Weekly Reads—April 12, 2024

Enjoy PEAK’s weekly roundup of timely insights from the grantmaking community and beyond.

“The fate of the nation is dependent upon the very people who are being left behind, and who are now fighting to make sure the future isn’t sacrificed to maintain systems that aren’t working for any of us. When young people today advocate for what they need to be successful, they are advancing what the country needs to become more plentiful and prosperous for everyone— things like universal health care; tuition-free public universities; high-quality, affordable housing; and generational investments in climate resilience. So we need to listen.” [more]
Angela Glover Blackwell, Learning for Justice

“Many grant makers set strategies and goals to achieve over three, five, or maybe 10 years at the longest. But in an era defined by a pandemic, climate disasters, and a nationwide racial reckoning, more grant makers are rethinking how they plan and are applying the tools of futurism. … ‘Funders and nonprofits are really good at imagining their preferred futures,’ [Gabriel Kasper, managing director of the Monitor Institute by Deloitte] says, but the sector isn’t as good at understanding how global risks and upheavals might affect their work. That’s where futurism comes in.” [more]
Eden Stiffman, The Chronicle of Philanthropy

“Reevaluating Practice: Reimagining Philanthropy is a final offering to philanthropy from the [Hazen] Foundation and its nonprofit partners. The report includes grantee recommendations for funder partnerships that advance a more effective and sustainable movement for social justice. The report highlights the ways funders have impeded and empowered grassroots organizers to mobilize their communities. The Foundation also shares the lessons it’s learned throughout the co-creation and implementation of a five-year spend down plan defined by grantee input and collaboration.” [more]
Edward W. Hazen Foundation

“This issue of The Foundation Review [which is available to read without a subscription] is somewhat unusual in its focus on a particular approach, the Equitable Evaluation Framework™ (EEF). … The EEF is primarily a way to help us think differently about how knowledge is created, who gets to be part of the creation of knowledge, and how power may be wielded differently based on different ways of knowing.” [more]
Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy