The Latest
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I Grew Up Poor and Learned Early: Charities Aren’t Always So Charitable
As a young girl, the author found nonprofits often stereotyped her family. Now, as a journalist, she reports on how they can do better. -
Does Faith Have an Answer for Our Biggest Divides?
Two churches aim to come together across differences of faith, race, and class. It’s a test of the unifying power of a belief in God, with thorny questions about identity and compromise. -
Your Secret Weapon in These Divisive Times? Fundraisers
They have the skills to break through polarization and build bridges to donors with a wide range of views — exactly what organizations need as the new administration takes office and red-blue tensions simmer. -
How Trump Could Target Nonprofits — and How to Protect Yours
Expect donors and organizations to be attacked by name, harassed and threatened online, and investigated on questionable grounds, says the author. Here’s how groups can defend themselves. -
Obama as Pluralist-in-Chief Shows the Nonprofit World a Way Forward
The former president has long warned of the dangers of purity tests and championed collaboration across differences. Civil society can lead the way to make his vision a reality. -
Foundations, Trump, and Religious Conservatives
Coalitions that aim to counter what they see as the President’s authoritarianism are overlooking key potential partners: faith-driven Trump supporters.
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.
Advice
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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.
The Commons in Conversation Interview Series
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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.
Bad Bosses, Big Dreams, and Broken Philanthropy
News, Analysis, Opinion

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