Knowledge Center

Mar 12, 2021

Active Philanthropy;

This guide illustrates how the climate crisis impacts funding portfolios and highlights where there are co-benefits with taking climate action. It looks at five key areas that we call 'climate intersections.'The findings and suggestions in this report are meant to shine a light on how you as a funder can increase your impact by applying a climate lens to existing work. You know your portfolio best, and are therefore well placed to think through what these intersections mean for your work. The report is also interspersed with case studies on funders and select NGOs who are already applying this lens to their work.

Mar 10, 2021

The Mesa;

This report offers a behind the scenes look into the design, build, and test phases of The Mesa and discusses the ways in which the social impact space - especially at the major gift level - can use technology to better collaborate and connect for good. It features interviews with their pilot partners, who provide first-hand accounts on what it takes to run a growing impact-focused community. They dive into how to create effective, meaningful online communities that prompt greater giving from wealth holders. If you're serving clients, members, or donors, this publication can collaborate on discussing what role you can play in revolutionizing philanthropy through technology and community. 

Mar 01, 2021

ARIADNE;

To create the 2021 Ariadne Forecast, 275 Ariadne members and friends of the network filled in surveys, participated in interviews, and attended online forecast meetings to share their insights into trends in European social change and human rights philanthropy for 2021.The report looks at the challenges and opportunities this year might bring for grantees; how funder practice could change; which political events are likely to affect their work; what will become more important in the months ahead; and -- perhaps most importantly -- what to feel hopeful about. There are chapters on France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, and the UK, plus a broader, global focus.The challenges ahead may be great, but philanthropy can play a role in helping us overcome them.

Feb 01, 2021

Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) America;

As the one-year anniversary of the pandemic approaches, this report takes account of charities around the world that have been performing their duties under extreme pressure. While many organizations have been forced to close during the past year, those with sustained operations have shown remarkable grit and determination in the face of new challenges caused by the COVID-19 virus.In its sixth COVID-19 survey from December 2–16, 2020, CAF America, in partnership with the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and The Resource Alliance, polled 805 charitable organizations representing 152 countries to learn about the skills these resilient charities have relied on to persevere and those they are focused on strengthening as they strive to continue providing services through the pandemic and emerge stronger than before.The global pandemic has affected nearly every nonprofit across the globe. Strengthening the critical competencies of mission-driven organizations is paramount to their survival and their ability to address the growing needs of the vulnerable populations they serve. From the immediate need for digital transformation to the ongoing need for communication strategies and effective fundraising, the challenges facing nonprofits are significant and pervasive, and demand a skillful response.This report lays out the priorities for capacity building that charities consider essential to their success now and post-pandemic. Funders should be encouraged by the tenacity of these organizations and may want to consider how they can broaden their philanthropic strategies to help charities build their resilience and continue to meet the pressing social, economic, and environmental challenges communities face as the world emerges from this pandemic.

Dec 23, 2020

Network of European Foundations;

This publication aims to showcase how the Network of European Foundations' programmes and their grantee organisations have been able to adapt and respond to the COVID-19 crisis and its consequences. As with all crises, this one came as both a shock and an opportunity for adaptation and resilience. In the spirit of solidarity, we would like to share how grantee organisations have placed the common good at the centre of their work and found creative solutions during this challenging period. We seek to capture the richness and diversity of the work of the grantee organisations across European countries and how the crisis has had ramifications in nearly all aspects of the programmes supported by NEF. We have selected case studies that illustrate civil society's mobilisation: if the response has been local, we -as Europeans- can learn collectively from those common challenges. 

Dec 21, 2020

Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University;

This is a very relevant study which highlights how this new, more democratic, and local form of giving is spreading. There are 426 giving circles (GC) outside the US and estimate that in 2018 they gave away a combined $45.74 million in grants and involved 42,200 members. Among many of the specific findings, we found global GCs to be more frequently connected to a GC network and more often to be independently run (vs hosted) than their US counterparts, to be overwhelmingly local in their focus, and overall much younger than their US counterparts with 92% founded in the last decade. 

Dec 15, 2020

Centre for Strategic Philanthropy at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School;

Covid-19 is accelerating an already existing trend: the awakening of institutional philanthropy in the global south. This report from the University of Cambridge's Centre for Strategic Philanthropy at Judge Business School suggests this awakening is hampered by weak philanthropy infrastructure and networks, insufficient collaboration within and between sectors and a lack of core funding to build the resilience of the non-profit ecosystem.