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PATH PartnersDavid Henderson
David Henderson is the founder of Idealistics Inc., a social enterprise that builds web-based technologies that help social sector organizations help people better. David writes about the social sector at Full Contact Philanthropy.
Posts by David Henderson
How Having Enemies Solves Poverty
A few weeks back I wrote a piece titled How Trashing Each Other Solves Poverty. My message was so persuasive that the comment section is littered with people trashing each other.
I’ve never been the “kumbaya” type, which surprises people outside our sector who assume all do-gooders are low-blood pressure peace loving folks. We’re not.
Rising Poverty Rates Demonstrates Failure of Innovation
If we are to really believe that we live in an era of rampant innovation, then why do we have so much poverty?
Entrepreneurs solve problems. And poverty is a big one. Yet the entrepreneurial focus of today is not on big problems.
Countless companies are developing frivolous applications to entertain me while I wait 87 seconds in line for a cup of coffee. There’s even more than a handful of companies working on ways to help me avoid the line all together, ordering coffee from my phone.
How Trashing Each Other Solves Poverty
Social media has brought the social sector, both organizations and the people we serve, closer together. For a sector that has historically struggled to adequately share best practices, any innovation that brings us closer together is a welcomed one.
But social media has also enabled some fairly anti-social behavior. I’ve been troubled to see an increasing subset of my Twitter and RSS reader streams dedicated to people basing one another rather than promoting solutions.
Florida Welfare Drug Testing law Highlights Need to Keep eye on Social Objective
Florida recently implemented a state law that requires welfare recipients to pass a drug test to receive benefits. This type of moralistic driven public policy is not new, but it is dangerous (not to mention stupid).
Presumably, the intention of the law is to dissuade welfare recipients from doing drugs. Apparently that is a recreation best left for the privledged.
Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness Reveals New Website
The newly redesigned web site of the Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness (AZCEH) goes live today on the World Wide Web.
AZCEH.org aims to extend the reach of the Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness by serving the community and general public interested in learning about homelessness, its causes, and efforts being made to end it in Arizona.
Decreased Funding for Human Services Underscores Need for Impact
The funding environment is not going to improve any time soon, and if our economy does suffer a structural shift, it might not ever. Human services has never been the sexy cause of affluent philanthropists, who tend to favor health, arts, and higher education. Indeed, charitable giving in human services is largely driven by middle and lower-class households.
Rounding out human services is government funding, a lot of it. Of course, that funding is being cut back substantially as governments slash budgets to stave off default.
Study Suggests Anti-Poverty Programs Save Lives
The problem of trying to quantify social impact has received a lot of attention in the social sector lately. Those who argue in favor of quantification believe that proper metrics will allow us to better identifying programs that are effective, thus guiding donor dollars toward higher impact services.
Opponents of quantification argue that the work of the social sector is unique and that social value is not necessarily measurable.
Community Services Should Leverage Social Networks
Growing up I didn’t care much for superhero stories. In order for there to be a hero there necessarily has to be a victim. I figured since no one really wants to be the victim, I should not aspire to be a hero.
Perhaps that is why I’ve never been entirely comfortable with the traditional community service model of the enabled case manager providing services to the debilitated service recipient. There are several inherent problems with this traditional framing, not least of which is that the model defines service recipients by their needs rather than assets.
LA Homeless Count Reports Unreliable Racial Data
You know a study is in trouble when its racial classifications fail to accommodate the President of the United States. The 2011 Los Angeles Homeless Count did exactly that. Race is tricky from a data collection standpoint because race is a social rather than biological construct. Collecting sex data is far more straight forward, as [...]
