Giving Compass' Take:

• It's not a secret that this is a volatile and divisive political time, but Foundation Center describes ways the philanthropic world can navigate such an environment and still stand for social justice ideals.

• The key phrase here is "support strategies," which encompasses action such as advocacy, encouraging civic engagement and system reform. But there is also a call for more boldness in backing foundations who may take a strong stand on an issue and face ideological attacks from opposing forces. How risk averse are you?

• Here's one possible fix for the polarization in U.S. politics.

Most of the things philanthropists care about — civility, moderation, partnership, consensus — are fast disappearing. Our country, and much of the world, seem to be moving to a kind of scorched-earth politics in which division along ethnic, racial, religious, gender and identity lines is the currency of power. As ideologies become more rigid, people increasingly are balkanized into spatially segregated communities and social media echo chambers. In this kind of undeclared war, being right and winning are all that matter, with seemingly no aisle to cross and no common ground.

How should foundations navigate the world of 2018 and beyond? How can they? To be sure, foundations have something valuable to contribute — flexible resources free from market, electoral, and fundraising pressures. But will they use them to fight, transcend, or simply ignore the conflict that surrounds them?

As long as they do not run afoul of IRS restrictions on explicitly partisan political activity and lobbying to influence specific legislation, foundations and their grantee partners may and often do engage in politics (with a small "p"). One way to track foundations’ political engagement is to look not at the "what" of their grantmaking but the "how." At Foundation Center, we refer to these as "support strategies," which include cross-cutting approaches such as advocacy, coalition building, accountability, grassroots organizing, litigation, and systems reform. Collectively, these approaches have accounted for $27.5 billion in funding around the world since 2006.

Read the full article about how philanthropy can navigate a divisive political environment by Bradford K. Smith at Foundation Center (via Philanthropy News Digest).