On January 1st I launched a new blog, Freedom Is Moral.
What’s the focus?
The focus on that blog will be the concept that when you consider all the options, freedom is the moral choice.
Whether you want to discuss economics, political systems, or religious worship, the moral option is the one that involves freedom.
Why a new blog?
HSBC has agreed to pay a fine of $1.9B (yes, billion) for their systemic violations of U.S. money laundering laws.
Tim Fernholz at Quartz calculates that “HSBC’s record $1.9 billion money-laundering fine is the bank equivalent of a stiff speeding ticket”.
The $1.9B is about 2% of their net income last year. He calculates that for an average New Yorker, that would be about $1,105. In N.Y., that’s the fine if you were going more than 31 mph above the speed limit on a third-time offense with previous points on your record.
Last week I published my 1,000th unique post.
I suppose that’s not a big deal in the vast blogosphere, but still seems like a cool accomplishment.
Thanks to everyone who has stopped by to check out my blogs.
Why mention unique posts?
If you want to get the bargain prices on software that are offered to nonprofit organizations by two outfits that specialize in doing so, try asking your computer vendor for the same deals.
My church recently ordered several computers from Dell. I told our tech guy doing the ordering about Consistent Computer Bargains, who has great prices for NPOs on lots of software.
He did more research and found that those same prices are offered on specific SKUs for Microsoft software.
We asked the Dell representative about those prices. Said representative hadn’t heard of that, and after checking with a supervisor to learn it was available, included those special prices in the bid.
That is an old phrase you may hear in movies. If you have a small window above a door, the horizontal bar separating the door from the window is the transom.
Here is a picture of a door with transom and an open window.
Wikipedia provides this description of the phrase “over the transom”, which is the explanation I’ve heard for years. (more…)
What’s the difference between parody and satire? Which one violates someone’s intellectual property rights?
Umm. I have no idea.
Or at least I didn’t until I read a newsletter from Gammon and Grange, which pointed to Kenneth Liu’s guest post at Forbes: Parodies of Rap Artist Psy’s Gangnam Style Are Fun. But Are They Legal?
Mr. Liu explains the difference in the context of an amazingly popular video, “Oppa Gangnam Style” and the spoofs that have been made of it.
If I now understand the distinction, (more…)
Previous post discussed explained that is a major point by Mr. Dan Pallotta in two articles he wrote:
His main point is the excessive focus we as a society have evaluating organizations based on their “overhead” ratios and our intolerance for NPOs paying market salaries. The unintended consequence is that we are restricting organizations from getting the money to have the full impact they could realize.
Action plan
Here are a few ideas in case you would like to find some financial info on a charity.
For donors, it is easy to find financial reports for charities you would like to support. For ministries, please understand how incredibly easy it is for your donors to find your financial data.
August 29th marked the 2 year blogiversary of this little site (Nonprofit Update) to talk about nonprofit issues. I split off posts of interest to CPAs to another blog (Attestation Update) on October 14, 2010 and started Outrun Change on October 3, 2011. That site ponders the radical change around us and how we can stay ahead of it.
Thanks so much to those who have stopped by. I hope it has been a blessing to you. In case you can’t tell, I’ve been having a blast.
Most visitors and page views are coming in from internet search engines. That is really cool.
One of the best things in the last year is a growing number of people interested enough is my musings to follow by e-mail or Google RSS feed. Thanks very much for stopping by.
For the second year, I will report some stats for my sites. Here’s some stuff for those interested in such things. I will adjust this time around to an August 31 cutoff instead of the 29th. I’ll list stats for this year with the prior year in parentheses.
Are Glasses the New TOMS Shoes? No, according to Lauren Bishop on the NYU Development Research Institute blog.
Warby-Parker sells glasses and then donates money to NPOs who train local workers who in turn provide eye exams and sell low-cost glasses.
Here’s the concept: (more…)
Consider this ethics case study:
You work at a company that processes low-level radioactive waste from hospitals. Everyone knows your company is in serious financial trouble. Your manager tells you to start dumping truckloads of unprocessed waste material on the school playgrounds in your community. Just one truckload per school per month– your boss says that’s not enough to make anyone sick. What is the ethical thing to do? Develop and explain a range of options, choose one, and defend your choice.
While melodramatic, that case study is only a slight exaggeration from the case studies I recall from my long-ago ethics class in grad school. If memory serves, we had one class that was half marketing and half business ethics. The case studies, as I recall, were primarily dramatic overstatements with a painfully obvious correct answer. Those that weren’t extremely obvious had several choices, all of which were it-feels-good options with minimal ethical distinctions.
Melodrama does not really teach ethics. Neither does mush.
The California Chamber of Commerce has a list of the most common mistakes employers make that result in lawsuits. You can find the full list at The Top 10 Things Employers Do to Get Sued.
Here are three that you may not have heard about before. Since I’m not an attorney, I will summarize some of the points made by CalChamber.
… yesterday I worshiped at a church that preaches what my group believes without the government caring what we proclaim.
…yesterday I led a Bible study explaining the Scriptures the way my group interprets them.
… this morning I browsed the sample ballot for the primary election a week from now and pondered who I will vote for in a free election in which I get to cast a secret ballot.
…tomorrow I will return to work in my own business pursuing my financial interests in the way I wish to do so and will keep the proceeds of my work after I pay a readily calculable tax to the government without fear of expropriation.
… I write this blog post with more freedom to say whatever I want than most people on the earth have today and with more freedom than most people throughout history ever dreamed of.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Update 6-6-12: Today my wife and I voted in our state’s primary. Thank you again to the heroes who laid down their lives to buy freedom so I can walk into a polling station and cast a secret ballot without fear.
There is a mandate from HHS that affects every health insurance plan in the country. It will be going into effect for your health plan starting with the next plan year. My previous post provided some initial background on the requirement.
For additional background, printed below is a newsletter from the Gammon and Grange law firm in the Washington, D.C. area. The article can also be found here.
The article is so good that I am posting all of it. I requested and received permission from the Gammon and Grange firm to post the full article. My thanks to them for permission to do so. The article has their contact information at the end.
This week, the Franciscan University of Steubenville became the first university to cease offering health insurance to its students in response to what has become known as the “HHS Mandate.” As many religious employers are aware, on January 20, 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) finalized regulations under the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (“ACA Regs”). These ACA Regs require almost all employers with more than 50 employees to offer health insurance plans that will fully cover reproductive “preventive health services.” Covered services include sterilization procedures and the contraceptive drugs known as Plan B (the “morning after” pill) and ulipristal or ella (the “week after” pill), which are considered to be abortifacients or abortion-inducing medicines.
