When my husband Bob went to Iraq to cover the war, I was worried but didn’t think of it the way families of our soldiers do. After all, he was there as the anchor of ABC News. But then the call came that he had been severely injured. Like more than 1 million wives, mothers and other family members…

In 2009, Blue Shield of California Foundation learned of the increasingly high rates and devastating impacts of domestic violence among military families. Given the incredible stress these families had endured after more than a decade at war, the findings were difficult to hear, but not surprising…

I was a foundation officer and government official in the White House and Pentagon before I became a military family member…before there was a war. Before the Marine I married deployed to combat three times. Before I knew neighbors who faced the knock of a Chaplain and a Casualty Assistance Officer…

With a topic taken from the headlines of today’s newspapers, the Annie E. Casey Foundation Atlanta Civic Site in partnership with the Council on Foundation and the Southeastern Council of Foundations conducted a day long learning forum entitled Flipping the Script: Changing the Narrative on Boys…

This Memorial Day takes on new significance for the philanthropic sector as we take our commitment to veterans and their families to another level. Building on last April’s historic Philanthropy-Joining Forces Impact Pledge convening, next week on May 12, the Council will host an event in…

Ten years ago this month I waddled – enormously pregnant – into a job interview with the founder of a billion dollar healthcare tech company. “I have this crazy idea about education,” he said. Technology, he hypothesized, could make learning more interesting for students. He saw it as a platform…

The Orcas Island Community Foundation (OICF) is a small but mighty foundation. In 2011, with assets of $4 million spread across 70+ funds, we had outgrown our ‘off the shelf’ bookkeeping software, spending over half of our precious staff time on accounting. We struggled with finding right sized…

Even as the high human, economic, environmental, and planetary costs of climate change come into sharper focus, global greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, tightening the timeframe for a transition to a low-carbon future. Climate change exacerbates growing pressures on life-sustaining…

Civil Society in America faces the challenge of storytelling. Democracy thrives on the free availability of information and viewpoints. We must guard against hegemony that stifles innovation and protect voices of the marginalized. To do so, we should ensure that everyone's story is told. Making…

On Feb. 11, the Ford, Knight, Open Society, MacArthur, and Mozilla, Foundations together launched NetGain:  Working Together for a Stronger Digital Society as a major shared initiative.  The NetGain initiative advocates that building the Internet as…

The Council’s 2015 Annual Meeting is only a little more than a week away! Over the past year, Council has worked with members, colleagues, leaders in the field, academics, and many other important voices to lay the groundwork for a multi-year thought leadership project called the Evolution of…

Spring Break Road Trip with my brother and sister almost 20 years ago With Spring Break behind us, making plans for the end of the school year and summer is in full effect... and we want YOU to know about YOUTH PHILANTRHOPY ON THE ROAD! This summer and fall, we are mixing the best parts of…

Kim Bluitt, Member Relations Director, Pacific Q&A with Jonathan Lorenzo Yorba, President & CEO, The Community Foundation Serving the Counties of Riverside & San Bernardino, Now in its second year, Philanthropy Week in Washington, March 16-20, 2015, was a week-long series of events…

For the first time in its history, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) has expanded its mission to include promoting affordable housing for low-income residents who ride public transportation throughout the county.  Thanks to a voter-approved sales tax increase…

Sunday, I was in the middle of greeting a small gathering of 15 women and men as we prepared to leave on the Women’s eNews walking tour of New York’s financial district. We offer the tour every Sunday in March as one important way for us to celebrate Women’s History Month. A male member of the…

While the Perrin Family Foundation has spent the past two decades supporting the leadership development of young people in Connecticut, our understanding of and approach to leadership development has undergone a dramatic shift. Initially, we understood leadership development simply as a strategy to…