The overall score assigned by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's State of the Bay 2018 report (16 pages, PDF) fell a point in 2018, to the equivalent of a grade of D+, due largely to increased pollution and poor water clarity caused by record rainfall in the region. Of the thirteen indicators analyzed, the biennial report found that in the...

Nonprofits that proactively shared their organizational information with the public received substantially more in total contributions the following year than nonprofits that were less transparent, a report published in the Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance finds. Based on data from sixty-three hundred nonprofits in the GuideStar...

A program in India funded by the world's first development impact bond (DIB) exceeded its targets for learning gains among boys and girls in grades three through five in rural Rajasthan as well as the enrollment of out-of-school girls, a report from IDinsight, in partnership with the Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), Educate Girls,...

Owner-occupied homes in African-American neighborhoods are undervalued by $48,000 per home, on average, compared with comparable homes in other neighborhoods, which translates to a cumulative loss of $156 billion in potential wealth accumulation, a report from the Brookings Institution and Gallup finds. The report, The Devaluation of Assets in...

A RAND Corporation report commissioned by the Wallace Foundation offers in-depth guidance for school districts and partner organizations about planning and running voluntary summer learning programs that benefit low-income elementary students. An update to a 2013 report, Getting to Work on Summer Learning, Second Edition (89 pages, PDF)...

The Ford Foundation's BUILD program, a six-year, $1 billion initiative aimed at helping organizations address inequality, awarded five-year grants in its first eighteen months to more than two hundred advocacy organizations, grassroots organizers, think tanks, litigators, intermediaries, and narrative change organizations in twenty-seven...

Efforts to improve educational outcomes often run afoul of narrowly defined initiatives clashing with one another and creating conflicting demands on practitioners, a report commissioned by the Carnegie Corporation of New York finds. The report, From Fragmentation to Coherence: How More Integrative Ways of Working Could Accelerate Improvement...

A growing number of foundations in the Pacific Northwest are working to integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices into their investment strategies, a report from Philanthropy Northwest finds. Based on interviews with executives at eight large foundations that have embraced organization-wide DEI efforts, the report, Forging...

Integrated data systems can play a powerful role in addressing complex social issues — for example, minimizing risk factors that harm children's school readiness, a case study from the Annie E. Casey Foundation finds. The report, Using Integrated Data to Identify and Protect Children From Educational Risk (11 pages, PDF), examined how...

Miami's arts ecosystem has grown stronger over the past decade, as new organizations have emerged and anchor institutions have matured, a report from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation finds. The report, Evolving Arts Ecosystems: A Study of Miami (31 pages, PDF), identified 276 arts organizations operating in the city in 2015, with...

To reduce the reliance on juvenile incarceration of Native American youth and create a fairer, more effective juvenile justice system, Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) sites across the country must reevaluate their assumptions and processes, a report from the Association on American Indian Affairs argues. Funded by the Annie E....

Lead poisoning prevention advocates and policy makers need to take equity into consideration when addressing the consequences of lead poisoning for people of color and low-income communities, a report from Human Impact Partners finds. Funded by the Joyce and Kresge foundations, the report, Achieving Equity in Lead Poisoning Prevention Policy...

A report from the ClimateWorks Foundation highlights five approaches it believes are critical to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and limit global warming to under 2°C. The report, 2050 Today: Research and Strategies for Mid-Century Decarbonization (executive summary, 10 pages, PDF), outlines three low-carbon/decarbonization...

Impact investment funds are making significant investments in the creative economy, highlighting the value, commercial viability, and potential of creative economy investing, a report from Upstart Co-Lab and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors finds. The report, Hiding in Plain Sight: Impact Investing in the Creative Economy (45 pages, PDF),...