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Open Society Foundations;
Children and young people are appropriately at the forefront of public and political concerns about drugs and the drug trade. Nobody wants to see children and young people harmed by drug use, whether it is their own, a parent's, or a family member's.
All too often, however, the threat to children and young people presented by drugs is merely stated without sufficient scrutiny of the appropriateness and effectiveness of the measures adopted to protect them, hindering accountable evaluation and policy deliberation. While there are many positive programs and guidelines from which to learn, it cannot be overlooked that many strategies to counter the "world drug problem" have had documented negative effects for children and young people. Important gaps in our understanding of drug use, drug-related harms, and children's involvement in the drug trade must also be recognized.
The Impact of Drug Policies on Children and Young People looks briefly at available data on drug use, drug-related harms, and children's involvement in the drug trade, and provides an overview of some of the ways in which children and young people are harmed by drug control efforts, from the extreme to the commonplace, and sets out some recommendations for a meaningful focus on children and young people at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) and beyond.
Open Society Foundations;
This is a special edition of Amplifying Voices that includes highlights of the Open Society Initiative for East Africa's work from 2005 to 2015. Amplifying Voices documents different journeys the foundation has traveled with its partners since its launch in 2005 and the collective efforts to realize human rights and freedoms for all.
Amplifying Voices pays particular attention to those on the margins of society, including stories of working on the forced sterilization of HIV-positive women or those with mental health illnesses, promoting the rights of sex workers, or addressing the question of human rights and counterterrorism.
The Open Society Initiative for East Africa started as a one-program initiative in 2005 in Kenya and today has grown to include eight programs in the region. Geographically, the foundation now works in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, and Sudan. It addresses issues including health and rights, disability rights, and food security.
Influence is key to our work at the Ford Foundation and to philanthropy as a whole.
Many of us in this space combine forces to shift how government, business, and nonprofits tackle urgent problems such as climate change, poverty, or threats to democracy. We also want to influence how the sector as a whole leverages philanthropy—whether this means a shift to giving larger grants, creating more flexible grants, or designing grants through a lens of diversity—in pursuit of a more equitable world.
As important as this work is, we don't have a solid understanding of why certain efforts are effective in creating the influence they intend and what causes others to fail.
To improve our understanding, we commissioned Milway Consulting to look at 12 independent initiatives aimed to influence how grantmakers and others engage in philanthropy and identify what advanced and prevented the adoption of good practice.
Funders for LGBTQ Issues;
In 2018, Funders for LGBTQ Issues set out to survey the board and staff of foundations in order to identify how many LGBTQ people worked in philanthropy — which resulted in The Philanthropic Closet: LGBTQ People in Philanthropy.
In designing the survey, we realized that we had an opportunity to not only ask about sexual orientation and gender identity but also to inquire about a range of personal identifiers. With the inaugural Diversity Among Philanthropic Professionals (DAPP) Survey, we asked participants to identify their role within their foundation, their age, gender identity, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, and disability status. This report lays out the results of the DAPP survey in aggregate form.
Produced in partnership with CHANGE Philanthropy and Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP), the report and accompanying infographic explore diversity in the philanthropic workforce. Overall, the report finds a statistically significant difference between funders with a social justice focus and all other funders. Social justice funders were much more likely to have higher representation of LGBTQ people, people of color, and people with disabilities.
The report finds:
People of color accounted for 37.8 percent of people on the staff or board of participating foundations.
However, the percentage varied depending on a foundation's focus. People of color made up 45.6 percent of the staff and board at foundations with a social justice focus, while they accounted for 33.0 percent of staff and board at foundations with another focus.
While women accounted for nearly 70 percent of the staff and board at all participating foundations, only 44 percent of board members were women.
Nearly half of women at foundations with a social justice focus were women of color; only a third of women at foundations with another focus were women of color.
Among lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in philanthropy, 43.1 percent of those at foundations with a social justice focus were people of color, compared to one-third of those at foundations with another focus.
Among transgender people, 57.1 percent of transgender people at foundations with a social justice focus were people of color, while 25 percent of transgender people at foundations with another focus were people of color.
At foundations with a social justice focus, people with disabilities made up 8.8 percent of staff and boards, compared to 4.8 percent at foundations with another focus.
Across all participating foundations, 10.3 percent of staff and board were born outside of the United States.
The 2019 Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) California Workers Survey, a landmark survey conducted jointly by PRRI and AAPI Data, provides a portrait of the working lives of AAPI Californians via a survey of 2,684 AAPI California residents. For the purposes of this study, respondents are classified as "working and struggling with poverty" if they meet two criteria: 1) They are currently employed either full or part-time or are unemployed but still seeking employment; and 2) They live in households that have an adjusted income that is 250% or less than the U.S. Census Bureau's Supplemental Poverty Measure, adapted for regional location in California.
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) are an important and fast-growing part of the California workforce. They have been the fastest-growing racial groups in California since 2000, with immigration fueling much of the growth. Although statistical averages show that AAPIs as a whole exhibit relatively high levels of employment and earning power, this report reveals significant areas of concern. Like for the rest of the population, we find a state of "two Californias" among AAPIs—one where some AAPI workers report a great deal of financial stability and one in which other AAPI workers report significant financial insecurity and struggle. This report reflects the findings of the first comprehensive survey of AAPI California residents, with a special focus on those who are working and struggling with poverty. The report provides a broad portrait of their opinions and experiences.
European Foundation Centre (EFC);
30 years. 30 contributors. 30 takes on the future of philanthropy.
With so many complex and urgent challenges facing contemporary society, clearly treading water isn't enough. How can philanthropy adapt to tackle these challenges head on? How can the EFC be the catalyst in this process?The answers to these questions are going to be critical.This commemorative book, marking 30 years since the establishment of the European Foundation Centre, turns to some of the most influential thought leaders on philanthropy from around the world to have their say on the future of the EFC and the wider philanthropic sector.
Open Society Foundations;
Despite deep concerns about the future of democracy, people in Central and Eastern Europe retain a strong attachment to civil society and faith in the freedoms achieved with the collapse of Communism, according to States of Change: Attitudes in Central and Eastern Europe 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall, a report from the Open Society Foundations.
Based on polling by YouGov conducted in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, States of Change provides a snapshot of current opinion on democracy, freedom of speech, the market economy, and the media in the former Eastern Bloc and Germany.
Impact Investing in Asia: Overcoming Barriers to Scale
While the Asian social investment ecosystem is maturing, growth is uneven and impact investment remains less developed here compared to the rest of the world. As a result, the impact investing industry in Asia remains less understood compared to its counterparts elsewhere.
Against this backdrop, AVPN and GIIN have collaborated with Oliver Wyman and Marsh & McLennan Insights to explore the current characteristics of impact investing in the region, with special focus on China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines. This report captures the experiences and insights of stakeholders from the AVPN network who serve different roles within the broad impact investment ecosystem in Asia.
Impact Investing in Asia: Overcoming Barriers to Scale serves as a resource for impact investors and other key stakeholders in Asia to better understand the growing industry within a regional context while providing key recommendations to develop the ecosystem further.
For more information about AVPN: https://avpn.asia/about-us/
Fiji Women's Fund;
This paper is jointly authored by eight women who work with the Fiji Women's Fund and three of the Fund's partner organisations - Talanoa Treks, Ra Naari Parishad, and, Rise Beyond the Reef. The paper aims to contribute to improved women's economic empowerment programs by sharing the experiences of these three partners. The authors document the learnings of practitioners in Fiji and compare these with the existing literature for the audience of practitioners in the Pacific and abroad. The Fiji Women's Fund supports the documentation of research from practice, so that the expertise of practitioners is recognised, and, to increase the body of knowledge generated from the Global South.
The paper examines the experiences and learnings of the three partners using the Gender at Work framework, developed by Rao and Kelleher, which highlights the inter-linked dimensions of change required to achieve sustainable progress on gender equality and women's empowerment. The paper documents the similar journey taken by all three partner organisations, through each of the four quadrants of this framework. All three entities supported the establishment of a formal, collective structure being established, to provide women access to training and income-generating opportunities. Women accessed these opportunities to improve their skills, capabilities, income and assets. These changes, in turn, had an influence on the way the women themselves, and the men in their lives, think about what it means to be a woman or a man and the possibilities available. For example, there is evidence of positive changes to what women and men are doing in their households. Husbands, sons and partners are helping women beneficiaries by taking on some of the care tasks that were previously left to the women. The greatest evidence of change is within households, as changes to exclusionary practices at the village level are less evident.
Social IMPACT Research Center;
Millions of people in Illinois experience poverty or are living on the brink. That societal position keeps opportunities out of reach and nearly guarantees worse outcomes in every quality of life domain—making ALL of us worse off. The poverty rate for the United States was 11.8% in 2018, a decline of 0.5 percentage points from 2017. There were 38.1 million people in poverty nationwide. In 2018, 1.5 million Illinoisans were in poverty—a rate of 12.1%. Additionally, 2.0 million Illinoisans are near poor and economically insecure with incomes between 100% and 199% of the federal poverty threshold. This year marks the first time that the U.S.poverty rate is below pre-recession levels; Illinois lags behind this trend,with its poverty rate just returning to pre-recession levels.
This GrantCraft case study, developed for Candid's scholarshipsforchange.org portal, explores the Bonner Foundation's Bonner program—a service-based scholarship program. The scholarship targets high financial need students and affords them the opportunity to serve their community during college and through internships. This case study explores how the Bonner program was designed and the impact it has created.
Native Americans in Philanthropy;
From 2002 to 2016, large U.S. foundations gave, on average, 0.4 percent of total annual funding to Native American communities and causes, although the Alaska Native and American Indian population represents 2 percent of the total U.S. population. This report provides the latest data on foundation funding for Native Americans, alongside important historical context that has contributed to the unique experiences and challenges Native Americans face today. The report also consolidates advice and feedback from philanthropic and Native leaders, who reflect on successful work and practices in partnering with Native organizations and communities.