Bank of America forecloses on a home it doesn’t own
Incidents like this are not winning the likes of Bank of America (BAC) any points with the public. Charlie and Maria Cardoso paid for a retirement home in Spring Hill , Fla. with cash in 2005. They owed no money on the house, but Bank of America “foreclosed” anyway. They removed belongings and changed the locks on the doors. This despite the fact that a Realtor employed by the bank informed it that the foreclosure was erroneous, reports the St. Petersburg Times.
The bank’s agent had the wrong address. The house that was supposed to be seized was across the street and down the block. There are signs that more of this is going on. One lawyer tells the National Law Journal that such incidents are happening across the country. In another case, the owner of a vacation house in Galveston showed up to find the locks changed and a big poster announcing that Bank of America had foreclosed. The owner sued the bank. When they finally got in, they noticed the power had been cut. Again, this was a case of mistaken address. It pays to be really careful.
And
Citibank printed customer Social Security numbers on the outside of
envelopes it mailed to some 600,000 customers in late January.
Ah, another day, another Goldman Sachs (GS) controversy. This one involves the soccer club Manchester United. The Glazer family, which owns the club, is angry over the role that Goldman Sachs’ chief economist Jim O’Neill played in an effort to takeover the club.
O’Neill, a lifelong United fan and one-time board member, is “spearheading” the Red Knights, a group of financiers who met in London this week over a proposal to buy the team, according to the Financial Times. O’Neill also spoke to the press and apparently voiced some criticism of the leverage situation at the company. The trick for O’Neill is that the club is also a client of Goldman Sachs (Goldman Sachs news), which was part of a syndicate that helped with a recent bond sale.
The family has reached out to CEO Lloyd Blankfein to complain, and subsequently let it be known that the bank’s assurances that O’Neill was acting out of his own personal interest were inadequate. This is a tough one. At most companies, personal hobbies would not be allowed to get in the way of business.
The UK’s Directory of Social Change (DSC) and GuideStar International (GSI) have announced that ownership of www.guidestar.org.uk, the free public website, and GuideStar Data Services, a community interest company providing bespoke information, has been transferred from GSI to DSC.
This combines the most detailed repository of information about charities and the voluntary sector with the largest publisher of information for those who work in it.
For more than 35 years, DSC has specialized in providing information and learning to connect those who fund, deliver or influence social change. Its books, training programmes and conferences are well known to the sector, particularly those looking for funding.
GuideStar Data Services operates The GuideStar Third Sector Database, which comprises more than 400 searchable fields of data on 350,000 organizations including charities, social enterprises and not-for-profit organizations. This is the only database for the sector that is compiled by analyzing both the accounts and narrative contained in every annual report, which makes this a unique, comprehensive and searchable database that can be accessed by those wishing to support or collaborate with the sector.
GuideStar International (GSI) previously operated both GDS and GuideStar UK. GSI is a UK-registered charity, working with charity leaders worldwide to develop GuideStar services for their own countries. GSI supports this growing network through the provision of a shared Common Technology Platform as well as advice and support in each country’s development process. Buzz Schmidt the founder of the original GuideStar service in the US in 1994 and GuideStar UK lead GSI in 2003. Visit www.guidestarinternational.org
the free to access GuideStar UK website www.guidestar.org.uk is the most comprehensive online national database of UK charities and DSC is committed to maintaining this resource.
This transfer of ownership seeks to achieve a step change in the quality and accessibility of third sector information and DSC is exploring ways in which the data can be more widely used to inform funders, campaigners, policy makers and those delivering services in the wider voluntary sector.
This development will enable GSI to focus its attention on developing and supporting new GuideStar services around the world. DSC’s GuideStar UK will continue as a core participant in this growing global alliance.
Buzz Schmidt, founder of GuideStar and CEO of GuideStar International, says:
“We have long admired DSC for its commitment to fostering an independent charity sector in the UK and its work as connector, facilitator and cheer leader for the many thousands of small and medium sized charities that are the life blood of the sector throughout the country. We are confident that DSC is the right home for www.guidestar.org.uk and GDS and that it will wholeheartedly advance GuideStar’s mission to promote greater public understanding of the work of charities.”
DSC CEO Debra Tyler said:
“The potential here is immense. Today an entity was created which can refresh and strengthen our vital sector at a crucial time. We are excited about how GDS’ unique service supports our mission of connecting people, and working towards social change. Together we can improve everyone’s understanding of what charities are and do in 2010, including politicians and policy makers, academics and the wider public.
“DSC’s vision is an independent voluntary sector at the heart of social change, and GuideStar provides more tools to make this happen. This unique factual resource will expand and deepen our knowledge. Together we will get more of the right information to the people who need it so that charities can be more effective in achieving their ambitions. There will be a program of new services rolled out in the coming months, starting with one to help funders make more informed grant making decisions.”
I set out to write about President Obama’s forward-thinking decision to create an Office of Social Innovation to unleash new approaches to solving problems that have resisted traditional approaches. Even though the office and a related social innovation fund are still in their early planning stages and not even officially been announced, it is already clear to me that they represent a significant opportunity.
By creating this office and fund, President Obama is giving a clear signal of support for principles near and dear to Venture Philanthropy Partners: that the nation must invest in innovation targeted at the public good, that outcomes and impact matter, that dollars should flow preferentially to those who are having the greatest impact in addressing our growing social needs.
But a funny thing happened on the way to that blog item. After sharing a draft with others, wiser than I, to test ideas and “poke the system,” it became apparent that I was missing the forest for the trees. There’s no question that shining the spotlight on social innovation is remarkably important. Yet it will require innovation of the broadest possible breadth and depth if we are to solve our most vexing social challenges.
So instead of focusing on social innovation, I feel compelled to lift up a level and talk about innovation more broadly. I am convinced that, amid the many challenges facing our President, nothing is more important for the long-term strength of our nation than driving greater levels of innovation across all sectors of our economy, including the nonprofit sector.
From the halls of Congress to the rural towns in our heartland, we simply have to come to grips with the fact that the rest of the world is no longer ceding the role of lead innovator to America. Emerging powers like China are seriously challenging us in our core competency. As the journalist James Fallows concludes in an outstanding cover story in this month’s Atlantic Monthly, “China [is using the economic downturn] to design innovative products that will get it the high profits and the high-value jobs Americans kept to themselves for decades. And that is very bad news for the United States, unless it uses tough times to reinvent itself, too.”
Civic Venturesfounder Marc Freedmancalls Chris Farrell’s new book, The New Frugality, a roadmap to “a more sustainable lifestyle in America.” In an interview with Marci Alboher of Civic Ventures, Farrell explains why adopting a healthy attitude toward money may help you find your true calling.
Broadband Internet and mobile technologies now reach even the most remote corners of the world, making us all more immediately connected than ever before. This is particularly the case during times of natural disaster, when connectivity—from tweeting one’s location from under a pile of rubble to accessing life-saving information—can materially affect the outcome for victims and empower them to lead their own rescue efforts.
Experts at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School believe we need to continue the spread of mobile technology to help shape and, eventually, drastically improve disaster response strategies. “We can’t control the outcomes of disasters,” says Benn Konsynski, chaired professor of information systems & operations management at Goizueta, “but technology can hopefully influence them.” http://knowledge.emory.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1308
Good design does not always equal good business. But good business outcomes—especially when the goal is to create new sources of value in the world—are most often achieved through a well-structured design process that is more holistic and inclusive than the notion of good design.
All of the energy fed into the debate about the value of good design to the world of commerce would be better-spent building ways to make holistic design a routine activity in business—and society. Here are three ways to get us there:
Stop Treating Design as A Noun
When we talk about it as such, the world stops listening and starts wondering which color the designers are going to pick for the drapes. Unfortunately, good design has come to stand for something akin to “style,” largely a relativistic judgment of aesthetics and semiotics informed by a constantly shifting zeitgeist. I’m as much a fan and consumer of aesthetically pleasing things as the next guy, but I fear that much of what passes for good design is actually a class of shallow luxury goods aimed at a specific set of market demographics and psychographics. And these goods don’t represent the creation of lasting value in the world: In the parlance of soul group Tower of Power; what is hip today quickly becomes passé.
Diego Rodriguez is a partner at the design and innovation firm IDEO. He is also a professor at Stanford’s d.school, where he teaches classes about business design and entrepreneurship. His blog metacool has a passionate following among people who spend their lives trying to make a dent in the universe.
Also:
Take a look at any list of the top global brands—including the It’s no accident that many of the world’s top brands are also design leaders. Design is a fundamental part of creating an image and experience of luxury, exclusivity, and tribal belonging. And yet the consumers who purchase these items often select them because they see a little bit of themselves (or who they would like to be) on the shelf. That’s great design. The 80% of new products that fail each year show that marketing and promotions can boost the impact of a good concept, but they can rarely compensate for a poor one.
The Profit in Nonprofit
Kiva, the first online peer-to-peer microcredit marketplace, is one of the fastest-growing nonprofits in history. But its nonprofit status was not inevitable. Here’s why Kiva chose to be a 501(c)(3), what this tax status buys the organization, and how being a nonprofit poses challenges.
The Charitable Advantage
Although Flannery and Jackley had not raised any real start-up capital, Kiva attracted a passionate, talented, and dedicated crew, fueled by Kiva’s mission. The team grew quickly to include heads of partnerships, marketing, technology, and public relations. Many of the 23 full-time employees—most of them in their 20s and 30s—worked pro bono for months. “It was easy to feel ownership of the project,” Jackley recalls. “When you know that a big dream relies on you, it’s inspiring.”
If not everything, it does seem to have an important effect on human cognition and decision-making, according to new research on a link between luxury goods and self-interest.
Could such insights help rein in Wall Street? Roy Y.J. Chua of Harvard Business School discusses findings from his work conducted with Xi Zou of London Business School.
The lessons of history, from the Roman Empire to Africa today, suggest that if we want to reduce poverty in emerging markets, regulation reform and business success are prerequisites, not outcomes.
In the history of economic success, no two countries have ever followed identical paths. But there is a universal pattern nonetheless: Nations rise out of poverty when elements of a thriving business sector replace the previous economic system.
The factors necessary for this transition are known. Since 2004, the World Bank has tracked them each year in countries around the world for its Doing Business report. (The most recent version is Doing Business 2009: Comparing Regulation in 181 Economies, by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation [Palgrave Macmillan, 2009].) The report specifies 10 forms of government regulation that affect the various phases of a company’s life cycle: starting a business, obtaining licenses (such as construction permits), employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and closing a business. The fewer impediments that government places before entrepreneurs in any of these areas, and the less time it takes (for example, to stand in line) and the less money is required (for fees or bribes), the more business-friendly the country is — and the more prosperous.
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