Digital Archive....

    Shared via feedly // published on The Big Picture // visit site 10 Midweek PM Reads My afternoon train reading: • Ray Dalio Patched Bridgewater's All Weather's Rate Risk as U.S. Bonds Fell ( Bloomberg ) • Ben Graham Did Not Give Up on Value Investing in Theory ( Aleph Blog ) • Euro-Zone Debt Gains Appeal ( WSJ ) but see Buyers Tackle a Fear of Debt ( WSJ ) WELL, WHICH IS IT? • Three Lessons from the Twitter Hedge Fund Ponzi ( The Reformed Broker ) • RIAs vs. wirehouses : Who will gather more share? ( Investment News ) • Is Delaware a Tax Haven? ( Priceonomics ) • On The Future of iOS and Android ( Steve Cheney ) see also The difference between iOS and Android developers and why it's not just a numbers game ( iMore ) • How do prescription drugs get such crazy names? ( The Week ) • Unfair Share: How Oil and Gas Drillers Avoid Paying Royalties ( ProPublica ) • Tokyo, as you've never seen it: the second largest pho...

http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/four_giving_trends_among_wealthy_donors -- Met vriendelijke groet, DoenDenkers  ® Henk J.Th. van Stokkom Contact details >   http://henk.vanstokkom.tel

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/07/interview-with-jim-rogers/ -- Met vriendelijke groet, DoenDenkers  ® Henk J.Th. van Stokkom Contact details >   http://henk.vanstokkom.tel

http://timbuktuchronicles.blogspot.com/2013/07/building-ethiopian-startups-at-iceaddis.html -- Met vriendelijke groet, DoenDenkers  ® Henk J.Th. van Stokkom Contact details >   http://henk.vanstokkom.tel

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/07/byron-wiens-20-rules-of-investing-life/

http://www.effectivephilanthropy.org/blog/2013/06/getting-clear-about-overhead-part-2-questionable-fundraising-costs/ -- Met vriendelijke groet, DoenDenkers  ® Henk J.Th. van Stokkom Contact details >   http://henk.vanstokkom.tel

End poverty by giving the poor cash? Chris Blattman If you've been following my recent posts and papers on giving cash to the poor, three things that may interest you: First, we've put out a 3-page policy note with the World Bank on one Uganda cash transfer program. Here is an IPA policy note on a second study, of cash transfers to poor women in Uganda. Second, today  the New York Times Economix blog posted excerpts of an interview with me about both experiments on giving cash to the poor. Last, in a strange coincidence of timing, yesterday the FAI blog posted excepts of a similar interview from last year . The post End poverty by giving the poor cash? appeared first on Chris Blattman . Sent with Reeder Met vriendelijke groet, Best regards, Henk J.Th. Van Stokkom

Putting the 'fun' back into fundraising Global development news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk Chugging – street fundraising – turns members of the public into prey, releasing adrenalin that triggers fight or flight instincts. It'll take a little more imagination to create behaviour change It's a beautiful day and as I walk down a busy street, I'm feeling good. I'm in control. But then I get the feeling that I'm being watched, that I've been caught in a predator's gaze. Looking around, I see her – a chugger. I begin to weigh up my options (walk faster; pretend to be on the phone; find another way across) when the worst thing possible happens. We make eye contact. Now confrontation is inevitable, as are the lies I must invariably tell to get out of this situation: "Sorry, do you have two minutes?" "No", I answer. Her senses are sharp and she can tell I am uncertain, so presses on: "Have you hear...

The Best and Worst Way to Pick a Charity Ken's Commentary Experts have noted that a one dimensional focus on nonprofit finances, if not supplemented by other information, can lead a donor/social investor to make the wrong decision as to which nonprofit they support. Except in extreme cases, we think that is correct. In addition, experts have noted that an overemphasis on overhead is misleading. We agree and always have. We further believe that the most critical dimension in evaluating a nonprofit has to do with achieving meaningful results. It is in that spirit that we jointly signed on to today's press release about overhead, with the BBB Wise Giving Alliance and Guidestar. On the other hand, we do not agree with those that say there is no place for overhead in evaluating charities. That is why we think that many of Dan Pallotta's arguments are extreme and "dead wrong." I have more detailed explanations of my many disagreement...

Development Impact Bonds – a new business model for development? Owen abroad On June 5th we published for consultation a draft of our report on Development Impact Bonds , a new way of bringing together the public and private sector to invest in development.  The New York Times has an excellent explainer about the idea: You are a health official in Uganda, and you're watching a crisis unfold. Your people have long suffered from epidemics of sleeping sickness, one of Africa's biggest killers. There is no vaccine and the only treatment is protracted and painful. Sleeping sickness, transmitted by the tsetse fly, is carried by cattle and also kills cattle, destroying the livelihoods of families who keep them. … Governments and international aid donors sometimes like to call the work they do to improve people's lives "investing." Uganda's problem is an example. In a figurative sense, treating those cattle is an investment — a very good o...

Aligning Interests in Impact Investing SSIR Opinion & Analysis By Daniel Izzo The structure of a traditional venture capital fund provides two sources of revenues to fund managers. The first is the management fee, which covers the costs of the team, the investment processes, and the monitoring of portfolio companies. It is calculated as a fraction of the total amount invested in the fund and is paid monthly to the management company. The second form of compensation is the carry cost. Early in the life of the fund, the manager and the investors agree on a minimum expected annual financial return. If the return is exceeded, a portion (usually about 20 percent) of the excess amount is due to fund managers as success fee. This is a structure that has worked relatively well when the objective of the fund is solely financial return. There is a clear alignment of interests between investors and managers: Both sides want to maximize the financial return on ...

World's Shortest Analyst Report The Big Picture       Hat tip Mike P   Sent with Reeder Met vriendelijke groet, Best regards, Henk J.Th. Van Stokkom

Can a "Like" Save a Life? SSIR Opinion & Analysis By Julie Dixon UNICEF Sweden issued a bold call to its social media supporters two months ago: Don't "Like" us; give us your money . Though it likely caused more uproar among those of us in the "social media for social good" community than among the organization's own supporters, it certainly raised some important questions about the potential trade-off of encouraging online support at the expense of offline support, and of the growing value of influence relative to other contributions and individual can make. We explored many of these same questions in a study that Georgetown University's Center for Social Impact Communication conducted last summer in partnership with Waggener Edstrom Worldwide . We wanted to gain insights into the "engagement life cycle" (from learning about a cause, to deciding if and how to support it, to perceptions of ...

Schendingen van mensenrechten door landgrab in Ethiopië Vice Versa Ethiopië is een donor darling van het Westen, waaronder Nederland, die bij de top vijf van meest spenderende donoren aan het land behoort. Begin dit jaar bezocht minister Ploumen het land en deze zomer zal de commissie Buitenlandse Handel en Ontwikkelingssamenwerking van de Tweede Kamer haar voorbeeld volgen. Ploumen was erg enthousiast over de mogelijkheden voor handel en investeringen door het Nederlandse bedrijfsleven gecombineerd met hulp aan dit land. Maar niet iedereen profiteert van de handel, betoogt Guus Geurts. Hij ging op onderzoek uit en kwam erachter dat er in veel Ethiopische gebieden sprake blijkt te zijn van schending van mensenrechten als gevolg van grootschalige landbouwinvesteringen. Ethiopië trekt zowel binnenlandse als buitenlandse investeerders aan. Om export van landbouwproducten mogelijk te maken heeft het land de deuren wagenwijd geopend voor buitenlandse investeerders ...

Minister Ploumen moet durven vertrouwen Vice Versa In 2015 komt er een einde aan het subsidiestelsel voor het maatschappelijk middenveld zoals we dat nu kennen. Negen vooraanstaande vrouwen uit de ontwikkelingssector nodigen minister Ploumen uit om te kiezen voor een radicale koerswijziging en een systeem in te richten dat gestoeld is op  een onmisbaar basiselement: vertrouwen.  In 2015 komt er een einde aan veel van de bestaande Nederlandse subsidieregelingen voor ontwikkelingsorganisaties. En dat is goed. Want het huidige subsidiesysteem is eigenlijk een mislukking. Omdat het is gebouwd op gestold wantrouwen en boekhoudersdenken. De papieren werkelijkheid regeert. Dat er ondanks dit subsidiesysteem dag in dag uit ook goede resultaten worden behaald in de strijd tegen armoede is eigenlijk een wonder. Wij, negen betrokken deskundigen uit de ontwikkelingssector dagen minister Ploumen uit om nu te kiezen voor een radicale koerswijziging. Zodat ze haar...

Will the Post-2015 report make a difference? Depends what happens next From Poverty to Power by Duncan Green An edited version of this piece, written with Stephen Hale , appeared on the Guardian Poverty Matters site on Friday Reading the report of the High Level Panel induces a sense of giddy optimism. It is a manifesto for a (much) better world, taking the best of the Millennium Development Goals, and adding what we have learned in the intervening years – the importance of social protection, sustainability, ending conflict, tackling the deepest pockets of poverty, even obesity (rapidly rising in many poor countries). It has a big idea ( consigning absolute poverty to the history books ) and is on occasion brave (in the Sir Humphrey sense ) for example in its commitment to women's rights, including ending child marriage and violence against women, and guaranteeing universal sexual and reproductive health rights. The ambition and optimism is all the mo...

Soil atlas of Africa Africa Unchained From the European Commission : What is special about soil in Africa? The first ever SOIL ATLAS OF AFRICA uses striking maps , informative texts and stunning photographs to answer and explain these and other questions. Leading soil scientists from Europe and Africa have collaborated to produce this unique document. Using state-of-the-art computer mapping techniques , the Soil Atlas of Africa shows the changing nature of soil across the continent. It explains the origin and functions of soil, describes the different soil types that can be found in Africa and their relevance to both local and global issues. The atlas also discusses the principal threats to soil and the steps being taken to protect soil resources. The Soil Atlas of Africa is more than just a normal atlas. It presents a new and comprehensive interpretation of an often neglected natural resource. The Soil Atlas of Africa is an essential reference to a non-rene...

Why all the attention to cash transfers now? Chris Blattman That's the question Jennifer Lentfer  asked on the Oxfam blog following my post and paper last week on the amazing impacts of cash transfers in Uganda. Cash transfers are nothing new, though there's a lot of  hub-bub  about them this week in the  popular media . One researcher and blogger publishes a paper and, voilà, the next development trend is born! She points to a wealth of evidence on conditional cash transfer programs–CCTs in the acronym-laden world of development. These programs give regular payments to poor families (sort of like a welfare check) but only if they send their kid to school, get them vaccinated, and so forth. She is right, and you should see her post and links if you want more details. There is also a recent book (free to download) from some great World Bank researchers, summarizing all the evidence so far. I also disagree in two ways, though. Here'...

Measuring without measuring Seth's Blog As an organization grows and industrializes, it's tempting to simplify things for the troops. Find a goal, make it a number and measure it until it gets better. In most organizations, the thing you measure is the thing that will improve. Colleges decided that the SAT were a useful shortcut, a way to measure future performance in college. And nervous parents and competitive kids everywhere embraced the metric, and stick with it, even after seeing (again and again) that all the SAT measures is how well you do on the SAT. It's easier to focus on one number than it is to focus on a life. Paypal and Chase and countless other organizations do precisely this: they figure out a metric, decide it's important and then create a department to improve that metric. Consider the Chase Fraud Prevention department. It costs a credit card company (and especially their merchants) a lot of money when fraudulent charges a...

Gates v. Moyo: Are Aid Critics Getting Trolled? Open The Echo Chamber I'm late to this show – I was traveling last week when the whole Gates/Moyo throwdown happened. I was going to let it go, but I have received enough prodding from others to offer my thoughts – probably because I have offered extended critiques of Moyo's Dead Aid (links below), while also noting that Gates' understandings of the problems of aid and development are a bit myopic . So, here we go… Bill Gates finally voiced what has been implicit in much of his approach to development – he sees aid and development critics as highly problematic people who slow down progress (or whatever Bill thinks passes for progress).  Honestly, this is thoroughly unsurprising to anyone who has paid any attention to what Bill has said all along, or indeed anything the Gates Foundation does.  There just isn't much room for meta-criticism at the foundation or its work – sure, they evaluate their p...