Find Philanthropic Flexibility with an LLC
Limited liability corporations (LLCs) empower individuals to take a multi-faceted approach to their philanthropy. A handful of prominent philanthropists—many of them from the tech industry—have popularized the LLC model to pursue a range of activities that help them achieve their social impact objectives. These activities can include: Grant making Advocacy and lobbying Impact investing Conventional commercial investing What makes the LLC...
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The Case for Collective Impact and Cross-Sector Partnerships
Termed by the consultancy FSG, collective impact refers to a structured partnership model that brings together stakeholders in government, business, nonprofits, and philanthropy to tackle complex social issues. By uniting key players from across sectors, this structured partnership model empowers these groups to commit to a shared agenda and measurement system that will better position them to solve a social problem. When is collective impact the right appro...
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Impact Investing: High(er) Risk, High Reward
For philanthropists interested in pursuing a social change agenda in ways that could also generate a financial return, impact investing is an attractive option. Most high-capacity impact investors consider this activity to be a supplement rather than a replacement to their charitable contributions. What is impact investing? Impact investing is the act of financing an organization or fund that aims to provide a social or environmental impact in addition to ...
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Financial Capital’s Versatility in Philanthropy
As a philanthropist, you can set an intention for your resources and define how to deploy your assets. Be sure to consider the value of your entire financial portfolio and support social change efforts in various ways to ensure that all of your investment activities align with your charitable priorities. Beyond simply writing a check or making a grant to a nonprofit, you can engage in philanthropy across the full spectrum of financial activities, includin...
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Understanding Place-Based Philanthropy
Place-based philanthropy describes an approach that targets a specific location—be it a neighborhood, municipality, or even multiple counties—upon which to focus charitable resources and make a transformative impact. It goes beyond supporting a community foundation or funding unrelated efforts in a contained space. By directing philanthropic assets to a particular geographic region and coordinating local partners, you can leverage your financial capital, social ne...
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Funder Collaboratives: Amplify Impact and Learning
One way that you can maximize impact is by joining forces with fellow philanthropists who share your goals and vision. Philanthropic collaboratives empower like-minded donors to share learnings, strategize on social impact efforts, and potentially even pool their financial resources to address a charitable cause. What are funder collaboratives? Individuals or institutions typically form joint-learning or funding collaboratives to align their philanthropic ...
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The Outsized Impact of Philanthropy on Biomedical Research
Several organizations and groups within the philanthropic sector have made invaluable contributions to advance biomedical research. Individual philanthropists, too, can jump-start new models of innovation that empower and accelerate progress in medical research and development (R&D). Indeed, philanthropy already has and continues to have a tremendous impact on medical research by closing critical funding gaps, improving research culture, and driving fundamental ...
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Strive for Systems Change
To create positive and lasting social change, major improvements must be made at the systems level of an issue area. This entails reconfiguring policies, processes, and power structures to remedy complex issues such as poverty, social justice, health disparities, and more. By targeting the root causes of major problems with a holistic approach, philanthropy has the potential to catalyze enduring, transformational changes. For a philanthropist, this could mean fund...
