Impact is rarely achieved accidentally or immediately, especially when tackling some of life’s most complex challenges. Although some donors can point to single grants that achieved notable results, the people and causes around the world are especially in need of passionate philanthropists that pursue a particular impact with everything they’ve got. One donor describes the... Read More
On an individual level, empathy is the ability to reach beyond ourselves and connect in a deeper way with other people—to understand their experiences, to get where they’re coming from, to feel what they feel. Widespread empathy scales that intuition from the individual to the organization. It connects a foundation’s staff and board to the... Read More
Developmental evaluation is a hot topic in philanthropy today. It emerged in response to the need for real-time learning in complex and emerging situations—just the situations in which funders tend to find themselves when working with others to find innovative solutions to social problems. “Evaluation is about critical thinking; development is about creative thinking,” writes... Read More
Not long ago, Exponent Philanthropy convened eight funders interested in focusing their giving. Over the course of our 7 months together, we named several rationalizations for not focusing. Have you used or heard any yourself? We share the following five and include ways to move past them. Misconception: Good deeds and good intentions will lead... Read More
Exponent Philanthropy Senior Program Manager Sara Beggs was joined by Exponent Philanthropy members Janis Reischmann of the Hau’oli Mau Loa Foundation and Sheila Leddy of The Fledgling Fund for a conversation about the power of finding a focus. The following text highlights key pieces of their conversation. Beggs: Janis, to start us off, can you... Read More
Exponent Philanthropy member Janis Reischmann of the Hau‘oli Mau Loa Foundation has spent the past several years working in a close partnership with 10 nonprofits to bring hope to some of Hawaii’s most disenfranchised youths. “The approaches used by our partners are reaching children who were previously very difficult to engage and challenged by typical... Read More