Every article we publish in the Journal and on our Insights page serves to uplift the experiences and wisdom of our entire member community and illustrate how to put our Principles into practice. As you contemplate the year ahead, read (or revisit) the stories that resonated the most with our community in 2023. They offer inspirational calls to action, guidance on how to deepen your relationships with nonprofit partners, and takeaways from our annual convening that we hope will embolden you in your efforts to spark change and help to transform the sector.
Taking the Disability Inclusion Pledge: A progress report on PEAK’s journey
In early 2022, PEAK committed to embrace and advance accessibility practices by signing onto the Disability & Philanthropy Forum’s Disability Inclusion Pledge. Here, PEAK’s Caitlin McDanels and Betsy Reid share highlights of the progress we’ve made thus far and our road map for the journey ahead, hoping that, by sharing our journey, other organizations will feel empowered to take up this important work.
The End of Affirmative Action: I am shaken but unbowed
When a June 2023 US Supreme Court ruling struck down affirmative action, PEAK President and CEO Satonya Fair wrote a deeply personal essay that reflects on the ruling and reminds us that, for as much as we are hurting now, this is not the final word. “To all those looking for solutions, remember that change begins with you,” Fair writes. “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for to shift the pendulum back again toward justice and equity. We are the movement builders, and we must use all legal means and options, with grace, love and peace as the wind at our backs. As for me, I plan to take that door off its hinges.”
How JustFund Is Using Trust and Technology to Reimagine Philanthropy
Iara Peng shares how, by creating an innovative common grant application platform that funders can easily search, JustFund has helped to move millions to historically marginalized nonprofits doing impactful work. “When you look around, we see chronically underfunded communities struggling, and they don’t have to,” Peng writes. “When we collectively change the way we give, our historically excluded communities can thrive.”
The Big Ideas of PEAK2023 in Four Graphics
Four keynotes were the cornerstones of PEAK2023 focused on building communities of care that empower all people to show up as their full selves and use the power they have to strategically reshape the practice of philanthropy. These graphic recordings distill the wisdom of David Daniels, Tanisha Davis, Satonya Fair, Storme Gray, Trista Harris, Natasha A. Harrison, Miyesha Perry, Gwyneth Tripp, Ruchika Tulshyan, Trabian Shorters, and Lori Villarosa to help you initiate changemaking conversations at your organization.
Three Critical Factors in Vetting Nonprofit Finances
In these highlights from PEAK2023, BDO’s Jennifer Pedroni and Hilda Polanco explore the current financial trends putting pressure on nonprofits and the three financial data points that funders should be keeping top of mind right now.
Honoring Time: Grantseeker compensation
When the Walter & Elise Haas Fund discovered how much time nonprofits invested in the grant application process, they implemented a compensation framework to better align their practices with their values. Former PEAK board member Suki O’Kane shares their story.
How Centering Emergent Learning Can Hone Your Grantmaking and Deepen Partnerships
Evaluation and Learning Associate Haley Sammen shares tools and frameworks that Caring for Denver Foundation uses to position communal learning as a strategic asset that elevates grantee perspectives to drive adaptation, innovation, and mutual accountability. “Our model puts community partnership and collaborative learning at the center of evaluation,” she writes. “We find it drives higher quality, more accurate, and more meaningful data.”
It’s Time to Get Demographic Data Right
PEAK’s C. Davis Fischer reports on the new Demographics Via Candid initiative, which offers the sector the opportunity to adopt better demographic data collection practices that can both reduce grantee burden and drive equity.
Simple Ways for Philanthropy to Move Towards Greater Disability Inclusion
In these highlights from PEAK2023, a panel of five disability advocates—Disability & Philanthropy Forum’s Gail Fuller, the senior director of communications and programs at the; Maryland Philanthropy Network’s Charlotte Haase, GEO’s Mareeha Niaz, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Rachele Tardi, and FISA Foundation’s Kristy Trautmann—offer a primer on systemic ableism within philanthropy and what the sector can do to make the grantmaking process more accessible to people with disabilities.
A Call to Action to Fund LGBTQ+ Issues, Movements, and Organizations
LGBTQ+ communities are under heavy attack in the US and abroad—and meaningful allyship is sorely needed this Pride Month and beyond. To get you started, Arcus Foundation’s Kelsey Andersen has five ways that grantmakers can take action right now to provide support to their peers and partners.
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