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JerseySmarts.com

Looking at Obama’s Acceptance Speech

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The New York Times online posted an article the other day wondering when Senator Barack Obama is going to clarify his message. If you listen to Obama’s messages and speeches, he tends to give a very rousing presentation using poetic, sometimes even pastoral, language. Yet, it is rare that he makes the connections that informed voters are looking to hear.

For example, in his acceptance speech last night, Obama said:

I’ll invest in early childhood education. I’ll recruit an army of new teachers, and pay them higher salaries and give them more support. And in exchange, I’ll ask for higher standards and more accountability. And we will keep our promise to every young American – if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education.

Sounds good to me. However, I wonder about a few things…

First, what does “invest” in early childhood education mean? Are you going to provide universal pre-K education? Can someone show me the statistics stating the overwhelming need for this service? I’m sure it will help many Americans, but can we see some demographic information?

Second, one does not recruit an army of teachers out of thin air. Further, if Obama has ever been to New Jersey, then he would know that the New Jersey Education Association union has a death grip on the education industry in our state. In other words, they’ll lovingly accept his offer of more support and higher wages, but the moment he talks about accountability they’ll throw him out and mount a massive campaign against him. It’s funny…New Jersey’s teachers WANT to be challenged and prove that they can succeed in educating ALL students, yet their union fights against accountability. Unreal.

Finally (and I know this better than anyone else), American makes no promise to its young people that if you serve your community, then you’ll be able to afford a college education. Sure, we make a promise about being educated if a person serves in the military, but we make no promise about an affordable educating if one serves their community. Imagine the massive government bureaucracy that would be needed to pay for a program like that…

The only other comment that I would make about Obama’s speech and the direction that his platform is headed in general is that services cost money. I’m completely behind Obama’s statement that federal taxes should be cut for 95% of Americans. That’s great if you ask me. However, many federal dollars which are collected through taxes are filtered back to states and large cities to pay for certain services. If there is less tax revenue at the federal level, then one of two things will happen. One, services will be reduced at the state and local levels because the funding will no longer be there. Two, taxes will be raised at the state or local levels to maintain services.

Personally, I think state and local taxes will go up if Obama’s plan goes through. And I think that’s the way to handle it because I’m a big believer in state’s rights in our federal system. Of course there is always the option of cutting services and programs that are a waste of money…or getting out of Iraq…so that the country’s expenses are reduced. But I haven’t heard a politician talk about ideas like that this election season!

Why I Donate to Sigma Pi Fraternity

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The folks at MSNBC.com finally posted something worth reading. The other day they had an article that talked about how charities are finding it harder to plug the holes in their budgets with donations. As someone who makes a lot of donations each year and also works in and studies the nonprofit industry, I found this article very interesting. For me, one of the best parts of the article was:

It costs more to acquire new donors than to retain them, experts say. But churning through donors also makes it harder to woo benefactors. “Donors don’t want to be funding fundraising,” says Sargeant. “They want to be funding the work you’re trying to do.”

And they’re demanding much more accountability from the nonprofits they bankroll. If they don’t get it, they walk, says Penelope Burk, president of the fundraising consultancy Cygnus and Associates.

This is it – this is what the nonprofit industry comes down to. First, are you asking for someone to make a donation that goes to a cause or goes towards paying for salaries? Second, are you willing to explain your expenses and why money is put in certain places as opposed to others? Third, are you doing what you actually said you would be doing?

The answers to these three questions are why I donate to the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation. When I donate to the SPEF, I am giving a tax-deductible donation to two specific funds (both of my choosing) that are managed by people I know on a first-name basis and can e-mail at 1:00pm and receive a personal response by 2:00pm. These funds are under the oversight of a Board where I know many of the members on a first-name basis and have many of the cell phone numbers in my phone.

That level of trust is hard to come by in the nonprofit sector.

I helped put these two funds together and I know where each dollar is spent. I know how much of the fund’s earnings are spent on administrative expenses and I know how much goes back to the overall end-user and it what forms (scholarships for the undergraduate fraternity brothers). At any time I can pick up the phone and call the President of the SPEF and have a discussion with him.

There’s a level of trust and reliability there that you cannot build very easily. Hell, my own company is a nonprofit and I’ve yet to donate or invest any money with them! I’ll be changing that in the New Year, but it has taken me the better part of 16 months as an employee to even reach that level of comfort.

So be sure that you know the places that you’re donating to and be sure that you know where the money is being spent. And hey, if you feel like you can’t make an impact with any organization, then donate to the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation! It’s a good group with a good cause which I’d be more than happy to talk to any of you about!