Partners No More? Government and Philanthropy Navigate a Fractured Relationship
Government and philanthropy have long been partners: sometimes uneasy, but aligned in purpose. As of 2025, they look more like adversaries.
Inside The Foundation Review, Vol. 18, Issue 2
The articles in this issue explore the gaps between what foundations say they value and what their structures, habits, and incentives actually produce — and ask what it will take for us to close those gaps.
Convergence: A Global Realignment for Community Foundations
Different types of community foundations are working to share knowledge and build closer relationships, which is helping to strengthen the global community foundation field overall.
Across Borders, Beyond Blueprints: The Global Evolution of Community Foundations
This essay explores what U.S. community foundations might learn from peers who adapted key aspects of the community foundation model in the absence of concentrated private wealth, favorable tax codes, or established donor cultures.
Community Foundations in the United States: Origins, Evolution, and the Turn Toward Community Leadership
This essay traces the origins and evolution of community foundations in the U.S., from the founding of the Cleveland Foundation in 1914 to today, and suggests a path toward reclaiming their original, authentic civic purpose.
Defining “Philanthropy,” Part II: Reclaiming What Philanthropy Was Always Meant to Be
This essays suggests we can reclaim the true definition of “philanthropy” by looking at how people actually give — not through the lens of foundations and endowments, but through the evidence of everyday practice.
Defining “Philanthropy,” Part I: Love of Humankind
In this essay, Michael Layton examines how the definition of the word “philanthropy” has narrowed over time and makes the case that the fuller meaning is still available to us, if we are willing to fight for it.
More Than a Neighborhood: The Many Meanings of “Community”
This essay explores the contours of community as a concept and an empirical phenomenon — one that can be a source of support and healing, but can also divide and exclude.
Grounded in Purpose: What Philanthropy Can Learn From Psychology
In the midst of what feels like chaos, we urge the sector to move beyond recognizing and naming the existential threats we are collectively experiencing and to take action.