Philip Rojc

Trust-based philanthropy is on trend but has experienced backlash recently. While some of these critiques seem to misunderstand the premise, there are valid questions worth posing about its goals and execution.

A new fund at the Economic Security Project is channeling money from some big-name grantmakers to promote publicly run businesses as a way to keep local markets competitive and to channel federal funding.

Whether she’s giving in her usual way or through an open call model, MacKenzie Scott continues to show that philanthropic penny-pinching by major billionaires is a choice, not a necessity.

We’ve seen some high-profile cases lately of philanthropy backing away from big, difficult challenges. At the same time, more are yielding control with trust-based giving practices. But are either of these really all that risky?

Trying to shift public narratives is a popular strategy for many funders right now. But is it paying off? Here are a few reasons why philanthropy-backed narrative change may be struggling to achieve impact.

There’s not a huge amount of funding for excavations and other research into human history and prehistory, but a handful of funders do back this work. Here’s a handful of funders digging up the secrets of our past.

As Republican legislators step up their scrutiny of progressive funding vehicles, we need to be clear that while Tides and its peers may sometimes be the curtain, but they’re not the man behind it.

Let’s reform philanthropy, but not like this. With a flurry of investigations and proposed legislative fixes, Republican lawmakers have the philanthropy establishment rattled — but they’re doing it for all the wrong reasons.

Big numbers aside, Amazon’s expanding affordable housing philanthropy has still been fairly conventional in its approach. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t strategy behind everything the company does.

As civil society looks to address toxic polarization following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, philanthropy-backed bridge-building efforts have a tough hill to climb.