Month: April 2011

Does humanitarian aid actually help? How do we know?

Outcome measures are being forced on ministries. Does this organization actually create change in the area of their cause? Ultimately, answering that question will be a good thing, even though it is very hard.

How about asking the same questions of humanitarian aid? Does the help provided actually make the lives of struggling people better? How do we know?

Measuring How and Why Aid Works – or Doesn’t, written by William Easterly in the Wall Street Journal, discusses two books that help us ask questions. The same concepts apply to aid as to domestic non-profits. Are they making any difference?

Mr. Easterly focuses in on the core issues when he says:

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Jim Ulvog

Rappin’ economists, round 2. Yes, rapping. Yes, round 2.

The great economists Hayek and Keynes continue their rap encounters. This time they go to a congressional hearing and wind up in a boxing ring.

Check out Fight of the Century at EconStories.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTQnarzmTOc&feature=player_embedded#t=447s]

Some of my favorite lines:

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Jim Ulvog

What’s the dollar value of what a church contributes to the community?

Christianity Today points to a study which starts to answer the question.  Their article What’s a Congregation Worth? provides a nice illustration of a 1997 study by Professor Ram Cnaan. 

In his study, he quantifies an urban congregation contributes around $140,000 of value to the local community.  CT states he updated his estimate to $476,000 in 2009.

Some of the factors quantified:

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Jim Ulvog

Illustration of internal control from the Scriptures – one good example and one not so good

Maintain dual control over the offering! You hear that unending refrain from us accountants.

Document those disbursements!  Another routine comment you hear.

One story in scriptures has a good illustration of the first control along with missing the boat on the second idea.  Jehoiada, the priest during the reign of King Joash, did a good job on the dual control over the offering and not so great on accountability for the disbursements.

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Jim Ulvog

Update on nimbleness in social media

Update on my post about how Taco Bell is using social media as an integrated part of their response to a lawsuit which raised severe allegations against them.

On April 19 the plaintiff dropped her lawsuit. The law firm claimed that the restaurant chain revised the marketing and product disclosure.

Taco Bell has a quick response saying they changed nothing in their recipe, paid nothing to the plaintiff, and did not make a settlement.

Their use of social media is what’s of most interest to me.

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Jim Ulvog

Time to start paying attention to privacy issues?

Might be time for all of us to pay more attention to privacy issues on the technology we use. This has not been a good week in terms of privacy developments.

Using an iPhone or phone in the Android family? Did you know your location is being tracked regularly and reported back to Apple and Google?

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Jim Ulvog

Is inflation back?

Various news reports suggest that inflation is returning to the economy.  See this article from the AP for one example: That’s pricey: 13 items that cost more, or will.

Officials of the Federal Reserve indicate the recent price increases won’t be sustained. 

I decided to do some checking on my own.

I pulled down the CPI data for a look-see.  See this post for links to get the data yourself.

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Jim Ulvog

Repeal of expanded 1099 reporting

Previously mentioned the expanded 1099 reporting that would have gone into effect in 2012.  This would have required all businesses and ministries to report on 1099s the payments to any vendor over $600.  The major change in the rules is the exception for incorporated businesses would have gone away.

On 3-14-11 the President signed legislation that repeals the expanded reporting requirement.

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Jim Ulvog

Convergence report from La Piana Consulting, blurring boundaries – part 4

Previous posts here  and here mentioned four emerging trends identified by La Piana Consulting in their report called Convergence- How Five Trends Will Reshape the Social Sector.  Will now discuss the last trend they have noticed.

As mentioned previously, I will be quoting from their report a lot.

 “Sector boundaries are blurring” – (more…)

Jim Ulvog

Update on the ECFA Commission –announcement of membership and overall approach

ECFA has announced the membership of the Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations. This is the task force ECFA has assembled to provide feedback requested by U.S. Sen. Grassley.

Click here for my previous comments on the commission, which provides general background.

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Jim Ulvog

Convergence report from La Piana Consulting, networking and volunteerism trends – part 3

Previous post mentioned the first two emerging trends identified by La Piana Consulting in their report called Convergence- How Five Trends Will Reshape the Social Sector.  Will discuss two more trends in this post.

As mentioned before, I will be quoting from their report.  Notice lots of quotation marks.

“Networks enable work to be organized in new ways” – (more…)

Jim Ulvog