklet.

Governing the Nonprofit Organization

Governing-the-Nonprofit-Organization_Page_01Governing the Nonprofit Organization
Michela M. Perrone

Essays on Excellence
Lessons from the Georgetown Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate Program

Boards of Directors are groups of people, and they experience all of the struggles and have all of the needs that are typical of groups. They need structures and systems. They need skillful facilitation of meetings. They need clarity of decision-making procedures and rules. They also need an occasional therapy session.

Click here to download the full booklet.

Strategic Planning

Strategic-Planning_Page_01Strategic Planning
Michela M. Perrone, Ph.D.

Essays on Excellence
Lessons from the Georgetown Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate Program

Nonprofit organizations are often established in response to a societal need and the vision of its founders to address it. The strategies adopted to implement the mission also come initially from the founders’ insights and experiences. As organizations grow and the founders begin to share ownership of their vision with others, stakeholders ask questions of vision and strategies. The original founders’ plan may be in their heads and in their hearts, but the new stakeholders need a more formal representation and shared understanding of the organization’s future.

Click here to download the full booklet.

Advocacy in the Public Interest

Advocacy-in-the-Public-Interest_Page_01Advocacy in the Public Interest
Gary D. Bass

Essays on Excellence
Lessons from the Georgetown Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate Program

In truth, there are few smoke-filled rooms in Washington these days. But even as cities and states clamp down on smoking in public facilities, there still is an image of lobbying as an industry that involves billion dollar deals in dark corners and arm-twisting behind
closed doors.

The 1987 book Showdown at Gucci Gulch, by reporters Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and Alan S. Murray, chronicles the ups, downs, and ultimate victory of 1986 tax reform. In terms of offering insight into and conveying the drama of the Congress, the book tells an important story of lobbying. It describes how high-priced lobbyists, decked out in their fancy suits and shoes, lurk outside the Senate Finance Committee meeting room in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, waiting to pigeonhole senators on their pet issue in the tax bill. Dubbed Gucci Gulch, it is a formidable showing.

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The Islamic Vision of Development in the Light of Maqasid al-Shariah

278_Omar-Chapra-Islamic-Development1-1_Page_01By Dr Muhammad Umer Chapra

M. Umer Chapra is Research Advisor at the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Jeddah. Prior to this position, he worked at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), Riyadh, for nearly years, retiring as Senior Economic Advisor. He has also taught as Assistant and Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Wisconsin (Platteville) and the University of Kentucky, Lexington; as Senior Economist and Associate Editor of the Pakistan Development Review at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics; and as Reader (Associate Professor) at the Central Institute of Islamic Research (Pakistan). He is a prolific writer having authored books and monographs, as well as many papers and book reviews.

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Dr. Faisal Islam

Dr. Faisal Islam has over 15 years of experience in international development. His areas of interest are monitoring & evaluation systems, program evaluation, place based pedagogies, and community based partnerships. He received his PhD in Policy, Administration and International Education with a focus on participatory evaluation from McGill University. Dr. Islam has co-edited School-University Partnership for Educational Change in rural South Africa: Particular Challenges and Practical Cases. Dr. Islam has worked with several international non-profit organizations. He is currently working as Manager, Monitoring & Evaluation with Canadian Feed The Children in Toronto.

Dr. Iqbal Unus

Iqbal Unus Dr. Iqbal Unus [Ph.D, Emory University 1977] has focused his professional career on the evolving Muslim presence in America, gaining distinctive insight into its growth. He is associated with the International Institute of Islamic Thought, and has served as secretary general of the Islamic Society of North America, where he is currently member of the Board. He has published several articles in Islamic Horizons, a book chapter in The Muslims’ Place in the American Public Square, and two children’s books, as well as abridged Apostasy in Islam: An Historical and Scriptural Analysis, and edited Muslim American Life: Reflections and Perspectives. He served on the Research Committee for The US Mosque Survey 2011.