Weekend Link Roundup (August 4-5, 2018)

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

Communications/Marketing

It's a little late, but we just wanted to give a shoutout to Social Velocity's Nell Edgington and her new website. Congrats, Nell — it looks great!

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

What does it mean for funders to build power? And how can they incorporate a power-building frame to measure meaningful progress on their DEI efforts? On the NCRP blog, Caitlin Duffy, senior associate for learning and engagement at the organization, shares the insights of four leaders in the sector — Daniel Lee, Alejandra L. Ibanez, Rhiannon Rossi, and Elizabeth Tan — who recently participated in an NCRP-sponsored webinar on the topic.

As she prepared to depart the Meyer Memorial Trust after more than a decade, Director of Programs Candy Solovjovs sat down with Kimberly Wilson, the trust's director of communications, to talk about the evolution of its grantmaking.

Fundraising

News that some dictionaries have started to include an additional definition for the word literally has language purists and the word police up in arms. To which Fundraising Now's Jeff Brooks says: Like, get over it. "[L]anguage changes. And that's a good thing. Even though it means an old 'rule' gets revised now and then."

In part two of a two-part series on board fundraising for the GuideStar blog, fundraising consultant Clare Axelrad looks at the different types of stories your board members can tell and/or elicit from the prospects they approach for gifts. 

Grantmaking

A recent survey of the field by PEAK Grantmaking reveals that too few funders who collect demographic data on their grantees can articulate how they plan to use that information. On the Center for Effective Philanthropy blog, Michelle Greanias, PEAK's executive director, shares some recommendations for funders and nonprofits looking to ensure they are collecting and learning from demographic data in ways that will help increase the effectiveness of their work.

Grantseeking

In his latest, Nonprofit AF's Vu Le goes where few dare tread with a post that tells readers everything they need to know about fiscal sponsorship but were afraid to ask. And bunnies.

Gun Violence

In a guest article for the MacArthur Foundation, Eddie Bocanegra explains how fourteen years in prison informed his work as a "violence interrupter" at Cease Fire, as the founding director of the YMCA’s Urban Warriors program, and now as a senior director at Heartland Alliance.

Philanthropy

Philanthropy in China is booming. Fang Block reports for Barron's.

Here in the States, donor-advised funds have been the focus of a lot of less-than-complimentary press of late. In Forbes, Richard Eisenberg looks at why and shares some proposed reforms for how they should operate.

Betsy DeVos, as most readers, was Donald Trump's controversial pick to head up the U.S. Department of Education. She's also a member of a wealthy family that has "given hundreds of millions of dollars to conservative causes.... many of [them] front and center [with respect to the] policy initiatives and goals of the Trump administration." Anya Kamenetz follows the money for NPR.

Can philanthropy save a city? In Detroit, the Kresge Foundation and others are trying to prove it can. And now the Golden State's financially beleauguered capital city, Sacramento, is trying to replicate the approach. Alana Semuels reports for The Atlantic.

Te Muka Rau Charitable Trust is the first New Zealand Foundation to join the GlassPockets movement. On the Glasspockets blog, Kate Frykberg, a trustee and philanthropy advisor, explains why.

(Photo credit: Fred Tanneau—AFP)

That's it for this week. Got something you'd like to share? Drop us a note at [email protected].