For nearly 40 years, Barry Bowman and his wife, Emma Jean (Rusty) Bowman, worked side by side in UC Santa Cruz’s Sinsheimer Laboratories, conducting research to build our understanding of a part of the cell called the vacuole.
John Hancock did something revolutionary 250 years ago when the Massachusetts merchant signed the Declaration of Independence, announcing to the world that 13 English colonies were freeing themselves from Great Britain and from monarchy.
Keeping the community at the center requires boards to look past familiar and comfortable strategies, even when doing so creates friction, costs a gift, or demands change no one is quite ready for.
Philanthropic institutions can take essential lessons from the words and actions of May Day protestors across California.
T
A purpose-driven restaurant located outside Louisville, Kentucky, just surpassed $100,000 in donations to local and national organizations since the owner pledged to give all his profits to charity. Established one year ago to serve something greater, Noah’s Kitchen donates 100% of its profits to support community initiatives, nonprofits, and ministries. Since opening in Brownsboro Crossing,…
A new report by ABFE, A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities, speaks to how Black leaders in corporate philanthropy continue their work to support Black communities amid a shifting political paradigm.
T
Prince William is selling 20% of the Duchy of Cornwell estate to fund affordable housing and nature projects over the next decade. Established by King Edward III in 1337, the vast private estate spans 128,000 acres across 19 counties to provide the heir to the British throne with an independent income, which today amounts to […]
The post Prince William is Selling 20% of His Duchy Landholdings to…
The Manasota Branch of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) recently received its largest grant to date – a second major award from Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation totaling $450,000.
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In 2005, more than half of Paraguay’s population lived in poverty. By 2025, that share had fallen to 16 percent. A third of the country’s population crossed that threshold over two decades; around 300,000 more did so in just the last two years. A World Bank analysis published in […]
The post How Paraguay cut its poverty rate from over 50 to 16 percent in two…
A philanthropic foundation that lavishes money on scientists who praise religion also has ties to the Epstein class.
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM The house Tala and Farah Mousa were living in was bombed. So they looked at the rubble and started asking what it could become. Their answer is Build Hope, Palestine: a way to turn debris from damaged buildings into reusable blocks. Crushed and sieved rubble, mixed with clay, ash, […]
The post Gaza sisters turn rubble into bricks to rebuild their community…
The president, Leon Botstein, who had run Bard for 50 years, faced scrutiny over his connections to Jeffrey Epstein.
While the concept of “donor organizing” has recently become a buzzword, a key shift underway is moving organizations beyond focusing on what gifts can be secured to how wealth can be more strategically organized and leveraged in service of movement goals.
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Getting a library card should be easy. For many children, it isn’t. The process can require documentation that not every family has: a fixed address, proof of residency, or a guardian’s signature. For students who are unhoused, in foster care, or undocumented, those requirements can make the library effectively […]
The post Chicago public school IDs now…
After once backing liberal causes, the Google co-founder has praised President Trump, donated to Republicans and spent $57 million to try to block a California billionaire tax.
T
The newest Heisman Trophy winner was chosen as the #1 pick in the NFL draft Thursday, but the young quarterback is also a #1 charitable giver. Fernando Mendoza announced this week a commitment of $500,000 to the National MS Society to accelerate progress toward a world free of multiple sclerosis. The new Mendoza Family Fund […]
The post #1 in NFL Draft and #1 in Charity: Fernando Mendoza Just…
V
Not everybody acquiesced when Jeffrey Epstein came bearing gifts. Harvard University barred Epstein’s donations after he pleaded guilty to solicitation of a minor in 2008, a development that frustrated his friends on the faculty, according to an internal review. One physicist, a woman whom Epstein had bragged about and racially misprofiled in an interview that […]
H
According to Greg Warnock, when a company actively engages in giving, it naturally promotes a culture built on trust and social responsibility. A business that offers paid time off for volunteering or matches employee donations is not just giving back; it’s also reinforcing its internal values.
The post Greg Warnock highlights corporate philanthropy’s role as a driver of organizational culture…
Every Earth Day, we are urged to care more deeply about the planet. For many people, that is a one-day appeal. For conservationists, rangers, field scientists and frontline practitioners, it is the job—one that has a silent cost.
Rapid response infrastructure doesn’t need to be reinvented, it needs to be reinforced for sustainability. Here is what philanthropy and movements should do.
New documents reveal what professors did to help Jeffrey Epstein get inside Harvard’s gates.
V
Devon Fritz had his midlife crisis a little early. He spent his 20s writing tax software, staying on track to hit all the life targets he’d set for himself: house, kids, financial security. And then, one day, he did the math and projected forward what the next 20 years of his life would look like. […]
In an interview with the local news outfit Hell Gate, the New York mayor framed his decision to avoid the glamorous fund-raiser as a way to keep his focus on affordability.
V
Ah, Tax Day. If you’ve been staring at your tax bill and wondering how to keep more of your money, money, money to yourself next year, you might consider taking a page out of the billionaire’s playbook. You could be like Steve Ballmer and write off the costs of buying a sports team, or make […]
Two former institutional funders share their analysis on why collaborative funding guided by movement-rooted intermediaries are necessary—yet underutilized—infrastructure to address today’s social and environmental challenges.
About 82 percent of Americans said in response to a survey that they give to charity or to people in need.
As half of an unfathomably powerful couple, Mrs. Sánchez Bezos seems to have influenced the uber-rich to stop apologizing, and start enjoying themselves.
After donating over $700 million to historically Black colleges and universities in 2025, the full scope of Scott’s donations since
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Chris, 57, a former painter and decorator from the north-east, spent most of his life “travelling from town to town with a tent.” Now he has his own front door, a view of the Bridgewater canal, and a German kitchen fitted with Bosch appliances. His main preoccupation when a […]
The post Manchester’s ‘dress rehearsal’ for life is getting homeless men back to…
Movements are often sparked by the fire within, but they endure through ecosystems and community networks that make staying possible. Those networks need to be fully resourced for the long haul.
Page 1
Older →