Newfangled Ways to Spark Old-Style Civic Life: 4 Groups Show the Way
These four organizations aim to create the modern-day version of the community group that once bound Americans together. Among their tools: investigative journalism, a bouncy house, and a neighborhood digital platform without Nextdoor’s drama.
By Mark Toner
Contributor
Ditch Grand Strategies and Focus on How Change Really Happens
Philanthropy reflexively tries to solve problems with sweeping plans. Instead, fix what matters most to people — from a broken stoplight to education — to set off a chain reaction of community-driven action.
By Richard Harwood
Contributor
34 Summer Books, Movies, and Podcasts to Mend America’s Divisions
Those working to bring America together — advocates, foundation chiefs, experts, and more — recommend fiction, nonfiction, podcasts, plays, movies, and even an Owen Wilson TV show.
By Nandita Raghuram
Contributor
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
Public Media Is a Broadly Shared Civic Commons. For Now.
The $1.1 billion cut in federal funding to public broadcasting delivered a blow to democracy and an agency that does a great deal to bridge divides in America.
By Stephanie A. (Sam) Martin
Contributor
‘Pick Your Lane’: Democracy Advocate Danielle Allen’s Advice for Philanthropy
The author, advocate, and nonprofit leader outlines where philanthropy fits in her “double barrel” strategy to strengthen democracy in Washington and nationwide.
By Chronicle Staff
Contributor
Philanthropy’s Trigger Words — and How to Make Your Message Clear
You say ‘equity.’ They hear ‘exclusion.’ Strategies for getting everyone on the same page.
By Matt Watkins
Contributor
Word Jumble: When Nonprofits Talk Fancy, America Tunes Out
Our language is packed with elite-sounding jargon. It is ineffective — and dangerous — amid today’s heightened distrust of institutions and growing hostility to the sector.
By Matt Watkins
Contributor
Communities Fix What’s Broken as Washington Brawls
National funders back efforts to repair sewage, schools, civic health, and more. Is that a better investment than trying to stop polarization in politics?
By Drew Lindsay
Contributor
Barbara Kingsolver on the Urban-Rural Divide: ‘Ask Rather than Tell.’
A conversation with the Pulitzer-Prize-winning author on Appalachia, her own nonprofit work, and how philanthropy can better serve the region.
By Chronicle Staff
Contributor