This newsletter featured a roundup of the most important news, opinion, tools, and resources of the week. The last issue ran on May 31, 2025 and was replaced by Need to Know This Week.
From: Stacy Palmer
Subject: Climate Change, Extreme Heat, and the Economy Collide for Nonprofits
Good morning.
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Good morning.
This week we took on the summer heat — and other weather extremes — from three angles.
Sara Herschander and Jim Rendon examined how nonprofits of all kinds are protecting their organizations from the damage of climate change.
Museums, like the Madison Children’s Museum (above), are retrofitting their buildings, housing groups are elevating foundations and adding green space to stave off flood damage, disaster-relief groups are transforming their operations to deal with more frequent disasters in highly populated places, and community-health centers are turning themselves intoclimate-resilient hubs.
Even more activity may be on the way soon: Foundations and governments are providing lots of new money to help organizations, especially the federal Inflation Reduction Act, which is providing billions of dollars for conservation efforts of all kinds and has nearly $40 billion earmarked for nonprofits.
Meanwhile, Eden Stiffman examined what philanthropy has done to stave off the heat emergencies that have overwhelmed communities. Grant makers are helping cities adapt to the rising mercury but also helping to curb the problem. And they are financing a new kind of job in Miami and other communities: chief heat officer.
The work isn’t confined to the parts of the country that have always been especially warm. In New England, the Barr Foundation is helping community organizations prepare for extreme heat risks.
“Social-service organizations are understanding the importance of having a climate lens on all the work that they do, especially during the summer,” Mariangelí Echevarría-Ramos, climate-resilience manager at the Mystic River Watershed Association, told Eden. “Every immediate need in some way may be impacted by climate change or extreme heat.”
The impact of the heat this summer has already been taking a major toll on nonprofit finances, Sara reports in her monthly economic roundup.
Summers in the Southwest are always hot and often “stretch nonprofits to their limits,” says Kristen Wilson, CEO of the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits, but never before like this.
“There are so many needs that arise from this crazy heat, but now you’ve got all these other pressures tacked on top of it,” says Wilson, noting the impact of lingering inflation, surging demand, and downward trends in giving and volunteering. “They may not be able to attract as many resources or volunteers — who wants to be out in 120 degrees doing anything?”
Here’s what else you need to know:
Nearly half is supporting early-childhood education and development, though other causes include maternal health, affordable housing, and scholarships for neurodiverse youths, writes Maria Di Mento, who tallied the gifts that charities have announced.
Since 2020, Scott has contributed $14.1 billion to at least 1,621 charities. This year, she and her team offered nonprofits a chance to apply for her largess. More than 6,000 groups with budgets of $1 million to $5 million have applied.
Scott, who values her privacy, has been walking a fine line, trying to avoid the limelight while assuaging critics who say she should be more transparent about her gifts and her methods.
As Joanne Florino of Philanthropy Roundtable told Maria. “Philanthropy as a whole would benefit from more knowledge about the organizations that are getting the grants and why they’re getting them.”
We asked Evan Milligan and Janai Nelson to explain the approach they took to mustering grassroots groups and legal expertise in the arcane, highly technical law involving voting maps.
Milligan heads Alabama Forward, and it is his name you see in Allen v. Milligan, as he and others contested his home state’s approach to redistricting. By scoring a victory at the Supreme Court, Alabama has been forced to redraw its congressional district map in a way that recognizes that one in four of the state’s voters is Black. Nelson heads the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and it served as the lead counsel in the case.
Together, they note that their work would not have been possible without philanthropic support. Besides supporting legal work, donors helped nonprofits demonstrate why inadequate representation leads to inequitable funding for schools, health care, public transportation, clean water, and other resources.
They say that work “was critical to shift the narrative from redistricting as a partisan food fight to redistricting’s potential to harm the interests of communities of color and undermine constitutional principles.” And the “nonpartisan funding helped make sure it wasn’t just self-interested politicians setting policy but everyday citizens.”
“I have a special interest in how these developments and others have stretched, bent, and twisted the intent and purpose of the regulatory framework governing the charitable sector since the Tax Reform Act of 1969,” writes Craig Kennedy, a longtime grant maker and our newest columnist.
Of particular concern to Kennedy are the growing ties between philanthropy and politics — for example, the use of 501(c)(4) groups to help 501(c)(3)s take a more active role in politics and policymaking.
Now Kennedy, a past president of the German Marshall Fund and the Joyce Foundation and trustee and consultant to numerous organizations, plans to explore these issues and search for solutions in his new column.
This is his second stint as a Chronicle columnist, the first in the 1990s as a disillusioned former foundation executive. Now, he writes, “I am ready to take a second stab at analyzing this complex sector and the ways in which it has evolved.”
Kennedy joins Eboo Patel, who started writing for us regularly in July; Cora Daniels will start writing in the fall.
We were pleased to see the American Press Institute take note of anessay in the Chronicle by Steve Waldman detailing how philanthropy can save local news.
It’s worth re-reading that piece — and seeing his new article in the Atlantic, where he argued that saving local newspapers can save taxpayers money.
And if you’re interested in learning more about how local news organizations coached by the Chronicle are covering philanthropy, see this collection of articles.
For the past few days, our local public radio station in Washington has been reminding us that August is Make-a-Will month, and we’ve received several appeals from other nonprofits around the country with the same message.
That makes it the perfect time for us to remind you that on Thursday at 2 p.m. Eastern we’re offering a webinar about all the ways you can attract planned gifts. Maya Weil of Washington’s Arena Stage and Austin Wrubel of the Robin Hood Foundation will show you what you need to know.Register now.
We hope you have a relaxing weekend, whether you’re in the heat — or staying cool.
— Marilyn Dickey and Stacy Palmer
Philanthropist and activist Leah Hunt-Hendrix is trying to use the oil fortune she inherited to end the use of fossil fuels and to spread around the type of money and power she was born into. (New Yorker)
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s charitable vehicle has just announced its first layoffs, handing pink slips to 48 employees. (Insider)
As pandemic-era anti-poverty programs expire, some who relied on them are turning in desperation to nonprofits, which themselves are struggling with reduced federal funding. (Washington Post)
The number of foundations with expiration dates is growing as more donors seek to make bigger gifts, faster. (Wall Street Journal — subscription)
The National Audubon Society’s three-year debate over whether to jettison the name of a slaveholder has been a struggle to define itself and balance powerful competing interests. (New York Times)
A new book argues that geography is a powerful predictor of health and prosperity, and it outlines roles for government and philanthropy in breaking a pernicious cycle. (Los Angeles Times)
A U.S. tech millionaire bankrolls “a tangle of nonprofits and shell companies” to spread Chinese-government propaganda around the world — and could have received tax breaks for doing so. (New York Times)
Research into nuclear risk and deterrence is losing philanthropy dollars just as the changing nuclear landscape demands urgent attention from independent donors. (Vox)
Your Chronicle subscription includes free access to GrantStation’s database of grant opportunities.
Refugees. The Department of Health and Human Services supports programs that help refugees suffering from trauma. Grant recipients will provide holistic and integrated case management services, including health, psychological, and social adjustment services. The application deadline is October.
Parks. Hydro Flask’s Parks for All program supports nonprofit organizations focused on building, maintaining, restoring, and providing more equitable access to parks. For 2024, grants of $30,000 to $50,000 will be provided for nationally focused projects covering five or more states. Areas of interest include the creation of new parks or trails, from planning to construction; park maintenance and restoration; park access and education, with a focus on historically marginalized communities; and single-use plastics reduction. Projects must be focused on supporting people’s connection with the outdoors for recreation and health benefits. The application deadline is September 8.
