This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators. Technology allows us to give cash directly to the poorest people on the planet. Should we do it? In this thought-provoking talk, veteran aid worker Joy Sun explores two ways…
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators. What obligations — if any — do foundations and new donors have to local communities in which they are based? And what role should they play in addressing rising income…
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators. A contract is shorthand for “contract for deed,” also advertised as “rent to buy,” “seller financing,” or “installment land contracts.” These are not inherently predatory, as any northern Midwesterner will…
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators. Jean Case, of the Case Foundation, reflects on the foundation’s work to close the digital divide over the past 20 years. The Case Foundation provided an initial grant of $10 million…
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators. The press coverage of President Trump’s proposed changes to the federal student loan program has been nearly unanimous: The budget is a bad deal for college students. Prominent advocates for…
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators. About half of all U.S. public school districts are considered rural, and they collectively enroll some 12 million students, or one-quarter of the total public school population, according to the National Center for…
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators. Chris Cardona recalls precisely where he was when he developed a passion for giving for the common good, becoming a “card-carrying philanthropoid,” as this Ford Foundation Program Officer now describes…
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators. Many social programs are designed in such a way that individuals must make active decisions and go through a series of steps in order to benefit from them. They must…
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators. In the two years since the Ford Foundation identified inequality as the central focus of all our grant making, I have been asked countless times, “What does this mean for…
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators. Looking for the next big political idea? How about this: Let’s scrap our entire social welfare system, including all of our anti-poverty programs, unemployment insurance, Medicare and even Social Security.…
Aspirations are rising as never before across the world, thanks in large part to smartphones and the internet — will they be met with opportunity or frustration? As President of…
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators. The beginning of May was the deadline for the last of high-school seniors to make their final decision about where they’re going to college next fall. For some it was…