Promoting Racial Equity through For-profit Commercial Real Estate: The Ford Foundation, Progress Plaza, and the Zion Non-Profit Charitable Trust, 1967-1974

This report describes a Ford Foundation project that sought to fund social and economic programs with the aim of "promot[ing] equality of opportunity for disadvantaged Blacks: grants made to the Zion Non-Profit Charitable Trust (ZNPCT) and later Zion Investment Associates (ZIA) to support construction and financial sustenance of Progress Plaza, a shopping center housing Black-owned businesses in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."  I examine the evolution of ZNPCT from a religious-based charity to a non-profit trust to a profit-making entity focused on spurring employment and economic development opportunities for Black residents of a North Philadelphia neighborhood between 1967 and 1974.  An examination of how Ford assessed Zion projects and investments as they transitioned to profitable goals reveals how the marriage of financial and social goals was challenging, with the latter ultimately resting on the viability of the former.  This structure remains in contemporary social enterprises, impact investments, and program-related investments

Ghana Beyond Aid: Between Aspirational Rhetoric and Civil Society Realities

Launched in 2019, Ghana's Beyond Aid agenda envisions a shift from aid dependency to self-reliance through local resource mobilisation, mindset transformation, and national ownership. But how prepared are civil society organisations (CSOs) to align with this vision?Drawing on insights from over 190 organisations, this research report explores the opportunities and challenges the agenda presents—highlighting uneven progress, funding gaps, and the urgent need for innovation and partnerships to ensure CSOs remain resilient in a post-aid future

Future-Proofing Institutions: CTLs as Engines for Institutional Resilience

Educational developers support institutional leaders in navigating the complex challenges of higher education. This support is carried out through four key functions of a Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL): Sieve, Hub, Incubator, and Temple. Together, these functions help institutions build resilience in challenging times

Philanthropy Brief: Direct Air Capture (DAC)

Direct Air Capture (DAC) filters carbon dioxide directly from ambient air and stores it permanently underground. It is an emerging technology with high costs but also long-term potential for durable removals.This factsheet offers funders an overview of opportunities, risks, and entry points

The Hanover Conferences and the Emergence of the âPersonality and Cultureâ Perspective

"Personality and Culture" was an influential movement in interwar American social science that shaped the development of emerging disciplines in the US academy, particularly Boasian ethnology. The movement's origins trace back to a series of interdisciplinary conferences organized by the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) in Hanover, New Hampshire, between 1926 and 1930. These "Hanover Conferences" were among the SSRC's first major Rockefeller-funded initiatives aimed at establishing an interdisciplinary research agenda in the social sciences, bringing together scholars from social science, psychology, and psychiatry. My archival research at the Rockefeller Archive Center examines the role of these gatherings in shaping social science research agendas. Specifically, I analyze how anthropologists positioned their discipline within these emerging frameworks of interdisciplinary collaboration. This research report focuses on the speeches delivered by three prominent anthropologists—Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942), Clark Wissler (1870-1947), and Edward Sapir (1884-1939)—during the 1926 Hanover Conference, along with the ensuing discussions. Wissler, Malinowski, and Sapir were key figures in early 20th-century anthropology and the social sciences, but they came from distinct intellectual traditions, each offering a unique perspective on anthropology's disciplinary contributions to social science and its potential for interdisciplinary collaboration. The perspectives they presented in the 1926 Hanover Conference not only showcased their individual differences as influential anthropologists with distinct visions to shape their field's evolution but also reflected the broader methodological debates within anthropology and the social sciences during the early 20th century

Quality Improvement Project Improves Pediatric Provider Engagement with Families Around Home Visiting

This poster was presented at the New Mexico Pediatric Society Wylder Lecture Series (https://www.nmaap.org/wylder-lecture-series) on September 20, 2025. It summarizes findings from a quality improvement project conducted with the University of New Mexico Carrie Tingley General Pediatric clinics to increase the percentage of eligible families who receive information about home visiting from their medical provider

How Social and Emotional Learning Supports Literacy Pre K - Grade 5

"How SEL Supports Student Literacy, PreK–Fifth Grade" is the second in a series of briefs published by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) on the crucial role of social and emotional learning (SEL) in supporting children's early literacy development. This brief builds on the series' first piece exploring how social-emotional development and well-being are integral to the teaching and learning of literacy practices

New Jersey Nonprofits: Trends and outlook 2025

The New Jersey Center for Nonprofits conducted its annual survey of New Jersey nonprofits online from February 7-21, 2025, to assess how nonprofits fared in 2024 and to gauge their outlook for the coming year. This report is based on the 271 online responses from New Jersey 501(c)(3) organizations submitted during the survey period.  The report reveals a number of recurring themes, along with heightened concerns stemming from the turbulent federal policy and funding landscape

How to Integrate Climate into your Philanthropic Programmes : What foundations need to know, and where to begin

Climate change impacts the work of every foundation – from health and education to social justice, culture and community. Integrating climate into their programmatic work allows foundations to mitigate growing risks while unlocking co-benefits that strengthen their mission. This publication supports foundations to begin or deepen their climate integration journey, in a way that aligns with their organisational values, assets and experience

Resilience and collaboration: Lessons from the Fenomenal Funds initiative

Feminist movements globally are navigating complex and increasingly hostile environments. Civic space is shrinking, authoritarianism is rising, and resources for rights-based organising remain scarce and difficult to access, especially for those at the margins of mainstream funding ecosystems. Yet, at the same time, feminist movements continue to be at the forefront of innovation, resistance, and social change. To be able to rise to new opportunities and strategically respond to fast-changing contexts, feminist organisations must be supported in building their resilience – not only to survive turbulence, but to adapt, grow, and lead. As the Learning Partner to Fenomenal Funds, KIT Institute worked alongside initiative stakeholders between mid-2023 and early 2025 to co-create and implement a participatory learning process. Our role focused on documenting outcomes and drawing learnings from the lived experiences of the women's funds participating in the Fenomenal Funds initiative, through feminist and participatory methodologies. The primary purpose of this report is to document and analyse the outcomes of the Fenomenal Funds model, with a particular focus on how it contributed to organisational resilience and collaboration among the participating women's funds. It aims to offer concrete insights into what happens when women's funds receive multi-year, core, flexible, non-competitive, non-regrantable funding— particularly in the context of shared governance and feminist grant-making practices. This report is intended to inform a range of audiences: funders, women's funds, movement actors, feminist intermediaries, and practitioners working to shift philanthropic practice. It contributes to the broader knowledge base on feminist funding models, offering lessons and insights for those seeking to operationalise their values with practice and better support sustainable feminist infrastructures. While the Fenomenal Funds initiative also sought to amplify collective voice and influence philanthropic systems, this report primarily focuses on its first two intended outcomes: institutional resilience and collaboration among women's funds. Our analysis does not attempt to evaluate donor-side practices or assess the long-term external influence of the model, although these dimensions remain important areas for future research and documentation. However, implications for ongoing advocacy and practice are explored in the final section.Â