You hear a lot from funders these days about their hunger for “dashboards” that display the latest information to guide their decision-making. Dashboards have taken over the corporate sector as part of the “business intelligence” […]
“Building Community Capacity: The Potential of Community Foundations” tells how small community foundations can get bigger, stronger, and more useful to their communities. Endorsed as essential reading in the field, this small book summarizes the […]
Here’s a big dilemma for society: Do we use our charitable resources to save drowning babies one at a time, or do we look upstream for the causes and invest in solutions? Or both. Do […]
Op-Ed: Philanthropy Must Address Structural Inequities (pdf) By Steven E. Mayer. Until foundations address the structural inequities that contribute significantly to human suffering, their own … Jan 9, 2008.
The “assets model of community development,” as distinct from the “deficits model,” has really caught on in philanthropy in the last 30 years. Articulated first by John McKnight at the Asset-Based Community Development Institute, the […]
“A strong national network of community foundations is good for communities. Community foundations can be a constant source of good new ideas, local expertise, and financial support for local programs, if they have the capacity […]
Philanthropy has much to offer in contributing to progress in areas where it’s committed. Making progress in “racial equity” or “social justice” is possible, but difficult. An Effective Communities Project team visited 71 foundations and […]
This paper is the culmination of five years’ work evaluating Ford Foundation’s portfolio of grants, “Community Philanthropy and Racial Equity in the American South.” It is based on reflective, focused, and appreciative conversations with nearly 100 philanthropic organizations operating in both African American and White American settings. […]
Can community foundations learn, if given the opportunity, to be effective vehicles for channeling support low-income neighborhood organizations, while increasing their own resources, grantmaking skills, and leadership role in the community? That was the question […]
As we said after Katrina, foundations have many useful assets – purchasing power, influence and leadership, knowledge of communities, and development know-how – all of which can be used creatively to aid a more equitable reconstruction of Gulf Coast communities wrecked by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. […]
The Effective Communities Project is a project of Effective Communities, LLC. Original content © 2017 Effective Communities, LLC. All rights reserved.
