White Courtesy Telephone

Why Gift Hub Is Still The Best Blog On Philanthropy

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Phil Cubeta commenting on the hyper-managerial strain in philanthropy:

An abuse of power and logic to keep our expectations small, and to keep the funder in charge and us busy, anxious and grateful. … In reading literature, the first thing you learn is how to identify the speaker and to ask how conscious that speaker is of the meaning of his or her own discourse. An unreliable narrator, a benighted narrator, is a standard trope of modern literature. Once you learn to read that way, it is very hard to read Strategic Philanthropy books without thinking of Ozymandias, or Hard Times, or The Bishop Orders his Tomb. “The frame of the normal” and maintaining the normalcy of domination is the game, of which the MBA is blithely unconscious, he or she is just here to straighten us out, by managing us into small projects that ameliorate a status quo favorable to the manager/owner. The deadening effect of business language, and the obtuseness of these experts, all favors the ongoing status quo. They cannot and will not comprehend a critique that exposes the demonic nature of the enterprise. By demonic I mean Mock-Dionysian as in Wealth Bondage, where all desires are met, at a price.

Just about anything I can put down is crap compared to that.  Thanks, Phil, for some great reads over the years.

 

Why We Love Phil Cubeta

Because he writes like this:

I have an image so private, I hesitate to share it, but often when I hear someone talk to me about what they learned the prior evening on Fox News, what comes to mind is Berlin bombed flat, with a few old women moving about the rubble. That is what a propagandized population will endure, to the end, for its delusions and those of its leaders. Some will follow our leadership all the way. Others of us will dissent. How that plays out will be the existential crisis that will mark the meaning of our lives. Then the philanthropist and patriot will be one in sacrifice. Art or artfulness has never in my lifetime been more needful. Now we will relearn to read works of literature written in dark times, not as illuminating texts, but as models to imitate as best we can as we face crises no less daunting than those of a satirist, say, in Imperial Rome, or Augustan England, or as Loyal Subject of the Crown in Boston, circa 1775. We must learn to write better and read better if we are to hold the mirror up to nature, and remain free as writers, citizens, and a people. God Bless America.

God bless America.

Joe Breiteneicher on Compensating Trustees

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Joseph C. K. Breiteneicher, one the Great Souls of philanthropy, died on June 22nd after a long battle with cancer.  He was a mentor to many in the field—myself included—and one of the pioneers of promoting philanthropy.  He brought incredible intellect, passion, and moral authority to his work, serving most recently as president and CEO of The Philanthropic Initiative.  I republish below a guest post that Joe wrote two years ago for the blog Hail, Sons and Daughters of Carnegie, the predecessor to White Courtesy Telephone.

Restoring the Trust in Trusteeship

Trusteeship is a sacred calling—as should be all work in the philanthropic sector.  Compensating trustees diminishes the stewardship values and moral force of the sector.

Below, I offer several perhaps not-so-obvious arguments why all foundation trustees ought to serve pro bono.

First, I find it a moral disconnect that foundations pay trustees for service while they allow salaries in many grantee nonprofits to hover near subsistence levels.  Because most folks who work in nonprofits (real ones, not tax-exempt businesses like most hospitals and large private colleges) are underpaid, and because foundations have contributed to this “underpayment” by not fighting for better conditions of employment for the nonprofit workforce, foundation trustees should feel obliged to forswear all compensation.  It is the moral thing to do since foundations have helped keep most nonprofit workers economically barefoot and pregnant. And, thanks to Senator Grassley, it may also be the politically wise thing to do.

If the sector cannot get its act together, then Congress ought to adopt Canada’s laws regarding trustee compensation.  Perhaps that could help build momentum toward other things Canadian—universal health care, gay marriage, diversity, police in great uniforms.

The rules of Revenue Canada (IRS nord) proscribe trustee compensation for all types of NGOs/foundations.  The penalty is simple: foundations lose their nonprofit philanthropic charter.  Last I looked, Canada had some very effective, progressive philanthropies with quite active trusteeship.  No U.S. community foundation that I know pays its trustees.  In both cases I can cite great foundations that have participation from less affluent folks who are passionate about their communities and who see philanthropy as real service.  All this without the need to compensate.

World Without Borders: May Day 2007 in Seattle

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¡Saludos a mis hermanos inmigrantes y a sus partidarios en Seattle!

 

Hunger Strike for the People of Darfur

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Mr. Start Loving describes himself as a “would-be disciple of Jesus.”  He’s on the 36th day of a hunger strike that he hopes will awaken our moral conscience to the genocide of the Fur, Zaghawa, and Massaleit people of the Darfur region in Sudan.

He’ll stop his water-only hunger strike when he’s assured that there will be an “airtight protection” of the people of Darfur against attacks by the Janjaweed, a militia group recruited by the Sudanese government from among the Bedouin Arabs of the region.

This is an unprecedented opportunity, he believes, for the United States to exercise leadership and reacquire some of the moral authority it has lost over the past six years.  According to his analysis, the United States refuses to take more vigorous action because it doesn’t want to upset China, a country that buys 70 percent of Sudan’s oil.

You can read his blogs here and here.

WCT Deemed “Not Unfunny”

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A shout out to the blogger at Gonzojournalismus im Netz who wrote, “WCT succeeds with Fear and Loathing in Philanthropy.  With very beautiful design and not unfunny.”*

This makes all of us contributors at WCT not unhappy.  Thanks GIN.  Here’s Google’s translation of your site’s raison d’être:

Media?  We shank enterprises with new values, editorships and ethics.  To do not forget political guidelines, reader connection and other conformalisms.  We do not swim also.  The journalism is dead.  It lives the journalism!

Shankalicious!

_____

* “WCT reüssiert über Fear and Loathing in Philanthropy. Mit sehr schöner Zeichnung und nicht unwitzig.”

Woof Woof Woof Woof

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Chickpea is an occasional contributor to White Courtesy Telephone.  She lives in Atlanta, Georgia, where she loves to play ball and swim.

Woof woof woof woof woof woof woof.  Woof woof woof woof, woof woof woof woof woof woof.  Woof woof woof woof woof woof.  Woof woof woof woof woof?

Woof.

Woof woof woof J. Alva Scruggs a-oo woof woof UFO Breakfast a-ooo.  Woof woof woof, woof woof woof woof woof: woof woof woof woof.  Woof woof Hillary Clinton grrr grrr woof woof woof.  Mr. Scruggs woof woof woof woof Vichy Democrats grrr grrr—woof woof woof woof—woof woof.  Woof woof woof et alia woof “snup snup” woof woof woof woof? Woof woof woof, woof, woof woof (woof woof woof woof).

Woof Katrin Verclas a-oo woof woof NTEN a-oo woof woof woof “aggregator” woof.  Woof woof woof.

Woof woof, woof woof woof woof Phil Cubeta a-oo woof woof GiftHub a-oo woof woof woof.  Woof woof woof woof woof woof?  Woof.  Woof woof woof Ornette Coleman woof Anna Nicole Smith ;-)