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Building Resilience in Times of Crisis : Part 2: Selecting the right OD consultants, building effective partnerships
Full text linkThe recent freeze on USAID funding, initiated by the Trump administration in early 2025, has had widespread and destabilising effects on the global non-profit and humanitarian sector. The abrupt suspension disrupted essential services such as healthcare, food assistance and support for displaced populations, particularly in vulnerable and conflict-affected regions. Non-profit organisations reliant on USAID have faced severe operational setbacks, including staff layoffs, programme suspensions and loss of critical resources.Beyond immediate disruptions, the freeze has had broader geopolitical consequences, such as rising anti-aid sentiment, shrinking humanitarian access, and increased misinformation targeting civil society groups. While there are signs that some emergency food assistance programmes may be reinstated, the overall landscape remains uncertain as the administration seeks to align aid efforts with more nationalistic policies.These events have highlighted how unprepared we are when a crisis strikes. Partners suddenly lose resources they depend on, and the issues they address are quickly labelled as controversial, placing them at risk of backlash. Addressing these challenges requires not only immediate financial relief but also specialised skills and strong support infrastructures that go beyond traditional project funding. This is where Organisational Development (OD) and flexible funding become essential, helping grantees build resilience and adapt to rapidly changing circumstances.Recognising this need, the Philea Organisational Development Community of Practice has launched a series of informal gatherings on "Building Resilience in Times of Crisis" where philanthropy practitioners can discuss challenges, share approaches and explore adaptable support strategies. This learning series is not only a space to exchange immediate responses but also to think critically about how to reshape funding and support structures in ways that centre local leadership, foster long-term sustainability and challenge existing power imbalances in the philanthropic ecosystem. This information note captures the learnings from the second of three sessions in this series:* Part 1: Supporting partners' response and adaptation in funding crises* Part 2: Building Effective Partnerships* Part 3: Bridging Efforts Across the Atlantic.See first part of series here: https://philea.issuelab.org/resource/building-resilience-in-times-of-crisis-part-1-supporting-partners-response-and-adaptation-in-funding-crises.htm
Decline of christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off: Findings from the 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study
Full text linkThe 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS) and other Pew Research Center polling find that the Christian share of the population, after years of decline, has been relatively stable since 2019. And the religiously unaffiliated population, after rising rapidly for decades, has leveled off – at least temporarily. At present:62% of U.S. adults describe themselves as Christians: 40% are Protestant, 19% are Catholic, and 3% are other Christians.29% are religiously unaffiliated: 5% are atheist, 6% are agnostic, and 19% identify religiously as "nothing in particular."7% belong to religions other than Christianity: 2% are Jewish, and 1% each are Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu (all figures are rounded)
Promises Versus Progress: How transparent are foundations about their local funding commitments?
Full text linkThe localisation movement has been gaining traction for a number of years, with calls to shift decision-making and implementation to the local level. These calls were primarily aimed at bilateral donors, but in December 2022, 26 philanthropic foundations joined donor governments in endorsing the Donor Statement on Supporting Locally Led Development. This was a public commitment to prioritise local leadership in development efforts. A key component of this commitment - Action 2 - focuses on increasing direct funding to local organisations. Having philanthropies join bilaterals was, and is, a welcome step – localisation is not an easy lift so having philanthropies and bilateral donors aligned bolsters the chance of success.What was not included in the statement, however, was a mechanism to track and report progress on these commitments.Publish What You Fund has been researching and assessing locally led development for several years. We assessed the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID's) progress on its target to channel 25% of its funding directly to local organisations, and compared five leading donors on their local funding efforts. This report focuses on the extent to which the 26 philanthropic foundations who signed the December 2022 Commitment are tracking and reporting their progress on locally led development
AI Equity Project 2024
Full text linkAI Equity is the ethical development, deployment, and use of AI systems that prioritize fairness, inclusivity, and justice, especially for historically marginalized or underserved communities.It's achieved when AI systems are transparent, accountable, and participatory, with a focus on minimizing harm and maximizing benefits for all demographics.Survey objective: To understand the trends, gaps, and barriers with AI Equity in thenonprofit sector of U.S. and Canada year over year. This report is for the first (launch) year
Big Ideas and Big Money: Think Tank Funding in America
Full text linkThis brief provides a detailed analysis of a first-of-its-kind, publicly available repository of U.S. think tank funding — www.thinktankfundingtracker.org. The repository tracks funding from foreign governments, the U.S. government, and Pentagon contractors to the top 50 think tanks in the United States over the past five years. It serves as a vital research guide for anyone wishing to learn more about the funding sources of prominent U.S. think tanks.  The repository gives a five-point transparency score to each of the top 50 think tanks in the U.S., a scale created by the authors based on five binary questions. Based on this criteria, nine of the top 50 think tanks (18 percent) are fully transparent, while 23 think tanks (46 percent) are partially transparent. Most concerning, the remaining 18 think tanks (36 percent) are "dark money" think tanks, entirely opaque in their funding without revealing donors.In the past five years, foreign governments and foreign government-owned entities donated more than 16.7 million, 9.1 million to U.S. think tanks, respectively. The Atlantic Council, Brookings Institution, and German Marshall Fund received the most money from foreign governments since 2019: 17.1 million, and 34.7 million to the top 50 think tanks. The top donors include Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Mitsubishi, which provided 2.6 million, and 10.2 million, 4.1 million, respectively.The U.S. government has directly given at least 1.4 billion — goes to the Rand Corporation, which works directly for the U.S. government.While think tanks exist to produce independent analysis, the prevalence of special interest funding raises questions of intellectual freedom, self-censorship, and perspective filtering. This is compounded by instances in which individual researchers simultaneously hold positions at a think tank and a given foreign government or corporation, a clear potential conflict of interest.  Moving forward, this brief contains a set of recommendations for various actors:For media: Adopt a professional standard to report any conflicts of interest with sources discussing U.S. foreign policy. For Congress: Pass legislation requiring all nonprofit organizations that seek to influence public policy to publicly disclose all of their corporate, U.S. government, and foreign government donors above $10,000, and improve the conflict of interest disclosure requirements for congressional witnesses.For the Department of Justice: Provide clearer guidelines surrounding what think tanks not registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act can do on behalf of their foreign donors.For think tanks: End pay-to-play research and proactively move toward identifying conflicts of interest
Overdeck Family Foundation 2024 Grantmaking & Impact Report
No full textIn this report, we highlight how our grantmaking and strategic support helped our nonprofit partners develop exciting prototypes and innovative practices, engage in field-building research, and achieve growth in 2024. These stories are complemented by insights from the founders at the forefront of this work and the beneficiaries on the ground whose lives and learning experiences have been transformed as a result
Achieving Fiscally Responsible Tax Reform: Top 20 Proposals to Reduce Wasteful Spending, Close Tax Loopholes, and Save up to $4 Trillion
Full text linkEnacted in 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) stimulated economic growth, delivered tax relief for hardworking Americans, and made significant progress toward simplifying the tax code. Now, Congress is facing tough decisions about how to deal with the expiration of many of those crucial but expensive reforms. This report presents 20 priority reformsâ—â10 spending cuts and 10 tax loophole closersâ—âthat would generate up to $4 trillion in savings to help advance the permanent extension of the TCJA without adding to the deficit
Candid Annual Report 2024: Fulfilling our Promise
Full text linkIn our 2024 annual report, we expand on the ways we are using AI for good, dive into the accomplishments of our Demographics via Candid partnerships, and venture into the less-explored areas of charitable giving to fiscally sponsored projects. This past year, our focus was on increasing access to our tools, expanding our network, and driving a proactive research agenda, while gearing up to launch the new Candid search
Well-being and Well-becoming Through the Arts: A Picture of Mattering for Youth of Color
No full textAs fewer and fewer schools offer arts learning opportunities, out-of-school time organizations in many communities have stepped in to fill that space. This is particularly true in neighborhoods with low income and diverse populations, where robust arts programs are least likely to be present in schools. A team of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh set out to explore the values and goals that these community-based arts organizations brought to the design of their programs. Through their work they have defined them as "culture-centered, community-based youth arts programs." They have identified seven program design characteristics and a range of reported positive youth outcomes
Executive Summary of the Cross-Continental Exchange Meetings between African and European Foundations
Full text linkThroughout the course of 2024, WINGS, as part of its partnership agreement with Agence Française de Développement (AFD) joined up with the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), Africa Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA), Empower Families for Innovative Philanthropy (EFIP), the Fondation de France, Philea, F20, and OECD NetFWDto organise two cross-continental exchange meetings, bringing together leaders of corporate and private/endowed foundations from Africa and Europe to strengthen collaboration and catalyse transformative change. These convenings, held in Paris and Nairobi, were pivotal in fostering mutual understanding, sharing innovative practices, and exploring collective strategies to address systemic challenges in the operation and execution of ideas in the sector across both continents. The meetings underscored the potential of philanthropy as an enabler of impactful, sustainable change through collaborative learning and action