Commentary and opinion
Philanthropy News Digest invites opinion and commentary on topics of importance to the philanthropic sector. For more information, contact Kyoko Uchida, PND's features editor, at kyoko.uchida@candid.org.

3 ways to decolonize philanthropy right now
January 14, 2021The incoming and outgoing CEOs of RefuSHE share three ways to decolonize philanthropy; and we look back at the most popular posts on the blog in 2020....

Challenging ableism through language justice
December 28, 2020The director and a program officer with the Youth Exchange at the Open Society Foundations share lessons learned about what it means in practice to apply language justice to all stages of grantmaking, centering disabled people in those processes....

Being bold in a time of uncertainty
December 17, 2020If there has ever been a time when we need to embrace bold solutions in education, especially to the challenges faced by the underserved, writes Sloane, now is the time...

Planning for the coming economic recovery by building careers
December 3, 2020The president of CareerWork$ at the Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation and the president of Philadelphia Opportunities Industrialization Center, Inc. call for creating opportunities for people with low incomes and people of color to access living-wage jobs in industries where career growth is possible....

Why regulatory modernization is essential to a nimble human services system
November 24, 2020Levinson, a senior director for government relations for the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities, and Lyons, the director of Policy and Research with the American Public Human Services Association, call for a more flexible, responsive regulatory environment that enables state and local agencies and CBOs to creatively engage in experimentation and innovation, embrace technology, and improve outcomes for individuals and families in their communities....

Dismantling systemic racism requires philanthropic investment in AAPI communities
November 13, 2020A formerly incarcerated immigrant and the founder and president of the New Breath Foundation, Zheng calls for increased support targeting marginalized Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs), who are facing a new wave of discrimination and hate and, like other communities of color, have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 crisis....

Nonprofits, philanthropies lead effort to ensure paid time off for staff to vote
October 27, 2020In response to a call from Ford Foundation president Darren Walker and Wallace Global Fund executive director Ellen Dorsey, numerous nonprofit and philanthropic organizations are giving their staff paid time off to vote and participate in nonpartisan volunteering and civic engagement activities....

America is ready for a more equitable economy and society
October 23, 2020A substantial portion of Americans, and not just communities of color, support stronger government efforts to address racial inequality and create a world that works for everyone, the authors argue, and they have survey data to prove it....

To help communities survive crises, trust and invest in their leadership
September 29, 2020Barbas, a senior program officer in the Health program, and Smith, managing director of the Arts & Culture program at the Kresge Foundation, call for investments in social cohesion, local leadership, and community enterprises as a critical component of the collective action needed to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic and structural racism....

Leading and succeeding during a crisis
September 24, 2020The COO of the Gary Sinise Foundation writes that working to address the ongoing crises at both the individual and organizational levels has reinforced what she learned after 9/11 — the values of collaboration and personal empowerment and the need to ground her actions in empathy — and to ask: How can I fulfill my duties and help my colleagues be successful?...

What we can learn from the Sierra Club's moment of self-reckoning
September 21, 2020Admitting that the United States has a racist past and has long ignored structures and systems that are inherently racist is not the same as saying that Americans are rotten to the core, incapable of doing good, or irredeemable; it is, instead, an acknowledgement that we have harmed ourselves and those to whom we have a moral responsibility....

International grantmaking during COVID: a focus on equitable access to education in Latin America
September 10, 2020The president of the Tinker Foundation discusses how the organization has changed course as Latin America, the region central to its mission, struggles with a once-in-a-century health/economic/social crisis....

Report or vote? Young BIPOC journalists can (and should) do both
September 1, 2020The CEO of Oakland-based nonprofit YR Media and former editor-in-chief of EBONY argues that young people want to realize the American dream, be included in the political conversation, and advance the causes that are important to their future — and need not choose between being a journalist and being a BIPOC citizen of the United States....

Women and the changing face of philanthropy
August 28, 2020The executive director of the Ruderman Family Foundation argues that as women are driving the growth in philanthropic giving overall as well as in support of efforts to empower women and girls, and that COVID-19 pandemic presents an opportunity to accelerate those trends....