Dec. 4, 2018

If federal Washington’s stew of partisanship and paralysis makes you worry about the country’s future, look instead to the American city, where nonprofits and foundations are acting as problem solvers in ways that go far beyond their traditional roles.

A nonprofit organization uses volunteers with combat experience to teach park rangers in Africa how to find and stop poachers. The work helps veterans who miss the feeling of contributing to a large mission as part of a military team.

Theresia Gouw is worth an estimated $500 million. Her goal: to help more women get into careers and leadership roles at Silicon Valley tech companies.

Two private foundations have helped fuel Chattanooga’s 30-plus-year revitalization. Now they’re trying to spread the benefits of the improving economy to low-income people who have yet to gain from it.

Homegrown business leaders are helping turn this city into an Ohio hot spot.

Creating better ways to connect donors with proven solutions is key to helping the richest Americans do more to promote economic mobility.

Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the Anti-Defamation League, who honed his skills in dealing with the media as an official in the Obama White House and as a business entrepreneur, offers tips to other nonprofit CEOs and advocates.

Soon after Jonathan Greenblatt took over the Anti-Defamation League, he moved to give the nonprofit’s regional units more autonomy.

Organizations working through unusual collaborations have scored policy victories — and secured new funding.

Giving to Tulsa’s United Way reached almost $26 million last year, just $5 million shy of the giving total to the United Way of New York City.

Here’s a simple breakdown of the process involved in getting and using Bitcoin and other donations from digital-savvy donors.

Four steps to prepare an organization to accept digital assets from supporters.

The blockchain is allowing donors to see how their support is being used and helping to support humanitarian efforts.

Only a few hundred nonprofits, estimates say, are set up to accept Bitcoin and other digital assets. Now is the time for organizations to decide whether, and how, they’ll start accepting such donations.

A pair of tax and regulatory experts offer advice for handling Bitcoin and other currencies while the IRS plays catch-up.

Trinkets can spur more donations, but researchers in one study found they didn’t raise enough to offset the cost.

In other news about leaders in philanthropy, Steven Preston, former secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development under President George W. Bush, will become Goodwill Industries International’s president.

Calling for the protection of special counsel Mueller, as I and more than 40 other foundation leaders did last week, was important. Here are three more ways to make a difference as we live through a slow-motion Saturday Night Massacre.

Today’s policy means all taxpayers are subsidizing giving by the rich through tax breaks, and low- and middle-class people carry the biggest financial burden when they contribute to charity. An easy policy change could make giving fairer and probably produce more for nonprofits.

The Pittsburgh shootings put the Anti-Defamation League’s war against hate in the spotlight — and former Obama aide Jonathan Greenblatt’s digital and entrepreneurial savvy paved the way for it to seize the moment.

The new U.S. Trust Survey also found that overall giving by the rich is on the rise, although affluent millennials give slightly less than other wealthy donors.

Nonprofit fundraisers too often ignore people of color as donors, a harmful pattern as America approaches a majority-minority population.