July 1, 2021

Leaders at the Children’s Museum of Fond du Lac got to see different teaching techniques in action when it hosted a charter school for the 2020-21 academic year.

The pandemic helped Friends of the Children - Boston realize it’s hard for young people to succeed academically if the adults in their lives are struggling. See the rest of our special section on what nimble charities do to withstand crises.

The move to videoconferencing helped the Winter Institute reach more people with its workshops, while allowing participants to connect on a human level and discuss difficult subjects. See our special section on nonprofits’ creative ideas for getting through a year of crises and how groups are building on those ideas to shape the future.

Listening to clients and testing approaches will help nonprofits chart a path for their work going forward, management experts say. Plus: See our special section on nonprofits’ creative ideas for getting through a year of crises and how groups are building on those ideas to shape the future.

The Common Market has long purchased produce from local farms and sold it to schools and hospitals as a way to get healthy food to people who need it. After Covid hit, the nonprofit overhauled its operation to focus on emergency food aid to individuals.

ParentChild+ made sure families had the food, diapers, and technology they needed during the pandemic. Now it’s figuring out the best mix of virtual and in-person learning. Read more ways nonprofits innovated to stay nimble and survive the crisis in our Creative Moves report.

Virtual donor visits and tours have saved employees at LA Family Housing hours of driving time, and outreach to online influencers has raised awareness of the group’s work. Plus: See our entire special report on how charities have built on changes they made during the pandemic to shape the future.

The group is aggregating huge amounts of cash to give patient, no-strings-attached capital — as well as coaching and guidance — to organizations that have developed promising ways to solve social problems.

A crypto-enthusiast has developed a system that makes it easy for charities to receive digital currencies — and could open the door to new, young, tech-savvy donors.

Individual giving made up 69 percent of all philanthropy last year, the smallest share “Giving USA” has ever recorded.

DigDeep has installed roughly 1,000 water storage tanks, each of which holds 275 gallons and is refilled monthly at no cost to the homeowner.

The March 6 program, which included small parties at private homes in addition to a virtual program, raised $850,000 for the dance company.

Start with your board — and much more advice to help you connect to people with the interest and capacity to make sizable gifts.

Well-known women philanthropists like MacKenzie Scott and Melinda French Gates are showing what’s possible if we move beyond traditional giving approaches. Now we need to expand their approaches on a large scale.

Those of us in the business of offering free clothes to struggling families receive almost no help from grant makers. But ensuring children have shoes, underwear, and apparel that fits is a basic need worthy of philanthropic support.

Blinded by my class and race privilege, it never occurred to me to probe the organization’s salary structure more closely and provide the support its leaders needed to continue their important work.