How Should Funders Respond to an “Existential Threat?”
Few foundations have fundamentally changed how they operate over the past eight months. Why is that? And what would fighting harder look like?... Read more.
Building Bridges Is Good. Building the Power to Counter Extremists Is Better
There's a lot to like about philanthropy's investments to reduce toxic polarization. What's also needed, though, are near-term efforts to counter extremists in key... Read more.
A Few Thoughts at an Ominous Moment
In the wake of Charlie Kirk's death, how should philanthropy and the nonprofit sector respond to ominous developments?... Read more.
Philanthropy’s Identity Focus Strengthens the Right. Is There Another Way?
IP's editor-in-chief argues that identity-focused social justice giving has inadvertently empowered right-wing authoritarians and that funders need to find a new... Read more.
There Are Too Many Nonprofits. What’s the Solution?
There are a lot of nonprofits — including some well-known ones — that shouldn’t exist. As the sector looks ahead to leaner times in which it will need to do... Read more.
The Elephant in the Room
Top foundations are protective of their reputation as nonpartisan pragmatists. Today, though, this stance requires staying silent about alarming shifts in U.S. politics.... Read more.
These May Be the Only Donors Who Can Save the Nonprofit Sector
Could an upsurge in small donations offset future hits to the nonprofit sector? Maybe, if philanthropy gets behind the growing movement for collective giving.... Read more.
This Is What Happens When Funders Think Too Narrowly
Many funders focus on tackling specific issues with little attention to broader dynamics of power. The result? Major defeats on one issue after another. ... Read more.
A Key Ingredient of Effective Philanthropy? Ideology
Under Trump, conservative funders are reaping the dividends of an approach to giving driven by strong beliefs about how the world should work and a laser focus on... Read more.
What Crushing Public Debt Means for Philanthropy and Nonprofits
No matter who’s in power, rising interest payments and spending on seniors threaten to sharply constrain what government can do in the coming years. Can philanthropy... Read more.
Does Who Gets What Still Matter? On Deliverism and Philanthropy
It's commonly assumed that the public will notice when new policies improve their lives. As philanthropy leaders set strategy, whether this is actually true matters.... Read more.
What To Do Now: How Philanthropy Can Help Win the Fight for America’s Future
Funders have options to slow the MAGA march and build long-term support for a liberal future. They just need a plan. IP Editor-in-Chief David Callahan offers a concrete... Read more.
The Money Is Out There. Here’s Who Can Fill Urgent Funding Needs
Unlike foundation presidents, living donors can easily increase their giving. There’s no need to bring around a risk-averse board or fight with their chief investment... Read more.
How Much Should Foundations Care About Public Opinion?
Philanthropy is vulnerable to political attack in a populist era and its insularity has compounded those risks. But how far should foundations go in making themselves... Read more.
What New Data Tells Us About the MAGA Coalition and the Challenges Facing Liberal Philanthropy
A working-class multiracial coalition is growing in America — on the right. What does that say about progressive funding strategies?... Read more.
Big Philanthropy in Reverse: The Rise and Retreat of Priscilla Chan
It's hard to recall another megadonor couple backtracking so completely from their early ambitions than Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, who once said they aimed to "build... Read more.
Gates Embraces “Giving While Living.” Now He Needs to Pay More Attention to Power
The ultimate impact of the Gates Foundation's historic spend down will depend heavily on political conditions. Is Gates ready to engage on that front?... Read more.
Political Reality Catches Up with the Gates Foundation
Bill Gates and his technocratic foundation imagined that trying to shape who holds power in the United States was someone else's problem. That bet turned out to... Read more.
Foundations Under Political Attack Can’t Keep Seeing Themselves as Above Politics
In case you missed IP's Toplines newsletter on Saturday, our editor-in-chief looks at how grantmakers need to face up to the realities of political combat.... Read more.
Why Liberal Philanthropy Needs to Question Assumptions and Rethink Strategies
In case you missed IP's Toplines newsletter on Saturday, our editor-in-chief explores why America is tough terrain for progressives and how that reality should spur... Read more.
Philanthropy and Nonprofits Still Don’t Have Big Ideas for How to Fight Back. Here’s How To Change That
In case you missed IP's Toplines newsletter on Saturday, our editor-in-chief explores what it might take for civil society to mobilize more effectively against Trump... Read more.
After a Century of Bipartisan Support, Is the Charitable Tax Deduction Now Vulnerable?
In case you missed IP's Toplines newsletter on Saturday, our editor-in-chief looks at how the charitable tax deduction could face scrutiny — and whether the sector... Read more.
Explaining the Biggest Weakness of Foundations
In case you missed IP's Toplines newsletter on Saturday, our Editor-in-Chief looks at what holds foundations back from pivoting rapidly as conditions change.... Read more.
How We Got Here: Six Reasons Liberal Philanthropy Is Losing the Battle for America’s Future
Drawing on conversations with leaders across the progressive funding and nonprofit worlds, IP Editor-in-Chief David Callahan tells a story of strategic missteps,... Read more.
How a MAGA Assault on Philanthropy Could Backfire
In case you missed IP's Toplines newsletter on Saturday, our Editor-in-Chief looks at the possible unintended consequences of Trump administration efforts to target... Read more.
Billionaires: The Good, the Bad, and the Meh
In case you missed IP's Toplines newsletter on Saturday, our Editor-in-Chief offers a helpful typology for thinking about philanthropy and politics among the uber-wealthy.... Read more.
Is the Billionaire Backlash Over?
IP Editor-in-Chief David Callahan traces the shifting tides of anti-billionaire sentiment in the U.S. and asks: Will Trump’s oligarchy rekindle opposition to... Read more.
Big Ideas, Big Giving: The Legacy of Hewlett Foundation’s Larry Kramer
After more than a decade at the helm of the $13 billion foundation, Larry Kramer will step down at the end of the month. IP’s David Callahan looks back on what... Read more.
The D.C. Power List: The Most Influential Philanthropists Shaping National Policy
Top philanthropists have become ever more adept at working the levers of power in order to shape federal policy. Here are the living donors who wield the most influence... Read more.
Inside the Howard G. Buffett Foundation’s Big Bet on Rwanda
IP reports from Africa on Buffett’s $435 million investment and lofty ambitions for transforming agriculture in Rwanda and beyond. The push includes a new university,... Read more.
