Donors Offer $70 Million for Mich. City to Create Foundation
Kalamazoo officials are moving forward with a proposal to take a page from philanthropy to close the city’s budget deficit, cut taxes, and fund long-delayed projects, the Kalamazoo Gazette reports.
Nonprofit Opens a Financial Pipeline for Women-Led Social Ventures
Seeded with a $1 million challenge gift, the effort by RSF Social Finance will mix loans, grants, and investment to help create “a more inclusive economy.”
By Rebecca Koenig
Contributor
Magazine Features 8 Philanthropic Leaders on Future of Giving
In essays for The Nation, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, Ford Foundation President Darren Walker, and six other nonprofit leaders and activists write about how philanthropy can work to address the effects of income inequality and social injustice.
Website Helps Nonprofits Use Movies and TV Shows to Promote Causes
A group called And ... Action links charities with the film industry on social issues.
By Alex Daniels
Contributor
Rather than making charities wait years for study findings, IDinsight offers feedback while projects are ongoing so organizers can change course midstream and get the most from limited resources.
By Marc Gunther
Contributor
Harvard Pals Unite to Tackle Tough Causes
A doctor, a data specialist, a researcher, and a social entrepreneur with experience in yak sourcing came together at the Kennedy School to create an innovative way help nonprofits use data.
By MARC GUNTHER
Contributor
Where the Wild Things Really Are: Urban Backyards
With the help of citizen scientists and a crowdsourcing app, a museum in Los Angeles is compiling what it says is the world’s largest urban biodiversity inventory.
By Eden Stiffman
Senior Editor
Apple and Google Intrigued by Upstart Nonprofit’s Effort to Diversify Tech Field
Laura Weidman Powers is expanding a nonprofit — with support from some giant companies — that helps people of color move beyond internships.
By Heather Joslyn
Contributor
Flouting Taboo, Nonprofit Leaders Open Up About Failures
In a world where politeness reigns, some argue there is value in sharing painful professional experiences.
By Rebecca Koenig
Contributor
New Site Aims to Spotlight Stories of Nonprofit-Led ‘Renewal’
The collaboration between Atlantic Media Strategies and Allstate aims to chronicle charities’ creative solutions to local problems.
By Rebecca Koenig
Contributor
Bill Gates ‘Gamifies’ Philanthropy With Chicken Giveaway
Fast Company explains the billionaire philanthropist’s Coop Dreams project, a partnership with aid charity Heifer International to give breeding chickens to families in Africa that was powered by an online quiz.
MacArthur’s $100 Million Contest a New Twist on ‘Big Bets’
NPR looks at the growing trend of big philanthropies putting their weight behind large-scale projects, focusing on the MacArthur Foundation’s just-launched $100 million competition seeking a solution to a major global problem.
MacArthur’s $100 Million Competition Won’t Be a One-Off
The foundation plans to restage the 100&Change contest — an open-ended call for proposals to solve a critical global problem — every three years, according to a Fast Company article that looks inside the grant maker’s plan.
Silicon Valley Company to Test ‘Basic Income’ Idea for Reducing Poverty
Y Combinator will conduct the study by providing fewer than 100 people in Oakland, Calif., with enough money for basic living expenses, Fortune reports.
More Nonprofits Ramp Up Their Donor Stewardship
Fierce competition for support results in new and expanded donor-relations staffs and creative ways of saying thanks.
By Timothy Sandoval
Contributor
Gates Foundation CEO Marks Anniversary With Media Blitz
Sue Desmond-Hellmann, chief executive of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, spoke to The Wall Street Journal, The Seattle Times, and other media outlets about the group’s health programs and what she sees as biggest challenges facing the world’s largest philanthropy.