Philanthropy Today

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From senior editor Drew Lindsay: Enamored with impact measures and logic models, philanthropy has lost its humanity. And with that, it has lost its superpower: the ability to unify Americans in shared purpose and cure what the U.S. surgeon general last year described as the “loneliness crisis.”

That’s the argument of philanthropist Hali Lee, co-founder of the Donors of Color Network and Philanthropy Together. Lee writes in The Commons this week about how collective giving models like giving circles and mutual-aid groups can provide the connection that people crave — and that society needs.

The essay is from Lee’s book, out this week: The Big We: How Giving Circles Unlock Generosity, Strengthen Community, and Make Change. I invite you to dig in for Lee’s full argument and also for the story of how her own group, the Asian Women Giving Circle, has become a critical support for its members.

Philanthropist and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is looking for answers with a $10 million open call for organizations working to build faith in government, the media, public health, universities, and more. He joins Chronicle of Philanthropy editor-in-chief Andrew Simon for The Commons in Conversation on Wednesday, March 26, at 1 p.m. ET along with Cecilia Conrad, CEO of Lever for Change. Conrad has managed philanthropy competitions for MacKenzie Scott and the MacArthur Foundation’s 100&Change program.

Register for this free event on LinkedIn.

On Wednesday, March 19, at 2 p.m. ET, the Chronicle of Philanthropy will join with leaders from the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Congressional Management Foundation, Independent Sector, and RESULTS in a practical discussion of how to turn citizens into true advocates — and strengthen democracy. We’ll lean into the ideas of Commons contributor Sam Daley-Harris, author of Reclaiming Our Democracy: Every Citizen’s Guide to Transformational Advocacy and the founder of RESULTS and Civic Courage.

Register for this free event, which will be online and in person at the RESULTS headquarters in Washington, D.C.

News and other noteworthy items:

• In her podcast Democracy Is Hard, cultural sociologist and writer Ruth Braunstein previews her new audio documentary, When the Wolves Came: Evangelicals Resisting Extremism, about pastors standing up to extremism and Christian nationalism.
  
• New_Public co-director Eli Pariser talks about his recent speech at the Vatican and how he as an advocate for creating digital community spaces found alignment with the Catholic Church on the need to bring people together. “Spiritual communities, for thousands of years, probably as long as humanity has been around, have been experts in getting people together and helping figure out how to build a healthy community,” he says on Substack. There’s also a link to his speech.
  
• On the Democracy Works podcast, Tim Heaphy — author of Harbingers: What January 6 and Charlottesville Reveal About Rising Threats to American Democracy — talks about how the January 6 riot was fueled by the same distrust of institutions that’s leading other Americans to disengage from society: “They sort of stop caring and participating, and that gives outsize authority to people with perspectives that are not quite as sort of mainstream or for the common good.”