Shifting Power to Communities in Grant Funding
To truly advance racial justice, funders must share decision-making power over who receives capital with the communities they hope to serve.
To truly advance racial justice, funders must share decision-making power over who receives capital with the communities they hope to serve.
Social and behavioral sciences can help us understand why COVID-19 is making giving practices more localized and expansive.
Enthusiasm for systems change is not new, and a broader historical perspective will help systems change enthusiasts learn from the past what NOT to do: replicate the ineffective mindsets and engineering approaches that have defined so much of the systems change work in our sectors.
Those with wealth and privilege are uniquely positioned to support the building and reimagining of our tattered and under-resourced democracy-preserving institutions.
The important issue isn’t the preservation of a large endowment, but how to exercise informed, imaginative, and sensitive judgement in pursuit of outcomes for the common good. This essay is a response to the keystone article in the Up for Debate series on foundations' payouts during big crises. Visit the series page for more reaction pieces like this one.
With an understanding of these 10 funding models, nonprofit leaders can use the for-profit world's valuable practice of engaging in succinct and clear conversations about long-term financial strategy.
A decade of applying the collective impact approach to address social problems has taught us that equity is central to the work.
Too many people believe social value is objective, fixed, and stable, when in fact it is subjective, malleable, and variable.
To do as much good as possible with limited resources, funders should look to woefully underfunded protest movements.
Racial bias creeps into all parts of the philanthropic and grantmaking process. The result is that nonprofits led by people of color receive less money than those led by whites, and philanthropy ends up reinforcing the very social ills it says it is trying to overcome.