September 07, 2022 Durfee Isn’t Alone: Here’s Who’s Moving Money to Support the Wellbeing of Nonprofit Staff September 07, 2022/ Dawn Wolfe A search for funders offering support similar to the Durfee Foundation’s Lark Awards, which provide relief to exhausted nonprofit staff, only turned up a handful of names. Here’s a rundown.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 12, 2022 “Crisis Pregnancy Centers” Mislead Patients. They May Also Be Misleading Some Donors August 12, 2022/ Dawn Wolfe Crisis Pregnancy Centers use deceptive tactics to prevent people from seeking abortion care. According to a recent NCRP report, they exist in a convoluted web of anti-abortion organizations, making their funding difficult to parse. Read More
August 04, 2022 A Criminal Justice Reform Funder Expands its Footprint, State by State August 04, 2022/ Dawn Wolfe The Just Trust, a criminal justice spinoff of CZI, is adding four more states to its strategy for reform. Here are the details on why the grantmaker is funding where it is, and how it plans to get to all 50 states.Read More
August 01, 2022 Don’t Try to Reinvent the Wheel: Lessons from the Ongoing Rush to Support Abortion Care August 01, 2022/ Dawn Wolfe As donors large and small scramble to support people seeking abortion care, here are a few things to keep in mind about what the field needs now and what it needs over the longer term.Read More
July 26, 2022 “You Are Worthy; Let’s Go.” A Racial Justice Fund in St. Louis Plans a 100-Year Commitment to Change July 26, 2022/ Dawn Wolfe When the participatory Racial Healing + Justice Fund in St. Louis got started, it was intended as a three-year pilot program. Now, its founders are committed to a long-term vision of change.Read More
July 19, 2022 A Foundation Seeks to Offer Some Relief to Exhausted Nonprofit Staff July 19, 2022/ Dawn Wolfe The Durfee Foundation is one of only a handful that back sabbaticals for nonprofit leaders. Seeking to support more workers, its latest program funds “the collective care and renewal” of a nonprofit’s whole team.Read More
July 18, 2022 Is Philanthropy Finally Responding to the Crisis of Anti-Transgender Hatred in the U.S.? July 18, 2022/ Dawn Wolfe Trans and gender-nonconforming people are facing a rise in physical and legislative violence. Overall, philanthropy continues to dedicate mere pennies to the problem, but there are some signs of an uptick in funding.Read More
June 28, 2022 A Conversation with Incoming Women Donors Network President and CEO Leena Barakat June 28, 2022/ Dawn Wolfe In September, Leena Barakat will succeed longtime Women Donors Network head Donna P. Hall. We talked with Barakat about transitions at WDN, its plans for the future, and the end of Roe v. Wade.Read More
June 23, 2022 Philanthropy’s Tech Workers Play an Important, Unseen Role in DEI. This Training Seeks to Help June 23, 2022/ Dawn Wolfe Philanthropy staff in charge of the technology that powers grantmaking play a critical role in diversity, equity and inclusion, but are often left out of such discussions. A new training seeks to remedy that. Read More
January 04, 2022 After 200 Years, the Reparations Fight Is Gaining New Traction and Philanthropy Is Slowly Getting on Board January 04, 2022/ Dawn Wolfe For more than 200 years, advocates have been calling for reparations to Black Americans for the harms of slavery, Jim Crow and more. For the first time, some major foundations are backing them up.Read More
December 01, 2021 Ford’s Using AI-Informed Software to Evaluate Impact. What Do Such Tech Tools Mean for Grantees? December 01, 2021/ Dawn Wolfe Foundations want to know whether their grantmaking is having the desired impact, even when funding the messy work of social change. Can a tech platform help Ford answer that question? And how will it impact grantees?Read More
November 04, 2021 Four Questions for D’Artagnan Bernard Caliman, Director of Justice Oregon for Black Lives November 04, 2021/ Dawn Wolfe We talk to Justice Oregon for Black Lives Director D’Artagnan Bernard Caliman about the results of the organization's initial call for proposals, and about his own experience returning to Oregon after 20 years to lead the effort.Read More
October 28, 2021 Building on 15 Years Supporting Heads of Nonprofits, The LeadersTrust Is Expanding Its Work October 28, 2021/ Dawn Wolfe The LeadersTrust is laser-focused on supporting nonprofit leaders in the Bay Area, building on a long-running program at the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund. Executive Director Sidney Hargro fills us in on the group’s aspirations.Read More
October 28, 2021 Five(ish) Questions for Jennifer Rainin, CEO of Arts and Education Funder the Rainin Foundation October 28, 2021/ Dawn Wolfe Jennifer Rainin is CEO of the Bay Area-based Rainin Foundation, a funder to watch that supports early ed, arts and medical research. We talked to the artist and former teacher about her foundation and career in philanthropy.Read More
October 18, 2021 How Philanthropy Fell Short in Protecting Abortion Rights—and What It Can Do Now October 18, 2021/ Dawn Wolfe While a handful of funders have been champions of abortion rights and access, philanthropy has failed to back the movement sufficiently, according to advocates and grantmakers we spoke with. Here’s how it can improve.Read More
October 12, 2021 How an Indigenous-Led Biodata Project Is Asserting Sovereignty and Channeling New Support October 12, 2021/ Dawn Wolfe The Native BioData Consortium is the first nonprofit research institute led by Indigenous scientists and tribal members in the U.S. It’s channeling a new MacArthur grant in its work to decolonize the study of genetics.Read More
September 29, 2021 Feel Like Grant Applications Are Wasting Your Time? You’re Right, According to a Recent Analysis September 29, 2021/ Dawn Wolfe GrantAdvisor and Technology Association of Grantmakers are on a mission to fix grant applications. After painstaking analysis of existing forms, they found that applicants are jumping through many of the same hoops, over and over.Read More
September 23, 2021 Funder Spotlight: Created by an Oscar Winner, the Jerome Foundation Backs Film and More September 23, 2021/ Dawn Wolfe Today, we’re catching up with the Jerome Foundation, which supports early-career artists in Minnesota and New York City. It was looking at ways to make life easier for grantees well before COVID.Read More
September 21, 2021 How One Funder Uses All the Tools in Its Kit—Including Advocacy—to Improve Children's Lives September 21, 2021/ Dawn Wolfe The St. Louis-based Deaconess Foundation funds efforts to support the health and well-being of young people in the region, using an array of grants, mission-related investments and advocacy.Read More