Weekend Link Roundup (March 2-3, 2019)

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

Criminal Justice

There's a gender imbalance in many African-American neighborhoods, and mass incarceration is largely to blame. Mike Maciag reports for Governing magazine.

Economy

"Much has been written about the massive changes that are underway in the nature and future of work, but we still have more questions than answers," writes Ritse Erumi on the Ford Foundation's Equals Change blog. "But the fact remains that the scale of this challenge requires new ideas, frameworks...experimentation" — and, not least, "the participation of workers."

Giving

When is giving $100 million not necessarily a brilliant act of generosity? When the giver is a Wall Street hedge fund manager and the recipient is...Harvard University. Larry Edelman reports for the Boston Globe.

Could the next big thing in philanthropy be the use of donor-advised funds to support marginalized groups and causes such as women's rights, LGBTQ rights, and climate funding? Gender lens expert Katherine Pease, managing director and head of impact strategies for Cornerstone Capital, thinks it could be, and tells Philanthropy Women's Kiersten Marek how it might work.

Leadership

The "default assumption" in the social sector "that people with for-profit or academic backgrounds are somehow better leaders in general, even in fields where they have no experience or knowledge," is, well, a questionable assumption. Nonprofit AF's Vu Le explains.

Nonprofits

What will nonprofit organizations look like in 2025? Nine members of the Forbes Nonprofit Council share their thoughts.

Can the experience of one San Francisco nonprofit tell us anything about why nonprofits, generally speaking, have short lives? Courtney E. Martin, the author most recently of The New Better Off: Reinventing the American Dream, reports for the New York Times. 

Philanthropy

On the HistPhil blog, Sarah Reckhow (co-author, with Jeffrey Henig and Rebecca Jacobsen, of Outside Money in School Board Elections: The Nationalization of Education Politics) argues that the emerging practice among mega-donors of coordinating their giving and political contributions "is not only problematic for democracy" but also might be "a sub-optimal strategy for mega donors hoping to achieve their policy objectives."

In his latest, Fast Company columnist Ben Paynter explains why "later" is one of the most counter-productive terms in philanthropy.

On the Center for Effective Philanthropy blog, Naomi Orensten, the organization's director of research, and Matthew H Leiwant, a former associate manager of research at the organization, wrap up their six-part series on what nonprofit leaders think foundation funders could improve on in their work with a look at the funder-grantee relationship.

Kate Frykberg, a philanthropy advisor based in New Zealand and trustee of the Te Muka Rau Trust, which works to strengthen social cohesion, respectful relationships, and the central place of Te Ao Māori (the Māori world) in that island nation, shares a post on Transparency Talk (the Glasspockets blog) about funder relationships with indigenous communities and the ways in which funders often get them wrong (and right).

Philanthropy 411's Kris Putnam-Walkerly has some good advice for newly minted foundation trustees looking to get off on the right foot.

Productivity/Work-Life Balance

And now that we've taken the plunge, we can declare Bullet Journaling a thing. Beth Kanter refers to it as "a mindfulness practice disguised as a productivity system." In a guest post on Beth's blog, nonprofit professional Ma’ayan Alexander shares some of the ways the practice has helped her, and how it can benefit any nonprofit professional.

(Photo credit: AP)

That's it for this week. Got something you'd like to share? Drop us a note at mfn@foundationcenter.org.