John Esterle

Sunsets With A Purpose: Spending down to lift up equity

By July 16, 2015

I ended my most recent post by saying I thought the field of philanthropy would benefit by hearing more from small foundations about how they practice grantmaking. Shortly thereafter I was directed to a monograph that strongly underscored that point. Trusting What We Don’t Know by Maribel Alvarez is both an insightful reflection on philanthropy…

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Small Can Be Big

By July 13, 2015

Based on feedback from their third CEP Grantee Perception Report, Don Howard of the Irvine Foundation announced this week their intention to make some changes. Namely, providing more general operating support, being more flexible about grantee timelines and objectives, and deepening staff engagement. As with Darren Walker’s letter from the Ford Foundation, I am encouraged…

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How Do We Know: Good Ideas About Creating Impact

By July 12, 2015

How do we know if we’re making a difference? It’s a question that’s been in the spotlight for some time now within the nonprofit sector – and one that can be particularly challenging when it comes to assessing the impact of social issues through art and media. In her inaugural post on the beta site,…

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“This Is Civity” Radio Show Podcast

By July 7, 2015

TWI grantee Civity has launched the Civity Radio Show Podcast series to explore different aspects of building civity — civity framed as people working across divides to address civic challenges rooted in inequities. In conversation with program host, Gina Balleria, Civity Co-Founders Malka Kopell and Palma Strand kicked off the series, followed by an interview…

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Sticky Blogs & Laughing While Learning

By July 4, 2015

I continue to be encouraged by the steady stream of reports and commentaries that touch on important aspects of what TWI calls trust-based investing. Yet, just in terms of actually reading everything that comes my way, that stream can sometimes feel like a flood and I can’t help but wonder: what’s really sticking with folks…

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