“Participation is the new endowment.” This observation from the Aspen Institute’s Janet Topolsky has been stuck in my head since I read it a month ago in the Nonprofit Quarterly. She was part of a panel discussing the recent report The Value of Community Philanthropy by the C.S Mott Foundation and Aga Khan Foundation. The [...]
Category: foundations
Foundation Executive as Community Builder
“…outside resources will be much more effectively used if the local community is itself fully mobilized and invested, and if it can define the agendas for which additional resources must be obtained.” - Building Communities from the Inside Out, John P. Kretzmann and John L. McKnight, 1993. I’ve been reflecting on how much my early training [...]
The Growing Power of Diverse Philanthropy
A quick plug for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s new report, Cultures of Giving: Energizing and Expanding Philanthropy by and for Communities of Color. The report dives into the world of identity-based philanthropy—“a growing movement to democratize philanthropy from the grassroots up by activating and organizing its practice in marginalized communities, particularly communities of color.” The [...]
Spittin’ in the philanthropic wind?
The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that a group of progressive nonprofits are asking the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to pick a new CEO that will dial back on strategic philanthropy and fund more of what they and their constituents want. Everyone is of course entitled to their opinion and the nonprofits have valid needs. [...]
Tony Macklin 