June 1, 2017

A new study of more than 4,000 people shows that efforts to train more leaders won’t work until nonprofits tackle head-on the prejudices that shut minorities out of top jobs.

With endowments struggling to generate robust returns, experts wonder if charities and foundations should tighten their belts — or lower their expectations.

Commercial giants like Goldman Sachs and BlackRock are the big players in a burgeoning field, but philanthropic institutions increasingly view their investments as tools to tackle the world’s toughest problems.

Some donors say the strategy is changing how they give in powerful ways; others doubt that it can displace traditional philanthropy, especially with causes like feeding the hungry.

Charities and foundations are tackling gaps in impact investing’s infrastructure to help fulfill the field’s promise of social and environmental change.

For more than a decade, the Heron and Northwest Area foundations have invested their endowments with the goal of spurring social good. They’re drawing on lessons learned to tweak their approaches.

Fifteen years after putting money from its program budget into Tesla as part of its environmental and economic-development strategy, the foundation is staking a hefty chunk of its endowment on similarly mission-focused investments.

This interactive database has survey data collected by The Chronicle on hundreds of nonprofit endowments going back to 2003. New to this year’s report is historical information on hundreds of groups using information from IRS form 990s and 990PFs.

We surveyed hundreds of large nonprofits about their investment funds and drew data from IRS filings by more than 7,000 charities and foundations.

Ric Weiland was an early Microsoft employee and a “data-driven geek.” His carefully structured bequest brought the LGBT movement a decade of success — and a model for philanthropy that aims to fuel social change.

Fundraising is up sharply at the century-old charity under the innovative leadership of Jennifer Sampson, its first woman president.

When the local United Way started looking for promising new talent in nonprofits, acclaimed chef Chad Houser was its first find. Hundreds of kids from juvenile-detention centers have benefited from his innovative work program.

OneJustice is aiming to expand its Justice Bus program, which transports lawyers from Los Angeles and San Francisco across the state to help immigrants, veterans, and others in need of legal services.

Upending conventional wisdom, West Virginia University researchers found that gifts to libraries declined after cuts in public funding. Still unknown: whether the findings apply to other types of charitable giving.

Today’s system for doling out government and private money forces nonprofits to focus on the wrong priorities and gets in the way of producing concrete change.

Foundations’ property investments and capital grants should go toward buildings that avoid wasting water and polluting the earth.

Leaders of the Wallace Global Fund decided they couldn’t stand by as lawyers set up a porous conflict-of-interest approach to President Trump and his businesses.

At the Red Cross’s Indiana state chapter, hiring fundraisers who’ve worked previously with other staffers has helped foster team spirit and boost retention.

When their organizations operate far from a big city, hiring managers need patience and a passionate belief in their cause to lure talent.

Tell a story, and present information that matters to donors in a format that’s easy to understand.