Philanthropy Today

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GivingTuesday — already a force in philanthropy — wants to influence giving in a new way. In a story in The Commons, we report on its plans to help build community giving campaigns across the country — what CEO Asha Curran calls “philanthropic county fairs.” Such campaigns — in which businesses, nonprofits, houses of worship, government, and other community leaders work together — have sprung up organically over the years, with terrific results; one in west Texas raised $11.6 million last year, up from just $830,000 in 2017. Now GivingTuesday is creating an “accelerator” to spur creation of these drives and accompanying infrastructure that could promote giving year-round.

The nonprofit sector needs the money, in part to absorb federal cuts, Curran says. But GivingTuesday also sees the campaigns as a way to deploy generosity against polarization, division, and isolation and build trust in nonprofits.

• “We don’t just need money” in the sector, says Chris Worman, the GivingTuesday lead for the project. “We need trust.”

Read more about GivingTuesday’s plans for the program’s launch this spring in five Southern states as well as its national ambitions.

The large foundations and mega-donors known as Big Philanthropy do as much to divide America as unite it, says Hali Lee, founder of the Asian Women Giving Circle and co-founder of the Donors of Color Network. It’s the charitable actions of average Americans — through mutual aid, volunteering, and giving circles — that can knit us back together. That’s Lee’s argument in her new book The Big We: How Giving Circles Unlock Generosity, Strengthen Community, and Make Change.

Join Lee on Tuesday, May 20, at 12:30 p.m. ET when she’ll talk to Chronicle of Philanthropy deputy opinion editor Nandita Raghuram about how a communal approach to philanthropy can help bring people together amid rising loneliness and polarization.

Register here for this free event.

As federal Washington burns with division and conflict, some grant makers are trying to repair the country’s social fabric by strengthening communities. Join Stephen Heintz, president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Katie Loudin of the West Virginia Community Development Hub for a discussion of the year-old Trust for Civic Life, an unusual $30 million cross-ideological funder collaborative bankrolling homegrown initiatives. Members include Rockefeller Brothers, the Carnegie Corporation, Omidyar Network, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Stand Together, and Walmart.

Register now for this Commons in Conversation event on Tuesday, May 6, at 12:30 p.m. ET.

News and other noteworthy items:

• Almost half of 501(c)(3) nonprofits working on 2024 election issues saw more funding in the first four months of the year than in the same period in 2022, but the money was still not enough to plan work for the remainder of the year. That’s according to a survey by Democracy Fund, which saw the results as evidence that its “All by April” push to frontload giving last year worked but not enough to ensure groups could hire staff and budget well enough for the November stretch run. “Organizations don’t just need earlier funds, they need more funds,” the report says.
  
• Jacob Hess of the Deseret News writes of a “growing chorus” calling for political peacemaking — individuals who highlight “reasons for hope and confidence in what could still be possible if Americans reach deep to their national and spiritual foundations.” His piece features the words (and video) from several nonprofit leaders spearheading efforts to bring Americans together, among them: Commons contributors Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, journalist and author Mónica Guzmán of Braver Angels, and Interfaith America’s Eboo Patel, as well as Village Square founder Liz Joyner.
  
• A new report from Points of Light reveals a significant mismatch between charities and foundations that it argues weakens the power of volunteerism to build community. Nearly three-quarters of nonprofits see volunteers as essential, according to a survey by the 35-year-old champion of volunteerism, but only 25 percent of funders agree. Not surprisingly, significantly less than 1 percent of foundation funding supported volunteer engagement. The report argues for new investments and points to the view of nonprofit leaders “that in a time of deepening polarization, volunteering has the potential to bridge divides, foster civic engagement, and strengthen democracy.”