The Strong Scholars Program profile

Posted on July 29, 2014

Starting in 1928, the Hattie M. Strong Foundation (HMSF) has run what it believes to be one of the earliest and most successful student loan programs in the country. The foundation supports “young people of promise” in their pursuit of higher education across all fields of study in all regions of the country. Strong Foundation loans always charged zero interest… Read More

Launching your own major project

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors

Philanthropic entrepreneurs thrive when building a new program or organization, or making a lead gift in a campaign they champion. But there are also funders who catalyze significant new projects without becoming donor-operators or becoming public spokespeople for their cause. In this sense, the key to a successful major project is largely dependent on the depth of a donor’s engagement… Read More

Funding Locally

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors

Local philanthropy has a long and impressive history. Individuals have given to help communities where they feel a special connection over many generations. And community foundations have for decades epitomized the potential to build nonprofit capacity and philanthropy in a particular area… Read More

Giving That Gets Results: SSIR x Bridgespan series on adaptive philanthropy

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Alison Powell, Susan Wolf Ditkoff

Adaptive philanthropy is one of the more interesting developments in the field of philanthropy. Over the course of eight weeks in the late fall of 2013, SSIR and Bridgespan presented Giving That Gets Results (www.ssireview.org/effective_ philanthropy), a series of blogs, videos, and webinars that explored adaptive philanthropy, and other important approaches to philanthropy. … Read More

Positive Tracks: A Story of Generation Next Philanthropy

Posted on February 15, 2014 by Gioia C. Perugini, Nini Meyer

[Photo: Youth gather at the beginning of a Postive Tracks fundraising race.] Much has been written about the “next generation” and its integration into family philanthropy. How will they get involved? Will their philanthropic initiatives look different from those of their parents and grandparents? What tools and resources can help them be most effective? Nini Meyer was raised in a… Read More

Making a difference: Evaluating your philanthropy

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Ellen Remmer

“I want to make a difference” This simple statement often sums up the motivating impulse for both sophisticated and beginning philanthropists. However, most donors soon learn that it is very difficult to measure the results of charitable activity. Donors who come to philanthropy from business careers often expect to measure nonprofit performance by the rigorous, quantitative measures used in the corporate sector, and are surprised by the resistance to such metrics in the world of philanthropy and “social investment.”… Read More