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Every week Connections presents fresh links to the best the Web has to offer on issues related to the changing world of philanthropy. Subscribe to our biweekly Connections newsletter and receive two weeks' worth of links delivered to you by e-mail. If you have an item you'd like to share, drop us a line at connections@foundationcenter.org.
November 6, 2009
Women
2009 Stepping Stones Report: Laying the Foundation for Women's Economic Security
The Washington Area Women's Foundation has issued a new report on its $5 million Stepping Stones program, which supports nonprofits that provide job training, financial literacy, and childcare programs for low-income, single mothers. The 2009 Stepping Stones Report: Laying the Foundation for Women's Economic Security (12 pages, PDF) found that demand for the program's financial education and counseling services nearly doubled during the first six months of 2009 and that the program provided services to more than three thousand women, helping participants save a total of $2 million.
November 3, 2009
Education
The Benefits to Taxpayers From Increases in Students' Educational Attainment
A new report from RAND Education examines the financial benefits that accrue to taxpayers as students attain higher levels of education. Funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the report, The Benefits to Taxpayers From Increases in Students' Educational Attainment (143 pages, PDF), found that regardless of a student's gender, race, or ethnicity, raising one's level of education leads to significantly increased payments into, and reduced demands on, the public budget. The report argues that all taxpayers — even those who do not have children in school — have a stake in developing programs and policies that effectively and efficiently increase education levels.
October 31, 2009
Civil and Human Rights
Open Society Institute Panels
The Open Society Institute has made available audio from two recent OSI-sponsored panel discussions. Part of a forum co-sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union, the first panel focuses on The Least of Three, a recently released documentary about the T. Don Hutto family detention center in Texas. The second took place at a book signing for A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison by R. Dwayne Betts, who was imprisoned for nine years starting at age 16. The discussion and book signing were sponsored by the Campaign for Youth Justice's Join the Movement initiative, the Institute for Juvenile Justice Reform and Alternatives at Medgar Evers College, and the OSI Criminal Justice Fund.
October 28, 2009
Philanthropy and Voluntarism
Evaluation Matters: Lessons From Youth-Serving Organizations
The Urban Institute has issued a new report about the evaluation experiences of several youth-serving nonprofits in the Washington, D.C., area. Funded by the World Bank's Community Outreach Program, the report, Evaluation Matters: Lessons From Youth-Serving Organizations (66 pages, PDF), offers observation, commentary, and case studies of four D.C. nonprofits that participated in the program's East of the River Initiative — an effort to help nonprofits better identify, measure, and communicate their community impact. The report concludes that nonprofits should integrate evaluation efforts with their program operations, enlist staff support at every level of the organization, and be careful not to underestimate the level of effort required to make measurable progress.
October 25, 2009
Health
Aiming Higher: Results From a State Scorecard on Health System Performance, 2009
While all states should aim higher with respect to their healthcare performance, without federal reforms to help stem rising costs and provide more affordable coverage, access will likely deteriorate, a new report from the Commonwealth Fund argues. The report, Aiming Higher: Results From a State Scorecard on Health System Performance, 2009 (110 pages, PDF), found that the number of uninsured Americans could climb to 61 million by 2020, with millions more underinsured — an outcome that would exacerbate financial stress for families, overwhelm safety-net providers, and undermine the financial foundation of community health systems. To avoid these issues, the report calls on states and the federal government to work together to ensure affordable access for all Americans and to improve healthcare quality, health outcomes, and efficiency within the system.
October 22, 2009
Arts and Culture
Research Into Action: Pathways to New Opportunities
In 2008, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance launched a campaign to double the cultural engagement in the region by 2020. According to Research Into Action: Pathways to New Opportunities (39 pages, PDF), a new report from the alliance, while attendance rates at cultural events in the greater Philadelphia region were above national averages in most disciplines, the majority of attendees considered the performances to be a "special occasion" event. Funded by the Wallace and Philadelphia foundations, the report includes five case studies that examine how patrons in the region get involved with cultural events and offers recommendations designed to boost engagement, break down barriers to access, and enhance groups' marketing efforts.
October 19, 2009
Education
Impact of Community and Youth Organizing on Public School Reform
The Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University has issued a series of case studies to illustrate whether and how organizing efforts by community groups in seven urban communities have improved public schools. Based on a six-year study funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the studies demonstrate how effective community organizing can stimulate important changes in educational policy, practices, and resource distribution at the system level; strengthen school-community relationships, parental engagement, and trust in schools; and contribute to higher attendance, test scores, and high school completion rates.
October 16, 2009
Civil and Human Rights
Most Still Oppose Same-Sex Marriage, Majority Continues to Support Civil Unions
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press have released the findings of their 2009 Religion and Public Life Survey. According to the report, Most Still Oppose Same-Sex Marriage, Majority Continues to Support Civil Unions (16 pages, PDF), 57 percent of Americans favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to enter into civil unions, up from 45 percent in 2003. In addition, 39 percent of respondents favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally. Over the past year, support for civil unions has grown significantly among individuals who oppose same-sex marriage — from 24 percent to 30 percent — while remaining stable among those who favor same-sex marriage.
October 13, 2009
Health
Side-by-Side Comparison of Major Health Care Reform Proposals
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation has created a tool to help individuals compare the healthcare reform proposals put forth by the Obama administration and various congressional committees, including those that have been formally introduced as legislation and those that have been offered as draft proposals or policy options. The regularly updated tool offers users a summary of the major components of each proposal as well as the ability to view a side-by-side comparison of specific topics — including the expansion of public programs, individual mandates, and cost containment — within each proposal. Users also can view and print a side-by-side comparison (49 pages, PDF) of all the proposals and topics.
October 10, 2009
Arts and Culture
Youth Speaks
The twelfth annual Brave New Voices international youth poetry festival, an event organized by Ford Foundation grantee Youth Speaks, took place July 14-19 in Chicago. At this year's festival, Ford sponsored a series of spoken-word performances about the power of the arts to create social change. The foundation has posted videos of some of the performances on its Web site, while more videos can be viewed on the Brave New Voices site and at the related site on HBO, which last year aired a documentary about the festival.
October 7, 2009
Education
Investments in Building Citywide Out-of-School-Time Systems: A Six-City Study
Public/Private Ventures and the Finance Project have issued the final report in a series funded by the Wallace Foundation that examines the costs of out-of-school-time (OST) programs and the city-level systems needed to support them. The report, Investments in Building Citywide Out-of-School-Time Systems: A Six-City Study (108 pages, PDF), looks at how six cities — Boston, Chicago, Denver, New York City, Seattle, and Charlotte, North Carolina — are working to secure and support the leadership, information, and other resources necessary to deliver quality OST programs citywide. While difficult to do in the current political and fiscal environment, the study found that a growing body of research and practice supports the claim that carefully planned and designed investments in OST infrastructure can benefit school-age children and youth, their families, and their communities.
October 4, 2009
Children and Youth
Children of Immigrants Data Tool
The Urban Institute's Low-Income Working Families Project has launched a Children of Immigrants Data Tool that enables users to generate detailed charts on the characteristics of children of immigrants nationwide and in individual states and the District of Columbia. Data from 2005 and 2006 allows users to compare populations of children defined by the citizenship of the child or parent. Data include the immigrant status of children and their parents; children's race, ethnicity, and school enrollment; parents' education and English proficiency; and family composition, income, and work status. In additon, the institute has issued a companion report, Children of Immigrants: National and State Characteristics (20 pages, PDF), that highlights key national data and variations across states.
October 1, 2009
Arts and Culture
Vital Signs: Arts Funding in the Current Economy
Earlier this year, Grantmakers in the Arts issued a special edition of its GIA Reader that examined the effects of the recession on the arts funding community. Among other items, the newsletter, Vital Signs: Arts Funding in the Current Economy (7 pages, PDF), includes articles on the outlook for foundation giving from Foundation Center senior director of research Steven Lawrence and on public funding for the arts from National Assembly of State Arts Agencies director of research Angela Han.
September 29, 2009
Health
Shaping a Healthier Generation: Successful State Strategies to Prevent Childhood Obesity
A new report from the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices looks at the actions that states are taking to prevent childhood obesity, encourage children to eat healthier, and be more active in childcare, school, community, and healthcare settings. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the report, Shaping a Healthier Generation: Successful State Strategies to Prevent Childhood Obesity (64 pages, PDF), offers three strategies that governors can use to help prevent childhood obesity: setting a vision and building public awareness for obesity prevention programs; coordinating state agencies' obesity prevention efforts through governance structures; and collecting data on children's health to better address their needs.
September 27, 2009
Philanthropy and Voluntarism
On the Money: A Review of Key Financial Challenges Facing Nonprofits Today - and How Grantmakers Can Help
Grantmakers for Effective Organizations has issued a new report highlighting the financial challenges that nonprofits face and the ways in which grantmakers are both exacerbating the problem and working to improve the situation. The report, On the Money: A Review of Key Financial Challenges Facing Nonprofits Today — and How Grantmakers Can Help (36 pages, PDF), recommends that grantmakers talk to their grantees about the financial problems they face; provide the types of support nonprofits need most, including general operating support; streamline application and reporting processes to ease the administrative burden on nonprofits; work with other funders to reduce red tape and pool resources; and consider alternative financial tools such as loans and program-related investments.
September 25, 2009
Education
The Effects of Postsecondary Correctional Education
A new report from the Urban Institute looks at interviews and focus groups conducted with inmates from four institutions in three states to explore the motivations for enrolling in postsecondary education (PSE) programs, the impact of such programs on inmates while incarcerated, and the expected benefits after release. Funded by the Lumina Foundation for Education, the report, The Effects of Postsecondary Correctional Education (48 pages, PDF), found that inmates reported a number of challenges to engaging in prison-based PSE, including the availability of quiet space to study, access to electronic resources, and lack of cooperation by correctional staff. In all three states, however, prisoners who participated in PSE were less likely to recidivate during the first year after release than those who did not.
September 23, 2009
Public Affairs
Overcoming Short-Termism: A Call for a More Responsible Approach to Investment and Business Management
The Corporate Values Strategy Group of the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program has secured the signatures of twenty-eight leaders in business, finance, government, academia, and labor on a statement calling for an end to "short-termism" in the country's financial markets and the creation of public policies that reward long-term value creation for investors and the public. The statement, Overcoming Short-Termism: A Call for a More Responsible Approach to Investment and Business Management (8 pages, PDF), calls for the development of market incentives to encourage "patient" capital, fiduciary responsibilities that better align the interests of financial intermediaries and their ultimate investors, and greater transparency with respect to investor disclosures. The statement also highlights the need to focus on changing the financial system rather than just individual corporations.
September 21, 2009
Health
Keeping the Promise: Protecting Washington, D.C., From Tobacco
A new report from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids urges the D.C. Council to renew funding for the D.C. Tobacco Free Families campaign, a district-wide tobacco prevention and cessation effort. The report, Keeping the Promise: Protecting Washington, D.C., From Tobacco (19 pages, PDF), found that the campaign has been a success, with smoking rates in the District down some 19 percent between 2005 and 2008. If $3.6 million in annual funding for the campaign is not renewed, however, youth smoking could jump almost 10 percent, resulting in 2,400 additional high school smokers, while healthcare costs due to smoking could increase by $42 million, including $4.8 million under the Medicaid program.
September 19, 2009
Philanthropy and Voluntarism
2009 Philanthropy and Rural America Conference: Outcomes and Recommendations
Earlier this year, the Council on Foundations, in collaboration with the National Rural Funders Collaborative, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and other organizations, hosted a two-day rural philanthropy conference that focused on the issues of rural economic development and philanthropic capacity, energy and the environment, and education. A summary of the proceedings, 2009 Philanthropy and Rural America Conference: Outcomes and Recommendations (8 pages, PDF), identifies four general priorities for advancing rural philanthropy: facilitating collaborations between grantmakers and others to address rural challenges and opportunities; supporting the creation of a grassroots movement aimed at improving rural education; developing ways for large foundations to get more involved with rural organizations; and raising awareness of the vital role nonprofits play in fueling local economies.
September 17, 2009
International Affairs/Development
On the Frontiers of Finance: Scaling Up Investment in Sustainable Small and Medium Enterprises in Developing Countries
New Ventures, a project of the World Resources Institute, has issued a report that provides an overview of the current landscape, lending practices, and principal challenges of financial intermediaries that provide capital to sustainable small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the developing world. The report, On the Frontiers of Finance: Scaling Up Investment in Sustainable Small and Medium Enterprises in Developing Countries (36 pages, PDF), recommends that intermediaries do more to educate commercial investors and grantmakers about their business model, practice greater financial transparency, promote financial innovation in the sector, and develop metrics for measuring the results of their efforts.
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