Senior Editor & Columnist, Newsweek
Board Member, Donors Choose
- The future of philanthropy will eliminate the middleman, so that donors can know exactly where their money goes (e.g. DonorsChoose, where teachers post their wishlist for donors to choose from).
- Creativity helps mobilize people to achieve their goal (e.g. a competition between universities to reduce energy consumption got students excited as well as media coverage).
- Social initiatives can often be started by only a few people.
- There should be mandatory national service, so that everyone can meet people very different from themselves (e.g. 3-6 months of community clean up or homeland security training).
- Internet is changing the media. Local news travels up the food chain faster. There are more articles (i.e. more opportunities to publish) on newsweek.com than in the print edition of Newsweek. Anyone can disseminate information through a blog (e.g. Talking Points Memo).
- Media should force political accountability.
- To get publicity for your cause, you must come up with a news-worthy story, not just a press release.
- Don't be cynical -- be skeptical and optimistic instead.
- Book pitch: The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope by Jonathan Alter.
