Looking for Progress: How Cedar Rapids is Connecting Growth and Opportunity
As part of our ongoing work exploring the lessons and recommendations offered in Looking for Progress in America's Smaller Legacy Cities: A Report for Place-based Funders, we asked some of the participants in the study: How has revitalization proceeded in your community, and how might your foundation and local partners ensure that economic growth and economic opportunity develop in a coordinated…
Invisible No More: Native Movement Building
Native Americans in Philanthropy (NAP) and more than 150 allies will gather in Los Angeles on May 6 for our Invisible No More: Native Movement Building summit and celebration. This event, held at the enigmatic L.A. cultural outpost The Underground Museum, will bring together national and global movements to discuss youth advocacy, narrative change strategies, and lessons from Standing Rock. We’ll…
Looking for Progress in America’s Smaller Legacy Cities: Takeaways & Tools for Place-based Funders
Place-based funders can play an important role in connecting economic growth to opportunity.
What began as an inquiry into four small legacy cities – Chattanooga, Tenn.; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Rochester, N.Y.; and Grand Rapids, Mich. – that appeared to have experienced some measure of revitalization in the post Great Recession environment, evolved into an understanding that the places are moving…
2017 Annual Conference President’s Message
Hello, I’m Ben Starrett, president and CEO of the Funders’ Network.
It’s great to see so many friends here. It’s especially great to see so many new friends who are joining us this year for the first time.
Let me begin by acknowledging the tremendous support for this year’s conference from our funders.
The leadership of our conference co-chairs and their designees also has been invaluable. I…
Annual Conference Spotlight: A Former Marine Turned Sustainability Crusader
As a tough-talking Marine who trained as a fighter pilot and has done a stint inside the Pentagon, Col. Mark "Puck" Mykleby might seem like an unlikely ally in the battle over environmental stewardship and sustainable living.
But Mykleby is not just an ally. He’s an undaunted crusader and the co-author of The New Grand Strategy: Restoring America’s Prosperity, Security and Sustainability in the…
Remembering David Burwell, Transportation Visionary
IN MEMORIAM: David G. Burwell 1947-2017
David Burwell served as policy advisor for TFN’s Transportation Reform Funders Group from 2009-2013.
We lost David Burwell on Feb. 1 to a three-year battle with cancer. He was 69 and, as many of you know, was a founder of Rails to Trails and later served as transportation advisor to TFN for several years.
I had the great good fortune of working…
The Doctor Is In: Bolder Advocacy Offers Tips on Advocacy Work at TFN’s Annual Conference
The Doctor Is In: Abby Levine, director of the Bolder Advocacy Initiative
Do you want to know more about how your foundation can support advocacy — or engage in advocacy itself?
Our 2017 Annual Conference in Saint Paul, Minn., March 20-22, will feature Abby Levine, director of the Bolder Advocacy Initiative at the Alliance for Justice as our “Doctor Is In” expert.
Abby will be available…
Saint Paul Spotlight: Philanthropy’s Post-Election Gameplan
As a new administration takes the helm in Washington, how will philanthropy navigate the road ahead?
Join us for the Funders' Network Annual Conference in Saint Paul, Minn., March 20-22, 2017, for analysis and discussion of our post-election climate — and how funders can become even more engaged and effective.
Our annual conference offers several opportunities to learn from experts about…
How Can Philanthropy Help Disaster Relief and Recovery?
For the past two years, TFN and the Center for Disaster Philanthropy have been involved in an exciting regional effort to strengthen community foundations in their knowledge of disasters and to empower their leadership in this arena.
The Philanthropic Preparedness, Resiliency & Emergency Partnership (PPREP) program is directed at seventeen community foundations from a ten-state area in the…
Partners For Places Now Accepting Proposals For Spring 2017 Matching Grants Cycle!
We're currently accepting applications for the Spring 2017 cycle for Partners for Places, a competitive grant program that provides matching investments from national foundations to build partnerships between local government sustainability leaders and place-based foundations in the United States and Canada. Grants support sustainability projects that demonstrate broad-based community support and…