Voices from the Field

During the final Engaging Youth Peer Network event of 2020, participants had the opportunity to hear about a variety of strategies for including youth in family philanthropy. Our featured speakers Alexis Marion, Neil Gobioff, and Marlene Corrado shared real stories and discussed several tools and activities that they have found helpful. This meeting was particularly special because the peer network… Read More

This holiday season, there are many who feel the weight of the year. There has been so much hardship, sickness, and struggle. In the midst of all the chaos, I have seen many bright spots from generous families around me who are giving joyfully and strategically, doing their best to make a difference with all that is going on in… Read More

Courtesy of Tim Mossholder from Pexels One of the universally shared features of our lives over the last few months has been a distorted experience of time: a toggling between a wide angle and tight focus, between measured pacing and frenetic activity. I was just recounting with my family those early days in the lead up to and following the… Read More

“Nothing about us without us,” is commonly used by community activists when speaking about the changes they want to see in their communities. The idea is simple: those most affected by social problems—the intended beneficiaries of any program—should fully and meaningfully participate in decisions about programs, policies, and strategies that may directly impact their communities. Philanthropy is not something done… Read More

And so it began. Our youth board had Zoom calls nearly every month where we met each other, discussed what philanthropy is, made general plans, and eventually researched and sent out our first grants. Our members, ranging from ages 8-15, were spread across the country, making us Zoom experts even before the coronavirus hit. When Neil Gobioff and Gianna Rendina-Gobioff… Read More

In this new series, Meeting Makeovers, board development expert and founder of CSR Communications, Nancy Murphy, highlights a different meeting challenge each quarter and offers a makeover solution. Read the second blog in the series here. This first installment, co-written with Ann Maddox Utterback, board chair of the JF Maddox Foundation, addresses the problem of “hand-me-down” meeting culture. Problem Area:… Read More

As protests against systemic racism took place across nation in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, CapShift began to receive the same question from several families: “How can I use my philanthropic resources to advance racial justice?” It was, and continues to be, a crucial question. As we grapple with the challenges rooted in centuries of discrimination and exclusion that… Read More

This article was originally published by Feedback Labs and is re-posted here with permission. Read more about how funders can listen well on GrantCraft by Candid and as part of the Council on Foundations’ series about implementing the COVID-19 foundation pledge! As COVID-19 spread worldwide in early 2020, almost 800 leading philanthropists signed a pledge to act with ‘fierce urgency’ to support the people, communities… Read More

Photo courtesy of the Greater Worcester Community Foundation A group of teenage philanthropists sit around a boardroom table at an urban community foundation in Massachusetts. As they explore the needs they see and face in their communities, they begin to understand how different life is only a few miles from their own neighborhoods. A past participant of Youth for Community… Read More