Looking Back to Look Forward with the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Stacy Palmer
About This Episode
It's the season for gratitude and reflection. But also, a day for taking stock. As we gather with loved ones, it's worth considering the subtle shifts happening beneath the surface of our communities. The connections that bind us, the acts of generosity that fuel positive change—these are the things that deserve our attention.
Ten years ago, nonprofits, the tireless champions of our communities, began to sense a change in the air—a moment of pause, a desire to understand the evolving landscape before taking the next step, a perfectly reasonable response to a world in constant flux.
This week, Stacy Palmer, CEO of The Chronicle of Philanthropy, sits down with Carrie to explore the evolution of this space. They explore the findings of the Generosity Commission, acknowledging the dip in traditional giving and volunteering while also recognizing the rise of new forms of engagement. The landscape of giving is changing, and that presents both challenges and opportunities.
Amidst this evolution, inspiring figures like Melinda Gates and MacKenzie Scott emerge as trailblazers, reshaping the philanthropic landscape with their bold and transformative giving. They shine a light on the often-overlooked, demonstrating that philanthropy can be a powerful catalyst for positive change, especially when it embraces innovation and challenges traditional norms.
How do we ensure that positive momentum continues? Stacy offers a balanced perspective. She celebrates the progress made while also encouraging us to remain vigilant and adaptable. The insights from 1989, when the Chronicle of Philanthropy first highlighted the need for philanthropy to embrace a multicultural America, still resonate today.
Carrie and Stacy explore the delicate balance between thoughtful planning and decisive action. They discuss the All In By April campaign, a compelling example of how accelerating philanthropic giving can empower positive change, particularly in support of democracy. This story of proactive engagement is a testament to the power of foresight and collaboration.
This week invites you to reflect on each of our own contributions to the story of generosity. Are we building meaningful connections or simply going through the motions? Are we embracing new approaches or clinging to outdated models? The answer, as Carrie and Stacy reveal, lies in the power of relationships, the courage to speak up, and the unwavering commitment to move missions forward together.
Links & Notes
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Carrie Fox:
Hi there and thanks for tuning in to this episode of Mission Forward. It's Thanksgiving Day here in the US which makes it a perfect time to pause and say thank you to you, my dear listener, for following this show, for contributing to its content and for sharing the lessons that we learn here together. I am so grateful for you and I thank you for giving me the honor of making this show for you each week. As I'm sure you would guess, I am not alone in putting this show together. The incredibly talented Pete Wright of TruStory makes us all sound better and makes this whole thing a lot more fun too. So, Pete, thank you. And to our community engagement manager Sadie Lockhart who does awesome work week after week making sure this show is getting in the hands of the people who benefit most from it, thank you to, Sadie. So, Pete, Sadie and you, our listener, thank you for making this world a better place one day and one kind act at a time.
Now, onto today's show and another reason for gratitude. Today, we've got the great Stacy Palmer with us from the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Stacy and I head back in time today, 10 years exactly, to see what the state of philanthropy was like in 2014 and what it's like now. We share some stories, some memories and a few good insights to help you prepare for the year to come so listen in, enjoy and thank you again. I'll see you on the other side.
Please join me in welcoming Stacy Palmer, CEO of the Chronicle of Philanthropy and my go-to source for philanthropy and non-profit news. Stacy helped found the Chronicle of Philanthropy in 1988, she served as its top editor since 1996. She also oversaw the Chronicle's transition away from the Chronicle of Higher Ed as it became a standalone non-profit in 2023. Under Stacy's leadership, the Chronicle has evolved from a bi-weekly newspaper into a much more robust media organization, a monthly magazine, critical news and analysis and a host of webinars, learning tools and other services some of which you will see in action today. So, without further ado, welcome, Stacy.
Stacy Palmer:
Thank you, Carrie. Great to see you and everyone around the Zoom screen. You have done such amazing work so it's a pleasure to join you.
Carrie Fox:
Thank you. All right, I'm looking down because I'm starting my timer as I told you I would. We've got 15 minutes for this one so we're going to get right it. So, Stacy, as you and I prepared for this conversation, we thought it would be interesting to look back 10 years to the day to see what conversations we were having then and maybe to see what that would tell us about where we are and where we're headed. So, I wanted to share something I found in October 2014 from the first Mission Forward event. Back then, we were also gearing up for a presidential election, slightly different one at the time, it was President Obama's midterm and we were also focused on economic and global forces affecting non-profit and foundations. More than anything though, Stacy, when I went back and listened to those comments, it seemed as if organizations were waiting on the future. Maybe not too different from the way I hear organizations talking about their work today, there's this worry, a fear, a pause to see what will happen next.
We are going to get to that because I'm really curious to get your take on what you are hearing about this waiting on the future feeling. But first, I would love you to give people an update on the Chronicle. We are here very much to talk about moving missions forward today. The Chronicle has been up to a lot of its own mission movements. As noted, you spun off and became your own independent non-profit and you recently launched a major new initiative called The Commons. I'd love you to tell folks why you felt compelled to launch The Commons and how you hope it helps leaders.
Stacy Palmer:
Great, thank you for that. And becoming part of the non-profit world rather than just covering it has been a true joy for us because we get to focus on our impact much more than worrying about margin. Not to say that that isn't important, of course it is for non-profits, but really to say what difference can we make. And so, when we were thinking about becoming a non-profit, we decided to ask a lot of experts about what could we do, what would be important for us to do, there's no point in just transforming ourselves for the sake of doing it but we wanted to make a real difference.
And in conversation after conversation, people started talking about the troubles of polarization. They weren't able to get anything done no matter what cause they were working on, nothing was happening. What's more, they couldn't talk to each other, conservatives and liberals in philanthropy didn't feel that they had the right spaces to be able to talk freely and they felt The Chronicle was a place that perhaps could be seen as an independent journalistic voice and they threw out the challenge and said, "What can you do about this?" and we thought that was a great challenge.
So, we decided that the first thing we would do as a non-profit is launch a special section of our site, it's called The Commons, and it's to talk about all of the divides, gender, race, rural, generational, all the different kinds of things that are keeping us apart. And we see that, obviously, in the non-profit world and in the rest of the world and our goal is to give people the tools they need to be able to deal with these divides. Who's doing it right? What's happening? Where's philanthropy getting in the way? So, we ask all of those kinds of questions throughout The Commons. And a lot of people thought when we launched it in an election year that perhaps it was focused mostly on that. And we all know these problems are ingrained, are going to be with us for a while so this is a very long-term effort.
Carrie Fox:
Right. We were talking about divisiveness 10 years ago, it may have been a slightly different conversation but, you're right, it's a universal feeling in some ways. So, The Commons, I mentioned to you not too long ago, I hear it come up in conversation constantly with my clients, folks who are interested in learning more about it. I'm pretty sure we've got a link now in the chat for folks who want to go check it out. It's a great place to find high-quality reporting and analysis but it's also a great place to find storytelling and what I've noticed is it's really storytelling at the local level. Local seems to be this ever-growing focus of your work and I would love you to share a little bit about why that focus on local is increasingly important to you.
Stacy Palmer:
There are a couple of reasons. One, when we were looking at The Commons, it was very clear that the work at the local level was much stronger, much easier. You can meet your neighbors, you can come volunteer together, those are the things that are working and that's critical. And sometimes philanthropy ignores that part of local although more money has been going into it.
So, recently, we took our readers to Bend, Oregon where they're trying something called Citizen Assemblies and people gather, they're fighting the problems of youth homelessness, they're coming together to figure it out. They tap experts but they're not delegating to the experts, they don't want to do that, they want to figure out how together they can do something like that. We looked at Big Sunday which is an effort in Los Angeles where people come, they volunteer together and, as they get to know each other, they find that they're talking about their differences and coming together. It's hard to hate somebody when you're working at a food bank and doing that kind of thing together. It's so simple but it's so important and so we're trying to feature those kinds of efforts.
But the other reason we're looking at local is that we know that local journalism has really struggled. And of course, philanthropy is working in so many ways with things like press forward to be able to strengthen local news but we wanted to play a part in that too because philanthropy is so poorly covered and yet it's such an essential part of how we solve problems. So, we have a fellowship program where we spend a year training for journalists every year at array of organizations to cover philanthropy and to talk about the different issues. We had somebody from Haitian Times in our first cohort, you may be hearing about them now in all the challenges over Springfield, Ohio, and they really wanted to look at how immigrant groups were serving people. We have a group this year in Omaha that's looking at what happens after Warren Buffett dies and what's going to happen to all of the groups that have depended on him.
So, a wide range of questions and what you see there is we're trying not to do what the rest of the press often does which is just do the scandal, the got you story to be sure some of the journalists we train have found some really important scandals and we've armed them with the tools to be able to do that well but we believe really robust reporting is important. That's why I'm so glad you'll be talking later to Tina Rosenberg at Solutions Journalism Network, that's what people want to read about, people need to know.
Carrie Fox:
Right, agreed. And I love this Citizen Assemblies that you mentioned so, for folks who are able to stay with us through the end of the day, we'll be talking to John Paul Lederach and he talks about peace zones. And so, I'm seeing already these really clear connections between how you are reporting and how you're informing all of your audiences and then, ultimately, how it comes back around to building that common ground.
All right, I want to talk about two sides of the spectrum. We're going to talk about, first, a generosity crisis that potentially we are in and then we're going to go mega philanthropy. So, we're going to talk both sides of that. Let's start with the generosity crisis. There's some new data that just came out from The Generosity Commission report and it notes that fewer people are giving to and volunteering with non-profits today. I am certain that those who are on the line who are leading non-profits or oversee volunteer programs know that there is a struggle to get the volunteers that they need. What impact do you see this having on non-profits and what should non-profits be doing about it?
Stacy Palmer:
There are so many ramifications of the drop in the share of Americans who feel compelled to give. Now, we know there's a lot of informal giving, and that may be part of it, but people aren't giving in the same numbers that they used to be. Now, you haven't noticed a real crisis in that, all of a sudden, giving is going down by billions of dollars. Why is that? It's because the wealthy are continuing to give very strongly but that means that giving is going to the groups that those folks favor. And that means, in a lot of communities, the kinds of organizations that are really central, that's just not where the wealthy gives, they don't dump $5 billion on a food bank and so we need everybody giving.
So, I think most people who have examined this see this as a really big democracy problem and one of the people we talked to after The Generosity Commission report came out was Asha Curran of Giving Tuesday who certainly always has her finger on the pulse of what's going on with giving trends. And she doesn't really see so much of a generosity crisis because she thinks people do want to give and that spirit is there but that people haven't figured it out. And she pointed out, more often, is that, when people don't give, they're also more lonely, they're not engaged, they're really serious around the kitchen. So, it's not just about the dollars to non-profits but it's about how our society works.
So this is a serious crisis and one we all must participate in. It's a challenging problem because no one owns it, we all have to contribute to it. A lot of the people we've talked to over time say what's really critical is non-profits have to change the way they raise money, the way they connect with people, the way they tell stories about their impact. Allison Fine, who's one of our writers, has a really simple saying, don't treat people like ATMs. And I think, if we all think about how our organizations are contributing to the problem and make it part of our missions that we all have to find ways to get more Americans understanding how a $5 contribution can make a difference or a volunteering to really engage everyone, that is what our missions are all about and we have to come together.
Some of it, to be sure, is about government policy and all of those kinds of things so I'm sure people will be talking about tax incentives and those kinds of things but that's not as much as are in our control as how we raise money, how we bring people into our missions and really invite them to participate.
Carrie Fox:
So, I'm hearing you really say it's about relationships and how non-profits are building and keeping and preserving those relationships but maybe also extending to new relationships. All relationships matter.
Stacy Palmer:
Absolutely.
Carrie Fox:
All right. So, let's look at the other side, Melinda and MacKenzie. You have a new report, actually, that just came out from The Chronicle, you can learn more about MacKenzie's giving. But there's something really interesting about the two women and the transformational giving that they have been doing in recent years. And I'd love you to share a little bit what you see, what's important to note about their distinct strategies in giving and how might they change the future of the philanthropic field?
Stacy Palmer:
I think they're having a giant impact, as people see what they're doing, they're fascinated. The stories that we write about both of them always draw the biggest audiences so everyone wants to know. And we all know role models are really important in philanthropy so they're having a big impact. What ties them together is the fact they both really care about giving to causes that have been long ignored. They give to things that aren't necessarily the high-profile things. Melinda Gates, as we all know, is very focused on women and the girls' causes, that has not gotten the attention of philanthropy nearly in the number that it has. MacKenzie Scott gives to a really broad range of groups but she really looks for organizations that haven't necessarily been the darlings of philanthropy and has transformed them. So, I think that's something that really brings them together.
What Melinda does that's different than MacKenzie, MacKenzie who we barely know, Melinda who we see everywhere now. She's really grabbed the bully pulpit and sees that as an important role in philanthropy. Especially in this political year, she's combining philanthropy and politics in an important way and I think that's a vital message for people in philanthropy to see speaking out, talking about the causes that matter, that money is hugely important and especially the billions that they have are incredibly significant but so too are their voices.
Carrie Fox:
I want to go back to that first prompt I gave you, there's that feeling of waiting on the future that many non-profits are expressing the need to wait. Wait until after the election, wait until after the inauguration, wait and see what we should do but we are seeing very different trends from philanthropy who believe they can't afford to wait. So, take All by April, the campaign that was designed to move as much money as possible early in the 2024 election cycle and it was designed to fund efforts that could help recruit poll workers, organize nonpartisan voter registration drives, really think about how we could best support local election officials and support those who are often not represented in the election process.
All by April was no big, or no small deal, it mobilized $155 million in new grants and it accelerated these payments. Rather than waiting until the year and giving money out throughout the year, they really accelerated that money to pro-democracy organizations. So, it's two sides, waiting on one camp but really fast forwarding on the other. I'd love to know what you're seeing. Are you seeing more paralysis in decision-making or are you seeing more forward momentum?
Stacy Palmer:
So, there's a mix, of course, and we have a story coming out in a couple days about scenario planning and how some non-profits are doing that work now. There's some simple tools, you can spend a day doing it, they're all included in this article so watch The Chronicle for that story that will help people figure out how to do it. There's a lot of concern for some groups about things like political violence so it's not just issue specific kinds of things but really trying to figure out what it is they need to do and where they need to concentrate. And anybody who lived through the 2016 election knows what happened, people were surprised and they weren't ready to respond. Even to the huge outpouring of rage giving that we saw, they were ready for it. We can learn from those lessons. Philanthropy isn't always great at learning, both non-profits and philanthropy don't always look back quite enough so I hope that they'll be doing that.
All in by April is such a great positive example though of the difference that philanthropy can make by looking at what non-profits need and I hope that that extends well beyond the democracy arena. People need staff, they need time to plan. You can't just have things turn on a dime and, if nothing else, philanthropy needs to focus on what it takes to attract talented people to work at non-profits, keep them there. In election years, of course, we see this on and off cycle where people go and get other jobs or do things but the same thing happens throughout the rest of the world. The competition for labor has become the biggest challenge when I talk to non-profit leaders. It used to be scarce resources were the problem, now the scarce resources are the people.
Well, philanthropy can do a lot about that by giving two-year, three-year grants unrestricted, letting the non-profit leaders plan for the future and tell their staffs that there's some security and that will enable everyone to look forward and I think that will help get over this paralysis.
Carrie Fox:
I love that. And I know, Stacy, you and I are going to dig into that a little more later today, new ways of working, new ways of funding organizations. So, we've got three minutes and we're going to speed in because this one feels like a really important question to land on. In your very first year of publication, 1989, you had a story focused on how philanthropy isn't ready for a multicultural America. Is philanthropy any more ready now?
Stacy Palmer:
Thankfully, more but not nearly as much as it should be. And when I looked back at that story to see how much all of the demographers, all of the experts were warning philanthropy that philanthropy has not adjusted to what America is going to look like, both in their giving and in their own operations, looking at boards of trustees, looking at who leads non-profits, who leads foundations. And we have definitely seen a change in foundation leadership, for sure, and so there are a lot of positive things. We saw a real run, obviously, in 2020 after all of the tragedies caused a lot of attention to this but now we're seeing, really, some not great trends. Non-profits that were promised that they were going to get a big infusion of money say that they're not seeing it. And the court cases that have challenged affirmative action challenged things like the Fearless Fund, that scared a lot of people.
And philanthropy is the one place where they can take some risks, they have the money to defend lawsuits, to fund advocacy groups that can persuade things and to really look at it in a different way. So, I hope that more people in philanthropy will have the courage to look ahead, to not retrench from some of the gains that we have and really look at things like how many organizations that are led by people of color, for example, are getting money. If you look at the statistics about things like historically Black colleges, how they do compared to other colleges, it's appalling. We all know that, even though there have been some philanthropists that have made a difference in those areas, it's not nearly enough. So, we all can do much, much better. So, I would say better than it was in 1989 but not nearly good enough.
Carrie Fox:
So, you and I started today talking about mission, your mission and how it's evolving. That clarity of mission that mattered 10 years ago, the first time we did our event together, and it matters today, clarity of mission. So, for you all in the audience, as you prepare your minds and a focus on what's to come today, I invite you to think about this day through the lens of your own mission. How clear is it? How aligned is your organization on it? And what are you willing to do to advance it? Stacy gave some good ideas today, we're going to hear more about that.
And that brings us to the end of another episode of Mission Forward. If you like what you heard today, I hope you'll stop right now and give this show a five-star rating wherever you are listening to this podcast, maybe even forward it to a friend who you think would enjoy today's conversation. And of course, check out the show notes for all of the links referenced in today's show. Mission Forward is produced with the support and wisdom of Pete Wright and the TruStory production team as well as the wonderful Sadie Lockhart of Mission Partners. You can learn more about our work over at missionforward.us and, of course, reach out to me anytime at carrie@mission.partners. Thanks for tuning in today, friend, and I'll see you next time.
