Community foundations — public charities that support specific geographic areas through pooled donations — have pulled back on their anticipated spending policies. Only 13% anticipated making changes to their expenditures, down from 20% during the last two years and well below the 28%, 35% and 33% seen three, four and five years ago. The apparent reluctance to make changes reflects an overall tentative approach: a…

Almost two years after his death, on what would have been his 82nd birthday, Congressman John Lewis’ vision of a foundation to focus on “purposeful living and civic engagement,” is realized. The John and Lillian Miles Lewis Foundation (JLMLF) launched last month on what would have been the late civil rights icon’s 82nd birthday, Feb. 21. The Atlanta-based foundation was conceived by Lewis before he…

National standards for community foundations on inactive accounts, a minimum 5% annual payout of assets held in donor-advised funds (DAF), and expanding charitable giving were among the recommendations issued by a group of community foundation leaders working to address issues around the fastest growing area of philanthropy. The Council on Foundations (CoF) convened the Strengthening Community Philanthropy Ad Hoc Working Group to develop recommendations that…

A new nonprofit newsroom will be coming to the nation’s fourth-largest city by next year, with more than $20 million in seed funding from local philanthropies in Houston. Investments for an initial period of three years will come from philanthropic sources, including: Houston Endowment, $7.5 million Kinder Foundation, $7.5 million Arnold Ventures, $4 million American Journalism Project (AJP), $1.5 million John S. and James L.…

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced the addition of four new board members, with potential future expansion to nine members, in its latest annual letter, the first from the foundation’s new chief executive officer. Clocking at more than 3,000 words, the annual letter touches on a variety of topics, including efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic and expanding efforts to get resources to underserved…

Anti-poverty nonprofit the Stand Together Foundation unveiled a nationwide push to invest more than $7 million to support as many as 500 nonprofit organizations and leaders in its Catalyst Program by 2025. The foundation has since 2016 committed $100 million to fuel innovation to build stronger, safer communities where all people can learn, contribute, and realize their full potential, according to information in the announcement. “We look for community leaders…

The Ford Foundation announced a five-year, $25 million grant to sustain and strengthen the global movement calling on governments at all levels to invest in protections for the world’s 2.1 billion informal workers as a central component of economic recovery plans. This funding comes ahead of the 109th session of the International Labour Conference (ILC), where representatives of governments, employers and informal workers from 187 countries…

Private equity firms have finalized the acquisition of Fluxx, a grantmaking platform for private and public organizations based in San Francisco, Calif. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The private equity firms involved are a syndicate led by Metamorph Partners, a private equity firm that specializes in B2B SaaS businesses and co-investor ABS Capital Partners, a growth equity firm that has been investing in…

Change.org, which provides petition and campaign tools for social change, is now under the ownership of the nonprofit Change.org Foundation. Change.org had been founded in 2007 as a Public Benefit Corporation — a for-profit entity that includes specific public benefits as part of its charter. Change.org will continue to operate as a Public Benefit Corporation entirely owned by the Change.org Foundation. More than 50 investors,…

Private and community foundations realized solid return on investments during 2020, but their spending didn’t necessarily reflect those gains, according to the Council on Foundations-Commonfund’s Study of Investment of Endowments for Private and Community Foundations. The 147 private foundations and 83 community foundations participating in the survey represent $115.4 billion in assets. Foundation leaders are examining how they invest, in terms of responsible practices or…

The CDC Foundation announced support to more than 150 community-based organizations (CBOs) throughout the United States with more than $30 million to promote COVID-19 vaccination and reduce the disease’s burden. The announcement comes as the highly contagious Delta variant continues to spread throughout the United States, leading to sharp increases in cases, hospitalizations and deaths among the unvaccinated. The work of CBOs has been critical…