Voices from the Field

Over the past several years, Rose Community Foundation has been on a path of increasingly aligning our work in pursuit of equity and justice. Recent killings of Black people and the disproportionate negative impact of COVID-19 on people of color shine a bright light on the importance and urgency of this shift, even as they highlight just how far we… Read More

We are living through a moment of grand scale reckoning. COVID-19 has disproportionately and negatively impacted the health of Black and brown communities; financial and educational disparities are exposed along clear racial lines; state violence and violence by white vigilantes against Black people have inspired sustained uprisings all over the country. Certainly, our country stands before a crossroads and so… Read More

In the US, groups like the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project and The Whitman Institute have worked to shift the culture of philanthropy to focus on sharing power, working collaboratively, and building trust-based, equitable relationships. As the sector and the world have grappled with COVID-19 in recent months, it’s clear that the work these groups have elevated is becoming both increasingly critical… Read More

COVID-19 represents a war on two fronts—a public health crisis that has already killed over 400,000 people, and an economic one that has threatened the livelihoods of millions. Because the challenge is so massive, and the needs so great, collaborative philanthropy has been key to coordinating effective responses and allocating funds to reach the greatest number of people in need… Read More

Photo credit: Clay Banks on Unsplash In late March, one of the family foundations I advise reached out to their grantees to check in and see how the organizations and their leaders were navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. They learned that some of their grantees were looking to support the urgent food, housing, and mental health needs of the families they… Read More

In late 2019 I completed my doctoral research on how multi-generational families in Canada govern their giving. This was before most of us had heard about COVID-19, and prior to the most recent and robust calls for racial justice globally. These days of course, in response to a palpable shift in the status quo, philanthropy for many generous families, and… Read More

Centuries old racial inequity has been laid bare. 111,000 Americans are dead from COVID-19. 21 million people are out of work. Communities brace themselves for wildfires in the west, hurricanes in the east, and turbulence around the 2020 Presidential election. Turbulence with this level of global reach, systemic impact, and sustained uncertainty is unprecedented. The results could be transformational—or tragic… Read More

Even in times of good health, nonprofits operate under tight financial and human capital constraints. As the devastating effects of COVID-19 have unfolded over the past few months, we have seen far too many nonprofits who do some of our most important work—providing essential services to children, the elderly, the homeless, victims of violence—and those who bring us joy and… Read More