Lisa Pilar Cowan
Lisa Pilar Cowan is vice president of the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation.
Stories by this Author
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DispatchesOur grantees have struggled mightily with a range of challenges as foundations have seen their assets boom and learned that it doesn’t take luxury travel or other trappings to do good well. Let’s work now to keep moving forward. -
DispatchesBrave grantees and fast decision making by foundations were key to getting through the scariest days since lockdown. But it became clearer than ever that foundation officials have a lot to learn, writes Lisa Pilar Cowan.
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DispatchesToo often financial supporters think they are helping by making recommendations to people who already know how to carry out nonprofit missions. Let’s focus on what we have to give that truly matters.
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OpinionAttempts to quantify success based primarily on return on financial investment, ignore the complexities of nonprofits’ work and their impact on the communities they serve.
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DispatchesI had a clever column worked out to open 2021, one that would detail my New Year’s resolutions to be a better grant maker. I had talked with the colleague who illustrates these dispatches for the Chronicle about the most amusing ways to show me as cleareyed and resolute.
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DispatchesOur offices should inspire brainstorming and conversation, filled with music and art that shows we want to work with nonprofits to devise new approaches, not impose them.
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OpinionGrant makers are racing to declare what the 2020 elections taught us about next steps. But perhaps we should just be quiet, keep moving money to our partners, and reflect on what is working best.
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DispatchesDitching old ideas, structures, and titles, like the program-officer term that connotes people of wealth commanding others to take action, will help us do more to meet our aspirations.
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DispatchesMeeting together on Zoom, the walls that hobbled collaboration are falling. How can we keep the spirit going and make grantees a central part of every aspect of our operations?
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DispatchesFor too long, many of us involved in program grants have done too little to push endowment investments to match our mission goals. That’s no longer acceptable.
