Mark de Groh

A really incredible resource and guide tracking critical shifts in the philanthropic field and offering a useful roadmap for where to go: "As legal and political challenges mount in the United States, some equity-centered funds and collaboratives are turning outward, linking their missions to global movements for demographic and economic justice. This shift suggests that the future of philanthropy will not be confined by geography or national politics. Instead, funders and investors who are serious about equity are beginning to operate as part of a transnational ecosystem that views the redistribution of resources as both a local necessity and a global imperative."

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GIA’s new podcast episode The Myths of Philanthropy: Exploring Narratives that Define What is Possible invites listeners to rethink the assumptions shaping our sector. Guests Mandy Van Deven (Elemental), Zaineb Mohammed (Kataly Foundation), and Erin Lynn Williams (The Center for Cultural Power) share how funders can move beyond scarcity, rigidity, and individualism toward abundance, iteration, and ecosystem thinking. Drawing from The Myths of Philanthropy series, they illustrate how shifting narratives can unlock philanthropy’s transformative potential. Tune in for bold insights on narrative strategy, solidarity, and the role funders can play in advancing collective liberation. Listen to the full podcast episode here: https://bit.ly/3JRExZS

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Last year, I wrote a piece for Stanford Social Innovation Review in which I argued that funding for strengthening fields should be a larger part of philanthropy’s approach. SSIR reached back with a few questions for me, which they published in this Q&A: https://lnkd.in/dysx6KnB One of the things I mentioned in the interview is that I can’t think of another time when there was more discussion about how to support civil society. Nonprofit and philanthropy leaders are calling for “watering fields, not just building them,” “shared impact” rather than “isolated outcomes, ”building “big-tent coalitions,” and ensuring fields and civil society get the “less visible” types of support they need. Just a few days ago, The Bridgespan Group released a study on how field building can be implemented in short, medium, and long-term timescales. Together, these articles make contributions to an emergent and useful updating of field building concepts. This evolution is anchored in an expansion in thinking, one focused on tangible approaches funders can take right now to benefit larger numbers of organizations in ways that also support longer-term cohesion and results. In its intention to support civil society today, and build more powerful formations over time, this approach keeps feet anchored in the present and eyes on the horizon. If you are interested in these essays and my own in SSIR, links are in comments. #fieldbuilding #philanthropy #civilsociety Nancy Lindborg Eva Hernandez Alexandra Kennaugh Emma Bloomberg Lija McHugh Farnham Emma Nothmann Zachary Slobig

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I'm excited to announce a new partnership between Impact Cap LLP and the Impact Evaluation Lab. IEL has developed an innovative and thought-leading assessment tool for impact investment funds and asset owners, developed after a thorough collaboration with thought leaders in the impact community. The evaluation tool is based on the framework IEL first established in 2023; they subsequently contracted with the Sorenson Impact Institute at the University of Utah to further test and refine the fund assessment framework during a pilot study which supported the publication of the final methodology - The Impact Authenticity Score (https://lnkd.in/eq2dGwh6). At Impact Cap, we’re committed to connecting mission-aligned capital with underrepresented fund managers and advancing integrity in the impact investing space. This collaboration reflects our shared goal of building a more accountable, data-driven, and effective impact ecosystem. #ImpactEvaluation #ImpactAuthenticity #ImpactInvesting #ImpactMeasurement

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John Fabian Witt’s book "The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America" IS one of the best I’ve read about the perils and promises of philanthropy in the United States. I was honored to have the opportunity to write about the urgent lessons the book offers our sector so we can sharpen our work today. Thanks, Benjamin Soskis, for the opportunity to write for HistPhil’s Radical Fund Book Forum alongside Deepak Bhargava (Freedom Together Foundation), David Pozen, and the book’s author, John Witt himself. Take a read, and stay on the lookout for an upcoming Marguerite Casey Foundation #CommonThread event with John Witt, Glen Galaich, and MCF board member Megan Ming Francis in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on June 11: https://lnkd.in/een4-9Vh

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I have long admired the ways in which local and regional leaders come together to make their communities vibrant and full of opportunity. That work requires deep local partnerships, while keeping an eye on changing forces. Well, we are now entering an economic chapter in which the growth in AI and its insatiable demand for energy will require leaders to keep adapting. In fact, a recent corporate site selection survey found that talent is no longer the top factor companies consider when choosing where to locate or expand their business. Access to abundant energy and land now ranks first. So as leaders figure out how to make the AI economy work for business and workers, they must also determine how to develop abundant energy in ways that create good jobs, nurture dynamic industries, lower costs, and use land and natural resources responsibly. It’s a lot. Fortunately, a new paper by Owen Washburn, Ryan Donahue , Greer Brigham, and Xavier de Souza Briggs offers a critical resource. It makes the case that this new energy-and-economy moment could open up exciting possibilities, but only if local and state actors, with industry and nonprofit partners, organize in new ways. It is a timely and valuable framework. You should also check out each authors’ insightful posts for how they describe this opportunity. https://lnkd.in/d55p28Tm

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Great stuff Linda Tigani, MSW and the answer may be that there is a level of universal preemption under the International Covenent on Civil and Political Rights and FTC"s "unfair competition" rule, given the requirement that governance derive only from the self-determination of those subject to it. That means ecological, political, and egalitarian self-determination. https://lnkd.in/e9wmNBkn That would authorize preemptive, cross-border, clawbacks of wealth made by scammers who made their money by never paying the costs of children's rights and political equity. Some of whom used part of the money to create a fantasy world of social justice impact - including outlandish claims of having protected animals while hiding growth impacts - to conceal their Ponzi. More at: Fairstartmovement.org and Truthalliance.global Mwesigye Robert Esther Afolaranmi Nadya Ali Sebastian Kaupert Suriya Khan Raya Salter (Climate Auntie) Eloísa W. Trinidad Zane McNeill, Esq. Zane McNeill, Esq. Akbar Ali Ashok Siingh Janette Fernandez Vanessa Shakib Nicole Paquette Akisha Townsend Eaton Christopher Church Robin Lewis Sammy Roth Farhad Manjoo Bobak Bakhtiari Clint Rainey Regina Stone-Grover MA Nikki Mosgrove Ani B. Satz Carol J. Adams Gary Francione Delcianna Winders Crystal Hayling Christopher Eubanks Ⓥ Atieno Odhiambo George Shonga Barbara Schmitz Michael Shank, Ph.D.

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Funders - ever wondered what it might look like to implement the TOP guidelines? Here, COS shows how they've done so with the updated (2025) guidelines in their own work as a pass-through funder. Take aways? TOP is a modular, customizable framework that can be tweaked for a variety of settings. If you take a close read, you'll see that COS models the adaptability of the framework. They don't adopt the most stringent standards for every research practice, and that is OK! Good even! It's also a nice model of using TOP to assess one's current position and see where you want to go next.

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Bloomberg's Mark Gongloff does a great job capturing our ideas from yesterday's Climate Cabinet report, highlighting the exciting opportunities in the states to lead on clean energy finance & climate risk mitigation, and, in the process, to make electric utility and property insurance bills more affordable. https://lnkd.in/eC2X9vKN

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This new report, 𝑴𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝑶𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒑𝒔𝒆, by the 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 offers a powerful framework for philanthropic leaders to navigate uncertainty while staying true to long-term #equity goals. One insight stands out: #learning and #evaluation are not just tools; they are critical infrastructure for resilience and transformation. In a rapidly changing world, our ability to sense shifting conditions, stay grounded in our values, and adapt with intention will define our impact. 𝐄𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐲-𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Hanh Cao Yu Diana Scearce Yvonne Trask Anita Toy Lisa Jordan King Baudouin Foundation #Equity #Philanthropy #FutureOfGiving #Leadership #ScenarioPlanning

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If only more funders would embrace this approach, championed so well by Oak Foundation and also by Early Childhood Regional Networks Fund! Funding which forces our Early Years/Early Education sector to focus on scaling projects or programs, rather than scaling impact, clearly weakens instead of strengthening the civil society sector. We need more visionary funders who understand what infrastructure and capacity are needed to drive movements and create sustainable change.

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Proposal to replace "no jargon" with "be precise" as a cardinal rule for great #SciComm: 1. It intuitively prompts a circular workflow that includes evaluation, because... 2. "Precision" changes in context 3. It promotes equity 4. It tells you what to do instead This proposal prompted by a Bluesky post by Arielle Duhaime-Ross that I'll use as an example of why. Implied in their post (screenshotted below) is that saying "COVID is over" = saying "I don't recognize the harm it's still doing". Using "be precise" as a foundation for good comms gets us to: 1. Is implying "COVID is over" actually what we mean to say? 2. Maybe not; if our audience is interested in COVID protection policies, they're probably still concerned about COVID! 3. Rejecting this phrasing will help build a narrative that people are still at risk and protection policies would still do good (but if you're in a hostile system, you can argue for precise language with the justification that saying "during lockdowns" or similar elicits a different visceral emotional reaction than saying "during COVID", which is also true!) 4. So then, what exactly do we mean if not "during COVID"? Let's say that instead. "No jargon", as a rule, doesn't trigger any particular examination of this kind of phrasing, while "be precise" does.

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🚨 Philanthropy’s biggest risk? Playing it safe. Real change isn’t built by one grant—it’s built by bold movements with deep roots. This piece by my colleague Aditi Thorat nails it: trust your grantees, take risks, move at the speed of community, and share—not steer—strategy. It’s how we strive to work at the Accountability Accelerator: backing the people and building the ecosystem to stopping and reversing corporate harm to nature and communities. #Philanthropy #CommunityPower #Accountability #SystemsChange

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Interesting analyses from Kelley Buhles in a podcast where also Cynthia Gibson provides very relevant thoughts about participatory grantmaking: “When I talk to funders or donors about participatory grantmaking, I often like to start from more of a systemic view in terms of, you know, “What brought about the expectation of having detailed reports or strict oversight?” Because I think a lot of this comes out of the emergence of strategic philanthropy, which is a paradigm that’s really created a lot of the problems that we’re trying to solve. You know, it’s this idea that market solutions and, you know, measurement, these are the things that are going to help us solve the problems that the world faces. So I like to kind of work backwards from understanding that that’s where this desire for, you know, strict reporting and oversight comes from. In participatory grantmaking, we believe that when grantmaking processes are designed and owned by communities, that philanthropy will be more effective, more democratic, more just. And so, you know, we really try to talk about that as like a systemic solution to these problems.”

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Air Aware capstone presentations are underway, highlighting the collaborative efforts between OUSD, HG, and the Sequoia Foundation to empower young people in East Oakland. This initiative focuses on the importance of Climate Action. Climate action is real and a critical aspect of our work.@Sequoia Climate Foundation. The presentations showcase the impactful projects developed by the youth, emphasizing their role in addressing climate challenges.

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"This isn’t a theoretical concern—reporting requirements and the terms of funding relationships can expose grantees to legal, reputational, or operational risk. The information funders collect—and how it’s stored, shared, or demanded—can endanger the very people they aim to support. Rethinking reporting is about more than reducing burden—it’s about aligning philanthropic practice with safety, strategy, and solidarity, now and in the future." 🌈 Blanch Vance, Full Circle Impact Solutions, The Grove Foundation 🥁 "Listening for the Beat of Change,” argues that conversational grantmaking #oar isn’t a fad—it’s philanthropy catching up to what grantees have been asking for -- less paperwork, more partnership. Yes! Kataly Foundation, Nwamaka Agbo, MPA, Zaineb Mohammed, MacArthur Foundation, John Palfrey, Borealis Philanthropy, Jeree T., Liberty Hill Foundation, Edward W. Hazen Foundation, Candid, PEAK Grantmaking, Blackbaud Trust starts with listening. Center for Effective Philanthropy and Elisha Smith Arrillaga, Ph.D. (again!) and Trust-Based Philanthropy Project has demonstrated the benefits of new approaches to build trust and drive impact. 💡 If our reporting asks for PDFs nobody reads, it’s time to swap the upload button for a 30-minute reflection call. Start with one grantee, pilot, document, iterate. Let’s keep the beat going and share reporting tips or pilot wins below. 👇

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Good to see these new resources from NationSwell providing insights and tools for place-based philanthropy, and the importance of community-led metrics in measuring progress Amy Lee

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You want to make an international grant. How do you decide what “enough” due diligence looks like? We just published Part II of our three-part series: Designing Risk Assessment Frameworks for International Grantmaking. In plain terms, it explains how grantmakers use a tiered approach based on country conditions, grant structure, and partner readiness, so you can match the level of review to the level of risk without overburdening staff or grantees. What is the single factor that most often triggers a more intensive review in your organization? https://lnkd.in/gNmeSi4p #Grantmaking #Foundations #InternationalGrantmaking #DueDiligence

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