Philanthropy doesn’t stand still. Pressing issues and seismic political, economic and technological shifts move us to regularly revisit how we work. Urgency, passion, curiosity, and the desire to engage is driving a number of lean funders (those with few or no staff) to center their giving around authentic relationships with grantees and members of their... Read More
On Friday, May 15, Exponent Philanthropy hosted another live discussion for lean funders to share how they’re responding to COVID-19. We’ll continue hosting these discussions every Friday at 2 p.m. EST to give all lean funders the opportunity to connect around their responses. We are also compiling COVID-19 information and resources relevant to lean funders. Lean funders are responding to... Read More
In the past, I was a nonprofit capacity building adviser, and this question came up often. The principles that applied to those charitable nonprofits can also help foundations. It’s useful to think of this question in two-parts: Should the executive director serve as a board member? Should the executive director be a voting or non-voting... Read More
On Friday, May 8, Exponent Philanthropy hosted another live discussion for lean funders to share how they’re responding to COVID-19. We’ll continue hosting these discussions every Friday at 2 p.m. EST to give all lean funders the opportunity to connect around their responses. We are also compiling COVID-19 information and resources relevant to lean funders. Lean funders are responding to... Read More
Giving Beyond Dollars By Henry Berman I speak often about how we as funders can support our nonprofit partners and communities, beyond giving funds. Among the methods we have at our disposal—conveying, advocating and offering connections. Recently, I spoke with Jalen Benson, a first-year medical student, and his colleague Julia Walczak, a nursing student. They’re... Read More
In April, Exponent Philanthropy fielded a survey to learn how our community is responding to COVID-19, and more than 900 lean funders responded. We’re still analyzing the data and further engaging respondents, but we want to share a high-level overview. Have lean funders changed their funding in response to COVID-19? In a word, yes. Nearly... Read More