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How nonprofits and philanthropy contribute to polarization
Donor ultimatums and boycotts amid Israel-Gaza campus unrest
Inside the shaky start for the massive Press Forward effort to support journalism
Is Philanthropy a Threat to Democracy?
From senior editor Drew Lindsay: I’m heading next week to a Council on Foundations meeting in Chicago where some 500 grant-making professionals will consider the implications of America’s divisions for their work. The Council is hosting workshops with groups that aim to help Americans bridge differences — Braver Angels, BMe Community, the Convergence Center for Policy Resolution, and more.
I’ll report on the conference next week, but in advance of that, we invited critiques from three philanthropy and nonprofit veterans whose work strengthening democracy gives them an insider’s view of how philanthropy contributes to America’s divides:
Kristen Cambell on five ways that grant makers stoke division.
Sam Daley-Harrison how nonprofits embrace a faux advocacy that robs them of influence.
Daniel Stidon grant makers as “shadow partisans” who push our politics to the extremes.
Everyday Donors: ‘The Only Power We Have’
Billionaires like Bill Ackman made headlines pulling their support from colleges amid Israel-Gaza protests. As campus unrest grows and spreads, we look at how rank-and-file college supporters are issuing ultimatums, withholding donations, and boycotting events — a concern as commencement and reunion season gets underway.
Philanthropy is making big bets to rebuild journalism as a key to a strong democracy — none bigger than the $500 million commitment by 22 foundations to support local news. That effort, Press Forward, launched last fall and wobbled on takeoff, with one news outlet complaining it was setting up a “Hunger Games"-like competition for funding and depressing other giving. Now, it’ has announced its first funding opportunity: $100,000 grants for organizations with an annual budget of less than $1 million.
Watch: In a TED Talk, Aziz Abu Sarah, Palestinian author and cofounder of InterAct International, spoke with Israeli social entrepreneur and peace activist Maoz Inon. Both have had family members killed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.
Watch: “Can an organization that sees itself as above politics, that sees itself straightforwardly as a support system for an open society, be allowed to exist anymore?” That’s the question the Atlanticasks in the wake of PEN America’s announcement this week it is canceling its World Voices festival.
The Democracy Fund’s All by April campaign is trying to get grant makers to provide general operating support and to disburse it by the end of the month.
A champion of interfaith cooperation says “Bowling Alone” author Robert Putnam has answers to our crisis in loneliness and despair. Yet no one is listening.