I appreciated Paul Shoemaker’s recent article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy entitled “How to Rebuild Philanthropy’s Ability to Change the World” so much that I stole one of the subtitles – Listen Much More Closely to Nonprofits. One of the first of many lessons I learned as a grant-maker from my Co-Executive Director, John, is…
We at TWI are in full agreement with Vu Le‘s recent post about 12 Things Funders Do right. In fact, many of the 12 show up on TWI’s own compendium of 9 Practices of Trust-based Investment. In a side by side comparison, it’s clear that respect, transparency, partnering in a true spirit of service, feedback…
IDEX’s artists-in-residence program demonstrates the role of the present moment, courage, and improvisation in social change By Rajasvini Bhansali, Executive Director, and Jennifer Lentfer, Director of Communications, both of IDEX We can admit that many of us entered with trepidation into IDEX’s artists-in-residence program. With a career in nonprofit and global development, we’ve become skilled…
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,…
Yesterday, I picked up a copy of Octavia’s Brood, which is an anthology of science fiction stories by amateur writers who happen to be seasoned activists for social change. I’ve been carrying one of its premises in my heart since I read the introduction: those working to bring about social, political, and economic equity are imagining new…