All posts in Philanthropic Sector

Hmmm. This is interesting. The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP)  has just released a report, Grantees’ Limited Engagement with Foundations’ Social Media, saying that “only 16% of grantees surveyed report using social media created by funders or their staff.” Last year CEP surveyed more than 6,000 nonprofits about their experiences with one of the 34 foundations in this study. The top findings were:

• “The majority of foundations use social media tools in their work.
• Very few grantees use social media from their foundation funders or their funders’ staff.
• Grantees that do use foundations’ social media find those resources less helpful than other communication resources for learning about the foundation.”

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At 6’8″ flying can be a rather uncomfortable experience. There’s little leg room for individuals my size. Even after leaning my seat back there is little comfort;  I feel the knees of the person behind me probing the dense foam of my seat (SIGH!).  Overcoming this discomfort has required a simple but effective strategy – kicking off my shoes and falling asleep before the wheels leave the ground. As long as I am sleep before the wheels start moving I’m good.

My strategy was in full effect last week on my flight to Philadelphia to participate in A Gathering of Leaders: Cultivating Connections & Changing Conversations conference. This  two day convening, hosted by Frontline Solutions and sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, brought together several practitioners, grantmakers, and change agents who are working to improve the conditions and outcomes for males of color.  Nearly half of the participants were from the philanthropic sector, with Education and Youth Development being two of the most represented program areas. Despite the heavy influence of folks working in the education space, topics such as youth imprisonment, LGBQT issues, mental health, historical and cultural awareness were heavily touched on.  With over 44 cities represented and several voices from various sectors and communities, conversations were rich and real.  I credit Marcus Littles, Senior Partner of Frontline Solutions, with designing a format that allowed participants to convene with their particular sector (i.e. Philanthropic, media, or higher learning) to address the challenges, opportunities, and next steps in our respective sectors.

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A few months ago, I shared a save the date for the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT)’s upcoming conference and my own reasons for valuing deeply GIFT’s community, work and vision on this blog.

I’m happy to share that registration is now open for the 2012 Money for Our Movements conference. I look forward to seeing many of you there!

More info below:

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Yesterday, I had the privilege to attend an event hosted by Northern California Grantmakers and sponsored by the Rosenberg Foundation to highlight Marian Wright Edelman’s Black Community Crusade for Children.  Mrs. Edelman is the founder of Children’s Defense Fund, a graduate of Spelman College and Yale Law School, and the first black woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar.  It’s always inspirational to hear her speak.  Mayor Ed Lee, SFUSD Superintendent Carlos Garcia, Tim Silard and Lateefah Simon of the Rosenberg Foundation, and Rev. Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani of the Glide Foundation were in attendance, among others from the philanthropic community who fight for quality education.

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Just came across this blog post, From Charitable Giving to Strategic Investing, which references last week’s Council on Foundations conference in Los Angeles. I immediately wanted to share this article because I love it! For the record, I can’t stand when the nonprofit organizations are labeled “charities” – that’s so buttoned-up-and-white-gloved old school, invoking a dated paradigm that positions nonprofit folks as wide-eyed do gooders, versus corporate folks as savvy deep thinkers (with corresponding deep pockets).  Philanthropy is traditionally positioned somewhere in the middle, serving as brokers between the corporate-generated wealth and organizations that perform “acts of charity.” While there’s much more to be said about that problematic paradigm, I’ll try to stay on track here. I really like Katherine Miller’s post because it succinctly summarizes the shift in the philanthropic sector (and nonprofits by extension) to strategic thinking and execution. Some may say “duh” because that’s how they’ve been functioning all along, but I say “hurray” to the movement to put “charitable” to bed in favor of “strategic good works.”

This past Sunday at the Association for Black Foundation Executives 2012 conference in Los Angeles, Brotherhood Leadership Advisory Council members, Julian Clark and Andrew Morris (far right and center right), joined two southern California youth to address an audience of roughly 80 individuals from the philanthropic sector.  They shared their individual experiences, perspectives on the various issues facing young black men, and the ways in which philanthropy can have more of a strategic impact on the lives of black youth. The session, Let’s Act Now: Moving the Needle Forward for Young Black Men and Boys in California and Beyond, highlighted the various philanthropic initiatives in California geared toward altering the trajectory of young black men and boys.

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Happy to share that the California Civic Participation Funders Collaborative, of which we played a minor advisory role, has come out with a great case study of how funders can come together – as we often encourage our nonprofit partners to do – around a common vision and goals. As shared by the collaborative:

“How can foundations help build movements for opportunity and social change…and win? This is the question we set out to address as part of the California Civic Participation Funders collaborative. This group of ten funders, large and small, working on a wide range of progressive policy issues, came together in early 2010 with the shared goal of increasing civic participation among underrepresented populations.  Now we’re releasing the first case study of our work, published by the Haas, Jr. Fund.

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With 87% of the world’s population using mobile phones, it’s clear that the nonprofit sector in the U.S. should be thinking of how to innovate around mobile technology and its work.  Jeff Perlstein from ZeroDivide and Amy Gahran have written a report called “Funding Mobile” that ramps up the conversation on how funders can support nonprofits in using mobile to move their mission. The focus is on initiatives by underserved communities in the U.S. and how funders can strengthen the quantity and quality of support for this work.

To Download the white paper: Full version and Individual sections

Post to Twitter, Facebook: http://bit.ly/MobileZD #mobile #philanthropy #fundertech

 REDF is a San Francisco-based venture philanthropy organization and one of our grant partners. They are in the midst of recruiting for several current and upcoming job openings ranging from entry-level to director positions. Check out the description details here.

This past Wednesday, the Foundation hosted a briefing with Northern California Grantmakers as part of the Diversity in Philanthropy Series entitled Ultimate Fairness: Recognizing and Removing Hidden Biases. The goals of the briefing were to understand hidden bias through defining it, to learn about  research studies that have examined biases within the context of education and social equity, and to discuss how the philanthropic sector can develop disruptive strategies to counteract it.  Presenters included our own Cedric Brown, Kapor Foundation CEO; Freada Klein, Ph.D., foundation board chair and founder of our sister organization, the Level Playing Field Institute (LPFI); and Allison Scott, Ph.D., Director of Research and Evaluation at LPFI.

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