Frank: May 2009 Archives

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Just read this: if you sit on a nonprofit board don't think you're going anywhere soon, not until after you listen to Dan Pallotta describe Uncharitable, his riveting indictment of how we hobble nonprofits. It's a myth-busting, paradigm-shifting re-examination of what's going on in Charity, in my case, right under my nose.

I'd noticed the review in the New York Times awhile ago, so I picked up a copy then it sat in a pile. But since I sit on 4 nonprofit boards, the sub-title nagged: "How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their Potential"; I took it on 2 long distance trips, a week each in Atlanta then Madrid. What a great companion this manifesto turned out to be.

Like many of my angel investor peers, in addition to sitting on for-profit boards of private companies, many of us end up on nonprofits, too. For myself, I'd learned quite a bit from fellow angels, especially Tech Coast Angels' Dave Berkus, and I'd enjoyed putting some new concepts on the table and into play for 2 nonprofit boards in the past year. I was enjoying the process: making an organizational change and seeing a pretty immediate positive result, then I did it again for the local school of the arts advisory board I sit on and again, an almost immediate positive change; this was fun, tweeking nonprofit boards was not only possible, but the feedback cycle could be immediate. Like learning to drive, I thought, maybe I can accelerate the cycle. So that makes me and maybe you, too, the perfect audience for Uncharitable author, Dan Pallotta. I need to create a new sub-category on this blog, "myth buster", then Dan could be cross referenced with the likes of Fools Gold author Scott Shane and Early Exits author Basil Peters.

On the 10 hour flight home from Madrid last month I lent my copy to Angel Capital Association Chairman, John Huston. Half way over the Atlantic he hands it back, "this makes my head hurt; I'm getting my own copy!". When I tell Dan, like the interviewer I'm supposed to be, he asks, "what do you think he meant by that?". I was pretty sure I knew and you'll be able to guess once you listen to Dan Pallotta.

It's been quite a weekend for the family. Dad was rushed to the hospital Thursday; when he got there they said he was in immediate danger of a heart attack. A stent the next morning cleared up that problem, but as I look back on the past few days, I see it as a momentary calm in a stormy weekend. Before the weekend is over my sister Mary will be in the Emergency Room herself.

Later Friday afternoon dad suffered a setback that turned into quite a panic. I think it was more serious than the doctor says, his vitals dropped sending every nurse and doctor on the floor into his room, shuffling my mom and sister Kathleen out into the hallway. Whatever color of Code Blue or Red included summoning the Chaplain and I got a teary phone call from Kathleen when they didn't know just how serious this incident was. It was up to me to contact the siblings.

In this day and age how can you reach out to 3 people and not get any response?

Washington State reported its first assisted suicide this week. A 66 year old pancreatic cancer sufferer took advantage of the state's new Death with Dignity law; Sandi Doughton reports for the Seattle Times. Read the article.

The New York Times reported on a group of cutthroat card players in a Laguna Woods, CA retirement community that are putting their sharp minds to work. The best of them exhibiting no dementia loss. Is there a correlation between competitive bridge and mental acuity? Read the article.

Dad's been complaining of chest pains, so Kathleen called 911 last night. He told me of discomfort while we were on the Hearst Castle trip last week, but he told me at 4 o'clock of pain he'd had that morning. And he was combining his laments with his hernia discomforts; he'd been fitted with a truss just before we departed, so I ignored him. At Stanford Medical Center they say he's in grave danger of a heart attack, that one of his arteries is almost completely blocked. They're doing an angiogram this afternoon. He'll probably be getting a stent.

Makes me glad that we did the Living Will back in February. Although he's conscious and still making his own decisions, the doctors are complaining about his dementia. It may be the stress. They're having difficulty communicating, "tell me why you're here today?".

Update: he's proudly wearing a new stent! One of his arteries was completely blocked, now it's flowing like the Merrimac River he claims he wants to see again.

I wrote my sister, Kathleen:

Sometime recently didn't the subject of assisted suicide come up? Or was I telling you of the recent LA Times story, see below. Anyway, put that new iPhone to good use and check out Philosophy Bites, podcasts of top philosophers interviewed on bite-sized topics. They did a beautiful 13min show on assisted dying; I can't stop thinking about it.

Then last week, the LA Times did a piece on assisted suicide in Washington State. Written from the perspective of the grown children caring for their father in his final days, they describe rural doctors that are unwilling to write prescriptions for those suffering terminal illnesses, even though it's legal to do so. These doctors are concerned about acting "against their conscience". Meanwhile Stephen Wallace, a pancreatic cancer sufferer, dies in agony.

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Has it touched your life, affected one of your loved ones?

"Alzheimer's is the public health threat of the 21st century," says Maria Carrillo, Director of Medical and Scientific Relations at the Alzheimer's Association in Chicago. Although it's the 6th leading cause of death in the US, and working its way up, "there's so many different avenues of research that are being pursued right now that give us a lot of hope". Like drugs in Phase 3 trials, for example.

Where are they at? They're doing a lot of basic science research. Maria describes how the research is working back in time; they know the end result and they believe the disease begins 20 years prior. Do the math, that means the disease is beginning for many of us right now! 

"Probably 95% of our donations come from individuals." So they have quite a marketing challenge and have to keep getting the word out, like: "there are 5.3 million Americans living with this disease today". Last year they donated $26M to fund research, a new high; a lot of it going to new investigators.