Harvard University

and Plimoth Plantation

Interesting charities encountered in our travels. With a special focus this installment on top-flight, donor-powered medical institutions in Boston.

Private giving extends even into national defense.

Practical advice without vilification

What is your favorite campus doing to make sure students graduate instead of just passing through?

Formal education is oversold. More productive forms of learning should be encouraged at least as much.

What it takes to bring excellent education to poor children

A troubling screed from the Gray Lady. Seeing a black hole. California's homelessness farce. Taps, hurricane relief, and a TFA meltdown. A truly imaginative university.

How one excellent scholarship reverberated into others

Data-driven child welfare, Bloomberg boosts civic innovation, mother-daughter volunteering, the local scholarship that swept the country.

Can Harvard solve the problem of donor intent?

One donor's plea to give while you live

Giving thanks for Boston's charitable houses of worship

Religion and generosity feed each other in fascinating ways

The connection between generosity and religion. Gem of a donation. America s only Jewish crisis pregnancy center. The biggest mortar and pestle in the Western hemisphere.

Why, where, and how today's evangelical donors give

The Microsoft co-founder s philanthropy may be more revealing than his new autobiography.

Two different paths to reform