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Less Than One Percent

| by Ira Hirschfield in Leadership

Why leadership development should be a core part of grantmaking

In this SSIR article, Fund president Ira Hirschfield talks about how investing in leadership is critical to accelerating philanthropic impact.

This blog was originally published on the Stanford Social Innovation Review website as part of the Talent Matters series. View the entire series, including the collection curated by Linda Wood featuring additional f…

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CHIRLA meeting

Why Don’t Foundations Invest More in Social Sector Leadership?

| by Ira Hirschfield in Leadership

Fund president Ira Hirschfield discusses the need for funders to do more

Foundation support for leadership development is under 1%. That's not nearly enough.

This op-ed was originally published in the Chronicle of Philanthropy on July 14, 2014. Many economists say the U.S. economic recovery will stay in the slow lane until American companies finally ramp up capital sp…

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Rea Carey LGBTQ Task Force President

The “Sense-Making” Role of Nonprofit Boards

| by Linda Wood in Leadership

How nonprofit boards can help organizations think big

Later this year, the Fund will publish a report on real-world insights into board development. Here’s a sneak preview of what we are learning about the power that nonprofit boards can have when working with staff to achieve real impact.

Nonprofit boards can play a vital leadership role for their organizations. But all too often, organizations do not tap the full power of their boards. In a forthcoming report from the Haas Leadership Initiative, we…

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Complex structure

The Leadership Development Disconnect

| by Linda Wood in Leadership

A challenge to funders: leadership support is more than a “nice-to-have”

In this CEP blog post, Linda Wood looks at the leadership support disconnect between grantmakers and grantees.

Last month I was struck to see that less than half of nonprofit leaders surveyed in CEP’s recent study, Nonprofit Challenges: What Foundations Can Do, believe that foundations are aware of the various challenges the…

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Supporting nonprofit growth

It Takes Dedicated Funding to Do Leadership Development Right

| by Linda Wood in Leadership

General operating support is important. But does it support long-term capacity-building?

In this blog guest post for the Center for Effective Philanthropy, Linda Wood describes the value of unrestricted general operating support, and why it’s not always enough.

At the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, we believe strongly in the critical importance of unrestricted general operating support because it provides nonprofit leaders with the flexibility to direct spending toward…

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Kate Kendell on steps on City Hall with other LGBT rights leaders

Transparency is More than Disclosure

| by Linda Wood in Leadership

Sometimes the best first step is admitting when we don’t know

In this guest blog, Linda Wood reflects on lessons from the FLA program, including what happens when grantees and funders can be vulnerable and take risks.

Note from Beth Kanter: One of the themes I’ve been exploring over the last few years related to networks is transparency. Transparency is more than disclosure. It includes participation in acquiring, distributing, a…

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NCLR's Shannon Minter at the podium

Six Questions About the Flexible Leadership Awards Program

| by Paula Morris in Leadership

Paula Morris describes how the FLA works, and the impact it can have

Read about what the FLA is, and how it helped NCLR manage the twin challenges of organizational growth and movement leadership.

Paula Morris is the former program director of the Haas, Jr. Fund's Flexible Leadership Awards program. She worked as a Plan Consultant with the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and a number of the Fund's o…

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