#InnovationinPhilanthropy

2021 - A Year of Change

2021 - A Year of Change

Today, when I read this blog post on Exponent Philanthropy - Making a Little Go Far: How We Spark Economic Renewal in Our Rural Community I knew I had to share it as part of my Year of Change series.

I encourage you to read the full post, but here is a teaser.

Their COVID pivot was the 2020 Youth Corp campaign that employed 16 teenagers to paint curbs and buildings, pick up branches following storms, weed, help with story hours at the library, and more. A win-win for local teens and the community.

This post highlights creative thinking at its best. It is a reminder of the flexibility foundations have in awarding funding and of the impact of one man’s gift to his community. All of us can learn from Mr. Stretesky.

Photograph by Dan Meyers Dan Meyers @dmey503

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2021 - A Year of Change

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2021 - A Year of Change

Think back on your own lives as you were starting your working life and careers. Did you have someone helping with daily living expenses such as rent or groceries? And if that wasn’t an option, how would your life be different?

In following a theme of change, let’s take a look at a twist to anti-poverty efforts: providing regular cash payments to those in need.

Enter SEED (Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration). Through a partnership with the Economic Security Project the city of Stockton, CA offered people in need what they needed most: cash. SEED launched February 2019. 125 people were randomly chosen from low-income census tracks to receive $500 monthly, to use as they please. The only mandate was participation in the research element of this project.

Preliminary findings are in and they may surprise you. This blog is inspired by the Nonprofit Quarterly’s article, Stockton Study Shows Power of Universal Basic Income Support written by Martin Levine and published March 17, 2021.

Image by Daniel Cheung @danielkcheung

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2020 - A Year of Change

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2020 - A Year of Change

There is no doubt 2020 has been a year of change. As someone who goes kicking and screaming into something new, I’m determined to embrace change in the coming year. So over the next few months I plan to highlight ideas for doing philanthropy differently that I believe offer good food for thought. I’m starting with “When We Return to Our Foundation Offices, Let’s Make Them Spaces Where We Collaborate With Grantees” by Lisa Pillar Cowan, Vice President of the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation in New York City. The arctic le appears in the December 8 issue of Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Image by @Jr Korpa

Foundations Favor General Operating Support in Theory but Hesitate to Make It Happen

Foundations Favor General Operating Support in Theory but Hesitate to Make It Happen

What is your take on general operating support? And better yet, multi-year general operating support? In this time of COVID, nonprofits are challenged to evolve both in their programs and in their revenue generation. But what about foundations? Shouldn’t funders evolve their thinking and grant making as well?

Image by Steve Johnson @steve_j

Pivot - 8,000 Law School Graduates & the Bar Exam on Hold

Pivot - 8,000 Law School Graduates & the Bar Exam on Hold

What to do if you graduated from law school in California only to learn the state’s summer bar exam is suspended due to the coronavirus? What to do with a growing demand for low-cost legal services within the state? You pivot.

Within 13 days the Legal Services Funders Network, developed and launched its first collaborative funding project: a Post Graduate Law Fellows Program.

June 24, 2020 blog post on Exponent Philanthropy by Claire Solot. How We Catalyzed a Fellows Program to Meet Legal Services Needs During COVID-19.

Pivot - Raising up Nonprofits Operating in Communities of Color

Pivot - Raising up Nonprofits Operating in Communities of Color

What is a side benefit of COVID-19? A recognition of systemic inequalities among communities of color particularly as it relates to access to food, healthcare, and health outcomes. What is the pivot? Raising up nonprofit organizations in these communities that until now have gone largely unnoticed by philanthropy.

For more, click here for a June 18, 2020 article on FWD>DFW, a forum that connects companies, causes, and communities to the short- and long-term economic advancement of North Texas.

Image by Omar Flores @omarg247.