Foundations and donors of all kinds have responded in creative and impressive ways to COVID-19, as well as the other crises of the previous year. Community foundations have served as beacons of hope and safety, educators and public health outlets, and conduits for vital aid during the pandemic…

Dear Friend,  It is difficult to capture the enormity of the challenges we have faced during the past year. Global grantmakers were some of the first to recognize the looming danger of the novel coronavirus and urged the world to respond. As vaccines begin to ramp up in the US, funders…

Friend, We continue to live through unprecedented times. 2021 started off with new challenges and the demands have been relentless. Through it all, community foundations have played a crucial role in communities, ensuring funds were available to local nonprofits and relief efforts. Your work helps…

Greetings, In previous newsletters, we had a “Where’s Brad” section tracking the many movements made to be present for all the in-person field convenings, conferences, and trainings hosted across the country. Today, it is easy to find me at home with my office dog, Quincy in Charleston, SC, joining…

With more than one million people lost to COVID-19, the world is in mourning and rightfully so. It is not only the people we have lost, but the progress that the world had been making in becoming a more equitable, healthy, peaceful, and prosperous place. Additionally, while COVID-19 has occupied…

We all could use a sense of normalcy. Hence, I am pleased to announce our fall lineup of trainings and workshops, peer conversations and summits—and, you guessed it, all virtual! We plan to deliver a mix of refreshed content alongside new formats to dive into shared experiences with peers and…

Over the last few months, our world has permanently changed. The COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the globe, extracting a high toll and exacerbating existing disparities within our globalized world and the places we live. Despite a wane in media attention, the pandemic is still a very real threat…

Happy 2020! January has kicked off with a bang as we’ve been hard at work at the Council to develop exciting programs, publications, and avenues for engagement in 2020 and beyond. I’m excited to share more about the work of our global program as the year progresses and I look forward to continuing…

It’s hard to believe that in just a few weeks we’ll be bringing in a New Year. If we consider the Internal Revenue Act of 1935 as the start of corporate philanthropy – a time when companies were permitted to deduct 5% of pretax earnings for charitable gifts, it could be concluded that corporations…

From Greta Thunberg’s passionate climate advocacyto concerns about the efficacy of multilateralism that the UN represents, there was no shortage of news from the 74th UN General Assembly. Despite only having ten years left to achieve the SDGs, recent reports are bleak. Of more than 1,000 CEOs…

We’re only a month away from the 74th UN General Assembly (UNGA) – and the world still has significant work to do if we are to meet the development thresholds set in the SDGs. This slow progress combined with a new wave of gun violence and hate crimes in the United States, alongside civil…

Like myself, I know many of you are using the summer as a time to reflect on your progress from the first half of the year and strategize on how to finish 2019 strong. At the Council, we’ve used the past months to meet with diverse stakeholders as we look to redefine our value, approach and…

The Council is excited to work with our partners—the community foundation affinity groups AdNet, Comma, and ProNet—to host the 2020 CFUnited, Community Foundations: Power of Place, Conference. Designed as an immersive experience for all staff at community foundations regardless of size, scale…

The United Nations' annual mid-year High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) finished earlier this week. I was in New York to join several events and enjoyed connecting with a broad variety of organizations and people working to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, including many…

Recent data on giving by Americans signals concerns for US philanthropy. New research on US philanthropy shows lower levels of giving in 2018, even as our economy showed healthy growth overall. Giving USA reports less overall giving in 2018, following four years of steady growth. Specifically,…

Summer is officially here and for corporate philanthropy, I’d venture to report we are off to a great start. From the release of the 2019 Giving USA report to the number of important spring and summer sector conferences, momentum for companies’ involvement in social impact is rising. This year’s…