What is “advocacy”? The word is from Latin, meaning “to give voice” to a cause that it might progress and succeed. Advocacy has recently become a legitimate strategy to promote social change. What is advocacy, […]
I went to see “12 Years a Slave” the other night, but was a little apprehensive about going, given what I’d heard. To keep it together I decided to write down all the indicators of […]
“It’s hard to see racism when you’re White,” the billboards erected by Duluth’s [former] Un-Fair Campaign allege. The billboard conveys the message very directly of institutional racism. Enraged Whites, according to an article in the […]
In Effective Philanthropy: Make a Difference we made the point that different programs focus their action differently. Some want to create change at the individual level. Others want to create change at the system level, […]
Can philanthropy create greater racial equity and social justice? Good question. And the answer is Yes, we learned in a five-year inquiry with support from the Ford Foundation. What does philanthropy do to make progress […]
As seen on TV! Download free, the editors cut of my 1994 classic, “Building Community Capacity: The Potential of Community Foundations.” This easy-reading book relates the successful experience of 17 community foundations participating in the […]
There are downsides to philanthropy as well as its well-publicized upsides. Philanthropy has a Jekyll and Hyde approach to benefiting communities and society: talking big but releasing only a trickle of cash on terrible terms […]
Is my philanthropy effective? Am I “making a difference?” When I see a panhandler on the street, I can imagine different ways to “make a difference.” Make a difference at the individual level I […]
For years, my blog, “JustPhilanthropy.org” ran with the tagline: “From the confluence of philanthropy, justice, and evaluation.” Where is that place? I imagine like one of those braided Alaska rivers with crisscrossing streams – the […]
There’s a problem with using a single measure of success. It may seem simple, but a single measure of a charitable organization’s productivity, no matter how common-sensible, isn’t nearly enough to convey all that’s important. […]
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