Weekend Link Roundup (January 14-16, 2017)

Our weekly roundup of noteworthy items from and about the social sector. For more links to great content, follow us on Twitter at @pndblog....

Advocacy

On the HistPhil blog, veteran activist/commentator Pablo Eisenberg elaborates on an op-ed he penned for the Chronicle of Philanthropy in which he argues that one way to strengthen the nonprofit sector in the Trump era is to transform Independent Sector into "a new powerful coalition solely of charities."

Arts and Culture

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has announced that it is delaying plans to build a new $600 addition for modern and contemporary art. It was hoped the new wing would be completed in time for the museum's 150th anniversary in 2020. Robin Pogrebin reports for the New York Times.

Climate Change

Bud Ris, a senior advisor for the Boston-based Barr Foundation, shares key findings from a new report that explores the city's vulnerability to rising seas and other adverse effects of climate change.

Civic Engagement

In a joint post on the foundation's blog, Case Foundation founders Jean and Steve Case argue that now is the time, in Teddy Roosevelt's words, to "get in the arena" and make a positive impact in your community.

Education

In a new post on her blog, public education activist Diane Ravitch offers her full-throated support for a statement released by People for the American Way in which PFAW spells out "the danger that [the nomination of] Betsy DeVos and the Trump agenda poses to American public education."

Giving

GoFundMe, a leader in the online crowdfunding space, has acquired social fundraising platform CrowdRise. Ken Yeung reports for VentureBeat.

Healthcare

New research from the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities suggests that "Republicans' planned bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA)...would provide an immediate windfall tax cut to the four hundred highest-income Americans while raising taxes significantly on about 7 million low- and moderate- income families."

Nonprofits

The transition in political power signaled by Donald Trump's election will require nonprofits to act completely differently than they have in the past, write Tim Delaney, chief executive of the National Council of Nonprofits, and David L. Thompson, the council's vice president of public policy. In the months to come, they argue, nonprofits will need to "recognize their shared interests and come together to inform policy makers...and seize new opportunities" in six areas: fighting against cuts in spending that would hurt the public; expanding tax laws that encourage giving; engaging in the debate on the Affordable Care Act; fighting to preserve the legal independence of nonprofits to allocate their own resources; fighting to keep partisan politics away from charitable organizations and foundations; and simplifying federal rules and contracts.

Feeling a little overwhelmed at work? Beth Kanter shares a couple of tips designed to keep you focused and productive.

Philanthropy

In a heartfelt post on the foundation's Point blog, Heinz Endowments president Grant Oliphant argues that this not the time to be silent. "There are truths that need to be spoken now," he writes, "spoken out loud and unapologetically by people who know them to be true. Spoken with love, yes, but also fierce conviction — truths about the validity of science, the perils of climate change, the nature and price of injustice, the insanity of racism and all the other isms creeping out from beneath their ill-concealed rocks...."

Uncertain and maybe a little worried about what 2017 has in store for the sector? Jamie Serino, director of marketing at MicroEdge + Blackbaud, has assembled a good list of trends you'll want to keep an eye on.

And be sure to check out our Q&A with Chris Gates, executive vice president for external affairs at the Council on Foundations, for more insights on what to expect in the year ahead.

Think your grantmaking process is easy and intuitive for grant seekers? Think again, says Vu Le and the NWB community.

Open Road Alliance has released a risk management toolkit for funders featuring ten adaptable tools covering a spectrum of risk management activities.

Poverty

"In 1966, [Martin Luther King] moved into the North Lawndale neighborhood on Chicago's West Side to work on fair-housing discrimination and poverty affecting black Chicagoans. Fifty years later, North Lawndale remains one of Chicago’s most impoverished and underresourced neighborhoods and is over 90 percent black." On The Roots site, Black Lives Matter Chicago explains why in some places, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

In a post for City Lab, Richard Florida shares highlights from a new study the Population Reference Bureau's Beth Jarosz and Mark Mather that tracks the dramatic growth in inequality and poverty across America's 3,000-plus counties over the past two-and-a-half decades. The most startling takeaway? More more than 70 percent of the counties in the U.S. have either high levels of inequality, high levels of poverty, or both.

In The Atlantic, Alana Samuels, citing research conducted Elizabeth Kneebone, a fellow at the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, notes that 39 percent of African Americans today live in suburbs, 36 percent live in cities, 15 percent live in small metropolitan areas, and 10 percent live in rural communities — a noticeable shift from 2000, when 41 percent of African Americans lived in cities, 33 percent lived in suburbs, 15 percent lived in small metro areas, and 11 percent lived in rural communities.

Public Affairs

Excellent summary, courtesy of the statisticians at the Pew Research Center, of the many ways in which America has changed during Barack Obama's eight years in office.

Race Relations

Last but not least, the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) enterprise and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation have designated January 17, 2017, as the inaugural National Day of Racial healing in America. The foundation's Gail C. Christopher explains why such a day is necessary and what the foundation and its partners hope to accomplish.

That's it for this week. Got something you'd like to share? Drop us a line at [email protected] or share it in the comments section below....