Catalytic Change: Lessons Learned from the Racial Justice Grantmaking Assessment

ARC and PRE designed the Racial Justice Grantmaking Assessment to help foundation staff and leaders understand the benefits of being explicit about racial equity, and to determine the degree to which their work is advancing racial justice. This report is based on the pilot process, and is intended to share insights into some of the barriers within the philanthropic sector that stand in the way of achieving racial justice outcomes. It is organized into five segments:This introduction, which provides brief profiles of ARC and PRE, and of the assessment team;A description of the assessment process, including definitions, assumptions, and methodology;An overview of the assessments of the Consumer Health Foundation and the Barr Foundation, including brief profiles of each, summary findings, recommendations, and impacts to date;Lessons learned from the pilot process by the ARC-PRE assessment team; andAppendices with more detailed findings, recommendations, and initial impacts for each foundation

Daniel Soya, Horn

Canto Serioso / Carl Nielsen; Españafrom 4 Traveling Impressions / Vitally Buyanovsky; Sonata Op. 17 / Ludwig van Beethoven; Brass Quintet No. 1 / Victor Ewal

Pengaruh Jaringan Kerja Bni terhadap Efektifitas Zakat Produktif (Studi di Baitul Mal Umat Islam Bni)

The aim of this research is to analyze the network management of zakat institution and tooversee its rule to implement productive zakat efficiently. Research method implemented isfield research with quantitative approach using statistical analysis. The research was conductedin Baitul Mal Umat Islam or BAMUIS of BNI Sharia. Effectiveness is analyzed asdependent variable and network collectability as independent variable. The data was obtainedthrough the interview and observation. The conclusion of the research suggests thatBAMUIS network using human resources in each BNI Sharia offices as channeling agent ismonitored quarterly. Besides that, intensive communication as evaluation and silaturrahimtool are also implemented. BAMUIS also interact with sharia partners as a commitment tooperate in sharia basis. Network also indicates a good impact on collectability or in otherword optimizing network can maximize productive zakat benefits

Thinking Assistants: LLM-Based Conversational Assistants that Help Users Think By Asking rather than Answering

We introduce the concept of "thinking assistants", an approach that encourages users to engage in deep reflection and critical thinking through brainstorming and thought-provoking queries. We instantiate one such thinking assistant, Gradschool.chat, as a virtual assistant tailored to assist prospective graduate students. We posit that thinking assistants are particularly relevant to situations like applying to graduate school, a phase often characterized by the challenges of academic preparation and the development of a unique research identity. In such situations, students often lack direct mentorship from professors, or may feel hesitant to approach faculty with their queries, making thinking assistants particularly useful. Leveraging a Large Language Model (LLM), Gradschool.chat is a demonstration system built as a thinking assistant for working with specific professors in the field of human-computer interaction (HCI). It was designed through training on information specific to these professors and a validation processes in collaboration with these academics. This technical report delineates the system's architecture and offers a preliminary analysis of our deployment study. Additionally, this report covers the spectrum of questions posed to our chatbots by users. The system recorded 223 conversations, with participants responding positively to approximately 65% of responses. Our findings indicate that users who discuss and brainstorm their research interests with Gradschool.chat engage more deeply, often interacting with the chatbot twice as long compared to those who only pose questions about professors