Knowing my own history with TWI, someone recently asked me for advice. As a non-profit board member, she was struggling with how to handle the anger she often feels when dealing with wealthy donors who make everything about them rather than the people and organization they are donating to. Not an uncommon dilemma of course….
While I am happy to acknowledge that many foundations provide long term, unrestricted funding, a question I’ve had for a long time about philanthropy writ large still persists: Why is it that the one thing most nonprofits say they need – multiyear, unrestricted funding – is the one thing many foundations won’t give them? It’s…
Last week I attended the Edge Funders Alliance’s Just Giving Conference. The conference this year was entitled Better, Not More Towards a Just Transition: Principles and Practices for the Next Economy. While on a process level it didn’t hit all of the points Pia highlighted in her recent post about the Art of the Un-Conference,…
How do we make challenging critiques within philanthropy in a way that people can hear? That question came up strongly this week when I read a couple of blog posts from Jake Hayman of the Social Investment Consultancy, starting with “Not Fit for Purpose: Why I’m Done with the Foundation World.” His bracing list of…
In our summer newsletter, Jill Blair framed TWI’s theory of change as dialogue + connection + relationships = impact. How to capture that equation in compelling and creative ways is an ongoing question for TWI – as it is for many who participate in gatherings that open up spaces for meaningful conversation and connection. Jon Funabiki,…