GIA Blog

Posted on March 18, 2022 by Nadia Elokdah

“Everyone in philanthropy can potentially play a role in supporting transformative racial justice work," remarks Lori Villarosa, founder and executive director, Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity (PRE) in a piece for PEAK Grantmaking blog. "But to unlock that potential, each person needs to apply racial equity and racial justice lenses to all aspects of their work. And grants professionals can be a driving force by both shifting practice and ensuring that the organization is impactfully looking at its work through both lenses.”

Posted on March 18, 2022 by Nadia Elokdah

Robin D. G. Kelley shares "Back to the Future: Complex Movements Make Revolution," an essay from memory on a conversation with 2022 Knight Arts + Tech Fellows Complex Movements in Shift Space 2.0, a publication exploring new media landscapes. Kelley recollects, "Radical philosopher Grace Lee Boggs (1915–2015) was the catalyst for Complex Movements, which took its name in 2010 after listening to her invoke quantum theory to explain new directions in organizing."

Posted on March 17, 2022 by Nadia Elokdah

"Grants management professionals are strategically positioned to influence a funder’s racial equity and racial justice funding. But in three decades of working in and with foundations, I have consistently seen a pattern where people serving in these roles are excluded from these conversations as a matter of institutional habit," writes Lori Villarosa, founder and executive director, Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity (PRE), in PEAK Grantmaking Journal, issue 19. "As a result, there is a lack of understanding across the field about how the work of grants management directly relates to advancing racial equity and justice."

Posted on March 16, 2022 by Nadia Elokdah

“From digital libraries to fully immersive schools, Indigenous leaders are reclaiming and spreading cultural knowledge to ensure it doesn't get lost,” explains Fix Solutions Lab associate editor Claire Elise Thompson.

Posted on March 15, 2022 by Nadia Elokdah

The Upstart Co-Lab Member Community has invested nearly $8 million in funds and startups, and Upstart plans to launch a $100 million impact investment portfolio for the Inclusive Creative Economy. The Upstart Co-Lab 2021 Impact Report details the impact framework, which tracks the impact of investments in the creative economy across five dimensions.

Posted on March 15, 2022 by Nadia Elokdah

Media Impact Funders (MIF) share a glimpse of their time at Sundance Film Festival with a Film Funders Follow-up. In this conversation with Vincent Stehle, MIF executive director, Sonya Childress and Sahar Driver, Color Congress, and Denae Peters, Perspective Fund, participants discuss a new field-building organization called the Color Congress.

Posted on March 14, 2022 by Nadia Elokdah

In a new report, "Studying Early Pandemic Data: Did Giving Sustain the Arts?," SMU DataArts shares analysis on the impact of giving to the arts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Daniel Fonner, associate director for Research writes the pandemic "has turned the arts and culture sector upside down in many ways."

Posted on March 10, 2022 by Nadia Elokdah

The Barr Foundation (Barr) seeks consultant partners to support the newly launched cohort, Powering Cultural Futures (PCF), a new six-year initiative that provides funding, technical assistance, peer networking, and other supports to a diverse cohort of 15 BIPOC-rooted organizations in Massachusetts.

Posted on March 9, 2022 by Nadia Elokdah

Victor Tavarez, John Harper, and Fay Hanleybrown present, “Four ways funders of collective impact efforts can help foster trust to strengthen collaboration and achieve greater impact,” in the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Posted on March 8, 2022 by Nadia Elokdah

A new report from Salzburg Global Seminar, The Creative Power of the Arts: Reimagining Human and Planetary Flourishing looks at creative reforms in the target areas of climate, health, education, and justice. According to the announcement, "As the world confronts the compounded impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate crisis, and structural injustices, societies are bracing for a protracted and complex period of reassessment, reimagination, and restructuring. The culture and arts sector must be at the table and included in decision-making processes as societies seek to eschew a return to 'normal' and instead reimagine more creative pathways towards human and planetary flourishing."