June 05, 2023 New Funder Survey Explores the State of Ed Philanthropy and Where It’s Headed June 05, 2023/ Connie Matthiessen Last week, Grantmakers for Education released the results of its first national survey of ed funders since the pandemic. We caught up with co-Interim Executive Director Ulcca Joshi Hansen to discuss the results.Read More
April 17, 2023 35 Years Later, What's New With NYC Anti-Poverty Giant Robin Hood? April 17, 2023/ Ade Adeniji Since 1988, the Robin Hood Foundation has channeled Wall Street wealth to Gotham’s needy to the tune of $3 billion. Here’s a peek at the funder’s current outlook as it focuses on relief, recovery and rebuilding after COVID.Read More
April 14, 2023 "The Need Is Here.” How One Regional Funder Is Stepping Up for Public Health April 14, 2023/ Connie Matthiessen Woody and Gayle Hunt have deep ties in El Paso and the surrounding region. Through their family foundation, they’re boosting education in public health, one of many under-resourced healthcare priorities in the area.Read More
March 20, 2023 The Collective Future Fund Is Expanding Its Long-Term Work to End Gender-Based Violence March 20, 2023/ Martha Ramirez Launched alongside the #MeToo movement, the pooled fund provided rapid-response grants as gender-based violence surged during COVID. Now, it’s pivoting to multiyear support.Read More
March 13, 2023 Closing Gaps: How This Boston-Based Fund Supports a Growing Latino Population March 13, 2023/ Martha Ramirez In Massachusetts and elsewhere, Latinos have been among the slowest population groups to recover from COVID challenges. The Latino Equity Fund, housed at the Boston Foundation, is working to close those gaps in its area.Read More
March 10, 2023 These Health Research Funders Are Facing Down the Next Pandemic Threat — Whatever It May Be March 10, 2023/ Paul Karon The Gates Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation and Open Philanthropy are collaborating under a partnership called Pandemic Antiviral Discovery, funding research to develop treatments that may be needed for future pandemics.Read More
February 08, 2023 Foundations May Be Backsliding on COVID-Era Flexibility. Are Grantees Getting Fed Up? February 08, 2023/ Dawn Wolfe A new survey from Technology Association of Grantmakers suggests some funders who relaxed restrictions in 2020 are reverting to old practices. That raises tough questions about the grantee-funder relationship going forward. Read More
January 04, 2023 Literary Arts Groups Weathered a Pandemic, but Finances Remain Just as Precarious January 04, 2023/ Mike Scutari A new report based on data from 410 literary arts nonprofits that applied to Mellon Foundation-funded Literary Arts Emergency Fund provides a concerning snapshot of the state of the field. We explore some key takeaways.Read More
December 19, 2022 Is Tutoring the Answer to COVID Learning Loss? These Funders Want to Find Out December 19, 2022/ Connie Matthiessen Pandemic-related learning loss threatens to widen the achievement gap. Arnold Ventures and other funders are backing an ambitious research project to determine if and how high-intensity tutoring can help.Read More
December 12, 2022 Can Futurism Change the World? This "Philanthropic Futurist" Thinks So December 12, 2022/ Connie Matthiessen Trista Harris uses the tools of futurism to help nonprofits and foundations make better decisions. We check in with her about how she came to this work, and how organizations can apply futurism to navigate turbulent times.Read More
September 08, 2022 Informed By COVID, a Coalition of Funders Backs Community Health Workers in Africa September 08, 2022/ Liz Longley The Africa Frontline First Catalytic Fund is setting its sights on compensating and training community health workers, who play a crucial role in addressing public health problems. Two major foundations have already signed on.Read More
August 25, 2022 “Our Next National Health Disaster.” Boosting Research into Long COVID and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome August 25, 2022/ Connie Matthiessen The Open Medicine Foundation supports research into Long COVID, ME/CFS, and other complex, chronic conditions, but research dollars are few and the fallout of these conditions is devastating.Read More
August 25, 2022 Nonprofit Survey Holds Lessons for Funders Looking to Curb Persistent Racial Disparities in Giving August 25, 2022/ Dawn Wolfe Nonprofit Finance Fund’s 2022 State of the Nonprofit Sector Survey found that racial disparities in funding continued into 2020 and 2021. Responses from participating nonprofits offer promising advice for funders. Read More
August 24, 2022 Though Giving Remained Strong Amid Crisis, COVID, Inflation and Other Woes Gutted Many Nonprofits August 24, 2022/ Holly Hall Record levels of charitable giving allowed most nonprofits to persevere during the pandemic, but the layered challenges of recent years have proven too much for many, especially smaller groups and service providers.Read More
August 23, 2022 Funding Better Assessment Can Help Kids Recover from COVID-Era Learning Loss August 23, 2022/ John Overdeck, Guest Contributor The pandemic disrupted learning and widened preexisting achievement gaps. In this guest post, John Overdeck of the Overdeck Family Foundation explains how funding next-generation learning assessments can help.Read More
June 29, 2022 Report: Four Trendlines in Corporate Philanthropy June 29, 2022/ Liz Longley As the pandemic drags on and debates around DEI practices continue, here are four trends in corporate giving to keep an eye on, drawn from an annual survey by Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP).Read More
June 07, 2022 Mixed Results: Assessing Philanthropy’s Year Two Response to the Pandemic June 07, 2022/ Mike Scutari A new report found that funders dialed back COVID-related support in 2021, although total grantmaking increased over the previous year. Two years into the pandemic, most of this support still takes the form of restricted funding.Read More
May 25, 2022 Can Philanthropy Give Underdog Cities a Leg Up as They Compete for Federal Funding? May 25, 2022/ Philip Rojc A collaboration backed by Bloomberg, Ford and more will help smaller cities access more than $1 trillion in federal infrastructure funding. It’s one way philanthropy can magnify its impact by influencing where public money goes.Read More
May 18, 2022 A Private-Public Partnership Takes a “Test-and-Treat” Approach to Curbing COVID-19 Globally May 18, 2022/ Paul Karon A collaboration of Open Society Foundations, the Clinton Health Access Initiative and other global health organizations and companies aims to augment vaccination efforts with the use of COVID antiviral medicines.Read More
May 09, 2022 Funder Spotlight: How the Schultz Family Foundation Backs Young People and Veterans May 09, 2022/ Ade Adeniji Here’s an overview of longtime Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz’s family foundation, and how it’s working to foster greater opportunity among veterans and youth, as well as respond to the pandemic.Read More