The Friday Rewind offers a snapshot of PhilanthroNews — that means news stories, articles, events of note, or information updates — from around our network and throughout the broad world of philanthropy. Whether you take a quick skim of the material or a deep dive through each item we hope to help inform your work and inspire your thinking.
- Collaborations can yield real value—under the right circumstances. In particular, there are four sets of questions collaboratives should consider asking themselves—both at the outset and along the way. They start with the investment thesis and extend from there to three other dimensions that surface repeatedly in literature and research. As more funders consider joining collaboratives that set ambitious goals for social change, they will benefit from engaging each other candidly on these questions – read more from Stanford Social Innovation Review here!
- President Trump recently announced that he would drop efforts to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census. Instead, his executive order will direct all U.S. agencies to provide the Department of Commerce all information they have on U.S. citizenship, noncitizenship and immigration status. Read more here.
- Nonprofit board members are seldom taught best practices in organizational oversight, including how to effectively evaluate the executive director and how to do succession planning for that position. This applies to foundations as well as to nonprofits, and many foundations are changing focus as the reins of leadership pass to the next generation of trustees. Read more on this topic here:
- Against a backdrop of steadily soaring opioid-related death rates in the U.S., state agencies and private funders are pairing up to tackle the complex problem of opioid use disorder. A new program, recently announced by the Michigan Opioid Partnership and Governor Gretchen Witmer, aims to serve as a model of best practices for other states, especially those with large rural populations, in addressing opioid addiction
- It is essential to understand your funder style in order to be an effective funding partner, and to deepen your processes and impact. Check out this resource from Foundant, about connecting purpose to evaluation