Emily F. Keller

Valuing Beneficiary Feedback: Promoting Foundation Accountability and Programmatic Outcomes by Incorporating Recipient Assessments into Decision-Making

    Foundation leaders who want to increase the accountability of their work should consider supporting efforts to solicit feedback from beneficiaries, say three experts in the field of conducting recipient assessments.

    To succeed, the feedback must be representative, actionable, systematic, and comparable, said Fay Twersky, Phil Buchanan, and Valerie Threlfall in a webinar presented last month by the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR). The webinar was based on the article, "Listening to Those Who Matter Most, the Beneficiaries," written by the webinar speakers and published in the spring 2013 issue of SSIR.

    Read the full article on Transparency Talk, a Foundation Center blog, by clicking here.

Book Review: Changing Business From the Inside Out

    The most effective way to create change that benefits humans above the bottom line is to combine social change efforts with the profit motive under the umbrella of a multinational corporation.

    So writes Timothy J. Mohin in his new book Changing Business From the Inside Out: A Treehugger's Guide to Working in Corporations. And with an eighteen-year career in the field known as corporate responsibility (CR), he provides a wealth of knowledge to back up his claim.

    Read the full article on Philanthropy News Digest, a Foundation Center blog, by clicking here.

Gov. Cuomo Questions Nonprofits on Executive Pay

    Governor Andrew Cuomo has formed a task force to seek data from nonprofits on the compensation they provide to executives and board members.

    The Governor’s Task Force on Not-For-Profit Entities is requesting information on executive pay, the reasons the organizations consider themselves nonprofits and whether the boards believe that any of the executive compensation should be recouped.

    Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of the Department of Financial Services, is the chair of the task force. “Our task force is conducting a top-to-bottom review, not only to audit current compensation levels, but also make recommendations for future rules to ensure taxpayer dollars are used to serve and support the people of this state, not pay for excessive salaries and compensation,” Lawsky wrote in a letter to nonprofits dated August 25.

Care Organization Replaces CEO Amidst Controversy

    A longtime leader of the Young Adult Institute (YAI) Network serving people with developmental disabilities has left the organization for reasons that remain unclear.

    Dr. Philip Levy had worked at YAI for forty years. He became president in 1999 and chief executive officer (CEO) in July 2009, taking the place of his brother Joel Levy who retired as CEO the month before and stayed on as a consultant.

U.S. Airways Refuses to Fly Wheelchair User

    Johnnie Tuitel, a motivational speaker and author who uses a wheelchair, was refused a flight on US Airways on the way to an event celebrating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

    The incident occurred September 23 at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida, where he was leaving for a trip to a conference on self advocacy. 

    Tuitel, who lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan said an airline employee told him he was “too disabled to fly without someone with him.” Tuitel has cerebral palsy.  A flight attendant had helped him transfer to a chair specially fitted for flight prior to an employee telling him to leave the plane.

    Tuitel, 47, was on his way to Kansas City, Missouri to speak at the 2010 National Self Advocacy Conference. The theme for this year’s event was “Jazz It Up: Celebrating 20 Years of Self Advocates Being Empowered” in commemoration of the 20 year anniversary of the ADA. Tuitel missed the event.

    Click here to read the full story on Transportation Access.

Guide Dog Foundation Provides Classes and Assistance

    The Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities has a guide dog whose name holds special significance to the city’s history, and whose training organization has earned international recognition.

    “The name is Downey and he is ironically named after a great NYC FDNY chief who died in 9/11,” explains Sapolin.

Disabilities Network Becomes Volunteer Organization

    The Disabilities Network of New York City, an advocacy organization headed by Lawrence Carter-Long, will be changing due to economic constraints.

    A coalition of disability organizations, DNNYC reverted to the volunteer organization it was at its inception due to the loss of funding from the Fund for the City of New York that precipitated Carter-Long's departure. The network had been funded and supported by United Way and other contributors in the past.

     Click here to read the full story that was published in Able News.

Amputee Organizations Mobilize for Haitians

    National and international organizations that work with amputees are extending their efforts to people in Haiti who were injured in the devastating January earthquake.

    The nonprofit Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) in Tennessee developed a Haiti Relief Action Center (HRAC) to provide information on the relief effort to people who want to help amputees. The organization is raising funds with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to translate limb-loss information such as wound care advice into Creole.

    This article was published in Able News. Click here to read the full article.

Volunteers Build Low-Income Housing

    The Sammamish City Council is requiring 10 percent of the housing units built as part of the 243-acre Town Center project to be available to people with low incomes, which opens the door for the construction of up to 200 affordable units. One of the city’s potential partners in that effort is the East King County branch of the non-profit organization Habitat for Humanity International. Habitat for Humanity homes are available to people making less than 50 percent of the median income, which equates to less than $40,000 per year for a family of four in East King County.

    Published in the Sammamish Review. Read the story.

    Read a related story.

Climbers Raise Money for Breast Cancer Research

    To prepare for her second climb up Mount Rainier, Melinda Gage carried her 17-month old son, Marko Gage-Fugate, up Tiger Mountain in Issaquah.

    “Really the best thing is to put weight in a pack and head uphill,” the Sammamish resident said. Gage was in training for the annual Climb to Fight Breast Cancer, which requires participants to carry backpacks weighing 30-40 pounds. The packs held climbers’ food and water, boot spikes called crampons, ice axes, sleeping bags and down jackets for the summit.

    Published in the Sammamish Review. Read the story.