Today, NCRP is excited to announce the release of our summer issue of “Responsive Philanthropy,” featuring pieces by top voices in the philanthropic sector and their efforts to improve their communities. This edition of the journal offers tools and tips for grantmakers who are interested in learning how they, too, can have greater, positive impact on their issues and the world today.
Now, more than ever, is the time for philanthropy to prioritize and empower those with the least wealth and opportunity. If we do, together we will build a more fair and just society. Our writers share stories from their organizations’ challenges and successes to build a picture of a thriving philanthropic community that prioritizes giving help to those who need it the most.
Organizing for Educational Justice: Parents, Students and Labor Join Forces to Reclaim Public Education
In the cover story, the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools explains how it’s been able to bring together historically disparate groups to push back against market-driven education reform. By tapping into long-standing, but previously unlinked, networks in the education community, such as leading teachers unions and other community organizations, and through financial assistances from grantmakers such as the Schott Foundation, AROS has already achieved key victories after just a year in the field.
The Ben & Jerry’s Foundation: Maximizing Impact Through Employee-Led Philanthropy
Rebecca Golden, director of programs at the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, tells the story of the foundation’s adoption of an employee-led structure, and offers tips for other organizations looking to align its mission and values with its structures and processes. Their innovative approach mirrors the foundation’s commitment to social justice causes, and the idea that those with the least power should be in positions to determine the solutions.
Of Data, Impact and Buckyballs in Philanthropy
The Foundation Center’s Larry McGill describes his organization’s innovative approach to data sharing, explaining that, just like grantees, grantmakers should collect and share data about their work. McGill visualizes the philanthropic sector as a buckyball – an interconnected globe of relationships – that only benefits from increased transparency and accountability.
Member Spotlight: The Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock
This edition’s Member Spotlight showcases the Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock, a Manhasset, New York-based grantmaker. Veatch Program staff share how its roots in a Unitarian Universalist faith, focus on community organizing focus and rejection of grantee budgets have strengthened its mission.
These articles are available online, and hard copies are free for members. As always, we’d love to hear your feedback about what you like and what we can improve. Email your thoughts to readers@ncrp.org, or share in the comments!
Aaron Dorfman is executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Follow @NCRP on Twitter.
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