From the Philanthropy News Digest: The Open Society Foundations has announced the 2023 recipients of its Puerto Rico Youth Fellowships.

Launched in 2018, the program supports Puerto Rican leaders between the ages of 21 and 35 working to elevate climate justice and food sovereignty, promote human rights, and advance decolonization efforts in Puerto Rico.

The third cohort of eight fellows will each receive $45,000 over 18 months to work full-time on their projects, which include teaching young people about food sovereignty, community farming, archival initiatives aimed at documenting the histories of the archipelago, strengthening support for trans and nonbinary people, and launching an art project around menstrual and HIV awareness.

Recipients include Dana Esquilín Rosario (she/her/he), who will work on La Brecha, a project offering healing tools and resources for communities and relatives of incarcerated people; Nicolás X. Gómez Andújar (he/him), who will facilitate the self-management of an inclusive, educational, and cooperative space through the Culebra Fishing Association to address the problems of the fishermen on the island; Carlo André (they/she, him/us), who will develop the queer Barrioization cultural platform and help build the community archive of the town of Manatí, in collaboration with the José S. Alegría Cultural Center; Yira M. Rodríguez Martínez (she/her), who will participate in the development of La Aldea—an initiative that works to preserve and rescue disused spaces in Ponce—from an agroecological, artistic, and educational perspective; Jade M. Algarín Corcino (they, them), who will organize the farming communities of Vieques, Puerto Rico, and Santa Cruz, Virgin Islands, to create an alliance that reflects the shared colonial, cultural, and archeological histories of the two island communities and exchange knowledge to build an authentic Caribbean food system; Lale Namerrow Pastor (they/he), who will work on the Transmasc Network of Puerto Rico, an initiative that proposes to develop links between trans and non-binary people whose gender identity or expression is male; Stephanie Monserrate Torres (she), who will create spaces on the Guakia farm for community empowerment and produce agroecological food with agroforestry practices; and L’orangelis Thomas Negrón (she/they), who will work on Matrilíneo, a project focused on menstrual and HIV awareness, through art, documentation, and narrative justice.

“This year, we have chosen eight fellows that are leading critical projects across Puerto Rico, including Vieques and Culebra,” said Karina Claudio Betancourt, outgoing director of OSF’s Puerto Rico Project. “Their innovation and creativity are what Puerto Rico needs right now to continue to inspire generations to stay on the island and fight for our resources and for our fundamental right to self-determination.”

Learn more about the program and fellows here.

The Jerome Foundation has named Eleanor Savage, a highly-respected and experienced arts and philanthropy leader, as its new president and CEO charged with furthering the organization’s commitment to innovative and flexible grantmaking programs for early career artists and arts ecosystems that focus on equity and the role artists and culture bearers play in societal change. Eleanor is also the current Vice Chair of GIA’s board.

“The world and the worlds of arts and culture are more complex than ever. The ways of making art and recognizing the work of artists is evolving,” Savage said. “I’m deeply honored to build on Jerome Hill’s legacy by connecting, listening and responding to create with artists the opportunities that further their efforts to make meaning, tell untold stories and engage in world building.”

Savage, currently the Jerome Foundation’s program director, will assume the president and CEO role May 1, 2023. She succeeds Ben Cameron, the private foundation’s leader since 2015. He retires after a diverse career with significant contributions to the arts community and philanthropic organizations. Cameron followed Cindy Gehrig, Jerome’s president for 38 years, a critical advocate in arts philanthropy for supporting individual artists.

The Jerome Foundation, founded in 1964 by the late artist/painter/photographer/composer/ screenwriter and Academy Award-winning film director and philanthropist Jerome Hill, honors his legacy through multi-year grants that support the creation, development and presentation of new works by early career artists. The foundation supports grants to early career generative artists, and the nonprofit arts organizations that serve them, in all disciplines in Minnesota and the five boroughs of New York City where Hill spent much of his creative career. A St. Paul native, Hill was a grandson of railroad builder James J. Hill.

“Eleanor embodies the Jerome Foundation‘s purpose and values by always showing up in the community to seek ways arts leaders and early career artists support social change through meaningful commitment to equity and addressing racism and long-term inequities,” said Kate Barr, Jerome Foundation board chair and president and CEO of Propel Nonprofits.

Barr added that “as we make this important transition, we are deeply grateful for Ben Cameron’s contributions, especially his leadership in re-imagining and implementing grant programs and internal systems, most notably during the pandemic, in ways that respond to seismic changes in the arts’ ecosystem.”

Board member Sanjit Sethi, president of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, led the Jerome Foundation’s CEO search with support from the global organizational consulting firm Korn Ferry.

“A position of this importance to our organization and its stakeholders warranted a comprehensive national search that attracted a number of impressive and highly qualified candidates,” Sethi said. “From among these, we are confident and delighted with our choice of Eleanor as the right leader to guide the Jerome Foundation to its next level. She clearly understands and will sustain Jerome Hill’s legacy and life-long commitment to promoting human rights.”

Read the full announcement here.

From the Kentucky Arts Council: Disasters and emergencies are among the largest threats to the careers of artists and livelihood of arts organizations across the country. Yet addressing these issues falls to the bottom of the to-do list when skies are blue and danger is out-of-sight. Join a 5-part series from the Kentucky Arts Council exploring important topics and issues related to emergency and disaster readiness, response and recovery in the arts. The series will culminate with an online event hosted by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.

Sessions occur on April 18, May 23, June 21, July 26, and August 23 at 11am ET. Learn more and register here.

Join United Philanthropy Forum and the broader philanthropic sector in support of the Charitable Act (S.566), a bill that would implement a Universal Charitable Deduction (UCD).

On March 1, 2023, Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Chris Coons (D-DE) introduced the Charitable Act. The bill allows individual taxpayers who do not otherwise itemize their tax deductions a deduction in taxable years beginning in 2023 or 2024 for charitable contributions. The deduction is limited to one-third of the standard deduction allowed to such taxpayers.

This bi-partisan bill currently has 13 co-sponsors, 7 Democrats and 6 Republicans.

The Charitable Act would restore the non-itemizer charitable deduction and raise the caps from $300 for individuals/$600 for joint filers to one-third of the standard deduction. In 2023, this change would allow taxpayers who don’t itemize to claim a deduction for charitable giving up to approximately $4,600 for individuals/$9,200 for joint filers, in addition to claiming the standard deduction itself. The deduction in the bill would be in effect for taxable years 2023 and 2024 and indexed for inflation.

Charitable dollars are essential to maintaining a healthy civil society, vital to both nonprofit charities and local governments that depend on these resources to achieve their critical missions. The charitable deduction is good tax policy – a simple calculation shows that those in need receive at least $2.50 in benefit for every $1 of tax benefit. This is an impressive return on investment.

The Forum supports the Charitable Act and looks forward to working with you to urge Congress to enact this important legislation.

Learn more here.