Sono Motoyama is a former senior writer at the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Before joining the Chronicle in 2022, Sono was a features writer and editor at the Philadelphia Daily News. Previously, she was editor-in-chief of Baltimore City Paper. Her freelance work has appeared in The Verge, The Independent, Eater, The Globe and Mail, and The Christian Science Monitor, among others.
Stories by this Author
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Women's HealthA Nonprofit’s Expensive Road to Inexpensive Birth Control
Medicines360 developed a low-cost hormonal IUD but encountered challenges from the tax code, FDA regulations, and Medicare and Medicaid programs. It also spent $82 million. -
Special Report
3 Years After George Floyd, Foundations Say They’ve Changed. Many Racial-Justice Nonprofits Disagree.
Foundations say the summer of protests following his murder changed them forever. But for many racial-justice nonprofits, the free-flowing supply of grants proved to be short-lived. -
Nonprofit Management
How the Ford Foundation Helped Grantees With an Unusual Problem: a Surge of Cash
Staff burnout, lack of clarity about an organization’s values, and the pace of hiring are among the challenges that prompted nonprofit leaders inundated with surprise gifts to turn to consultants — and one another. -
Giving
How Philanthropy Helps Coal Communities Access Historic Levels of Federal Funding
Thanks to the good ideas of local nonprofits — and to an influx of federal and state funds — projects such as turning West Virginia coal mines into greenhouses, launching training programs in sustainable trades on the Crow Reservation in Montana, and expanding West Virginians’ access to broadband have seen the light of day. -
Public Safety
Black Faith Groups Have Been Fighting Neighborhood Gun Violence for Decades. They’re Finally Getting Support.
With community organizing and savvy advocacy, grassroots nonprofits in Birmingham, Ala., Oakland, Calif., and other cities are gaining recognition and financing for the community-based programs to reduce shootings. See more from the Chronicle‘s coverage of nonprofit efforts to deter gun violence, part of a collaboration with the Associated Press. -
Economic Equity
Creating Wealth With ‘Baby Bonds’
Nonprofits and foundations have been advancing state and local trust funds for children at birth to help them buy homes, start businesses, or pay for college when they’re older. -
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Push for Diversity Among Biomedical Grant Makers Gains New Momentum
A new $1.5 billion grant from Howard Hughes Medical Institute is one sign of the ways foundations are seeking to reduce bias, as foundations and health charities acknowledge they need to do much better.
