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How to Interrupt the Public Funds to Private Profits Pipeline: A California Story

NonProfit Quarterly

This happens daily when local governments park public funds in banks. Public funds amounting to billions of dollars are turned into private profits for services using your assets. The Peoples Money for the Peoples Needs What difference could a public bank make? It turns out, quite a lot.

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US Nonprofit Sector Documents Its Own Powerlessness, but What Will We Do?

NonProfit Quarterly

Since 1973, I have started or led 14 nonprofit enterprises in the arts, community development, and civic engagement sectors. I have been a managing director, a board member, a board president, a consultant to nonprofits, and taught college courses on nonprofit management and policy at several Chicago universities.

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A Political Roadmap to Social Housing: How Do We Win?

NonProfit Quarterly

Politicians are influenced by money as much as or, frankly, often much more than votes, and public policy is the product of calculating trade-offs between the two. Policy changes without accompanying operational support and infrastructure are like trees without roots. Fortunately, there are allies and resources here.

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From Impact Investing to “Impact-First” Investing—What Is the Field Learning?

NonProfit Quarterly

That money must be complemented by foundations or donors (or possibly government programs) that offer matching grants and technical assistance to the investment fund and/or the supported businesses. Activating these funding streams will be challenging but not impossible.

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Co-op Federation Seeks to Shift Worker Co-op Movement into a Passing Gear

NonProfit Quarterly

Image Credit: Getty Images for Unsplash In September, over 700 worker co-op members, co-op developers, supporters, and organizers from across the country came to Chicago to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC), the national worker co-op federation.

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A Banker’s Case for Public Banking

NonProfit Quarterly

This has led me to the conclusion that if we want to close the racial wealth gap, we need to get serious about public banking. Despite their best intentions, minority deposit institutions (MDIs) and community development financial institutions (CDFIs), like other small banks, simply lack the capital base to close the racial gap.

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Democracy in Peril: In South Africa, Will Philanthropy Back Economic Justice?

NonProfit Quarterly

A Government of National Unity As a response to the dwindling support, the ANC agreed to form a coalition government. So, what should we expect from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Government of National Unity? This support comes despite the fact that their ANC-led governments have been largely ineffective.