Michigan Foundations Short-Change Underserved Communities
(Clean water protesters. Residents of Flint Michigan were let down when public water was horribly contaminated due to institutional neglect). From 2003 to 2013, Michigan’s 66 foundations – including some of the largest in the nation, such as The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, McGregor Fund, and…
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Jennifer and Peter Buffett: Power Shift Key to Social Change
(Peter Buffett, left, is both an accomplished musician and famed philanthropist) Jennifer and Peter Buffett – daughter-in-law and son of the billionaire investment expert Warren Buffett – penned an intriguing op-ed for Time early this week that fits in with the philanthropy zeitgeist. On the…
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Los Angeles Nonprofits to Receive $1 Billion in Grants
To honor its hundredth year, The California Community Foundation has announced that it will distribute a whopping $1 billion to Los Angeles nonprofits within the next ten years. The foundation is leveraging its wealthy supporters as well as discretionary funding it has acquired over the…
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Detroit: Leader in Philanthropy Innovation
Detroit’s economy has long been in the doldrums. The slow decline of the city’s once-great auto industry – along with the deleterious effects of the housing bubble and 2007 economic crash – rendered Michigan’s largest metropolitan area perhaps the poorest of its size in the…
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The Chicago Community Trust Follows Ford’s Lead
(The Chicago Community Trust President Terry Mazany) The Ford Foundation appears to have struck a nerve. Following the grant-making giant’s announcement in June to provide more funding for nonprofit operations support, other groups are following suit. Terry Mazany – president of The Chicago Community Trust…
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Targeted, Nonprofits in Russia Flee
A number of high-profile nonprofits in Russia are fleeing, as the country’s governing elite moves to ostracize and persecute international NGOs. Russia’s upper house of parliament has constructed a “patriotic stop list” that includes a host of international NGOs that Russian authorities feel either pose a…
Read MorePhilanthropy Supports Struggling Greece
As Greece scrambles to produce a list of economic reforms to satisfy its creditors, it is still unclear whether or not the Mediterranean nation and its primary negotiating partners will reach an agreement that keeps the Hellenic Republic in the Eurozone. The country’s debt crisis…
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Philanthropy and the Greek Debt Crisis
Following the break-down in talks between Greece’s political leadership and the country’s creditors – also known as the “troika,” including the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission, and the European Central Bank – Greece’s financial crisis has entered its eleventh hour. While the drama is…
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Ford Foundation: Inequality, Operations Spending Represent New Era
The Ford Foundation – the second largest grant-making organization in the United States – made big news on June 11 when it announced a major shift in its grant priorities and funding strategies. Last year, Ford Foundation president Darren Walker surveyed grant recipients on their most…
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