My academic home, the UW-Madison School of Business, announced a rather unique gift this past weekend — a naming gift that defers the need for a naming gift for the next 20 years. The $85 million contributed to the school — the largest single gift ever given to the university — came from a partnership […]
Facts with a human face
This little student video project on the disconnect between the university classroom and its students is worth a watch for many reasons. First, it’s compelling — presenting the student research on the subject in human terms. Second, it’s collaborative, showing just a piece of what learning and expressive opportunities are available to our universities if […]
Preserving and changing at the same time
The CEOs for Cities blog points to a wonderful piece by Andrew Blum on the growing tension in urban planning — between local and global, between preservation and change, between scale and density. The idealized, localized, human-scale urban neighborhood of Jane Jacobs is transforming right in front of us: When I ”look, listen, linger and […]
Then I must be intangibly wealthy
A colleague passed along a link to this article in Reason Magazine on intangible wealth — the invisible elements that drive the visible wealth of a country and its people. According to the World Bank, tangible wealth (natural and produced capital) only accounts for a fraction of any country’s affluence. If one simply adds up […]
Your ticket price is merely the starting offer
If you thought you had a robust ticket pricing strategy, and you’re on Broadway, it might be time revisit your thinking. After the repeal a few months back on price caps for ticket resellers, one primary reseller has set up shop on the Great White Way (according to this article in the New York Times). […]
An new (epic) stage of life
David Brooks in the New York Times explores a fairly recent addition to the considered ”stages of life.” Sandwiched within the traditional childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age, ”odyssey” and ”active retirement” are the newcomers to the spectrum. Brooks specifically focuses on ”odyssey,” those wandering years after college and before structured adulthood. Given the shifting […]
What interns do vs. what interns want to do
The parody newspaper, The Onion, is always good for a laugh and a new view. This little fake newsbite (”Every Intern At Nonprofit Trying To Solve Refugee Crisis First”) pokes fun at the struggle to work with nonprofit interns, and juggle their big ideas against the drudgery to be done: “I don’t mind them attempting […]
Do these spreadsheets make my assets look big?
Yesterday, I got to sit in on a small-group discussion on campus with Bennett Freeman, Senior Vice President for Social Research and Policy at Calvert. Calvert is an investment services company specializing in socially-responsible investment through their many mutual funds. As part of that investment process, Freeman’s team analyzes companies along seven social criteria, including: […]
An unpleasant argument
Neill Roan flags a re-emerging public conversation about the costs and benefits of charitable giving, particularly to seemingly wealthy nonprofit arts organizations. Says he: ”Shouldn’t charitable gifts go to the less fortunate?” is a policy question that those of us in the cultural sector can expect to hear asked more often and more urgently. This […]
Virtual dishes are more fun to clean
So I finally got around to trying my kids’ recent video game purchase — The Sims 2 Pets. In the game, you build a home and life for your virtual self, attending to your various life needs (hunger, fatigue, companionship, and so on) by directing your character’s actions. In this version, you can also adopt […]
