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
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
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
Exponent Philanthropy Senior Program Manager Sara Beggs spoke recently with two Exponent Philanthropy members with experience in collaborative models: Emily Tow Jackson of the Tow Foundation and Liz Sak of the Cricket Island Foundation. Tow Jackson has an extensive history with cross-sector collaboration to change the juvenile justice systems in Connecticut and New York. Sak... Read More
What are we trying to achieve with our grants? You can answer this question in many ways, and one way to start is with how and what you fund. These components shape your philanthropic orientation, the unique way that your foundation approaches the funding process. The how of your giving hinges on how you choose... Read More
“Tackling the world’s most vexing social problems is a challenge for even the biggest foundations,” writes Exponent Philanthropy member Emily Tow Jackson in the Chronicle of Philanthropy (March 24, 2013). “Nonetheless, it is possible for small foundations to bring about large-scale social change.” Small-staffed philanthropists are perfectly positioned to be change makers. What does this... Read More