People say that one can be overtaken by vast waves of love and despair in Africa. “This is poverty,” warns Unitus Vice President Kate Cochran. “More palpable, deeper, and somehow more stark than anyplace else on the planet.” It took me decades to get to Africa. My early years were preoccupied with the privileges that... Read More
“Innovation is in the eye of the beholder,” says Sandy Herz, director of global partnerships at the Skoll Foundation. “Different foundations see it in different ways.” Convening grantees may be innovative for some foundations, even though others have been doing so for years. Or, another foundation might add program related investments to its grantmaking portfolio,... Read More
Why does Atkinson Foundation, a small-staffed funder, engage in grantmaking abroad? Locally we can make site visits, but that’s usually impossible when the project is in the Bolivian highlands, the Moroccan desert, the Brazilian rainforest, or a rural village in Eritrea or Honduras. Yet, overseas grants justify one-fifth of our foundation’s grantmaking and at least... Read More
American country music artist Barbara Mandrell sings that she was “country when country wasn’t cool.” For The McCarthy Charities, the lyrics would be this: “We were a family foundation, when family foundations weren’t cool,” or something to that effect. The Samuel N. and Mary Castle Foundation—America’s oldest family foundation still in existence—is only 23 years... Read More
“We’ve always been interested in young people and their college education,” said Mr. Smyth. While working in Wilmington, DE, he worked with inner-city kids. “That was the real impetus to set up the foundation. When we left Wilmington and retired in Virginia, we decided to create a local scholarship program.” Nelson County, a rural area... Read More
Youth philanthropy describes diverse youth activities. Some associate youth philanthropy with young people making grants as members of junior boards to family foundations or advisors to community foundations. Others use the term to describe service learning in school or volunteering as part of a youth or religious organization. Fundraising for the benefit of another also... Read More