Jaime Sharp's Blog

Independent Sector seeks to measure the status of a major pillar of nonprofit sector health: advocacy and civic engagement. We commissioned research to fill a 20-year gap in data around nonprofit advocacy and civic engagement (i.e., nonpartisan voter engagement) activities through a nationally representative quantitative survey and complementary qualitative interviews of nonprofit institutions.

From The Center for Effective Philanthropy: Nonprofits across the United States played a vital role during a period of crisis that began in March 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic and was followed by a nationwide racial justice reckoning that summer. As nonprofits experienced heightened demand coupled with marked uncertainty about revenues, they responded with resiliency and imagination, while many funders also stepped up, increasing philanthropic giving in a time of urgent need.

From the National Endowment for the Arts: Welcome to the Careers in the Arts Toolkit— an online resource promoting equity, access, and inclusion for people with disabilities seeking careers in the arts.

Every day, people with disabilities add significant value and talent across the spectrum of arts careers. They are performers, visual artists, teaching artists, cultural workers, administrators, and more. Yet, historically, people with disabilities have not had access to the same career opportunities as people without disabilities. Reasons for this range from inaccessible facilities to disability benefit earning limitations to misconceptions about the skills and talents of people with disabilities. Through a variety of initiatives, the National Endowment for the Arts has worked to bridge this inequity, for the benefit of not only people with disabilities, but also America’s arts institutions and their patrons.

"The boats kept coming. One by one, cruisers and catamarans eased toward the beach in Kahana, a small and tightknit neighborhood just north of Maui’s hardest-hit areas," said Reis Thebault for Washington Post. "Each one was laden with supplies: generators, propane tanks, trash bags full of clothing and ready-to-eat meals.

From Funders' Committee for Civic Participation: The census doesn’t end when the counting stops. Planning for the 2030 Census is well underway. The census has disproportionately undercounted people of color, immigrants, young children, and low-income households, among others. Ongoing engagement from philanthropy—to convene, educate, advocate, and invest—is critical to help ensure that Census Bureau policies and operations center the insights and lived experiences of historically undercounted communities.

"Friends, family members and activists are mourning the death of O'Shae Sibley, a Black gay man who was stabbed late last month while dancing with friends at a New York City gas station," said Rachel Treisman for NPR. "The 28-year-old professional dancer and choreographer was killed while voguing to Beyoncé's music as his friends filled up their car on the way home from the Jersey Shore on July 29."

The voguing tributes to Sibley are especially fitting, Williams says, as they "personify the LGBTQ community's historic resilience amid highly discouraging societal treatment."

Principal® Foundation’s mission is to foster a world where financial security is accessible for all. We fund programs across the world that provide essential needs, promote financial empowerment, and support the arts.  

From the CDC Foundation: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on all aspects of life, including the arts and culture sector. However, artists and cultural organizations have also played a crucial role in the vaccination effort. Although vaccination is a key element in overcoming the pandemic, vaccine hesitancy and misinformation have become significant challenges to achieving high levels of vaccine uptake. In this report, we explore how arts and culture have been utilized to promote vaccine confidence, dispel myths and misinformation surrounding vaccines and support vaccination efforts in the United States.

"Philanthropy membership associations were made for times like these. Shining bright these past eight months, they’ve heroically grabbed their members’ hands and illuminated pathways forward," said Kris Putnam-Walkerly. "They’ve helped members navigate the pandemic and prepare for recovery, offering real-time learning, sharing best practices, creating rapid-response funds, soliciting critical information through surveys, supporting collaboration across government and business, and encouraging funding for racial justice."

"Philanthropy infrastructure organizations quickly moved events and conferences online, increased the number of offerings, and broadened who can attend, often including all funders and not just members. Many also worked to shift the balance of power and make gatherings more inclusive and accessible. For their global conference, the Resource Alliance saw it as an opportunity to 'challenge the idea of one magnetic north, which tends to be the global north, and instead create a magnetic field around the world where people can be drawn to excellence anywhere.'"

Poet and President of the Mellon Foundation, Elizabeth Alexander, was recently interviewed by Jenna Abdou for Fast Company about how her arts background informs her leadership. "Art went on to be a vessel for Alexander. As a Pulitzer Prize finalist, she delivered the poem at President Obama’s inauguration, 'Praise Song for the Day.' Through her teaching, most recently as the chair of African American Studies at Yale, literature is an invitation into our shared humanity. Today, as president of the Mellon Foundation, the largest funder of the arts and humanities, creativity is an agent for change, following her boldly shifting their mission to center on social justice."