Connections
Every week Connections presents fresh links to the best the Web has to offer on issues related to the changing world of philanthropy. Subscribe to our biweekly Connections newsletter and receive two weeks' worth of links delivered to you by e-mail. If you have an item you'd like to share, drop us a line at connections@foundationcenter.org.

January 20, 2021
While arts and culture have an important role to play in building a more equitable and democratic economy, the community development field is fragmented and lacks the local, regional, and federal infrastructure and intermediaries needed to support community wealth-building entities, a report from ArtPlace America finds. Based on a field scan and...

January 17, 2021
An issue brief from the Bob Woodruff Foundation outlines best practices for providing emergency financial assistance (EFA) to service members, veterans, and their families experiencing health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the brief, Emergency Financial Assistance: Best Practices (2 pages, PDF), targeted funding for...

January 14, 2021
A state-funded pre-K program designed to reduce educational disparities among low-income, English-language learners, and other at-risk three- and four- year-olds in Pennsylvania helped them acquire school-readiness skills, an evaluation conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with support from the William...

January 11, 2021
A report from the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice provides criminal justice practitioners and policy makers with an agenda for preparing for future public health crises, based on studies and expert testimony on the pandemic's impact on the criminal justice system. Funded by Arnold Ventures, the Justice and Mobility...

January 8, 2021
The percentage of women working in behind-the-scenes roles on the hundred top-grossing U.S. films in 2020 ticked up from the previous year, a report from San Diego State University's Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film finds. The report, The Celluloid Ceiling: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women on the Top U.S. Films of...

January 5, 2021
Ensuring equitable distribution of and access to the COVID-19 vaccine requires that leaders in communities of color and tribal communities have the opportunity, resources, and cooperation to facilitate vaccine distribution and administration, an issue brief from Trust for America's Health, the National Medical Association, and UnidosUS argues....

January 2, 2021
Expanding employment opportunities and advancing racial equity as the U.S. economy recovers from the impacts of COVID-19 will require better coordination among local and regional educators, employers, policy makers, learners, and workers, a report from the Strada Education Network argues. The report, Bridge Builders: How Intermediaries Can...

December 30, 2020
Essential agricultural workers in California — the vast majority of them Latinx and low-income individuals — are exposed to risk of COVID-19 infection at far higher rates than the rest of the population, a study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley finds. The report, Prevalence and predictors of SARS-CoV-2 infection...

December 27, 2020
The disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Native Americans — the legacy, in part, of generations of failed federal policy, inadequate infrastructure, and limited access to health care, nutritious food, and safe, affordable housing — has seen tribal communities mobilize and leverage their resources to mitigate those impacts, a...

December 24, 2020
Foundations that signed a Council on Foundations pledge to boost support for nonprofits in response to the COVID public health emergency were more likely to report adopting flexible and responsive grantmaking practices than foundations that didn't sign the pledge, a study by researchers at the University of Washington the Evans School of...

December 21, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of college students around the world, with both short- and long-term impacts for racial justice and equity, a report from the Lumina Foundation finds. According to the report, COVID's Lessons for Global Higher Education: Coping with the Present while Building a More Equitable Future (executive...

December 18, 2020
A guide from Upstart Co-Lab, produced in collaboration with Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, offers a primer for leaders of museums and other cultural institutions on how they can harness their endowment assets to maximize social and environmental impact. The Guide: what cultural institutions need to know about investing for values and...

December 15, 2020
Education funders believe racial justice is a top priority for the next one to three years, a report from Grantmakers for Education finds. Based on survey responses from more than a hundred GFE members and other education funders, the report, The Big Vision for the Next Stage of Education Philanthropy (21 pages, PDF) found that 39 percent of...

December 12, 2020
The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the news media, with newspapers particularly hard hit, a report from the Pew Research Center finds. The report, Coronavirus-Driven Downturn Hits Newspapers Hard as TV News Thrives (HTML or 25 pages, PDF), found that advertising and circulation revenue in the second...