Philanthropy

A new project has provided hard data to back up a truth already known to many Southern funders: our region contains a disproportionate share of the nation’s most disadvantaged areas. Understanding Communities of Deep Disadvantage, released in January 2020 by researchers at the University of Michigan and Princeton University, combines health and economic data in…

While the many efforts of funders in response to COVID-19 have been deservedly recognized, the work of those responding to rural communities’ COVID-19 crisis is less well known. Rural cases continue to grow at a quicker rate than urban cases do—and like in urban areas, the impacts are disproportionately on rural communities of color. There…

The philanthropic response to COVID-19 has been dominated by three separate but interconnected themes: (1) Relaxation of standard reporting requirements, programmatic restrictions and timelines, (2) Advocacy for funders to extend themselves past standard 5% payout spending policies and (3) Creation of emergency funding pools or other rapid response structures. While all are worthy of consideration,…

A piece from Inside Philanthropy that features our report on the innovative rural philanthropy of the Empire Health Foundation in Spokane, Washington along with references to our other three case studies and the larger Rural Philanthropic Analysis Project. The Inside Philanthropy article is available at https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2019/10/15/a-study-drilled-deep-into-rural-philanthropy-in-washington-state-heres-what-it-found. You can find links to the Washington study as well…

Dr. Sheana Ahlqvist asked Allen to appear on her national innovation and social psychology podcast with the opening line of “I live in Los Angeles. I don’t know anyone who voted for our current President”. So listen for a wideranging conversation about dispelling the urban myths about rural America; the opportunities for rural investment and…