5 Ways Foundations Can Get Results in a Time of Upheaval
Taking more risks, talking about failure, and listening to grantees are perhaps more important than popular ideas like impact investing and focusing on evaluation.
By Phil Buchanan
Contributor
Behind the Velvet Rope: Are Nonprofits Too Elite?
Amid a populist political wave, some in in the nonprofit world worry that many charities have grown disconnected from the people they aim to help. This special report offers analysis, opinion, advice, and stories about groups that are trying to change that.
Daily News Roundup: Judge Orders Harvard to Turn Over Donor Information
The federal-court ruling entangles the university in the hunt for a wealthy alumnus’s assets as part of international finance case. Also, the FBI makes an arrest in the wave of recent bomb threats targeting Jewish nonprofits, and a network of Christian denominations mobilizes to fight President Trump’s immigration orders.
Foundations Back Film-and-Activism Campaigns to Fight Global Warming
A heartbreaking film on the death of coral reefs, combined with carefully targeted campaigns to put voters and lawmakers together, offers a road map for pushing change.
By Vince Stehle
Contributor
Daily News Roundup: Disease Charities Get Big Money From Big Pharma
New research finds that more than 80 percent of the biggest patient-advocacy nonprofits receive funding from drug and medical-device firms. Also, populist leaders in Central and Eastern Europe are cracking down on pro-democracy groups associated with billionaire donor George Soros.
Grants Roundup: Google.org Commits $11.5 Million for Criminal-Justice Reform
Other notable awards include $65 million from the Wyss Foundation for parks and conservation work in Africa.
By Rebecca Koenig
Contributor
Key Members of Congress to Watch in Debate on Trump Policies
Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep. Kevin Brady will oversee debate over a tax overhaul that could have significant implications for many charities. Also on Mr. Brady’s agenda: repealing a ban on charity politicking.
By Alex Daniels
Contributor
Grant Makers Give Money Fast to Challenge Trump Policies
A sense of urgency on issues like immigration and racial and gender justice is prompting progressive foundations and community funds to back new programs and speed up spending.
By Rebecca Koenig
Contributor
Daily News Roundup: Jill Biden Joins Save the Children as Board Chair
Also, a Maine grant maker will contribute millions to reducing college debts for graduates who commit to working in the state, and the Supreme Court says a Tea Party group can’t sue individual IRS officials over scrutiny of its bid for tax-exempt status.
Grants Roundup: Citi Takes Jobs Program Global; Lilly Backs Vietnam Memorial Expansion
The Citi Foundation commits another $100 million to its career-training Pathways to Progress effort, and the Lilly Endowment gives $10 million to help build an education center at the Washington monument to Vietnam veterans.
By Rebecca Koenig
Contributor
Daily News Roundup: Jewish Nonprofits Hit by New Round of Bomb Threats
Also, Florida’s governor targets nonprofit hospitals in a push to cut state health-care spending, and philanthropic heavy hitters in New York enter the immigration fray.
Head of Aetna Foundation Approaches Health Care as a Social Problem
Garth Graham is focusing grant making on issues like violence and access to fresh food that can have a big impact on public health.
By Alex Daniels
Senior Editor, Foundations
MacArthur Names 8 Semifinalists in $100 Million Grant Competition
The Carter Center, Catholic Relief Services, and Sesame Workshop are among the groups still in the running in the foundation’s open-ended “big bet” contest to solve a pressing world problem.
By Megan O’Neil
Contributor
Grants Roundup: National Christian Foundation Donates Mass. School Campus
Other notable awards include $8 million for Onward Israel and $4 million for education programs at Lincoln Center.
By Rebecca Koenig
Contributor
Daily News Roundup: Bill and Melinda Gates Urge U.S. Commitment to Foreign Aid
The couple’s annual letter, styled this year as a report to Warren Buffett, touts gains that aid funding has achieved in combating poverty and disease. Also, the Rockefeller Foundation brings its focus on building communities’ resilience to a digital news site.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Names Former CDC Official as New CEO
Richard Besser has worked at the Centers for Disease Control and is a professor of pediatrics at Columbia University.
By Alex Daniels
Senior Editor, Foundations