News

A highlight of news articles, reports, videos and websites on philanthropy, grantmaking, and beyond that have caught the eye of Full Circle Fund’s staff and members this week. If these resources inspire you to get involved, check out our Community Calendar for upcoming events.

Member Marianne Manilov is quoted in and shares this article by Rob McKay for The Huffington Post about how the current presidential race’s emerging “small” strategies for political organizing may persist well after election day. McKay discusses models of small organizational structures that we’ll see around efforts for “local leadership, small circles, and cultural organizing.” Marianne is using this organizing strategy in her work with Ella Baker Center’s Green for All program.

“Online organizing is great because it allows you to keep up with lots of people in short amounts of time,” reflects Marianne Manilov, whose part of new nonprofit, the Engage Network, which establishes small circles to help individuals get involved in their communities and then networks those communities together. “I can log into Facebook and see that my friend Van is on his way to Memphis already or that Rose has a really funny video up that she found, and I can get Van and Rose to sign a petition or even raise money for Students For a Free Tibet. So this is great. But what about sustained efforts of people engaging with each other in community?”

Ever vigilant for news of interest to the Full Circle Fund community, member Adam Hirschfelder points out that San Francisco wasn’t alone with municipal wi-fi disappointments - this article from the LA Times reports that EarthLink has also backed out of its contract to provide wi-fi service and equipment in Philadelphia, PA.

Member Darian Rodriguez Heyman offers up Independent Sector’s 2007 Annual Report (get the PDF). In addition to reading about what the trade association for the social sector is up to, you may enjoy the write up about Darian on page 9.

Member Josh Wilson shares this article from The New York Times, which discloses a bit of San Francisco’s philanthropic history and through a telling of the life of philanthropist Claude Rosenberg, who just recently died. Mr. Rosenberg discovered that “poor and middle-class people.. give more, relative to what they can afford, than do the wealthy, especially the very wealthy.” Mr. Rosenberg was the author of Wealthy and Wise: How You and America Can Get the Most Out of Your Giving” (click to buy the book).

In an unusual - and possibly controversial - effort to raise money for homelessness programs and reduce the aggressive panhandling that plagues parts of the city, San Francisco has plans to install special “homeless meters” where people can donate their loose change, which will be divided among local nonprofits. Read more in this article on SFGate.

Posted in Marianne Manilov, Darian Rodriguez Heyman, resources, Resource Round-Up