Exploring the Role of Diversity and Racial Equity in Leanly Staffed Foundations Racial equity is an essential part of philanthropy, and lean funders are increasingly focused on it, yet foundation boards and staff are disproportionately White! The two factors holding back philanthropy’s efforts to help advance social changes are rooted in race: Understanding the role... Read More
Philanthropy is ever-changing. Pressing issues and seismic political, economic, and technological shifts move us to revisit how we work regularly. Urgency, passion, curiosity, and the desire to engage drive some lean funders (those with few or no staff) to center their giving around authentic relationships with grantees and community members. This type of Catalytic Leadership... Read More
Blog Objectives Our blog objectives come from our 2020-2025 Strategic Plan: Amplify and increase the impact of lean funders. Build a broader and deeper Exponent Philanthropy community through sharing and collaboration. Maximize our relevance and accessibility to a variety of funders. Advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in philanthropy. Understand Our Members It’s most important that... Read More
As foundations strive to create a more equitable world, they must not overlook the importance of disability inclusion in philanthropy. Individuals with disabilities make up about 26% of the U.S. population. Yet, they’re consistently underrepresented on foundation boards and staff. Our 2023 Foundation Operations and Management Report found that just 12% of foundations had at... Read More
Foundations play a critical role in advancing equity and addressing disparities in our society. One key practice that foundations are increasingly adopting is the collection and use of disaggregated data. Disaggregated data refers to the separation of compiled information into smaller units based on various characteristics such as age, sex, geographic area, education, ethnicity, or... Read More
Exponent Philanthropy is proud to release the latest edition of the Foundation Operations and Management Report (FOMR). This premier benchmarking resource offers mission-critical statistics on grantmaking, boards and governance, investments, and administration – including salary and benefits – for foundations with few or no staff. Below are some initial interesting findings from the 2023 edition.... Read More