Philanthropy Today

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From senior editor Drew Lindsay: Americans are spending increasing amounts of time alone — solitude that contributes to the “loneliness crisis” and the divisions that tear at the country’s social fabric. What to do?

Kate Carney of More in Common US has a three-part plan for funders. Its premise: People no longer come together as organically as they once did in their neighborhoods, churches, civic groups, and informal networks. Philanthropy, Carney writes in The Commons this week, has to help create the opportunities for connection — and help people learn how to be together and work together.

“Our communities are as strong as the connections within them. So if we want stronger communities, we need to make connection a priority.”

I invite you to read Carney’s blueprint for change, which includes examples nationwide of how nonprofits and philanthropy are finding ways big and small to create connections.

News and other noteworthy items:

• A small survey of democracy funders points to worries about a drop in support, as well as a decline in optimism about the role of philanthropy. Nearly 90 percent of respondents said they are concerned “about a significant decline in donor funding,” according to the Democracy Fund, which conducted the survey of 151 foundations, donors, advisers, and funding intermediaries. Many funders and pooled funds are planning to increase support for democracy efforts in 2025, but a significant number of donor advisers and networks expect their donors and philanthropies to give less.
  
• With Washington and the federal government in turmoil, teachers and education leaders should seize the moment “to deepen civic literacy … and empower citizens to be active participants in self-governance.” That’s according to Elizabeth Clay Roy, CEO of Generation Citizen, which promotes community-based civics. Writing in The 74, Roy argues that “civic literacy must become mainstream and hands-on — something that is as fundamental to education as learning in a science lab.”
  
• Worried that young people “feel untethered and purposeless,” Joe Waters, CEO of the South Carolina-based think tank Capita, argues in EdNC for gap years for high schoolers and a modern-day version of the Civilian Conservation Corps. “Such a program would help young people mature while fostering a deeper sense of E Pluribus Unum,” he writes. “By living and working alongside others from different backgrounds, they would experience the diversity of our country and form bonds that transcend differences.”