Earlier this year, PK Agarwal, a well-respected technocrat from California was a keynote speaker at the American Society for Public Administration’s conference. Among other issues, he talked about how the future of government will change. Using e-services as an example, he illustrated how customer centric work will be the norm in government agencies. He also …
A few months ago, I had a conversation with someone at a university, who runs an entrepreneurship center. During our conversation, I brought up social entrepreneurship, stewardship etc. ideas that are becoming mainstream. He argued that there is no such distinctions are artificial. All entrepreneurship is about creating value and social change. So, by this …
Recently, I spoke at the local Rotary Club in the Oxnard area. I shared some data and a few insights, gained from my research on this phenomenon. More than $466 billion were sent from countries around the world. This number, which the World Bank estimates to be a slight improvement over the previous year, is …
I am working on a project, that could potentially become larger than what it is currently. The central idea is to map out how philanthropy is shaping community : An idea I have argued for, in my dissertation. Given that the past year or so has been spectacularly chaotic, both socially and politically in the …
Last week, I was in Munich, attending a conference organized by the Institut fur Politisch Bildung, a German think-tank and Virginia Tech (my alma mater). The three day visit was overwhelmingly positive, except for a visit to the Dachau Concentration camp, which left me drained, emotionally. Regardless, here is a quick synopsis of some of …
While the American political apparatus is busy withdrawing itself from the world, I met two incredible Americans who have not only spent their energies, but also their time trying to make Ecuador a better place. Just last week I was in Quito, the country’s capital to visit Sun Mountain, an organization founded by Scott Solberg, an …
One of my students in my Nonprofit Management class pointed out ‘Give a man a Fish’ by James Ferguson on the (controversial) idea of a universal basic income (UBI). This has been an ongoing debate in the world of development studies. The premise is simple : Give the poor enough money so they don’t have …
Earlier this month, government officials, nonprofit professionals and donors got together at one of the most important gathering of nonprofit leaders in Saudi Arabia. If discussions there are any indication, the kingdom may be in for a major overhaul. Hosted by the Center of Excellence in Development of Nonprofit Organizations at the King Fahd University, …
This year’s ARNOVA was held in Grand Rapids, MI. As someone who has been a regular for the past five years, I was excited for this year’s conference also because I released a co-authored book (with Dr.Shariq Siddiqui) and also won the ARNOVA-Al Subaei Arab Philanthropy award. The book is available for purchase here. While …
I watched the movie Sultan and the Saint over the weekend at the Bayan Claremont Graduate School of Theology in Claremont. While the movie was quite well made and it has a strong message of interfaith dialogue and courage, the point that stuck to me was not the central message; but rather a peripheral one …
