Weekly Reader – June 25, 2018

What we’re reading and recommending this week. We add to this post throughout the week and look for your suggestions in the comments.

Monday, June 25

First Nations Report Highlights Declines in Large Foundation Giving to Native Americans (First Nations Development Institute) From 2006 to 2014, total grant dollars awarded to Native American organizations and causes by large foundations in the U.S. declined significantly, even though the raw number of individual grants increased. This means that since 2006, on average, large foundations have given $4.3 million less every year to Native American organizations and causes.

Tuesday, June 26

How NoVo is Spreading Radical Hope in Africa and Beyond (Katrina Marek, Philanthropy Women) The NoVo Foundation is one of the largest private foundations to advocate for gender equality and has specifically focused much of its funding on reducing violence against girls and women globally. In their most recent initiative, the Radical Hope Fund, the foundation donated $34 million in grants to 19 different organizations around the world.

Wednesday, June 27

The Best Leaders May Be Those Who “Give Up” (Vu Le, SSIR) Leadership is often defined by lists of character qualities, values, or skills. But what if the best leaders are simply those who can willingly give up things they value?

Thursday, June 28

The surprising taxes your foundation may already owe the IRS (Tim Delaney, The Daily Wrag) Does your foundation pay for employees’ parking or transit passes? Or do you let your employees set aside pre-tax dollars for their transportation expenses? If so, congratulations: you may now owe a 21 percent federal tax on those payments. And – surprise! – your first payment was due on April 15, so you may face a late-filing penalty, too.

Like our Weekly Reader? Sign up to get this week’s articles, plus blog highlights and a special, chosen-just-for-subscribers article in your Inbox every Friday. It’s called In the Loop; you should be there!