EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY
Pathways to Progress: Focusing Philanthropy on Racial Equity and Social Justice
Philanthropy could make greater gains in racial equity and social justice if it pursued these six field-tested pathways to progress. […]
SOCIAL JUSTICE
PROGRAM EVALUATION
The Choices We Make As Evaluators: You Gotta Serve Somebody
As evaluators, we are always making choices. These choices may not always be apparent at the time one makes them. We may not even have made them consciously. But in retrospect – and retrospect provides […]
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Indicators of Freedom From The Film, “12 Years a Slave”
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 […]
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Institutional Racism: It’s Hard To See Racism When You’re White
“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 […]
EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY
Can Philanthropy Create Greater Racial Equity and Social Justice?
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 […]
NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT
Downsides to Philanthropy: The Way We Think About Charity Is Dead Wrong
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 […]
JUST PHILANTHROPY
The Confluence of “Philanthropy, Justice, and Evaluation”
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 […]
SOCIAL JUSTICE
George Soros Deserves a Nobel Peace Prize
George Soros deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for the work of his Open Society Foundations. Here’s a good video on the work of this network, which I had the chance to look at up close […]
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Good Trouble, Necessary Trouble
Rep. John Lewis, who devoted his life to making “good trouble, necessary trouble” in the pursuit of racial justice and equality, died July 17, 2020 at 80. As a student, he, with many others, “was […]
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Op-Ed: Philanthropy Must Address Structural Inequities
Op-Ed: Philanthropy Must Address Structural Inequities (pdf) Pathways to Progress: Moving Philanthropy Closer to Social Justice and Racial Equity. Developed with support from the Ford Foundation. By Steven E. Mayer. Until foundations address the structural inequities […]