You're currently viewing:
Special features
It’s not just what you know, it’s how you use it
As part of the special feature on data, Alliance convened a virtual roundtable of philanthropy associations and support groups from around the world to get an idea of what information the sector collects about itself …
Data shadows: challenges of a data-rich world
‘Like the wallpaper sticks to the wall Like the seashore clings to the sea You’ll never get rid of your shadow You’ll never get rid of me’ These words, written in 1927, are the start …
Visualizing philanthropy: storytelling with data
Of all the groups I have worked with, those in the philanthropic sector have some of the biggest opportunities to tell compelling stories with data. Yet the strategic advantage that can be gained through this …
The narrative of impact: it’s not just the numbers
As an emerging investment strategy, impact investing has had to work hard to gain the trust of actors both in the impact sector and in traditional financial markets. Data have played an immense role in …
Supporting data collection by the poor
Data in the sphere of development has been effectively used for big picture questions like measuring levels of poverty and malnutrition or assessing the health and educational standards of a country or region’s population. For …
Six degrees of capitalization
Despite tightening climate regulations, the capital markets are becoming more fossil fuel intense, not less, with large fossil fuel companies raising big money on the world’s leading stock exchanges during the decade from 2000. The …
Encouraging sustainable land investments
The surge in farmland and commodities investments is causing widespread concern about ‘land-grabbing’ and the accelerated loss of biodiversity, water depletion, soil erosion, and human rights abuses. These investments are expected to grow substantially over …
Putting family foundations on the map
Trying to change the world through philanthropy without data on what we do is like starting a journey without compass or map. This was the recognition that led to the collaboration between Pears Foundation and …
Moving the tanker
‘We are a tiny, tiny little organization,’ says Bill Gates about the largest foundation that the world has ever seen. He’s right: the Gates Foundation’s annual grantmaking is only a tiny fraction of governments’ budgets. …
Data resources
‘For data to be useful in philanthropy they have to be known, accessible, and compoundable (able to be mixed and combined).’ So wrote Lucy Bernholz in a post on her Philanthropy 2173 blog in July. …