Changing the world takes organizations with effective leadership and strong management practices, and funders are uniquely placed to help build and scale such organizations. Our webinar featured a robust panel discussion on how funders can best support strong nonprofit management.

Our speakers included:

• Jerry Hauser, CEO, The Management Center
• James Mumm, Staff Director, National People’s Action
• Sylia Obagi, Director of Operations, Annenberg Foundation
• Belen Vargas, Vice President, Grant Operations, Weingart Foundation
• Gwen Walden, Managing Director, Arabella Advisors

View and listen to the entire conversation and learn more.

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Changing the world takes more than great ideas and dedicated people. It also takes organizations with effective leadership and strong management practices – organizations that can execute effectively on programs that generate impact. Developed in partnership with The Management Center, an organization that specializes in building nonprofit leaders’ management skills, Helping Grantees Build Management Skills will help you understand how you can better engage with your grantees on this front.

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We also hosted a webinar during which Gwen Walden and our group of panelists discussed how funders can best support strong nonprofit management.

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2013 will be a year of tremendous philanthropic need and opportunity. To help strategic philanthropists think about the coming year and how they may maximize their impact, we asked some of the sharpest thinkers and greatest innovators in the sector to share their insights on the crucial topics the sector must address, the challenges it will face, and the meaningful impact we are collectively well positioned to achieve. Throughout December, Arabella ran Impact 2013, a series of posts on our Greater Good blog. Impact 2013 featured ideas ranging from philanthropy and the political system to converting innovation into sustainable reality to global issues such as maternal health, nutrition, and more.

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With the 2012 election drawing near, many donors have questions about how political giving can reinforce their philanthropic strategy, amplify their voice, and impact the issues they care about most. This webinar explained the many different ways political contributions can be used to candidate committees, PACs, 501(c)(3)s, and other organizations to advance one’s philanthropic strategy.

Our speakers included:

• Eric Kessler, Principal and Managing Director of Arabella Advisors
• Jim Joseph, Partner at Arnold & Porter, LLP

View and listen to the entire conversation to learn more.

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This publication, co-authored by Arabella’s Lucy Bernholz with Michael Maness and Mayur Patel of the Knight Foundation, reviews the insights of the 2009 Knight Foundation’s “News Challenge” winners on how foundations can make media innovation projects successful. Arabella Advisors, in partnership with the Knight Foundation, has been conducting an ongoing review of the Knight News Challenge.The report includes nine projects that provide new ways to visualize data, platforms for crowdsourcing and mapping, and tools for exploring and sharing primary source documents on the web.

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Money talks—especially during election season. Including political giving in your philanthropic strategy can be a valuable way to amplify your voice and impact the issues you care about most. We have compiled six best practices for making the most of your political contributions, along with a chart to help you navigate your options.

Download the Six Guidelines for Smarter Political Giving (408 KB)

We also hosted a webinar during which Eric Kessler and Jim Joseph of Arnold & Porter discussed the many different ways political contributions can be used to candidate committees, PACs, 501(c)(3)s, and other organizations to advance one’s philanthropic strategy.

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Pooled donor funds provide a powerful grantmaking tool – one that can help international human rights funders work together to accomplish shared goals. Pooled funds can amplify funders’ impact on key issues by consolidating philanthropic resources, strengthening grantee networks, enabling organizations to share policy and technical expertise, and more. In some cases, they can also enable funders to respond more rapidly – and with increased anonymity – to time-sensitive requests from grantees working on the ground on critical human rights issues.

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Across the country, foundation executives and trustees, philanthropy collaboratives, and individuals are harnessing the power of impact investing to achieve the change they want to see in the world. From equity investments in companies that are increasing social or environmental good to low-cost loans that bring businesses, schools, and even groceries to underserved communities, impact investors use their return-seeking investments to generate financial returns together with social and environmental benefits. How do they do it?  The four briefs below describe examples of impact investing in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.    

Download the Chicago Report (423 KB)
Download the New York Report (433 KB)
Download the San Francisco Report (425 KB)
Download the Washington, D.C. Report (434 KB)

The environmental community alone is often not strong enough to prevail in policy battles against strong opposing interests: to win, it needs the support of influential allies outside the traditional environmental movement. Environmental funders can play an important role in this process by engaging the funders of non-environmental constituencies and building diverse, well-resourced coalitions that work together to build power over time. This report explores how to do just that.

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By Sam Beinhacker

Women are positioned as never before in history to make a huge difference in philanthropy, not only with our time and compassion, but also with our money. Women’s impact on philanthropy has already been extraordinary, and we know there is much more to come as women increasingly control wealth in American and around the world. As women’s wealth and influence grows, organizations that want to engage them in philanthropy will have to shift their approaches to address women’s unique interests and leadership styles.

Recently, I spoke with several leaders in engaging women in philanthropy – including Ruthie Ackerman, Shannon Farley, Randy Hustvedt, Michele Ozumba, Sondra Shaw-Hardy, Martha Taylor, and Jackie VanderBrug – to discuss what the coming shift of wealth to women means for the future of women in philanthropy. Shannon, Michele, and Jackie also joined me for an Arabella Insights webinar that highlighted ways that wealth managers, advisors, and others can help women accomplish their philanthropic goals. 

During a rich hour-long discussion, we covered topics ranging from the importance of a sense of community among women in philanthropy to the blurring of the lines between philanthropy and investing with the emergence of impact investing.

A key theme that emerged form this discussion was that women take a more relational approach to philanthropy than their male counterparts, preferring to learn from one another and network in community. Women are also becoming bolder and more strategic in their giving in large part due to the emergence of these opportunities to connect with and learn from their peers. 

Another key issue we discussed is the role that impact investing – using return-seeking investments to accomplish philanthropic goals – is playing as women seek the best solutions to address societal challenges. By using a gender lens to identify investment opportunities that benefit women and girls, investors are generating both social and financial returns.

We also covered a variety of other critical topics in the webinar, including two groups of women in philanthropy that warrant special attention: women of color and millennial women. I encourage you to view and listen to the entire conversation to learn more about these issues. I also encourage you to engage in the conversation by sharing your thoughts and questions below.

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