In connection with our member newsletter, Independent Sector highlights how some of our member organizations work on and think about key issues. If you have suggestions for future topics, please email them to our Membership Department.

Ellen Alberding of the Joyce Foundation on Foundations' Role in Stopping Gun Violence

The tragedy in Tucson on January 8 brought back questions about what foundations should do to prevent similar situations in the future. In this column from the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Ellen Alberding, IS board member and president of the Joyce Foundation, explains that, "Over the past decade, I have watched gun-violence prevention fade from philanthropy’s agenda. Saturday’s events offer a startling example of what that trend means for all of us who work in philanthropy."

After tracing some of the history that brought the country to this point, she argues for "Putting our money into research on ways to prevent gun violence, analysis of the public policies that make the most difference, and advocacy efforts that mobilize the public can help ensure a balanced discussion about how our society should handle guns." Read her full column.

Also, see IS President and CEO Diana Aviv's op-ed on the same subject, also originally in the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Nancy Roob of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation on
the Social Innovation Fund

One of the most exciting examples of the growing government/nonprofit partnership to address major social issues is the federal Social Innovation Fund (SIF). Earlier this year the SIF awarded $50 million to 11 “intermediaries,” organizations that will contribute their own funds and then select grantees who work in three areas: economic opportunity, healthy futures and, youth development and school support. 

The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, an IS member, will be one of the inaugural intermediaries. In this conversation, president Nancy Roob describes why the foundation wanted to be part of the SIF, how it will proceed, and what a private foundation does to adjust to working with the federal government. Read her interview.