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Analysis
Mixed reviews for Zuckerberg and Chan
‘Your life should be dramatically better than ours today. We will do our part to make this happen, not only because we love you, but also because we have a moral responsibility to all children …
Foundations may pay price for under‑valuing research
The need for innovation in tackling today’s unprecedented social and economic challenges is generally embraced by foundations. In stark contrast, the need for greater investment in its twin, the research essential to discovering, incubating and …
The bricks and mortar – steel and glass – of social change
The case for investing in capital projects Laying Foundations for Change memorializes the capital investments of The Atlantic Philanthropies, which concludes its grantmaking in 2016 and its work in 2020. With work by Magnum Photos, …
Caroline Hartnell: we owe you
It was about 20 years ago that Caroline Hartnell came to my office at the Ford Foundation. She was trying to garner resources for a new quarterly publication called Alliance. I was to find out …
It’s worth it: Local resource mobilization in the Global South and East
Despite increasingly restrictive fiscal and legal policies, high levels of income inequality, and charity-focused cultures of philanthropy, women’s funds are mobilizing support for women’s rights from various local actors in places like Mongolia, Argentina, South …
To hold or pay out: the case for foundation largesse
Grantmaking foundations provide the risk capital of the social sector, yet their trustees are relatively conservative about how much money they make available, with most payout rates single-digit percentages of foundations’ total assets. At a …
Sustainable economics visions
Business as SDG partner debated Agenda 2030 – a set of Sustainable Development Goals and targets ratified by 180 governments on 25 September – charges businesses to work with civil society groups and governments – …
A watershed moment for African philanthropy
The African Grantmakers Network 3rd Biennial Assembly in July was significant because, for the first time, members covered approximately 65 per cent of the costs. The network had previously relied on external funding. That in itself speaks …
What can foundations gain from constituent feedback? Responses to the June special feature
Following the June special feature on ‘feedback as transformation’, Alliance asked foundation professionals in Germany, Kenya, the UK and the US about their experience of constituent/beneficiary feedback. Does it offer opportunities to foundations to improve …
Is there such a thing as a ‘career in philanthropy’? Absolutely
Over the past several years, I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to delve deep into the topic of talent management in philanthropy. (For more on this underappreciated topic, see the September 2014 issue of Alliance.) When …