This Foundation Measures Its Impact by One Number. Is That a Model for Success?
The Lumina Foundation threw virtually all its resources at changing one metric. Now, with its holy grail in sight, it’s making the goal even harder to reach.
By Drew Lindsay
Contributor
How an Academic Archive Became a Tech Juggernaut
Early donors built JSTOR into a giant with more than $160 million in net assets. Now comes the AI challenge.
By George Anders
Contributor
Low Costs, Organic Growth, Repeat Gifts From Philanthropy: How This Nonprofit Is Scaling
The National Education Equity Lab has developed a powerful model to help lower income students get into selective colleges, succeeding where billion-dollar philanthropic experiments in education have failed.
By Tamara Straus
Contributor
When Locals Lead Grant Making: 20 Years of Results From Colorado
El Pomar Foundation’s unique grant-making program offers a blueprint for community-based, locally led giving.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
$1,000 for Every Baby: Can Philanthropy Shape the Impact of ‘Trump Accounts’?
The new policy echoes decades of donor-backed work — but philanthropy is divided on its potential.
By Eden Stiffman
Senior Editor
8 Things a Mega-Donor Did Right to Engineer a ‘Miracle’
How $160 million from Netscape pioneer Jim Barksdale — a newcomer to social-change philanthropy — helped make schools in his native Mississippi a source of pride, not shame.
By Drew Lindsay
Contributor
How 59 Data Points Helped Foundations Spark Elusive Change
Big foundations behind a multicity project are trying to measure the intangibles of community building. In one Akron, Ohio, neighborhood, the numbers are adding up to something good.
By George Anders
Contributor
How Common Sense Media Is Fighting for Kids in the Age of AI
Support from big grant makers, an eye for earned revenue, and a CEO who both courts and critiques tech leaders have helped to fuel the group’s success.
By Eden Stiffman
Senior Editor
How $24,000 Grew to a $6 Million Nonprofit Supporting Craftswomen
Twenty years after launching Nest to support craftswomen in 125 countries, founder Rebecca van Bergen has turned her attention to American artisans. A partnership with Etsy has been transformative.
By Stephanie Beasley
Senior Writer and Fellowship Director
Melinda French Gates Is Just Getting Started
Since last spring, when she left the Gates Foundation, she’s written another book and announced a billion dollars in new funding — discovering creative ways to support women and inspiring more of them to give.
By Jim Rendon
Executive Editor