Voices from the Field

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing series on the many forms of family philanthropy, in partnership with the National Center for Family Philanthropy, and produced by Inside Philanthropy’s editorial team. If there were a Disney film about family philanthropy, it might open with a scene from Michael Eisner’s childhood. The L.A.-based philanthropist, former chairman and CEO of… Read More

At CAF America, we support donors who want to build long-term partnerships with local organizations and create meaningful impact, anywhere in the world. This model is particularly relevant when communities we grant to are impacted by natural disasters, political crises, or other emergencies. After responding to the many global emergencies that have occurred over the past few years—from wildfires in… Read More

In 2015, I stepped away from the field of education and dove into the world of philanthropy. Previously, I had been principal of Fenger High School on Chicago’s South Side. My experience with funders had been exclusively on the receiving end; my team at Fenger and I worked hard to secure financial resources that would allow us to support our… Read More

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing series on the many forms of family philanthropy, in partnership with the National Center for Family Philanthropy, and produced by Inside Philanthropy’s editorial team. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Newport Beach, California, Tarsadia Foundation supports nonprofit organizations that provide educational opportunities for the underserved, support health and wellbeing of the… Read More

“Why do we have to change?” This was the question posed to me by my board chair last year while the Zellerbach Family Foundation (ZFF) was in the depths of its first ever strategic planning process. It was a fair question. For over 65 years, ZFF has sought to serve as a catalyst for constructive social change; our work throughout… Read More

The Walton Family Foundation is committed to redefining collaboration to have greater impact in the communities it serves. New insights from Generation Z are helping chart a course forward. Sam Walton believed “great ideas come from everywhere if you just listen and look for them.” Look and listen. These actions are at the core of how we learn, opening the… Read More

The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most prosperous places in the United States, home to technological giants, entrepreneurial universities, and cities where more billionaires per capita reside than almost anywhere else in the world. But the Bay Area is also one of the nation’s most economically unequal places, marked by widening income inequality and under-resourced nonprofits. Alarmed… Read More

Many of us are familiar with the tension between the needs of nonprofits and the giving levels of foundations during economic downturns. At a moment when many nonprofits seek to address increasing challenges in their communities, foundations’ endowments decrease in value, leaving many funders with hard decisions to make about decreasing, increasing, or maintaining grant budgets at previous levels. This… Read More

When I joined Laurene Powell’s team to formalize and scale philanthropy at Emerson Collective, my first goal was to build on the generosity and energy of her early philanthropy. Laurene’s early work in philanthropy was in founding College Track—an organization dedicated to confronting systemic barriers in high education, today serving nearly 4,000 students per year nationwide. From this experience, she… Read More

Over the course of my career in philanthropy and government, I’ve been fortunate to participate in many high-level meetings where key decisions have been made.  All too often, I was the only woman in these rooms—whether I was at the table or in a supporting role. It’s hard to believe that it’s necessary to make the point that women need… Read More