Foundation Center president Bradford K. Smith gave "Disrupting Philanthropy" a shout-out during his droll presentation at the Grants Managers Network's Annual Conference in March.
The link above is to the first nine minutes of the talk, the shout-out coming at around the 2:45 mark. You can find the entire presentation (about 20 minutes) here.
Seattle-based Quixote Foundation recently announced its intention to "spend up" its endowment over the next seven years.
Founded by the late Arthur Stuart Hanisch and named in honor of the idealistic Knight of La Mancha, Quixote funds progressive organizations in four areas of interest: environmental equity, U.S. reproductive rights, U.S. election integrity, and U.S. media reform.
Imagine how much fun it is to read criticisms—from the political right!—of the self-righteous Fox yakker, Sean Hannity, and his role in a nonprofit called Freedom Alliance.
You knew it wouldn’t take long for the Gordon Gekkos of the world to figure out how to make some new big money out of healthcare reform. The Wall Street Journal’s “Deal Journal” (on deals and deal-makers) may have spotted one new avenue: the purchase of nonprofit hospitals by for-profit private equity investment firms. And that may spell a radical change for the concept of nonprofit hospitals.
According to this story in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Facebook is creating a $6 million grantmaking foundation focused on promoting online privacy.
Tactical Philanthropy’s Sean Stannard-Stockton has written an interesting response to Peter Frumkin's blog post "What Drives Philanthropic Success?" published on the Intrepid Philanthropist last week.
Forbes magazine has released its list of the world's wealthiest individuals, and the answer is not who you might think—Bill Gates or, depending on how the stock market is doing, Warren Buffett. Though rest assured, those two take up the second and third slots.
On Monday, March 1, the Center hosted a group of 19 representatives from foundations, tech companies, and nonprofits at the Pew DC Conference Center to discuss issues raised by "Disrupting Philanthropy: Technology and the Future of the Social Sector," by Lucy Bernholz with Edward Skloot and Barry Varela.
Since publishing my book Strategic Giving, I have traveled around the country and abroad talking to foundation leaders and major individual donors about what strategy looks like in the world of philanthropy.
Sitting on a ramshackle assortment of wooden benches under the shade of a mango tree, we listen to the story of the widow Mary Gargar. An elderly and weathered Liberian woman with a look of determination just short of defiance, Mrs. Gargar tells us of how she purchased land from a man falsely representing himself as its rightful owner. Now that the war is over, a reverend who the government confirms is the rightful owner has returned and wants to build. While she holds a deed for the land in her name, and depends on its crops for survival, he too needs the land for his livelihood.
