listening
Book Review: What Makes a Risk a “Smart Risk”?
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…
Funder Spotlight: General Service Foundation
Two years ago, when Dimple Abichandani stepped in as Executive Director of the General Service Foundation, she noticed a gap between the social justice foundation’s grantmaking processes and the type of relationship they had with their grantees. Soon after, she and the GSF staff started making changes to their practices in order to fully embody…
Funder Spotlight: NoVo Foundation
The NoVo Foundation recently announced its Radical Hope Fund, a multi-year commitment to bold and transformative social justice work across the globe. With a motivation to give social justice leaders ‘room to dream,’ and a desire to support efforts over four years, this fund embodies trust-based philanthropy in many ways. As part of our ongoing…
In the Direction of Courage
Eyes Wide Shudder It is with an anguished heart and clear eyes that I write this. The difference in our historical context between Tuesday morning and today is stark and sobering. The real cost of this election outcome will fall disproportionately on the undocumented immigrants, muslims, blacks, women, queer, and poor people scapegoated in this campaign…
Stanford Social Innovation Review Features Building Movement Project Co-Director
“When grantmakers go looking for feedback from their grantees, they can ask a lot of questions,” writes Building Movement Project (BMP) Co-Director Sean Thomas-Breitfeld. “But grilling grantees and listening to them are two different things, and the distinction is as much about intent as impact.” The Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSRI), in partnership with Grantmakers for…