Jaime Sharp's Blog

"Ongoing efforts to roll back social gains, such as reproductive and LGBTQ rights, have made one thing clear: Focusing on politics alone won’t create lasting social change. Political debates and legislation are too closely tied to the whims of the White House, Congress, and the Supreme Court. Instead, what drives long-term shifts is culture — the public attitudes and narratives that underlie progress," said Ken Grossinger for The Chronicle of Philanthropy. 

"Nonprofit leaders perceive lobbying, as it is currently practiced and understood, as corrupt conduct that exerts undue influence to the detriment of fair, impartial, and effective policymaking. The popular imagination associates lobbying with dodgy deals in smoke-filled back rooms," said Alberto Alemanno for Stanford Social Innovation Review. 

From Sustainable Arts Foundation: 

Our reading and dialogue with colleagues have sharpened our focus on the unjust distribution of wealth in this country. In solidarity with the groundswell of efforts toward decolonization, we feel compelled to spend down our foundation’s assets.

"Here’s a challenge: Find a figure in American philanthropy more inspiring, more knowledgeable, or better able to articulate both the vast import and fundamental limitations of this great national tradition than Darren Walker.

From Regional Arts Organizations:

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awards thousands of grants each year to provide diverse opportunities for arts participation. However, historically underserved communities with rich and dynamic cultural identities continue to report lower arts participation rates than other groups. To address these disparities and better understand these dynamics, the NEA, in partnership with South Arts and in collaboration with the five other U.S. Regional Arts Organizations (RAOs), launched a new grant program, ArtsHERE. 

The Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, a social impact funder at the intersection of music, public space, and community building, today announced it will spend down its $150M in assets over the next two decades and will close its doors in 2041.

From Social Impact Commons:

From The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage: When it comes to the distinctive artistic practices and creative challenges that drive today’s artists, our Pew Fellows have a wealth of insights, representing a diversity of perspectives across age, background, and creative disciplines.

Funders for a Ceasefire Now:

We are institutional funders, individual donors and philanthropy professionals who are heartbroken and grieving the tragic loss of life in Palestine and Israel. Between October 7 and November 19, more than 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza and 1,400 Israelis have been killed.* In Gaza, this includes over 5,500 children.  With every passing minute, we are losing more human lives - people with families and hopes, who once loved and dreamed.   

From Lifetime Arts: