News for Social Entrepreneurs
Social Entrepreneur blog for the world changers
Startup CEOs Crave Venture Capital, Not Crowdsourcing
Apr 30th
Though the passage of the JOBS Act opened the doors for crowdfunding, many startups are still seeking funding from venture capital firms, according to a new study.
Nonprofit Hospitals Accused Of Poor Charitable Care
Apr 30th
A recent study by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that many nonprofit hospitals provide only slightly more charitable care than for-profit ones.
A report on North County Public Radio (NCPR) expanded on this study by telling the story of Lori Duff from Columbus, OH. Duff had frequently visited a local nonprofit hospital called Mount Caramel Health for prenatal care while pregnant with her third son. She had assumed that, since she was earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level, that the prenatal care would be free. That's why she was shocked when debt collectors demanded $1,800 for her visits to the hospital.
A spokesperson for Mount Caramel, which sued Duff and several other patients for not paying their bills, told NCPR that its mission is to provide as much charitable care as possible, but it must collect payments from those who can afford to pay them.
This is not the first instance that nonprofit hospitals have been accused of stingy health care. Three Illinois hospitals were denied tax-exemption last year after it was deemed they did not provide enough free care. The Affordable Care Act of 2010 attempted to address this type of issue by setting new rules for how nonprofit hospitals report its charity care. These new rules went into effect last year but have not been widely enforced. Here are some of the requirements:
A report on North County Public Radio (NCPR) expanded on this study by telling the story of Lori Duff from Columbus, OH. Duff had frequently visited a local nonprofit hospital called Mount Caramel Health for prenatal care while pregnant with her third son. She had assumed that, since she was earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level, that the prenatal care would be free. That's why she was shocked when debt collectors demanded $1,800 for her visits to the hospital.
A spokesperson for Mount Caramel, which sued Duff and several other patients for not paying their bills, told NCPR that its mission is to provide as much charitable care as possible, but it must collect payments from those who can afford to pay them.
This is not the first instance that nonprofit hospitals have been accused of stingy health care. Three Illinois hospitals were denied tax-exemption last year after it was deemed they did not provide enough free care. The Affordable Care Act of 2010 attempted to address this type of issue by setting new rules for how nonprofit hospitals report its charity care. These new rules went into effect last year but have not been widely enforced. Here are some of the requirements:
- Nonprofit hospitals are prohibited from charging uninsured low-income payments higher rates than the lowest amounts billed to individuals with insurance.
- They must have a clearly written financial assistance policy describing who is eligible for free or reduced cost care.
- Extraordinary collections actions are not allowed against patients before determining whether the patient qualifies for financial assistance.
You can read the full story on NCPR's website.
Salvation Army To Announce NFL Draft Pick
Apr 27th
The organization announced on its website today that Chief Communications Officer Major General George Hood will be announcing the Dallas Cowboy's fourth round draft pick tomorrow morning.
“This is a very exciting opportunity. A way to recognize the long-standing relationship between The Salvation Army and the Dallas Cowboys,” said Major Hood. “It will certainly be an honor for me to announce the fourth round draft pick and on a personal note, should be a lot of fun!“
The Dallas Cowboys, who selected Louisiana State University's Corner Back Morris Claiborne in the Draft's first round last night, have supported the Salvation Army for 14 years in a number of ways. For instance, the team's Executive Vice President of Brand Management, Charlotte Jones Anderson, has served as the nonprofit's National Advisory Board Chairperson. She has also organized the annual Red Kettle Kickoff event at Cowboys stadium on Thanksgiving Day since 1998.
4th round draft choices don't exactly come with the hype of first or even second round picks but that doesn't mean the player chosen won't have an impact. After all, some guy named Tom Brady was the New England Patriot's sixth round draft pick in 2000.
You can read the full story on the Salvation Army's blog.
California Academy of Sciences Tops Most Expensive U.S. Museums
Apr 27th
How would you like to spend $30 to go to a museum? That's the amount you will have to shell out if you want to enjoy the California Academy of Sciences.
The San Francisco, Calif.-based museum tops Consumer Search's top 20 most expensive museums in the U.S. Other institutions that made this dubious list were New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art ($25; recommended price), Boston's Museum of Fine Arts ($22), and Washington, D.C.'s International Spy Museum ($19.95).
Museums are mostly nonprofits and thus free from property taxes, which would lead the average citizen to believe they should be relatively cheap to enter. This seems like a rational thought, but there's a number of issues. The pieces that appear in these museums can sometimes go for millions of dollars and those prices have to be subsidized somehow. Museums also have legions of curators, art restorers, and researches on staff, and they don't come cheap either. Finally, government grants to museums have continually decreased in value, according to a study by USA Today.
There are ways to avoid these steep prices. Many of these museums allow visitors to purchase annual memberships which reduce the prices of tickets. There are also some institutions that have free admission on weekends and certain times. Yet D.C. seems to have the best deal: Most of the museums there, outside of the Spy Museum, are free. This includes the National Gallery of Art and the Air and Space Museum.
Want to see Consumer Search's full list? Head on over to their website and see which museums will cost you the most.
The San Francisco, Calif.-based museum tops Consumer Search's top 20 most expensive museums in the U.S. Other institutions that made this dubious list were New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art ($25; recommended price), Boston's Museum of Fine Arts ($22), and Washington, D.C.'s International Spy Museum ($19.95).
Museums are mostly nonprofits and thus free from property taxes, which would lead the average citizen to believe they should be relatively cheap to enter. This seems like a rational thought, but there's a number of issues. The pieces that appear in these museums can sometimes go for millions of dollars and those prices have to be subsidized somehow. Museums also have legions of curators, art restorers, and researches on staff, and they don't come cheap either. Finally, government grants to museums have continually decreased in value, according to a study by USA Today.
There are ways to avoid these steep prices. Many of these museums allow visitors to purchase annual memberships which reduce the prices of tickets. There are also some institutions that have free admission on weekends and certain times. Yet D.C. seems to have the best deal: Most of the museums there, outside of the Spy Museum, are free. This includes the National Gallery of Art and the Air and Space Museum.
Want to see Consumer Search's full list? Head on over to their website and see which museums will cost you the most.
Could You Charge 70% More With a Better Business Name?
Apr 26th
Is your small business stuck charging low prices for your products or services? The problem might not be what you're selling. Here's how one business raised prices by changing its name.
U.S. Senate Passes Postal Reform
Apr 26th
The United States Senate voted yesterday to pass the Postal Reform Act. The bill will now be sent to the House of Representatives where it awaits an uncertain fate.
As reported by The Washington Post, the Postal Reform Act will make sweeping reforms to the United States Postal Service (USPS). It would, among other things, permit the ending of Saturday mail deliveries in two years if the USPS determines it financially necessary, and would place restrictions on the amount of facilities that can be closed. For example, USPS cannot close a rural post office unless the next-nearest location is no more than 10 miles away. It would also maintain the current nonprofit postage rate.
The bill, passed 62 to 37, is meant to preserve the cash-strapped USPS. The organization has been on the verge of financial collapse for years, and it is no longer able to sustain delivery operations that still process 554 million pieces of mail a day. That is why the Postal Service has pushed to end Saturday mail. While the Senate version of the bill delays that decision, the House bill sponsored by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) would permit the USPS to immediately end Saturday deliveries. A strong majority of Republican representatives, including Issa, oppose the current Senate bill.
The House has until May 15, when the USPS will resume closing its facilities, to pass the bill. This is part of its plan to cut more than $22 million in costs by 2015. Direct mail has been in a decline in recent years as e-mail has increased in popularity. According to statistics from the Postal Service, only 168 million pieces of mail were delivered last year, compared to 202.8 billion a decade ago.
You can read the full story in The Washington Post.
As reported by The Washington Post, the Postal Reform Act will make sweeping reforms to the United States Postal Service (USPS). It would, among other things, permit the ending of Saturday mail deliveries in two years if the USPS determines it financially necessary, and would place restrictions on the amount of facilities that can be closed. For example, USPS cannot close a rural post office unless the next-nearest location is no more than 10 miles away. It would also maintain the current nonprofit postage rate.
The bill, passed 62 to 37, is meant to preserve the cash-strapped USPS. The organization has been on the verge of financial collapse for years, and it is no longer able to sustain delivery operations that still process 554 million pieces of mail a day. That is why the Postal Service has pushed to end Saturday mail. While the Senate version of the bill delays that decision, the House bill sponsored by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) would permit the USPS to immediately end Saturday deliveries. A strong majority of Republican representatives, including Issa, oppose the current Senate bill.
The House has until May 15, when the USPS will resume closing its facilities, to pass the bill. This is part of its plan to cut more than $22 million in costs by 2015. Direct mail has been in a decline in recent years as e-mail has increased in popularity. According to statistics from the Postal Service, only 168 million pieces of mail were delivered last year, compared to 202.8 billion a decade ago.
You can read the full story in The Washington Post.
Privacy Issues For Mobile Payments?
Apr 25th
Yet, as The New York Times reported yesterday, this ease of use may be coming at price of reduced privacy. The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that focuses on technology laws, recently published a blog post expressing its concerns about mobile payment technology.
One of the organization's issues with this technology is that it can expose payment data to more parties than if you paid with a credit card. For example, when you use Google Wallet your information is not only given to Google, but also to credit card issuers and payment processors. Third-party applications can also potentially get a hold of this data. All of this information comes in small bits but once it is all combined, companies have a very detailed file from which to work.
Another issue comes in the form of telemarketing. Users can still get these unwanted calls even if they are on the national do-not-call list if they use mobile payments. Why? If a mobile payment app collects a user's number, the merchant can make phone or text solicitations.
CDT urged companies to put stronger privacy protections into their mobile payment services if they want to gain the trust of consumers.
You can read the full story in The New York Times.
How to Create Buzz on No Budget (Video)
Apr 25th
Local Bigwig's Ray Madronio turned to big players in his industry to get free marketing help for his startup. Hear how he did it, plus expert tips.
Seattle Hates Junk-Mail
Apr 25th
You think you hate junk-mail? Your hatred is nothing compared to Seattle's crusade against unwanted mail.
The Atlantic reported Monday on a new ranking put together by Berkeley, Calif.-based Catalog Choice, a privacy protection company, shows that Seattle, Wash. is the top city in the country when it comes to battling junk-mail. The organization surveyed its customers and found that the Emerald City had the most people who contacted them to get removed from the lists of junk-mail senders. Other cities that made the list were Santa Fe, NM, Boulder, Col., and Ithaca, NY.
Junk-mail is mostly associated with e-mail these days, but the death of junk direct mail has been delayed thanks to an initiative by the United States Postal Service (USPS). The "Every Door Direct Mail" program will essentially allow business to bombard your house with mail. Companies don't even have to know your address to send to you; they can simply select a neighborhood they want to target and their mail will be delivered to every house in that area.
Spam mail is not only annoying to recipients, it also is very pricey for city budgets. It costs about $40 a ton to send garbage to a landfill. On the other hand, it costs only $10 for them to work with Catalog Choice to get them removed from junk-mail lists.
You can read the full list of cities ranked by Catalog Choice in The Atlantic.
The Atlantic reported Monday on a new ranking put together by Berkeley, Calif.-based Catalog Choice, a privacy protection company, shows that Seattle, Wash. is the top city in the country when it comes to battling junk-mail. The organization surveyed its customers and found that the Emerald City had the most people who contacted them to get removed from the lists of junk-mail senders. Other cities that made the list were Santa Fe, NM, Boulder, Col., and Ithaca, NY.
Junk-mail is mostly associated with e-mail these days, but the death of junk direct mail has been delayed thanks to an initiative by the United States Postal Service (USPS). The "Every Door Direct Mail" program will essentially allow business to bombard your house with mail. Companies don't even have to know your address to send to you; they can simply select a neighborhood they want to target and their mail will be delivered to every house in that area.
Spam mail is not only annoying to recipients, it also is very pricey for city budgets. It costs about $40 a ton to send garbage to a landfill. On the other hand, it costs only $10 for them to work with Catalog Choice to get them removed from junk-mail lists.
You can read the full list of cities ranked by Catalog Choice in The Atlantic.
Art Museum Director Paid $1 Million
Apr 24th
The article states that Thomas P. Campbell, who was named director in 2009, earned a 2 percent increase from his previous salary. Overall, he made $653,402 when the nearly $389,051 in benefits is excluded. That is way below the average for executives in the arts field, as shown by NPT's 2011 Salary and Benefits Report. Still, it is comparable to other top museum jobs. The Museum of Modern Art's head, Glen Lowry, earned $1.6 million in compensation in 2009.
The increase in salary for Campbell coincided with the museum's highest attendance levels in nearly four decades. For the year ending June 2011, attendance was 5.7 million, a 9 percent increase. This was due in large part to the wildly popular exhibit showcasing clothes and accessories designed by the late fashion designer Steve McQueen.
A spokesman for the Met told Bloomberg that the increased benefits Campbell received was due in large part to his move to a museum-owned apartment in September 2009. The apartment, which is rent-free, is used for museum-related entertainment and events. The spokesman added that Campbell's travel wasn't part of compensation.
You can read the full story in Bloomberg.
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