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Foundation Strategy

Room to Grow: Philanthropy’s Next Steps in Rural America

Imagine a group of Americans facing a barrage of structural challenges: rapid demographic change, mortality rates 75% higher than comparable populations, deep racial inequities, a housing affordability crisis, high rates of concentrated persistent poverty, systemic barriers to accessing state... Read more

What Does it Mean to Shift? Strategic Planning with the Cleveland Foundation

In our wildest dreams, strategic plans are these beautifully constructed living documents that bring clarity to our daily work, drive necessary organizational culture shifts, and effectively communicate our work to internal and external stakeholders.

In reality, the strategic priorities,... Read more

All Funders Must Become Climate Funders

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 2021 assessment, the gold standard summary of current climate science, tells us that the climate crisis is upon us. This means that whatever a funder may care about, the growing climate crisis will stop them—directly or indirectly—from... Read more

Becoming a Climate Funder: How Philanthropists Can Take Action on Climate and Justice

In many parts of the United States, our weather is growing more extreme. Recent headlines shout about record-breaking heat domes, severe drought, and dangerous wildfires. In Texas, communities experienced freezing winter temperatures and electrical grid failure, followed only four months later... Read more

Thank you MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett

Last week I learned that FSG had been awarded a generous grant by MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett. As she explained in her recent Medium post, some of the organizations they chose to support in this... Read more

Uniting to Protect Democracy for All

Like most of you, I’m still processing what happened yesterday at the U.S. Capitol. I was glued to the TV. Horror. Disbelief. Sadness. Resolve.

In my year-end reflections, I promised that I would not use the word “unprecedented” to describe current events but… what we saw yesterday was... Read more

End of Year Reflections 2020

“During these unprecedented times…” That’s a phrase I hope to never read again, and not simply because it’s such a cliché. The very notion of an unprecedented crisis invites us to accept that widespread suffering is inevitable when the threat is too large.

Certainly, COVID-19 and... Read more

SSIR Blog: What Investors Need to Know to Embrace Catalytic Capital

In a post on Stanford Social Innovation Review, FSG's Harvey Koh writes about how the catalytic capital questions of development finance institutions, private foundations, and other types of investors must be answered... Read more

Menstrual Health is Essential to “Build Back Better” Beyond COVID-19

Menstrual Hygiene Day this year holds particular significance. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing challenges related to menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) and is set to deepen inequities for women and girls around the world. Critical healthcare workers⁠—70% of whom are women... Read more

Rethinking Outcomes in a Crisis Context

In this critical time, and with a sense of urgency, many philanthropic organizations are shifting the ways in which they are supporting grantees. In addition to developing and deploying rapid response funding mechanisms and participating in broader, collaborative funding efforts, they... Read more

Foundation Strategy

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