In 2014, the Cleveland Foundation became the first community foundation in the world to turn 100 years old.  After Frederick H. Goff founded Cleveland’s community foundation in 1914, the idea quickly took off across the United States and today there are an estimated 1,800 community foundations…

Originally featured on the Knight Foundation Blog on July 8, 2015 For many community foundations, Giving Days have been a great way to cultivate donors for their community’s nonprofits, while raising millions for local causes. Several funders have gained so much expertise in this area, that they…

Interning at the Council on Foundations is giving us a great look at a cross-section of the philanthropic field. The Council’s members, after all, come in all shapes and sizes – large, small, corporate, community foundations, and everything in between. As much as we research them, as much as we…

On July 26th, we mark the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA25), which prohibits discrimination and ensures equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in employment, government services, public accommodations, commercial facilities, and transportation. The…

Over the last two years, the Council has been actively engaging with the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as they have taken steps that could shift the global regulatory environment for cross-border philanthropy. FATF has a large impact on nonprofit activity worldwide because of…

My book Charitable Foundations: The Essential Guide to Giving and Compliance was published in May 2015. Since publication, a number of people have asked me what led me to write the book. The Council on Foundations has asked me to address that subject in a blog. According to published reports there…

Social change transpires at a blistering pace, in both promising and discouraging trajectories.  After growing up in isolation in South Dakota and cutting my teeth decades ago as an LGBTQ human rights activist, I’m gob-smacked and elated by today’s Supreme Court decision. This decision is…

This article originally appeared on the WINGS blog, Philanthropy In Focus, on 18 June 2015. The original article can be found here. Community philanthropy is a field in expansion throughout the world – the number of community philanthropy organizations has more than doubled between 2000 and 2014.…

Can business acumen help overcome social challenges? Can entrepreneurial zeal generate innovative solutions? Can the energy of a new generation be harnessed to lead us forward on pressing causes? These were some of the questions addressed at the 2015 Social Innovation Summit. The assembled…

This week, Stan Katz, Benjamin Soskis and Maribel Morey released HistPhil, a new blog that focuses on both “the studying of history and the making of history”. The blog is a result of the co-founders insight that philanthropy as a whole has much to gain from studying its past. The founders hope…

In late May I attended a meeting in Atlanta focused on impact investing hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Southeastern Council of Foundations (SECF) and the Council on Foundations (Council) about impact investing. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s collaboration with the…

While the globalization of markets has dispersed investments around the world, we’ve hatched a plan to bring capital back to our communities in a transparent, coordinated, and collaborative way. I’m excited to announce Canopy, an innovative, member-owned, for-benefit company designed to advance…

The Social Impact Exchange exists to build a growth capital marketplace that supports scaling high-impact nonprofits in the U.S.  Funders with shared interests convene in working groups (currently active in health and education) to identify and vet highly effective nonprofit initiatives primed…

After a week of nonviolent protests following the death of Freddie Gray, Baltimore erupted on the evening of Monday April 27. Stores were looted, cars were burned, tear gas hung in the air. On the morning of Tuesday April 28, leaders of the Baltimore Community Foundation gathered to discuss what…

At the Council on Foundations Annual Conference in San Francisco, there was enormous interest in how foundations can lead together by aligning all of their assets with their missions. However there is one investment nearly every foundation makes, but which many fail to properly evaluate.…

While attending the Council on Foundations annual meeting in San Francisco last week, I learned about exciting new trends in philanthropy. The theme that really stood out was the graying lines of business, investing, and philanthropy. For profit companies are being founded with the specific purpose…