Latest Posts from Lisa Ranghelli
Diversity and Effectiveness: What Is the Link for Foundations?
posted on: October 30, 2014
This week Philamplify is introducing a new poll question, our third since we launched philamplify.org in May:
Do you think greater staff and board diversity helps make foundations more effective and impactful? (Yes/No/Maybe)
We were prompted to ask this question in part by the recent announcement that Guidestar and the D5 Coalition have joined together to enhance the Guidestar Exchange as a tool for online tracking of nonprofit and foundation diversity data. In announcing the new initiative, Kelly Brown at D5 and Jacob Harold at Guidestar each made comments linking diversity data to improved effectiveness and impact.
D5 further contends that, “For philanthropy to be effective and relevant in our increasingly diverse society, philanthropic organizations have to bring new
… Continue Reading
Do Feedback Loops in Philanthropy Create Stronger Accountability?
posted on: October 7, 2014
Editor’s note: This post first appeared in the Nonprofit Quarterly.
Three years ago, I accepted the challenge of implementing a program that provides “actionable feedback” for major foundations. It entailed assessing foundations, whether or not they wanted it, and then telling them and the public what the foundations were doing well and how they could improve.
When I described the idea to a close friend, she asked me, “Aren’t you worried about being able to get your next job after this one?”
Somehow, my answer was “No.” I was confident that there was a welcome mat in the sector for unsolicited, honest feedback and that many people in philanthropy would agree, perhaps secretly, that this would be good for
… Continue Reading
Amplifying Philamplify: Sector Reactions and Visions for Impact
posted on: September 12, 2014
NCRP will be kicking off its fall webinar series with a lively discussion about Philamplify, NCRP’s new initiative to burst the isolation bubble in philanthropy. Philamplify is all about helping grantmakers get honest feedback from the very communities and constituencies they seek to benefit – whether or not they have asked for that feedback. We do this by conducting comprehensive foundation assessments, sharing them with the public and inviting discussion and debate on Philamplify.org.
We at NCRP value honest feedback about our own work too, which is why we recently assigned a third party to carry out our organizational evaluation, and why we want to use this webinar to get outside perspectives on how we’re doing with Philamplify.
… Continue Reading
Stakeholder Engagement: Still a Philanthropic Learning Curve
posted on: August 5, 2014
Last week, Nonprofit Quarterly’s Anne Eigeman told a cautionary tale of stakeholder backlash (first reported by Wally Harbert in Third Sector). In “The Risk for Nonprofits in Excluding Stakeholders in Key Decision-Making,” she highlights the story of a hospice agency in the UK that decided to close its residential facility for the elderly in favor of home-based services, only to be told by the residents and their families that they didn’t want to move. The uproar resulted in both the chief executive and chairperson resigning.
Despite tales like this one – and extensive literature on the value of engaging stakeholders when deciding strategy, policy and practice – it appears that nonprofits and foundations still have
… Continue Reading
Do Foundations Seeking Policy Change Need Community Roots? (Part 1)
posted on: July 16, 2014
This is the first of a two-part series looking at the balance between policy leadership and support for grassroots voices. Part two will look at the grantmaking of The California Endowment.
In a recent op-ed in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, NCRP founder Pablo Eisenberg contends that major foundations are exacerbating inequality through their support of large and “elite” institutions such as universities and hospitals, with little funding going to more grassroots organizations seeking social change. He adds:
“Meanwhile, big foundations like Gates, Broad, Walton, and Lumina have become energetic players in trying to shape national and regional public policies. Using the power of their money and political contacts, these institutions are increasingly diminishing the voice of poor and vulnerable
… Continue Reading
How can local foundations best support quality public education?
posted on: May 21, 2014
Several large national foundations have been identified with the K-12 public school reform movement, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Walton Family Foundation and Broad Foundation. Less visible or well known may be the place-based local and regional funders who have also waded into this often controversial fray.
For our new initiative, Philamplify, NCRP recently assessed the grantmaking of the Philadelphia-based William Penn Foundation, which some stakeholders had criticized for its perceived multi-million dollar investment in alternatives to traditional public schools, including charter and private schools. A new report points to one reason why some public education advocates are leery of charters: they are often subject to fewer rules and less oversight than district schools.
The Center
… Continue Reading
Burning Questions about Philamplify Answered
posted on: May 12, 2014
It’s great to see that so many people in the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors are checking out Philamplify, NCRP’s new initiative providing “honest feedback to improve philanthropy.” Some thoughtful questions have come up about Philamplify, raised by Janet Camarena at GlassPockets and others, which I’d like to share along with my responses.
1. How did NCRP choose the first foundations to assess and how will future funders be chosen?
For this first cohort (the three completed and some that are forthcoming so stay tuned!), we chose a geographically diverse set of independent and family foundations with a range of asset sizes ($1 billion to $5+ billion), which are funding in key areas domestically such as education, health, environment and
… Continue Reading
When a foundation funds advocacy and organizing for five years, what changes for individuals and families?
posted on: May 9, 2014
In January, I introduced the first of four short videos about the impact of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation’s grantmaking in Arkansas. WRF commissioned NCRP to assess the foundation’s “Moving the Needle” strategy to tackle poverty, education and economic development challenges in the state.
In the second video, our fearless nonprofit leaders – Bill Kopsky, Rich Huddleston and Renée Carr – are back to tell us more about how they used their organizations’ WRF grants to improve the lives of Arkansans. This time they are answering the question, “Can you share a story that would illustrate what has changed for individuals and families in the last five years?”
Bill speaks about the civic renewal in Gould, AR: “For the first
… Continue Reading
One door opens as another stays firmly shut. On which side of the door sits philanthropy?
posted on: August 23, 2012
The Boy Scouts of America also is a private organization, and it can continue to exclude openly gay scouts and troop leaders, as it has recently chosen to do. But unlike the
… Continue Reading
Monique and Melinda: Defending Women’s Lives through Philanthropy Small and Large
posted on: July 11, 2012
Several years ago my book group read Monique and the Mango Rains, a memoir by Kris Holloway about her friendship with a rural midwife in Mali, where the author had been a Peace Corps volunteer. Monique was the only health care provider within many miles of her tiny town of Nampossela. In a region where the risk of dying during pregnancy or childbirth is 1 in 12, Monique’s provision of health care was literally a lifeline to so many women. The book recounts the unlikely and beautiful friendship between these two people from very different cultures, and it offers a window into the harsh life of rural African women. Monique had several children and then wanted access to birth
… Continue Reading
