Philanthropy Today

The leader of PEN America, a preeminent free-speech advocacy group, is stepping down after weathering a year of turmoil over the war in Gaza. Since becoming the nonprofit’s chief executive in 2013, Suzanne Nossel has helped PEN America expand its membership, revenues, and ambitions. But in the past year, hundreds of writers have accused the group of ignoring the peril to Palestinian lives and culture posed by Israel’s military action, with the rancor culminating in the cancellation of PEN America’s literary awards and annual World Voices Festival in April. Nossel will become president and chief executive of democracy watchdog Freedom House. (New York Times)

Background from the Chronicle: Nonprofits Are Taking a Stance on Gaza — and Paying the Price

Alex Soros, who has inherited control of the $25 billion Open Society Foundations, is jumping more directly into politics than his father, George Soros, ever did. The two men have given more than $60 million during this election cycle, but the younger Soros has been meeting with and sizing up politicians, from aspiring members of Congress to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. In contrast, George Soros preferred writing checks and opinion columns to glad-handing and was not necessarily invested in the Democratic Party but rather wary of the GOP, a former foundation leader said. (Wall Street Journal — subscription)

More News and Opinion on the Election and Politics

• Latino Civil Rights Group Pushes Back on the Myth of Noncitizen Voters (New York Times)
• Voter-Turnout Nonprofits Dispute Md. Attorney General’s Complaints About ‘Threatening’ Voter Letters (Baltimore Banner)
• Joe Lonsdale Is Seed Funding Young Conservative Minds (Bloomberg)
• Opinion: California’s Prop. 34 Is Revenge for My Nonprofit’s Fight for Rent Control (Times of San Diego)
  
  • Background from the Chronicle: What to Say on November 6 and How to Say It

More News

• Peter Singer Wants to Shatter Your Moral Complacency (New York Times)
• Global Summit on Nature Adopts a Novel Way to Pay for Conservation (New York Times)
• Statewide Corporate Philanthropy in Oregon Dropped by 6.7 Percent Last Year (Portland Business Journal)
  
  • Background from the Chronicle: What Happened to Big — and Local — Corporate Giving?
• As Pandemic Funding Runs Out in Colorado, Boulder Nonprofits Brace for Cuts (CBS Colorado)
  
  • Background from the Chronicle: The Fiscal Cliff Has Arrived — and With It, Cuts, Layoffs, and Crisis. A Look at 2024’s Hunt for Revenue.

Note: In the links in this section, we flag articles that only subscribers can access. But because some journalism outlets offer a limited number of free articles, readers may encounter barriers with other articles we highlight in this roundup.