Chronicle Insider

Drew Bird

Dear Subscriber,

You can always count on the Chronicle to tell you when the conventional wisdom is misguided — and in our new September issue, posted online today, we have plenty of in-depth reporting and analysis designed to help you see giving, leadership, and fundraising in a new light.

For instance, you’ll learn why:

• A well-entrenched fundraising philosophy might be partly to blame for the long, slow decline in the share of Americans who give — and how a growing number of nonprofits are trying new ways to understand what motivates donors.
• A spate of big donations to fight antisemitism might be insufficient to deal with the scope of today’s threats, especially since hate-motivated violence against Jews often leads to attacks on other marginalized people.
• Sabbaticals for nonprofit professionals are getting more attention. But organizations are making a fatal error in how they approach such leaves, experts say. By waiting until employees are completely burned out to offer the benefit, they’re almost guaranteeing that workers won’t ever return.
• Codes of conduct for donors make a real difference in keeping fundraisers from fleeing their jobs — and don’t upset board members or benefactors, as many charity officials have long feared.

Stories like this, that ask questions about longstanding views in the social sector, will always be an essential part of how we serve subscribers, even as we are marking a shift in editorial leadership.

With the October issue, Stacy will be handing off editorial responsibilities to Elbert Ventura, who recently joined us from Vox.com. and Elbert worked together to shape what’s in the latest issue of the magazine. But from now on, it will be Elbert’s editorial leadership that will guide each issue as Stacy moves fully into the role of chief executive of the Chronicle. We’re both excited about what’s next, especially because we’ve expanded our staff so we can better serve you.

You can keep up with all that we’re providing to you as a subscriber by signing up for our newsletters. Philanthropy Today flags newly posted articles and compiles news about nonprofits and foundations that appears elsewhere online. Or you can get a once-a-week analysis of what we’ve published every Saturday morning with our Philanthropy This Week newsletter.

BlindSalida for The Chronicle

In the weeks ahead, Elbert will take many new approaches, but we both agree that it’s essential to shine a light on urgent problems in philanthropy — and scout out solutions that are proven to make a difference.

In this issue, Drew Lindsay’s cover story questions whether the donor pyramid — which is a blueprint for how many organizations structure their fundraising operations and set strategy – might have inadvertently caused millions and millions of middle-class Americans to stop giving.

Drew explains why fundraisers are now turning to models that look more like vortexes, flywheels, or even electrocardiograms so they can capture real-world donor behavior and make fundraising far more inclusive.

Drew’s latest article is a companion to a cover story he reported last year outlining how fundraisers can reignite giving. We urge you dive into them both and share them with others in your organization.

Also in our new issue:

Caroline Brehman, CQ-Roll Call, Getty Images

• Advocacy groups achieved a Supreme Court victory on voting rights in a case that experts thought was unwinnable. We enlisted Evan Milligan of Alabama Forward and Janai Nelson of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund to explain how philanthropic support was crucial, in part because it enabled them to couple a deft litigation strategy with a grassroots push to explain why arcane issues like congressional redistricting matter at kitchen tables in Alabama’s Black Belt and beyond.
• Eboo Patel, a Chronicle columnist, endorses a new report that calls for increased government and philanthropic investment in efforts to train AmeriCorps workers and alumni in the skills they need to heal the nation’s toxic political divides. The report, “No Greater Mission, No Greater Means,” calls the approach “Civic CPR,” an idea — and a movement — Patel says he hopes will catch on.

And as many youngsters are returning to school this month, we are especially inspired by Lygia Stebbing, a nonprofit entrepreneur who devised an alternative training method for early-childhood teachers (like the teacher at the top of this newsletter).

Stebbing got the idea to found EDvance College when she was writing her doctoral dissertation and discovered that many educators — especially women of color — were likely to be forced out the field because they lacked college credentials. She attracted enough foundation grants to offer free access to students.

Beyond all there is to read in the new issue, we are also planning many online events this fall. We especially hope to see you next week at a session that will show you how nonprofits are using artificial intelligence to advance their missions.

Our colleague Sara Herschander, who is hosting, offers a preview in a new article. Sign up now for the September 12 briefing and bookmark our new online events page to keep up with all we offer, including the video from our briefing on how nonprofits and foundations are affected by the Supreme Court’s affirmative-action decision.

We’ll be in touch soon with opportunities for you to give Elbert feedback about what you’d most like to see in the Chronicle — and what all of us at the Chronicle can do to give you the insights you need to advance your career, your organization’s mission, and the public’s understanding of the social sector.

In the meantime, always feel free to get in touch with us — and enjoy reading the new issue.

— Stacy Palmer, chief executive, and Elbert Ventura, editor-in-chief