Viewpoint Insights from the front lines

Oil in Troubled Water

By Florence C. Fee 1

To enrich Africa, oil companies and NGOs must cooperate.

Robbing the Grandchildren

By Charles Conn 1

Human-caused climate change, sharply declining conventional energy sources, and population growth are threatening the very platform of human life. Yet only 5 percent of U.S. foundation spending goes to the environment, and a paltry 2.9 percent goes to science and technology.

Partners for the Planet

By David Yarnold

You know the world is changing when the largest corporate buy-out in history hinges on an environmental commitment. That’s what happened in February when two top private equity firms enlisted the help of Environmental Defense, a nonprofit that finds practical solutions to environmental problems, to acquire TXU Corp., the largest utility in Texas.

Laws, Not Lawyers

By John H. Vogel Jr., Sarah Gohl Isabel, & James Sears Bryant

How states can protect nonprofit leaders and infuse more money into the sector.

Sound and Fury

By Tony Proscio

Much public affairs lingo, such as "capacity," signifies nothing in particular. The nonprofit and public sectors have more than their share of this vocabulary. There are a handful of toxic words and phrases that have a way of polluting any stream of consciousness, muddying the concepts and making it impossible to see what facts and arguments (if any) lie below the surface.