Weekly Reader – January 28, 2019

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, January 28

How End-User Feedback Can Become a Nonprofit’s Innovation Engine (Frank Daidone and Benilda Samuels, SSIR) Nurse-Family Partnership has institutionalized the practice of gathering end-user and partner feedback, influencing changes to its systems, services, and business model.

Tuesday, January 29

Putting Critiques in Perspective in Pursuit of More Effective Philanthropy (Phil Buchanan, CEP Blog) Critique is healthy. It fuels learning and improvement. Here are three examples of critiques that have gained traction in recent years that seem to be at least a bit iffy.

Wednesday, January 30

Recent Calls for Foundation Engagement Leave Out Grantees and the Communities They Serve (Ryan Schlegel, NCRP Blog) Only engaging with other philanthropists and ideological opponents reinforces issues of power and privilege.

Thursday, January 31

Money as Medicine: Leveraging Philanthropy to Decolonize Wealth (Edgar Villanueva, Nonprofit Quarterly) The field of philanthropy is a living anachronism. (Psst, Edgar Villanueva will speak at PEAK2019!)