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Drugs, Depression, And Dating Violence: Partnering With Schools To Collect And Use Data On Adolescent Risky Behaviors, Rebecca H. Donham, Shari Kessel Schneider

The Foundation Review

In 2005, the MetroWest Health Foundation launched a 10-year initiative to conduct the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey biennially with every high school and middle school student in the foundation’s 25-town region. The survey asks students about substance use, violence, sexual behaviors, mental health, and nutrition.

In the first year of the initiative, about two-thirds of public high schools and half of the middle schools in the region participated. By 2012, every public high school and middle school participated. Encompassing some 40,000 students, the survey is considered to be one of largest, if not …

Giving Circles In Asia: Newcomers To The Asian Philanthropy Landscape, Robert John

The Foundation Review

Amid the rapid development of philanthropy across Asia, over the past 10 years a number of giving circles have appeared in the region.

This form of philanthropy, where individuals pool resources and provide grants to nonprofit organizations in their community, is well known and studied in the U.S. This article examines the phenomenon in Asia, and finds giving circles there to be either indigenous or based on models transplanted from the United States or Europe.

While ancient traditions of charitable giving have existed for centuries in Asia, the concept of organized philanthropy in order to effect specific societal benefit is …

Implementation And Evaluation Of A Multidimensional Nutrition And Physical Activity Initiative Funded By A Community Health Foundation, James Pann, Angela Yehl, Peter Wood, Janisse Schoepp, Gabrielle Solomon, Craig Enders

The Foundation Review

· Poor diet and physical inactivity have been estimated to account for nearly 400,000 deaths a year in the U.S. and are contributing factors to obesity. Nearly one-third of children and two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese. Therefore, in early 2007 Health Foundation of South Florida (HFSF) embarked on a five-year responsive grantmaking initiative, Healthy Eating Active Communities.

· The initiative's aim was to improve healthy eating habits and physical activity levels through two major approaches: individual-level programs grounded in an educational approach and organizational, environmental, policy, and systems-change interventions. As additional research has emerged in the field, policies …

Integrating Racial Equity In Foundation Governance, Operations, And Program Strategy, Yanique Redwood, Christopher J. King

The Foundation Review

· This article is intended to provide the field of philanthropy with a useful framework for organizing racial-equity efforts.

· When the Washington-based Consumer Health Foundation became a staffed foundation in 1998, its initial grantmaking focused on health promotion and access to health care. As a learning organization, however, it took steps that led to greater support for efforts addressing the interconnectedness between health status and racial equity. This included support for advocacy as a strategy to create systems change benefiting low-income communities of color.

· This commitment to racial equity is not a separate initiative; it is integrated into …

Naming Race: One Foundation’S Path To A Strategy Of Structural Inclusion And Self- Determination, Lori Bezahler

The Foundation Review

· Common wisdom tells us that by placing people of color in leadership roles in philanthropy, there will be a greater emphasis on issues of racial equity and attention to solutions that are rooted in the experiences of people of color. While diverse leadership is a critical component of inclusion, attention must also be paid to the dynamics of power inherent in the relationship between a philanthropic institution and the community it seeks to serve. Foundations must put in place practices that address the inherent inequities in our sector if we are to contribute to systemic change.

· The Edward …

Difficult Conversations: Lessons Along The Journey Toward Inclusion, Carrie Pickett-Erway, Susan Springgate, Suprotik Stotz-Ghosh, Tom Vance

The Foundation Review

· This paper documents one foundation’s work to become a more diverse and inclusive foundation.

· The Kalamazoo Community Foundation adopted a diversity policy and established a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Equality Fund in 2000. In 2003 the foundation established an ad hoc diversity committee; the committee was formalized in 2007.

· An inclusion statement was adopted for unrestricted grantmaking in 2004, and was strengthened in 2012 along with the words “for all” added to the foundation’s mission statement. The inclusion statement was further modified in 2013.

· The foundation proclaimed itself an antiracist organization in 2010.

· …

The Urgency Of Now: Foundations’ Role In Ending Racial Inequity, Gary L. Cunningham, Marcia L. Avner, Romilda Justilien

The Foundation Review

· This article explores the multiple approaches that foundations can use to advance racial equity and prosperity.

· It first gauges the depth of the challenge that our communities face in racial disparities, then surveys the evolution of the role of philanthropies in addressing poverty and traces the long history of racialization of institutions and systems.

· Finally, this article focuses on a specific set of approaches used by the Minnesota-based Northwest Area Foundation that others working for racial equity might employ to meet their needs.