Latest Posts from Christine Reeves
Mission Investing: A Conversation with Flozell Daniels, Jr. & Foundation for Louisiana
posted on: October 14, 2014
Earlier this year, NCRP released a special edition of our quarterly journal dedicated to mission investing, or making investments that reflect an organization’s values. As foundations are only required to pay out 5 percent of their assets annually in grants and the administrative costs of making these grants, much of the remaining 95 percent is invested to strengthen the foundation’s economic viability. As such, mission investing can be just as important to creating change as grantmaking.
Many great groups promote investments that support both the economy and the greater good, such as Mission Investors Exchange, Confluence Philanthropy, The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment (US SIF) and Divest-Invest Philanthropy, just to name a few.
Foundation leaders,
… Continue Reading
Patrons Can Have Non-Patronizing Site Visits
posted on: October 3, 2014
The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP), like many organizations, encourages grantmakers to meet with their grantees and the communities they serve, as part of a greater strategy of engaging constituents, receiving feedback and witnessing firsthand the impact of philanthropic work in the “real world.” But, let’s face it: not all site visits are equal, and not all site visits are necessary.
So, let’s consider three questions grantmakers can ask themselves before pursuing a site visit.
(1) How do power dynamics affect the grantee-grantmaker partnership?
- Before a site visit, let’s study the actors (grantees and grantmakers) and the relationship (partnership). “Grantee-grantmaker partnerships” is a popular phrase, but does it reveal a power imbalance? Let’s look deeper. Is
Which Executive Director Would You Fund?
posted on: August 21, 2014
If you were a foundation president with one $50,000 grant left to give before your fiscal year ended, which of these three nonprofit executive directors would you fund?
Executive Director #1 wants to end human trafficking, establish safe houses for victims and help survivors start new lives.
Since childhood, she has been a victim of violence and human trafficking, which some conjecture resulted in her mental delay. She has a history of breaking the law, but she was never convicted. She married a violent man and left him. She is illiterate. For years, she has been unable to keep a domestic service job. Chronically nervous, she never stays in one town for more than a few months.
Executive Director #2
… Continue Reading
Philanthropy: Powerful or Empowering?
posted on: June 6, 2012
Each year, roughly 74,000 U.S.-based foundations give away approximately $45 billion, and the fraternity of funders —including Rockefeller, Carnegie, Ford and Gates—who founded the largest foundations are some of the wealthiest people in the history of the world. So, philanthropy is no stranger to big numbers, big dollar signs, big names, and even bigger potential.
Therefore, perhaps it’s easy to focus on all that perceived bigness and forget how small philanthropy actually is. Philanthropy is eclipsed by the enormous problems our society faces. So, it is helpful when philanthropy chooses to focus less attention on foundations and more on the work others are doing with foundation grants. This begs a fundamental question: Has philanthropy prioritized growing the power of foundations,
… Continue Reading
Funding Democracy and Voting: A Must for Philanthropy
posted on: December 23, 2011
“So, what do you do for a living?”
It’s the habitual question at parties, meetings, dinners with friends and family, anywhere. Then, it’s assuredly followed by the habitual answer: a one to two sentence summary, also known as the elevator speech.
Here is mine:
“I work for a watchdog organization that encourages and challenges grantmakers to use funding best practices—high-impact strategies that benefit marginalized communities and promote democratic values of transparency, inclusive participation, accountability, power, and equality of opportunity.”
Depending on my audience’s ostensible interest level, I often elaborate:
“We all witness massive problems in our world, and each year about $45 billion is dispersed to help alleviate some of those problems. This $45 billion per year comes from philanthropy
… Continue Reading
Tougher Questions for Philanthropy (Part 2 of 4): Accountability
posted on: November 30, 2011
During the past month I attended four philanthropic events, and at each event I delved deeper into the same thought: “Our philanthropic sector must ask itself tougher questions!” In part 1 of this four-part blog series, I began the “tougher questions” with a discussion of philanthropic participation in our democratic society. The participation discussion begged the tougher question: what is philanthropic accountability in our democratic society?
Philanthropic accountability occupied my mind when I attended an Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP) event at the Public Welfare Foundation a couple of weeks ago. As a Steering Committee member of the DC Chapter of EPIP, I was interested in a presentation by Camille Henderson and Bart Lubow of the Annie E. Casey Foundation
… Continue Reading
