In Defense of the Jewish Future Pledge
Endowments like this one are not some nefarious plot to control the world from beyond the grave. They are simply a way to set aside money to protect the values and institutions we care about for future generations.
N.Y. Financier Mario Gabelli Gives Fordham $35 Million
Plus, Portland Community College lands a $5.5 million bequest from an Oregon poet that includes cash, a log cabin, and nine acres of land.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
Updated: MacKenzie Scott Surprises Scores of Nonprofits With $4.2 Billion
Some 384 organizations, including food banks, Covid relief funds, and Black colleges, received the unsolicited donations from Jeff Bezos’s ex-wife.
By dan.parks
Contributor
President Obama’s Lessons for Nonprofit Leaders: Advice From ‘A Promised Land’
The former president’s remarkable memoir is a guide for all of us who need to make difficult decisions during these especially challenging times.
By Mark J. Pelavin
Contributor
The ‘Jewish Future Pledge’ Is Not the Hanukkah Gift Philanthropy Needs
Some 200 wealthy philanthropists so far have signed a new pledge committing to devote at least half their estates’ charitable funds to Jewish causes. But this blatant effort to control the future has potentially dire consequences at a time of enormous economic struggle.
By Lila Corwin Berman
Contributor
Billionaire Stephen Ross Gives $63 Million to Make Cities More Resilient
Plus, Utah Jazz shooting guard Donovan Mitchell gives $12 million to Greenwich Country Day School for scholarships and faculty awards.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
A Newly Hot Approach on Loans Seeks to Close the Racial Wealth Gap
Philanthropists and companies are pouring money and fresh ideas into community-development financial institutions.
By Marc Gunther
Contributor
$42 Million Gift to Improve Health Care in Cleveland
Plus, basketball legend Michael Jordan gives $2 million to Feeding America, and NASA’s Lucy McFadden gives Hampshire College $2 million.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
Civic Life and Economic Opportunity: How Philanthropy Can Help
The Kettering Foundation and the Knight Foundation released a collection of essays on American democracy within days of the presidential election. In two different sessions, authors joined us in conversation to discuss their essays.
By Margie Fleming Glennon
Chief Content Officer
Philanthropists and Charity Leaders Discuss Better Ways to Fund and Operate Nonprofits
During the last few months the Center for Effective Philanthropy created a series of podcasts with notable philanthropists, charity leaders, and innovators who discussed better ways to fund and operate nonprofits. See our collection of these “Giving Done Right” podcasts.
How Grant Makers Can Foster Racial Equity
Wes Moore, head of Robin Hood, and Edgar Villanueva, author of Decolonizing Wealth, share their thoughts on the steps grant makers, donors, and those outside the nonprofit world should take to ensure vital long-lasting change to significantly improves the lives of people of color.
By Lisa Schohl
Director, Nonprofit Learning
We Need to Hear More Than Platitudes From Charles Koch
I read the recent article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy on Charles Koch and his new book hoping to hear something new. After all, Koch has been discussing his supposed change of heart as he makes the rounds promoting the book. Unfortunately, he has failed to explain what his new perspective…
Philanthropy Must Rethink Its Support of Technology Solutions That Harm Democracy
Rather than funding the latest app or digital platform that promises — but often fails — grant makers should focus on redefining how technology can be used to create a more equitable and just society.
By Janet Haven and danah boyd
Kurt and Marilyn Wallach Give $20 Million to Holocaust Studies
Plus, six other nonprofits, including a science museum, landed big gifts.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
An Urgent Plea to Philanthropy: Help Us Persuade People to Take the Covid-19 Vaccine
A vaccine that only 50 percent of Americans take won’t be 95 percent effective. Our science-based communications tool needs to be activated now to eradicate vaccine hesitancy.
3 Views on How Philanthropy Should Bolster Democracy
The Kettering Foundation and the Knight Foundation released a collection of essays on American democracy within days of the presidential election. Three of the authors joined us in conversation to discuss their essays.
By Margie Fleming Glennon
Chief Content Officer