Both Inkwell Foundation and Authors Guild need teachable moment on nonprofit governance

One of the sad things about some well-educated and successful professionals in the nonprofit world is their ignorance about industry “Best Practices.”

The Boston Globe reports that the Inkwell Foundation, a charity controlled by distinguished African-American scholar and Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., plans to file an amendment to the organization’s 2007 IRS Form 990, after questions were raised about “research grants” awarded to staff members.

Meanwhile, the Authors Guild has neglected to post on its website a biography or photograph of attorney Paul Aiken, the organization’s longtime Executive Director. Aiken is one of the key players in the proposed Google Book Search Settlement, an agreement which “may be the biggest book deal in U.S. history.”

Best Practices? Nope. Time for a couple of teachable moments? Yep!