Angelique Power, president and CEO of the Detroit-based Skillman Foundation, speaks with eJewishPhilanthropy on the power — and necessity — of centering trust within grantmaking. “What’s complicated about philanthropy is that money and power are often synonymous,” Power says, “And so while the sector is directed at helping, being the arbiter of how capital moves makes you — in some ways, it jeopardizes trust, just in that act right there. It creates this uneven scenario where people are coming to you asking for funding.”

Through the interview, Power lifts up long-recommended practices: providing unrestricted general operating support; releasing burdens on grantmaking and grantee reporting; removing metrics that are strenuous. Knowing how grantmaking has changed during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Power offers funders an opportunity to reflect on why and how these have been possible and the power trust can have in creating a future we want for the field.

Read the full interview here.

Victoria Foundation announced yesterday that Sharnita C. Johnson will serve as the Foundation’s Vice President of Strategy, Impact and Communications. In this new position, Johnson will provide oversight and management of all programmatic activities and ensure alignment with the Foundation goals and values.

This expansion of the leadership team comes as Victoria Foundation last month announced its new framework to support power-building and self-determination of Black, Brown and other communities pushed to the margins in Newark, New Jersey.

Previously, Johnson served as the Arts Program Director at the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, where she led a statewide grantmaking portfolio focused on arts, equity, and creative placemaking and played an integral role in the Dodge Foundation’s transformation of its mission to address the root causes and repair of structural racism and inequity.

Since 2017, she has served on the Board of Directors for Grantmakers in the Arts, and will become Chair of the Board in January 2022.

Read the announcement here.

Earlier this month, Candid and the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP) released the eighth edition of its annual Measuring the State of Disaster Philanthropy report. In it, they examined available 2019 data on global disaster-related philanthropy, analyzing funding from foundations, bilateral and multilateral donors, the U.S. federal government, corporations, and donations through donor-advised funds (DAFs) and online platforms.

“Philanthropy plays a crucial role in helping communities prepare for and respond to global disasters and supports the long-term recovery that individuals and communities face after disasters,” the authors share, “several recommendations to help funders maximize their philanthropic impact” are offered for the future planning and resilience.

Read about their findings, actionable takeaways, and the full report here.

In a recent review in Elle Decor, art critic Kimberly Drew surveys the first-of-its-kind period room that presents an imagined Black home in New York City. “The exercise coined by [Saidiya Hartman, Ph.D.] is the work of overlaying historical gaps with imaginative narrative building,” Drew writes. “This practice stems from the reality that the everyday lives of Black people have often been underdocumented or plainly ignored.”

Read the full review here.

In a new report series, “Overlooked: AAPI and Native American communities in philanthropy,” Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) offers data and insight from AAPI and Native American nonprofit leaders and communities are shared that elucidate these concerning trends.

Even as philanthropy has turned greater attention toward issues of racism and systemic inequality since early 2020, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) and Native American nonprofit leaders and communities appear not to have received much increased support from foundation funders. Most foundations continue to overlook nonprofits that serve AAPI and Native American communities, despite evidence that these communities have suffered disproportionately from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

AAPI and Native American nonprofit leaders report having less positive experiences with their foundation funders than nonprofit leaders of other races/ethnicities. This has been the case during, as well as prior to, the pandemic.
Despite the significant challenges facing AAPI and Native American people, most foundations continue to overlook nonprofits that serve these communities.

Read both reports and their key findings here.

A recent episode of When We Fight, We Win!: The Podcast, centers on “Sam Jacobs and a network of donors who use lessons and inspiration from social movements to reclaim a new narrative around philanthropy.”

Listen here.

In a new report, “Art Is Work: Policies to Support Creative Workers,” the Commission on the Arts addresses “how can we better recognize the value of artists in our national policy in order to enable the essential work they do?”

Read here.

As cities increasingly use data to help shape policy and identify service gaps, what does this mean for arts and culture? The topic often generates skepticism around identifying metrics that capture the impact of the arts. But as the creative sector continues to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, data will be increasingly critical to shape policy, establish more equitable and inclusive practices, and affirm the importance of arts and culture as a public service well into the future.

Bloomberg Associates, the philanthropic municipal consulting arm of Bloomberg Philanthropies, recently released a new resource that offers insights and practical tips for cities to collect and use data about their arts and cultural sectors. The free guide, Arts Data in the Public Sector: Strategies for Local Arts Agencies, summarizes findings from extensive sector research and an in-depth analysis of data practices of 15 local arts agencies across the country. Through best practices and case studies, the guide aims to help city arts leaders use data to show measurable impact, identify priority policy areas, and promote access to the arts across communities.

You can download the free guide here and read more in a blog post here.

In addition, Bloomberg Associates will host a webinar in January discussing the guide and some of the key case studies. More details to come in the new year!

Grantmakers in the Arts is seeking a Communications Manager to join its team in New York, NY. Responsibilities include the development of communication plans for GIA programs and information dissemination, including coordination of information from members and national partners. Further responsibilities include oversight and promotion of GIA’s communication platforms, including website; news feed; social media; weekly member bulletin; and blogs. Full details and application are here.