Dear Ms. Scott, Thank you. Thank you for using your very visible philanthropic platform to respond to 2020 with fierce urgency and willingness to take direction from those most harmed by its horrors. Your giving has made headlines for obvious reasons: your public profile as a woman billionaire, the sheer scale of these gifts, the…
This post was originally published at the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s blog. “It was so important just to be treated like a human being.” “As a woman of color, I can’t tell you what it meant to be approached by a funder I didn’t know who saw me and trusted me.” “DO SOMETHING!” These comments…
Last week, in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, several of the nation’s top foundations pledged to ease or eliminate restrictions on grants, reduce asks of grantees, and support and uplift the voices of grantee partners. From the pledge: “By acting together to provide flexibility to our grantee partners, we believe we can help them…
In the past week, I’ve marveled at how swiftly my non-profit and funder colleagues have adapted to the drastically changed conditions of our lives. Complex, in-person events were seamlessly hosted on virtual platforms in what seemed like a 24-hour pivot. We are all now wizards of Zoom, Blue Jeans, Skype, and other technologies for virtual…
The spread of the coronavirus COVID-19 is at once both unforeseen and inevitable. Michael Lerner of Commonweal and Resilience Project writes, “The coronavirus illustrates how perfectly predictable threats (viral pandemics) disrupt profoundly interconnected and fragile global systems. Financial markets, supply chains, consumer behavior, tourism, healthcare, and both national and global events are all affected by…