You're currently viewing:
Funding practice

Barriers to talking about nonprofit failures and how to overcome them
In the commercial world, it’s trendy to talk about failing fast and often – and recovering faster. Young companies are constantly pivoting and iterating their products, services, and business models. The business world recognises that …

What practicing corporate law taught me about philanthropy
I walked away from the corporate world after a decade of practicing law at a multinational business, and I never looked back. I dove into the philanthropic space with curiosity, passion, and a thirst to …

Funders and charities should be equal players in a collective effort
In response to recent exchanges in Alliance magazine about the nature and efficacy of trust based philanthropy, we join the founders of the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project in encouraging all funders to ‘look beyond the headlines …
We practice trust-based philanthropy. Here’s what it looks like
Recently, Simon Sommer of the Jacobs Foundation in Switzerland wrote a critique of the practice of trust-based philanthropy (TBP), a framework for giving that’s gained popular acclaim within our sector over the past several years. …
A historical case for trust-based philanthropy
Like any other field of human activity, philanthropy has gone through different fashions over the years. Whether it’s impact philanthropy or participatory grantmaking – every new idea about how the wealthy should give has come …
Imagining a world where we trust young feminists
When we think about the ways that philanthropy has worked historically, what we’ve heard from and shared with young activists during the Pro-action Cafe (a community space for open conversations about the practice of resourcing …
Beyond impact: the international Philanthropy.Insight project
Some years ago, I attended an international conference of CSOs, held at OECD in Paris. Joining a table with CEOs of large international NGOs, it so happened they were discussing some effects of concentrating on …
We’re here to clear the air on what trust-based philanthropy is and what it isn’t
Recent pieces in Alliance magazine have attempted to poke holes in trust-based philanthropy, the approach to giving that is being increasingly recognized as a strategy to address the inherent power dynamics between funders and nonprofit …
Letter to the editor: Trust-based philanthropy is not a myth, it’s a solution
Like Simon Sommer says of himself, I may not know what trust-based philanthropy is. But I have a good idea of where he goes wrong. Let’s set aside the broad generalizations (‘unrestricted funding seems to …
Is the trust-based philanthropy bubble about to burst?
If trust-based philanthropy is the new orthodoxy sweeping the philanthropic world, then MacKenzie Scott is its undisputed champion. Scott has turned the institutional philanthropy model on its head donating over $12 billion to nonprofits over …