Philanthropic practice

The Opportunity Fund announced support totaling $1,112,500 in grants to arts and social and economic justice organizations, the largest cycle in its seventh year of grantmaking. "The increase in amount awarded is a result of the Board of Directors decision to release funds at a rate of 6% of its endowment annually, rather than the minimum requirement of 5%," states the announcement.

In a recent Nonprofit Quarterly webinar, participants including Natalia (“Nati”) Linares, coauthor of the "Solidarity Not Charity: Arts and Culture Grantmaking in the Solidarity Economy" report, commissioned by Grantmakers in the Arts, discuss "Remaking the Economy: Core elements of system change."

"The idea behind participatory grantmaking is both simple and powerful: What if we shifted decision-making power away from supposedly expert grantmakers and investors? What if people with lived experience had the power to devise and implement solutions to the problems they face?" write Ben Wrobel and Meg Massey in Nonprofit Quarterly.

In a recent article published in Generocity, Bread & Roses Community Fund and Philadelphia Black Giving Circle discuss why large grantmakers are "beginning to think like their much smaller counterparts."

In "Buffering Against Uncertainty: Working capital and the resiliency of BIPOC-serving organizations," Rebecca Thomas principal at Rebecca Thomas & Associates, and Zannie Voss, director of SMU DataArts, delve in working capital levels of arts and cultural organizations, emphasizing on BIPOC-serving organizations.

"Amidst both a catastrophic pandemic and calls for reformed funding practices (especially in support of BIPOC communities), philanthropic giving to arts and culture provides a unique opportunity for funders to reevaluate their funding, evaluation, and decision-making processes," writes Michael Sy Uy at the Center for Effective Philanthropy's blog.

In "Building Trust Through Grantee Feedback," Charlotte Brugman of the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) explores the importance of trust between funders and grantees in a conversation with leaders of India's Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies.

Setting the Stage

With a population of over 2.3 million and one-in-four residents being foreign-born, Houston is the most ethnically diverse metro area in the nation. The city’s arts programs and cultural offerings are robust in number and breadth, and its vibrancy unfolds along the numerous bayous and highways. Most years see 11 to 16 million visitors traveling to the city for arts and cultural events. Houston’s nonprofit arts and culture sector, a $1.1 billion industry, employs more than 25,000 people.

Just societies cannot grow in toxic soil. To build regenerative communities, we should look to how life flourishes in the natural world, of which we are an inherent part.