For nearly a century, donor-driven development has struggled to create sustainable change in the Global South. Today, funders realize the key to improving community self-reliance lies in healthy collaboration with beneficiary communities. A challenge, then, is how to collaborate with rural communities in the Global South. How do we maintain financial management standards when our... Read More
I just returned from leading the team that successfully cleaned up the world’s most plastic-polluted beach as part of the multi-disciplinary Henderson Island Plastic Pollution Expedition 2019. From the first day of my involvement with the Expedition, as founder of Howell Conservation Fund and leader of the beach cleanup team, I had two key performance... Read More
On Friday, March 20, Exponent Philanthropy hosted a live discussion among lean funders to discuss how they are responding to COVID-19. We will continue to host these discussions every Friday at 2 PM ET to give all lean funders the opportunity to connect around their response. We are also compiling COVID-19 information and resources relevant... Read More
In the past, I was a nonprofit capacity building adviser, and this question came up often. The principles that applied to those charitable nonprofits can also help foundations. It’s useful to think of this question in two-parts: Should the executive director serve as a board member? Should the executive director be a voting or non-voting... Read More
Funders with few or no staff can advance change on urgent issues. With a few dollars and a wealth of local knowledge and relationships, Exponent Philanthropy members have facilitated reform of a state’s juvenile justice system, increased access to nursing care for new and expectant mothers, and created statewide coalitions to focus dollars and attention on... Read More
Investing in companies that are adapting, transitioning and innovating around climate change can be an important part of mitigating some of its most harmful effects. At the same time, it might also help your foundation meet its financial goals: research increasingly suggests that on average, corporations with stronger environmental policies may also exhibit stronger corporate... Read More