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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.
May 24, 2012
Human Services
Will Social Impact Bonds Work in the United States?
Social impact bonds — a market-based approach to financing solutions to social problems with private investment capital — could end up costing governments more than contracting directly with service providers, a report from McKinsey & Company argues. Will Social Impact Bonds Work in the United States? (PDF, 6 pages) explains how SIBs could help scale proven interventions and reduce the need for remedial services in, for example, the areas of homelessness and criminal justice. Despite the potential of the "pay-for-success" model, however, the report notes that numerous parties — including investors, intermediaries, nonprofit service providers, assessors, and evaluators — will be looking for "returns" of some kind, whether that means management fees, performance bonuses, or evaluation and assessment fees. And that, in turn, could reduce the amount available for service delivery and jeopardize the ultimate success of the approach in certain situations.
May 21, 2012
Disaster Relief
Connections - Creating Order From Chaos: Roles for Philanthropy in Disaster Planning and Response
Philanthropy's role in disaster relief and recovery is not only to fund immediate relief efforts but also to help communities build the infrastructure needed to make effective use of public and private capital during the recovery and rebuilding phase, a new guide from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund argues. Based on the fund's experiences after the April 2011 tornadoes that ripped through Alabama, Creating Order From Chaos: Roles for Philanthropy in Disaster Planning and Response (47 pages, PDF) offers a framework for preparing for and responding to disasters collaboratively, provides a list of resources, and describes challenges as well as funding and support opportunities at each stage: planning and preparation, first response, and recovery and rebuilding.
May 18, 2012
Disabilities
The European Union and the Right to Community Living
Some European Union member states' use of "structural funds" to build or renovate facilities for the long-term institutionalization of people with disabilities violates EU law, a report from the Open Society Foundations argues. According to The European Union and the Right to Community Living (88 pages, PDF), EU regulations governing the use of structural funds must be interpreted consistently with the requirements of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities, which commits governments to ensuring that all people with disabilities can live in and receive the support needed to participate in society as equal citizens. In Central and Eastern Europe, however, where the bulk of these funds are allocated, a lack of clarity around their use, the absence of a monitoring mechanism, and misinterpretation of EU regulations have resulted in funds being invested in the modernization of long-stay institutions. The report recommends that regulations be rewritten to explicitly prohibit investments in the maintenance or extension of institutional care facilities and to permit existing housing to be purchased as homes for people with disabilities.
May 15, 2012
Civil Society
L.A. Rising: The 1992 Civic Unrest, the Arc of Social Justice Organizing, and the Lessons for Today's Movement Building
In the twenty years since the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, new coalitions have made great strides in building multiracial, multi-sector movements working to improve access to affordable housing, mass transit, education, and civil rights, a report from the University of Southern California Program for Environmental & Regional Equity and the Liberty Hill Foundation finds. L.A. Rising: The 1992 Civic Unrest, the Arc of Social Justice Organizing, and the Lessons for Today's Movement Building (36 pages, PDF) describes how progress on the movement building front was realized in four stages: setting a vision and developing organizations (1992-95), creating anchors and forging alliances (1996-2000), fashioning movements and building power (2001-05), and achieving impact and scaling up (2006-11). Funded by the Solidago Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, and Atlantic Philanthropies, the report profiles organizations working to build alliances among African-American, Latino, and Korean communities, secure workers' and immigrants' rights, and boost funding for urban schools, and outlines some of the key elements of success, including a focus on multiracial/ethnic efforts, a strategy based on concrete policy issues, and a commitment to building movements as opposed to organizations.
May 12, 2012
Women
Tools for Change: Applying United Nations Standards to Secure Women's Housing, Land, and Property Rights in the Context of HIV
HIV infection rates among women are directly affected by a lack of control over their own economic, social, and sexual lives, a report from the Open Society Foundations and United Nations Development Programme argues. According to Tools for Change: Applying United Nations Standards to Secure Women's Housing, Land, and Property Rights in the Context of HIV (86 pages, PDF), more than half of those living with HIV worldwide — and 60 percent of those in sub-Saharan Africa — are women. Indeed, because of gender inequality and disempowerment, gender-based violence, and lack of economic and property rights, women are more vulnerable than men to HIV infection. And once they are infected, they are subject to more discrimination than men. The publication highlights international human rights standards and resources, advocacy strategies, and examples of successful efforts to improve women's access to housing, land, and property, all of which help to mitigate the incidence and effects of domestic violence.
May 9, 2012
Health
Prevention in Middle School Matters: A Summary of Findings on Teen Dating Violence Behaviors and Associated Risk Factors Among 7th-Grade Students
Psychological, physical, and electronic dating abuse can begin as early as seventh grade, with potentially serious consequences for individual growth, academic performance, and long-term health outcomes, a report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation warns. Based on a survey, Prevention in Middle School Matters: A Summary of Findings on Teen Dating Violence Behaviors and Associated Risk Factors Among 7th-Grade Students (6 pages, PDF) found that 37 percent of seventh-grade students had witnessed boys or girls being physically violent to those they were dating, 15 percent had been a victim of physical dating violence, and 31 percent had been a victim of electronic dating aggression in the previous six months. Moreover, being the victim of child abuse and/or teen dating violence is highly predictive of intimate partner violence among young adults, while middle school provides a critical window of opportunity to teach youth about healthy relationships. Funded by RWJF and the
Blue Shield of California Foundation
as part of an evaluation study, the report also notes that good parent-child communication is an important factor in reducing the risk of teen dating violence.
May 6, 2012
Science/Technology
Funding Mobile Strategies for Social Impact: The Future Is Now
Despite the critical role mobile technology has played in the political reform movements that have rocked the Middle East and in supporting humanitarian relief efforts in Haiti, philanthropic investment in mobile for social change in the United States has lagged, a report from Zero Divide finds. According to Funding Mobile Strategies for Social Impact: The Future Is Now (25 pages, PDF), funders should look beyond fundraising campaigns and social media and support mobile strategies designed to broaden program impact, in part by bridging the digital divide for those without computers or broadband connections. Among other things, the report cites examples of services that inform disadvantaged jobseekers of employment opportunities via text message; enable anyone with a smartphone to upload photos, video, or audio to human rights advocacy sites; and connect immigrants to citizenship services. Funded by the Vodafone Americas Foundation, the report lists the key elements of success for any mobile program that targets underserved communities, including building partnerships with the community to foster trust and awareness and forging strong ties with technologists.
May 3, 2012
Public Affairs
Bolder Together
Funder collaboratives can help grantmakers achieve sustainable policy wins for the social change they support by developing common strategies and best practices, a report from California Civic Participation Funders argues. Bolder Together (16 pages, PDF) describes how the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund brought together ten funders — including the California Endowment, the
James Irvine
and Rosenberg foundations, and the Women's Foundation of California — to increase civic participation in California beyond specific election cycles and campaigns. Coordinating their grantmaking decisions without giving up their autonomy, the funders in question had invested, as of January 2012, a total of $15 million in support of local organizations and networks working to engage populations that are underrepresented in political and community leadership. Among other things, the report suggests that increasing voter participation among newer immigrant communities with an interest in social justice could lead to long-term progress.
April 30, 2012
International Affairs/Development
The Democratic Republic of Congo: Taking a Stand on Security Sector Reform
Despite billions of dollars in international development assistance, debt forgiveness, IMF loans, and trade deals since the end of the postwar transition, a persistent lack of security continues to be an obstacle to economic and social progress in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a report from the Eastern Congo Initiative, Enough Project, and the Open Society Foundations finds. The Democratic Republic of Congo: Taking a Stand on Security Sector Reform (PDF, 22 pages) argues that the absence of political will on the part of the government and of coordination within the international community with respect to security reforms has enabled security forces in the country to continue to threaten the population they are meant to protect. The report calls on DRC's international partners to set benchmarks for progress toward achieving military reform and minimizing human rights abuses as conditions for continued aid, on the national government to end corruption in the security services, and on the United Nations to increase resources for its peacekeeping mission's security sector reform unit.
April 27, 2012
Elementary and Secondary Education
Suspended Education in California
Despite research showing school suspensions to be counterproductive, more than four hundred thousand California students — 7.1 percent of all students in the state — were suspended at least once during the 2009-10 school year, a report from the Civil Rights Project finds. According to Suspended Education in California (15 pages, PDF), 18 percent of African-American, 11 percent of American Indian, and 7 percent of Latino/Hispanic students were suspended, compared with 6 percent of white and 3 percent of Asian-American/Pacific Islander students. Indeed, suspension rates for African-American, American Indian, and Latino/Hispanic boys in certain districts were as high as 38 percent, 28 percent, and 19 percent, respectively, while students with disabilities were twice as likely to be suspended as students without disabilities. Funded by Atlantic Philanthropies and the California Endowment, the report, which includes data from nearly five hundred school districts, points to evidence that frequent suspensions do not deter misbehavior and actually worsen educational outcomes of both the suspended students and their classmates. The report's authors call for implementing evidence-based alternatives that involve data monitoring, shifts in school culture and policy, and a tiered system of supports.
April 24, 2012
Philanthropy and Voluntarism
Emerging Opportunities: Giving and Participation by Silicon Valley Asian American Communities
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Silicon Valley are giving back in ways that reflect the region's culture of innovation and entrepreneurship as well as their own cultural, familial, and religious values, a report from Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy finds. Based on interviews with Asian-American/Pacific Islander donors, volunteers, and professionals working in high-tech firms, Emerging Opportunities: Giving and Participation by Silicon Valley Asian American Communities (40 pages, PDF) found that 68 percent of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders gave to U.S.-based nonprofits that serve their own ethnic or religious communities and that 60 percent contributed to educational organizations or causes. The report also found that Asian-American/Pacific Islander donors were more likely to be actively engaged with the organizations they support, donating their skills and time as well as money — in part because of their relative youth. Funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the report notes that the region's entrepreneurial culture tends to encourage a more business-oriented approach to philanthropy and social change, with an emphasis on social entrepreneurship and venture philanthropy.
April 21, 2012
Children and Youth
The State of the World's Children 2012: Children in an Urban World
More than a billion children worldwide live in cities and towns, and while urban areas offer the promise of economic development and accelerated progress toward the Millennium Development Goals, those in poor neighborhoods are denied essential services and social protection, a report from UNICEF finds. The report, The State of the World's Children 2012: Children in an Urban World (156 pages, PDF), argues that while aggregate data on well-being find that children fare better in urban settings than they do in rural areas, millions of urban youth — many of them living in slums — are deprived of basic necessities such as health care, education, water, sanitation, and hygiene. The report calls for a focus on equity in urban settings, which would require a better understanding of the scale and nature of urban poverty and exclusion with respect to children; development solutions that eliminate barriers that prevent marginalized children and their families from accessing services, expose them to violence and exploitation, and exclude them from decision-making processes; policies and practices that promote partnerships between the urban poor and government; and collaboration among international, national, municipal, and community stakeholders.
April 18, 2012
Environment
Who's Winning the Clean Energy Race? 2011 Edition
Investment in clean energy continued to grow in 2011, rising some 6.5 percent, to a record $263 billion, worldwide and 42 percent, to $48.1 billion, in the United States, a report from the Pew Charitable Trusts and Pew Environment Group finds. According to Who's Winning the Clean Energy Race? 2011 Edition (56 pages, PDF), investments in the solar sector by G-20 nations grew 44 percent, to $128 billion, in 2011, accounting for more than half of all G-20 investments in clean energy technology and offsetting 15 percent declines in wind and energy efficiency investments. The report also found that falling prices combined with increased investments in asset finance and small distributed projects enabled the installation of a record 83.5 gigawatts in energy-generating capacity in 2011. While the U.S. reclaimed its leadership position in clean energy investments in 2011, the report projects that investments in parts of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America will grow by as much as 18 percent annually over the next decade.
April 15, 2012
Philanthropy and Voluntarism
Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report 2012
The top three factors for nonprofit success on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ are strategy, prioritization, and dedicated staff, a report from NTEN, Common Knowledge, and Blackbaud finds. Based on a survey of nonprofit professionals from organizations with annual budgets ranging from under $1 million to over $250 million, Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report 2012 (40 pages, PDF) highlights twelve insights into how nonprofits are using social media networks effectively, key trends for 2012, and emerging trends to watch for. Among other things, the survey finds that over the past year nonprofits on average have grown their Facebook and Twitter communities by 30 percent and 81 percent, respectively; that a Facebook "like" costs an average of $3.50; and that the value of a supporter gained through Facebook averages $214.81 over the following year. The report also notes that the percentage of nonprofits that maintain in-house social networks on their own Web sites has held steady at 13 percent, after peaking at 30 percent in 2009, while the membership numbers for those networks are up 265 percent from a year ago.
April 12, 2012
Health
2012 County Health Rankings & Roadmaps
Counties that are home to people who live longer and enjoy a better quality of life tend to have lower rates of smoking, physical inactivity, teen births, preventable hospital stays, unemployment, children living in poverty, and violent crime, as well as higher levels of education, social support, and access to primary care, the 2012 County Health Rankings finds. Published by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the site assesses overall health and life expectancy in more than three thousand counties across the country based on four elements that affect people's health: health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factors, and physical environment. The rankings show that rates of excessive drinking are highest in northern states; those of teen births, sexually transmitted infections, and children living in poverty are highest in southern states; and unemployment rates are lowest in the Northeast, Midwest, and Central Plains. The site features an interactive map as well as Roadmaps to Health, which provides tools to help users understand the data, communicate issues to stakeholders, and take action to improve public health in their counties.
April 9, 2012
Arts and Culture
A Commitment to Emerging Artists: The Greenwall Foundation's Arts and Humanities Program 1991-2011
Is awarding many small grants to grassroots arts groups and emerging artists effective as a grantmaking strategy? According to a report from the Greenwall Foundation, the answer is yes. Based on interviews with grantees, A Commitment to Emerging Artists: The Greenwall Foundation's Arts and Humanities Program 1991-2011 found that, in addition to the financial assistance, the psychological and moral support provided by even a modest grant award has considerable impact on an individual artist's career and smaller groups' ability to experiment — which, in turn, contributes significantly to the artistic vitality of New York City. The report also found that many of the foundation's arts and humanities grantees over the last twenty years have helped to build programs and infrastructure that provide long-term support for emerging artists in much the same way that the foundation's grants provided support for them.
April 6, 2012
Journalism/Media
The State of the News Media 2012
According to The State of the News Media 2012, a new report from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, the digital revolution entered "the age of mobile" in 2011 — with mixed blessings for the news industry. On the one hand, the spread of smartphones and tablet computers is adding to and deepening users' news consumption (users tend to get news on both mobile and non-mobile devices and to read more intensively on mobile devices), bolstering traditional news brands, and supporting long-form journalism. On the other, the news industry has yet to develop a new revenue model and continues to lose ground to technology giants such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple, which are moving to dominate every aspect of the digital landscape — from mobile devices, to cloud applications, to social media — raising the possibility of these and other tech companies acquiring news outlets and/or becoming providers of original news content themselves in the not-too-distant future.
April 3, 2012
Civil and Human Rights
The Costly Business of Discrimination
More than two million Americans leave their jobs each year due to workplace discrimination, a report from the Center for American Progress finds. According to The Costly Business of Discrimination: The Economic Costs of Discrimination and the Financial Benefits of Gay and Transgender Equality in the Workplace (46 pages, PDF), 42 percent of gay and lesbian individuals report experiencing some form of employment discrimination during their careers, while a full 90 percent of transgender individuals report either being subjected to some form of harassment, mistreatment, or discrimination or avoiding such treatment only by hiding their gender identity. Not only are the victims of this discrimination harmed, the report notes, businesses' bottom lines also suffer — to the tune of $64 billion a year — as a result of not always hiring the most qualified candidates, losing and having to replace employees, lower job performance and productivity, and litigation. The report highlights a range of best practices, including equal and inclusive health insurance benefits, gay- and transgender-inclusive non-discrimination policies, and the promotion of a diverse workplace environment.
March 31, 2012
Women
Philanthropic Investments in the Emerging Field of Women, Peace and Security
Funding for efforts to enhance women's contributions to conflict resolution and peace making, the prevention of violence against women during and after conflicts, and the building of cultures of peace lags that for global health, international development, and humanitarian relief, a report from the Peace and Security Funders Group finds. According to Philanthropic Investments in the Emerging Field of Women, Peace and Security (15 pages, PDF), the participation of women in peace negotiations and the full range of decision-making institutions helps to ensure that critical societal needs and priorities are incorporated into conflict settlements, improving the odds of a just and lasting peace. At the same time, efforts to empower women and prevent violence must address cultures of violence and the patriarchal political systems that lead to inequities and violence in the first place. According to the report, thirty-six private U.S. and international foundations made grants totaling an estimated $36 million in 2010 in support of women, peace, and security initiatives, with almost half (49 percent) of those dollars funding the mobilization, training, and education of women.
March 28, 2012
Higher Education
Financial Literacy at Minority-Serving Institutions
For minority-serving institutions of higher education, a focus on teaching financial literacy skills is essential to the success of students and the institutions themselves in terms of higher graduation rates and lower student loan default rates, a report from the Institute for Higher Education Policy argues. The report, Financial Literacy at Minority-Serving Institutions (8 pages, PDF), points out that many students enrolled at MSIs are low-income, the first in their families to attend college, and under-prepared — all factors associated with higher rates of loan default. Given that those who fail to graduate are more likely to default on their loans, a majority of MSIs surveyed emphasized the importance of embedding financial literacy interventions in comprehensive first-year curricula and support programs or orientation services. The report highlights financial literacy initiatives developed at MSIs with support from IHEP and USA Funds, including multi-campus coordination, "peer financial learning ambassadors," integration into retention strategies, and day-long community workshops.
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