No result found
2020-11-12
Candid;
Each year, the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and Candid analyze global disaster-related funding from foundations, bilateral and multilateral donors, U.S. government agencies, corporations, and donations through donor-advised funds and online platforms. We analyze this funding according to a taxonomy that classifies giving by type of disaster and disaster assistance strategy. Philanthropic funding for disasters and humanitarian crises is situated within a large ecosystem of global aid. While assistance from governments far surpasses funding from foundations, institutional philanthropy still plays an important role. For example, foundations can choose to fill funding gaps and support underfunded areas of the disaster life cycle. Support for disaster risk reduction and preparedness can mitigate the impact of disasters, and many communities need sustained funding for the long road to recovery. We hope this analysis will aid donors in considering how to maximize the impact of their disaster-related giving.
2020-10-07
Building Movement Project;
This report presents data collected from over 400 nonprofit executive directors and CEOs of color about the effects of COVID-19 and the uprisings against anti-Black racism on their communities, organizations, and themselves.On the Frontlines makes five key findings:- The Crisis Is About To Get Worse: Organizations led by people of color are preparing for multiple crises in the immediate future due to unmet survival needs, a resurgence of COVID-19, and policies that criminalize communities of color.- Nonprofits Are Filling Government Gaps: Since the start of the pandemic, organizations have been pivoting to meet the pressing demands of their communities and filling the gaps left by ineffective government policies and systems.Women of Color Leaders are Bearing The Brunt: The toll on nonprofit leaders of color, particularly women of color leaders, is immense.- The Long-Term Sustainability of POC-Led Nonprofits Is Unclear: The long-term financial stability of POC-led nonprofits is unclear.- We Must Unite to End Anti-Black Racism: POC-led organizations that are responding to the uprisings against anti-Black racism need partnerships and investments that deepen their organizing, advocacy, and solidarity efforts. We heard an overarching message from leaders of color: there is no going back to normal, and this is the opportunity and moment for meaningful systemic change.How do we get there? The report offers recommendations for how nonprofits, foundations, and the sector can support leaders of color so that they can continue doing their vital work, how we can focus our efforts on systemic and structural issues, and how to achieve transformational change.
2020-10-01
Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University;
As the overall population ages, the number of very low-income older adult households that qualify for HUD housing assistance is rising rapidly. Older adults tend to stay in subsidized housing longer than younger families. As a result, older adults make up a growing share of HUD-subsidized renter households. In the last ten years alone, the share of older adults in HUD-subsidized housing has risen five percentage points, and older adult households now make up over a third of all subsidized renters. In this paper, we examine whether the subsidized housing stock is suitable for aging in place. We ask: What physical challenges do older subsidized renters face? What difficulties do they experience with their housing environment? And, are subsidized units more equipped with accessibility features than units without rent assistance?To answer these questions, we used the 2011 American Housing Survey, the last vintage of this survey to include detailed questions about housing accessibility and household mobility difficulties. We constructed a comparison group of eligible, unsubsidized renters making up to 30 percent of area median income. We used chi-square statistics, logistic regression modeling, and propensity score matching to identify differences in housing accessibility and mobility difficulties between subsidized and unsubsidized, eligible older adults. We also compare households receiving project-based subsidies to those receiving tenant-based vouchers.The findings confirm that older subsidized renters have many vulnerabilities, but rental housing assistance provides more livable housing in terms of accessibility than private-market rentals. We also find that renters receiving project-based rental assistance typically have more accessibility features than those receiving tenant-based assistance, but the differences are not statistically significant. Ultimately, our results highlight the benefit of subsidized housing but also point to unmet needs. Livable and wheelchair accessible units are lacking for older, extremely low-income renters, whether they receive a subsidy or not. While many units are potentially modifiable, only a small share have basic accessibility features that make them currently livable for older adults.
2020-09-30
National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a);
The number of adults in the United States age 65 and older is expected to grow from 46 million today to more than 70 million in 2030 -- a 52 percent increase in just over 10 years. This growth in the number of older adults over such a relatively short period of time should be the impetus to transform how our society thinks about the assets of older adults -- and how communities can harness the tremendous resource they represent to make positive change.Further, as the national dialogue on the impact of social isolation grows, many are beginning to analyze new and innovative ways to address social isolation among older adults. Increasing the number and types of activities that incorporate older adults, and encouraging social engagement are just a few ways to reduce social isolation.engAGED: The National Resource Center for Engaging Older Adults has developed a toolkit to assist the Aging Network as it identifies approaches and develops effective practices to overcome obstacles and increase the social engagement of older adults.Materials in the toolkit explain the impact of social isolation, describe ways to increase social engagement and explain the benefits of social engagement for older adults -- and their communities. The best part is that each resource included in the toolkit can be customized with the contact information of local organizations!Don't forget the other fact sheets that engAGED has developed on ways older adults can connect to the community through lifelong learning, technology, the arts and intergenerational activities.
2020-09-18
Sciencemag;
Plastic pollution is a pervasive and growing problem. To estimate the effectiveness of interventions to reduce plastic pollution, we modeled stocks and flows of municipal solid waste and four sources of microplastics through the global plastic system for five scenarios between 2016 and 2040. Implementing all feasible interventions reduced plastic pollution by 40% from 2016 rates and 78% relative to "business as usual" in 2040. Even with immediate and concerted action, 710 million metric tons of plastic waste cumulatively entered aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. To avoid a massive build-up of plastic in the environment, coordinated global action is urgently needed to reduce plastic consumption; increase rates of reuse, waste collection, and recycling; expand safe disposal systems; and accelerate innovation in the plastic value chain.
2020-09-17
Heartland Alliance;
Poverty rates and household incomes improved in Illinois in 2019. However, this data reflects conditions from the last year before a global pandemic and related recession--meaning the picture is likely much worse today. And even before the 2020 recession, millions of Illinoisans--especially people of color--lived in poverty or on the brink.The poverty rate for the United States was 10.5% in 2019, a decline of 1.3 percentage points from 2018 and the lowest on record. There were 34 million people in poverty nationwide. In 2019, 1.4 million Illinoisans were in poverty--a rate of 11.5%. Additionally, 1.9 million Illinoisans are near poor and economically insecure with incomes between 100% and 199% of the federal poverty threshold.The data also revealed that health insurance coverage rates declined in Illinois and throughout the nation in 2019, continuing a disturbing trend of eroding the gains of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), right before a global pandemic and economic recession hit.
2020-09-10
Scientific Reports Nature Research;
Small island states receive unprecedented amounts of the world's plastic waste. In March 2019, we removed as much plastic litter as possible from Aldabra Atoll, a remote UNESCO World Heritage Site, and estimated the money and effort required to remove the remaining debris. We removed 25 tonnes at a cost of $224,537, which equates to around $10,000 per day of clean-up operations or $8,900 per tonne of litter. We estimate that 513 tonnes (95% CI 212–814) remains on Aldabra, the largest accumulation reported for any single island. We calculate that removing it will cost approximately $4.68 million and require 18,000 person-hours of labour. By weight, the composition is dominated by litter from the regional fishing industry (83%) and flip-flops from further afield (7%). Given the serious detrimental effects of plastic litter on marine ecosystems, we conclude that clean-up efforts are a vital management action for islands like Aldabra, despite the high financial cost and should be integrated alongside policies directed at 'turning off the tap'. We recommend that international funding be made available for such efforts, especially considering the transboundary nature of both the marine plastic litter problem and the ecosystem services provided by biodiversity-rich islands.
2020-09-01
S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation;
Many foundations that are guided by a long-term commitment to move the needle in a finite set of issue areas also hold "special grantmaking" funds. These program dollars can be flexibly deployed for nascent opportunities, innovative ideas, emergencies, local causes, and/or areas of high interest to their leaders.Little has been written about special grants as a vibrant resource for philanthropy. While these funds are not always advertised publicly, they are more than purely discretionary. On the contrary, special grants can be made with purpose in mind and aim to advance the holistic goals of their respective foundations.This essay is rooted in the experience and observations of Matthew La Rocque and Barbara Kibbe, members of the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation's Effectiveness team. It explores the purpose of special grants, how they are made and monitored, and their advantages and challenges.
2020-09-01
MIT Department of Economics;
Financial aid from the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation (STBF) provides exceptionally generous support to a college population similar to that served by a host of state aid programs. In conjunction with STBF, we randomly assigned aid awards to thousands of Nebraska high school graduates from low-income, minority, and first-generation college households. Randomly assigned STBF awards boost bachelor's (BA) degree completion for students targeting four-year schools by about 8 points. Degree gains are concentrated among four-year applicants who would otherwise have been unlikely to pursue a four-year program. Degree effects are mediated by award-induced increases in credits earned towards a BA in the first year of college. The extent of initial four-year college engagement explains heterogeneous effects by target campus and across covariate subgroups. Most program spending is a transfer, reducing student debt without affecting degree attainment. Award-induced marginal spending is modest. The projected lifetime earnings impact of awards exceeds marginal educational spending for all of the subgroups examined in the study. Projected earnings gains exceed funder costs for low-income, non-white, urban, and first-generation students, and for students with relatively weak academic preparation.
2020-08-28
Center for Gun Policy and Research at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health;
This report is the product of the Reducing Violence, Building Trust: Data to Guide Gun Law Enforcement in Baltimore project. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research (JHCGPR) collected and analyzed data relevant to the enforcement of laws restricting the possession of firearms by prohibited individuals and unlawful carrying of concealed firearms to provide data-driven recommendations for more fair and effective practices. The project was designed to help inform the response to the dual crises in Baltimore—extraordinarily high rates of gun violence, and gun law enforcement practices that, in some cases, have violated the law and more generally weakened community members' trust in the police.
2020-08-27
Brennan Center for Justice;
Progress in removing explicit racism from law enforcement has clearly been made since the civil rights era, when Ku Klux Klan–affiliated officers were far too common. But, as Georgetown University law professor Vida B. Johnson argues, "The system can never achieve its purported goal of fairness while white supremacists continue to hide within police departments." Trust in the police remains low among people of color, who are often victims of police violence and abuse and are disproportionately underserved as victims of crime. The failure of law enforcement to adequately respond to racist violence and hate crimes or properly police white supremacist riots in cities across the United States over the last several years has left many Americans concerned that bias in law enforcement is pervasive. This report examines the law enforcement response to racist behavior, white supremacy, and far-right militancy within the ranks and recommends policy solutions to inform a more effective response.
2020-08-26
Candid;
The rapid spread of COVID-19 has created a global health and economic crisis that is testing regions around the world. In response, foundations, corporations, and individuals have been disbursing funds to nonprofits to help communities cope with these unprecedented challenges. Candid has been closely tracking the global private philanthropic response to COVID-19 through news stories and other publicly available resources as well as from funders who have reported disbursements directly to Candid. In this report, the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and Candid look at the philanthropic dollars that were distributed for COVID-19 in the first half of 2020.
