A recent convening led the Stephen Lewis Foundation to issue a call to action for funders – outlining five anti-colonial funding principles to remove roadblocks for funding community-led organizations.
Canadian foundations know that responsible investing can reap both positive impacts and benchmark-beating financial returns, but it isn’t easy – knowing where to invest, measuring social outcomes, even agreeing what to call it. It’s “tough, ongoing work,” says one foundation leader.
The Right Relations Collaborative brings together community-rooted Indigenous change-makers and aligned philanthropic partners to break down the institutional barriers that define conventional philanthropy and, at the same time, find new ways of being in relationship with one another.
With no shortage of gendered inequities to tackle in Canada and abundant research that demonstrates how equality benefits everyone, the CEO of the Canadian Women’s Foundation calls for increased investment in gender equality on Give to Women and Girls Day.
Youth have long fought at the front lines of social innovation and change, argues the ED of The Youth Harbour and the Foundation for Environmental Stewardship, but when they do receive funding for their grassroots movements, their work is often underestimated and undervalued. She offers some recommendations for how funders can better support youth.
Only 15% of taxable households in France declare an annual donation, but a new venture aims to raise this figure to 30% by 2030. Located in Paris, Philanthro-Lab seeks to “democratize the giving reflex” by bringing together researchers, social entrepreneurs, patrons, and project initiators to grow the philanthropic community in France.
A driving force behind the newly minted Definity Insurance Foundation was a determination to create a “responsive and relevant foundation that meets the needs of the people we’re serving” and to address the root causes of inequity.
Investments should not just be viewed as a means to create income to fund grants: there is extraordinary opportunity to make a difference with the bulk of the money being managed, and the government needs to start paying more attention, suggest Aatif Baskanderi, president and CEO of the Northpine Foundation, and Senator Ratna Omidvar.
