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Nonprofits in the Trump Era

What If We’re Not Hopelessly Divided?

Research points to common ground on controversial issues, the country’s priorities, and America’s values — terrain from which nonprofits and philanthropy can work for change.

Essays

Advice

  • Elections

    ‘We Meet the Bear Next Week’

    Amy McIsaac of Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement talks about a post-election resource guide to help nonprofit leaders find the language to bring people together.
  • Advice

    What to Say on November 6 and How to Say It

    The words that philanthropy and nonprofits use can stoke division, particularly in tense moments, a new study finds. Here’s how to get your message across and bring people together after the election.
  • Advice

    Bookbinding: Can Reading Groups Help Close America’s Divides?

    Community foundations test the idea, asking supporters to host gatherings to discuss books exploring how the country can come together. Plus, tips to build your organization’s own book circle.

Two Churches and a Quest for Racial Unity

Watch a short documentary by Alex Garcia, a Pulitzer Prize winner, on Bethel New Life and Hope Presbyterian churches outside Chicago.

The Commons in Conversation Interview Series

  • Interview

    A ‘Powerful Journey’ Toward Racial Healing

    La June Montgomery Tabron — head of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and author of two new books — talks about how organizations and communities can close the “empathy gap.”
  • Q&A

    A Polarization Expert on What Nonprofits Need to Do — and Stop Doing

    Mónica Guzmán of Braver Angels talks about how her family handles its fundamental disagreements about politics — and how bridge-building groups mistakenly try to change minds rather than listen.
  • The Commons in Conversation

    PBS Journalist Judy Woodruff on What Ails America, and How to Fix Things

    In a Chronicle interview, the veteran reporter talks about her two years exploring what is tearing Americans apart — and the nonprofits working to bring people together.
  • Interview

    Post-Election Analysis: Why Philanthropy Needs to Pivot — Fast

    Democracy Fund president Joe Goldman on what’s next, how funders can show up for their grantees, and the need for a more ideologically diverse coalition to strengthen democracy.
  • Interview

    ‘Young People Are Going to Fix Our Democracy’

    Future Caucus president Layla Zaidane talks about how Gen Z and millennial lawmakers cross the aisle to find solutions. Case in point: The removal of Confederate iconography from Mississippi’s flag.
  • Elections

    ‘We Meet the Bear Next Week’

    Amy McIsaac of Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement talks about a post-election resource guide to help nonprofit leaders find the language to bring people together.
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