James Ahrens was charged with two felony counts of embezzling over $150,000 from Partners in Innovation, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that serves schools and educators across the U.S.

We hear talk from time to time about partnerships between the public sector and private sector, essentially merging the mutual interests of governments, which serve communities, and private companies, which exist to make profits for shareholders or their private owners. But there is another entrant in the private sector that is often a partner but seems to get left out of the public/private partnership discussion: nonprofits. When it comes to parks, these organizations can make critical contributions.

San Jose Parks Foundation’s plan has always been to build a base of individual donors large enough to support a lean organization that leverages funding from other sources and directs those funds to programs and projects for our public parks and trails.

Metro and San Jose Inside scored a legal victory Friday with Judge Carol Overton’s ruling that the County of Santa Clara must release documents on the political activities of the nonprofit Santa Clara Family Health Foundation. The documents, handed over to Metro on Friday, shed new light on how a recent ballot initiative was passed, and how the South Bay Labor Council interacts with local nonprofits to advance its agenda.

One of my most tightly held tenets of community activism: When citizens organize to take action on behalf of their neighborhoods or to advance issues of importance, the last thing that should get in their way is paperwork or bureaucratic interference—at any level. It is this belief that is the basis for San Jose Parks Foundation’s program of Fiscal Agency. Being a Fiscal Agent means extending nonprofit status to projects, programs and groups whose purposes, missions, goals, and objectives are compatible with that of San Jose Parks Foundation.

I received a phone call last year from a resident who lived near Almaden Winery Park. She told me that she wanted to plant some rose trees in the park, and that she had been referred to San Jose Parks Foundation for help.

Why are there so few John Sobratos? In one of the richest areas of the world, there is a dearth of giving among the wealthiest in our midst. Many of the social problems we currently suffer could be alleviated by smart programs and a relatively small commitment from the people who have benefited the most from American opportunity.