February 17, 2023 "It's a False Dichotomy." Questioning Perpetuity and Spend Down with Clara Miller February 17, 2023/ Mike Scutari Former Heron Foundation President Clara Miller says funders should move beyond dogmatic adherence to both perpetuity and spend-down, toward a more nuanced understanding of aligning money to mission.Read More
January 13, 2023 This Small Family Foundation Had the Labor Movement’s Back Before It Was Cool January 13, 2023/ Dawn Wolfe While foundation support for workers’ rights can be scarce, General Service Foundation has been on the case since the 1990s. Now, it's taking things a step further by investing its endowment in alignment with the cause.Read More
July 11, 2022 Eight Things to Know About a Legendary British Investor’s Climate-Focused Philanthropy July 11, 2022/ Michael Kavate Three years ago, Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham committed 98% of their roughly $1 billion investing fortune to climate action. Here’s where the money’s been going so far.Read More
February 10, 2022 Funder Spotlight: All About the Kresge Foundation’s Environment Program February 10, 2022/ Michael Kavate The Kresge Foundation is one of the top environmental funders in the country—and one of the most focused on equity. We take a look at what it supports through its environment program and why.Read More
June 02, 2021 How the Joyce Foundation Is Going Long With a New Five-Year Plan June 02, 2021/ Dawn Wolfe The Joyce Foundation made its last strategic shift just three years ago. This time around, it’s doing what it has already been doing in a more thorough way, in what it describes as a “refresh, not an overhaul.”Read More
September 03, 2020 Part of its Social Investing Push, Kresge Flexes Assets to Bring Solar to Low-Income Homes September 03, 2020/ Michael Kavate In recent years, Kresge has taken several steps to align its investments with its social justice mission. The latest move backs a company bringing solar and energy efficiency beyond wealthy areas and into low- and middle-income communities. Read More
October 31, 2019 Good Governance—and Other Not-so Secret Recipes for Making Family Foundations Work October 31, 2019/ John Freund Some family foundations are handling the greatest wealth transfer in history better than others. We dig into a report that shows what it takes for these institutions to remain unified and achieve impact in an era of generational change. Read More
August 13, 2019 To Protect a Critical Forest in Appalachia, a Foundation Goes Beyond Grantmaking August 13, 2019/ Julia Travers A rare opportunity to conserve a large swath of land led the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to make a large and unusual program-related investment. But the sustainable forestry model behind this move is not without its critics. Read More
June 09, 2019 Take the Risk: Bolstering Health Nonprofits is the Next Stop for Impact Investing June 09, 2019/ Alyssa Ochs As impact investing gains steam, a broader array of foundations are exploring how this strategy can advance their missions. Health legacy funders are the latest to get in on the action, including the Atlanta-based Healthcare Georgia Foundation. Read More
May 25, 2019 How a Big Community Foundation Embraces Impact Investing in Arizona May 25, 2019/ Alyssa Ochs Along with prominent community funders like the Cleveland Foundation and the San Francisco Foundation, the Arizona Community Foundation is emerging as a national impact investing leader. Here’s how ACF approaches nonprofit loans.Read More
April 21, 2018 New Frontier: A Community Foundation Embraces Impact Investing April 21, 2018/ Alyssa Ochs While many foundations are now experimenting with impact investing, community foundations have been slower to embrace this strategy. Here’s another sign that this is changing.Read More