humility

Funder Spotlight: Hill-Snowdon Foundation

By May 29, 2018

The Hill-Snowdon Foundation is a DC-based foundation committed to supporting grassroots movements for social justice by funding community organizing and leveraging dollars in support of targeted initiatives. They’ve played a leading role as part of our Defending the Dream rapid response collaboration, and have made some recent shifts to their process to further support their…

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Cultivating Proximity and Trust in Philanthropy

By April 10, 2018

“When it comes to donating money, whom do you trust?” This was the headline of a recent New York Times piece by Ann Carrns that extolls the virtues of philanthropic advisers who help “idealistic” donors who may be “blind to potential faults in the groups they support.” While we don’t deny the value of experienced…

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Funder Spotlight: Proteus Fund

By March 27, 2018

Proteus Fund is a public foundation that partners with individual donors and foundations to design and manage collaborative grantmaking on a range of social issues—from curbing the growing influence of money in politics to advancing marriage equality and protecting civil liberties in an age of heightened national security. Even with three distinct funding initiatives with…

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Funder Spotlight: Peery Foundation

By February 13, 2018

Over the past few years, the Peery Foundation has cemented a practice of grantee-centric philanthropy rooted in building trust, dignity, and self-reliance. Its portfolio is focused on strengthening youth and families by supporting social entrepreneurs and organizations in the San Francisco Peninsula, as well as leaders in developing countries working on innovative solutions to address…

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Book Review: What Makes a Risk a “Smart Risk”?

By October 24, 2017

How can funders make small yet informed risks that can help advance progress on an international level? Jennifer Lentfer and Tanya Cothran explore this question in Smart Risks, a collection of case studies, personal experiences, and analyses from 22 small international grantmakers whose organizations collectively have awarded approximately 12,000 grants and a total of $130…

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