Oct. 4, 2016

News

Breaking Away: How Creative Thinkers Are Redefining Philanthropy

By Drew Lindsay

New ideas about philanthropy are springing up from all sorts of places. Meet some of the innovators who are helping nonprofits break the mold.

ENTREPRENEURIAL CULTURE: Laura Callanan launched Upstart Co-Lab to attract impact investment for artists working to raise awareness of social issues and problems in their communities.

News

New Venture Connects Socially Minded Artists With Cash

By Drew Lindsay

Laura Callanan worries that “new philanthropy,” which tends to focus on creative investments in education and social-service nonprofits, will leave cultural causes behind.

IMPACT BOND: A decades-long commitment to keeping troubled young Bostonians out of jail has put Molly Baldwin and her nonprofit, Roca, at the center of a pioneering pay-for-success program.

News

Former Rabble-Rouser Works With ‘the System’ to Cut Recidivism

By Drew Lindsay

A Boston-area nonprofit leader and investors like Goldman Sachs and the Kresge Foundation gamble on the nation’s largest pay-for-success program, with seven years to show results.

AID BUSINESS: Doug Balfour (center) visits a program in Ethiopia managed by his company, Geneva Global. The philanthropic consultancy takes an investment-firm approach to international development, building nine-figure funds to tackle disease, human trafficking, and other ills.

News

Small Firm Cuts Big Deals to Fight Global Problems

By Drew Lindsay

Tiny Geneva Global attracts Wall Street types to neglected international causes by focusing on results and sharing data with donors.

MACHINE LEARNING: Shauntel Poulson (left) and Jennifer Carolan pool dollars from grant makers and Silicon Valley moguls to back start-ups using technology to boost educational achievement.

News

$53 Million Fund Blends Philanthropy and Investing for a Big Bet in Education

By Drew Lindsay

Reach Capital pools dollars from Silicon Valley moguls and traditional grant makers to back ed-tech companies.

SPEAKING OUT: “We’re trying to get folks to look at the bigger picture and not miss these moments to change the way they do their work,” says Susan Batten Taylor of the Association of Black Foundation Executives.

News

Leader Seeks to Break Crisis-Response Pattern After Shootings by Police

By Drew Lindsay

Susan Taylor Batten, head of the Association of Black Foundation Executives, works to help grant makers understand — and address — the systemic racism underlying police killings of unarmed African-Americans.

BROTHER'S KEEPERS: Jamie and Ben Heywood (left and center) founded a Facebook-like social network for patients fighting serious illnesses as their brother, Stephen, neared the end of a battle with ALS.

News

Siblings ‘Crowdfund’ Health Data to Improve Lives

By Drew Lindsay

Harnessing the power of the breakout ideas behind Facebook and Kiva, Jamie and Ben Heywood see huge potential in a model for sharing medical information.

News

Putting Residents in Charge of a City’s Rebirth

By Drew Lindsay

A Wisconsin community foundation abandons tradition and takes a prominent role in revitalizing the local economy after devastating job losses.

LEAP OF FAITH: Josh Kwan (left) and Dave Blanchard started Praxis to provide tailored training to Christian leaders of nonprofits and cause-focused businesses.

News

Spreading the Entrepreneurial Gospel to Christian Social Ventures

By Drew Lindsay

Praxis offers a corporate-style “accelerator” program to help faith-grounded nonprofits and social enterprises grow and attract investment while staying true to religious principles.

News

New Philanthropy’s Biggest Stars

By Drew Lindsay

These 17 creative thinkers are finding new ways to fight poverty, support artists, and adapt business practices and other ideas to do good.

WALKING THE WALK: Mr. Obama is widely expected to continue working to expand opportunities for boys and young men of color, the focus of his administration's My Brother's Keeper program. The My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, a nonprofit offshoot launched in 2015, has raised $80 million so far, mostly in corporate pledges.

News

Obama’s Next Act: Powerhouse Fundraiser and Advocate, Charities Hope

By Alex Daniels

After leaving the White House, Michelle and Barack Obama are expected to step up as powerhouse nonprofit advocates and fundraisers.

BEST FOOT FORWARD: Michelle Obama launched the Let's Move campaign in 2010 to promote healthy lifestyles among kids. Advocates say she directed much-needed attention to the issue of childhood obesity.

News

Michelle Obama Vows Long-Term Commitment to Health Activism

By Eden Stiffman

Nonprofit leaders say the first lady has used her bully pulpit to bring unprecedented attention to childhood obesity and foster public-private partnerships to tackle the issue — work that will outlive her time in the East Wing.

PAID IN FULL: Amy Gutmann (from left), Antonia Hernández, and Nancy Brown respectively lead the University of Pennsylvania, the California Community Foundation, and the American Heart Association.

News

Gender Gap in Nonprofit CEO Pay Shows Signs of Closing

By Drew Lindsay

A Chronicle analysis of compensation found that median pay for women leading private universities was 93 percent of what their male counterparts made. The divide at social-service organizations was even smaller.

JUMPIN' JIVE: Brad Carney of the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program celebrates the completion of "Rhythm & Hues," a music-themed, 33,000-square-foot ground mural he and a team of artists painted in week at a pop-up park.

News

Mural Program Changes Lives in Philadelphia

By Eden Stiffman

An effort to fight graffiti has grown into an enormous public art program that backers see as an engine for education, community empowerment, and economic revitalization.

News

Researchers Counsel Caution When Suggesting Gift Amounts

By Eden Stiffman

A new report on the practice of “anchoring,” or suggesting specific dollar figures when soliciting donations, indicates that low anchors may depress giving more than high ones bring it up.

Opinion

Opinion: Nonprofits Need a Seat at the White House Table

By Alan J. Abramson

Nobody in the federal government looks out for the ways nonprofits could do more for society — or how their work could be hindered by new policies.

Opinion

Opinion: Ditch Strategic Philanthropy — but Don’t Throw Out Strategy With It

By Patti Patrizi

Learning, listening, testing, and adapting are what help foundations achieve impact, not top-down approaches imported from business and finance.

A flow chart details grant makers' involvement in efforts to revitalize Detroit's economy as the city emerges from bankruptcy.

News

Foundations’ Selective Redevelopment Remains Controversial in Detroit

By Alex Daniels

Big grant makers’ “stimulus package” for the city included choosing which neighborhoods to invest in, a bold but politically risky stand that differed from philanthropy-funded revitalization efforts elsewhere.

CITY OF HOPE: Officials from West Virginia grant makers and nonprofits tour the home of Detroit's 125-year-old Eastern Market on a quiet day. To help spark the city's turnaround, foundations invested in the market's neighborhood and its entrepreneurs.

News

Nonprofit Leaders Look to Detroit for Lessons on Foundation-Backed Turnaround

By Alex Daniels

Grant makers’ active role in redeveloping the Motor City is drawing close attention from other regions in economic distress.

Teens for Jeans, which enlists young people to collect pants for the homeless, is one of the signature volunteer campaigns Aria Finger has helped develop in her 11 years at DoSomething.org.

News

A Young CEO Seizes Opportunity to Sell Her Group’s Expertise

By Nicole Wallace

Aria Finger, 33, brought a track record of innovation and a knack for reaching her generational peers when she ascended last fall to the top job at volunteerism charity DoSomething.org.